A bid by the WA government to allow a certain amount of GM material in organic food has failed.

A bid by the West Australian government to allow a certain amount of genetically modified material in certified organic food has failed.

The WA Department of Agriculture and Food made a submission to the Organic Industry Standards and Certification Council in June, seeking a 0.9 per cent GM tolerance level.

But Australia's zero tolerance remains after the council rejected the application last week.

"The committee felt it was not consistent with the Codex Alimentarius (Commission) food standards code guidelines for organic production, which specifically prohibits any GM content in organic products," a council spokeswoman told AAP on Tuesday.

"The WA government had made mention of the US and the EU allowing a tolerance.

"The EU actually doesn't allow it in organic standards by default in its overall conventions and the US standards for organic regulation prohibits GMO."

She said anti-GM group FoodWatch had sent a petition signed by about 3000 people who objected to the WA government's submission.

"Just as the WA government is tenacious, they really mobilised themselves," she said.

Meanwhile, supporters of Kojonup organic famer Steve Marsh have raised more than $40,000 to help pay a potential court costs bill after he lost a landmark GM battle.

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WA government's GM food bid fails

A bid by the WA government to allow a certain amount of GM material in organic food has failed.

A bid by the West Australian government to allow a certain amount of genetically modified material in certified organic food has failed.

The WA Department of Agriculture and Food made a submission to the Organic Industry Standards and Certification Council in June, seeking a 0.9 per cent GM tolerance level.

But Australia's zero tolerance remains after the council rejected the application last week.

"The committee felt it was not consistent with the Codex Alimentarius (Commission) food standards code guidelines for organic production, which specifically prohibits any GM content in organic products," a council spokeswoman told AAP on Tuesday.

"The WA government had made mention of the US and the EU allowing a tolerance.

"The EU actually doesn't allow it in organic standards by default in its overall conventions and the US standards for organic regulation prohibits GMO."

She said anti-GM group FoodWatch had sent a petition signed by about 3000 people who objected to the WA government's submission.

"Just as the WA government is tenacious, they really mobilised themselves," she said.

Meanwhile, supporters of Kojonup organic famer Steve Marsh have raised more than $40,000 to help pay a potential court costs bill after he lost a landmark GM battle.

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Government's GM food bid fails

Natural and organic food offerings have become very important since people have become health conscious. They now want a healthy lifestyle and food safety when it comes to choosing food. Thus, demand for organic products is on an uptrend. Further, the organic food retailers have gained importance.

Companies such as United Natural Foods (UNFI) are witnessing higher demand for its products and continue to register great numbers. Its first quarter results were impressive as the reported numbers were way ahead of the Streets estimates. This helped its shares to move north.

The blockbuster quarter

Revenue for the quarter surged 24.4%, to $1.99 billion, over last year. This was higher than the estimate of $1.95 billion and was driven by higher demand for the companys natural and organic food. Another key driver of growth was the number of acquisitions made by the company in fiscal 2014. Even if we exclude the benefits of the buyout, sales grew by 10.2% during the quarter.

The gross margin of the company declined 92 basis points to 16%. Margins were affected by a shift in customer mix, unfavorable currency fluctuations and lower margins of Tonys Fine Foods, which was acquired last year.

Further, the bottom line was also impressive. Earnings jumped to $0.66 per share from $0.56 per share in the previous year. The analysts were expecting a bottom line of $0.63 per share. Earnings surged due to growth in revenue and the recently made acquisitions.

By the segments

Sales in the Supermarket segment rose 31% over last year and that of the Supernatural channel climbed 16.5%. These two segments together make the most of the retailers revenue. Therefore, growth in these segments drove the top line higher.

Revenue from the Independent channel was also up 23.8% and that of Food Service segment surged 60.4%. Although Food Service segment makes a small part of the total revenue, growth in this segment was remarkable.

The two new acquisitions

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What Makes This Organic Food Retailer A Desirable Pick

North America (PRWEB) December 16, 2014

Imagine growing, fresh, organic food, just steps from your kitchen. StartGrowingFood.com, makes that possible with the use of new interactive smart technology designed to help people grow food at home.

Even if users dont have a backyard, or any gardening experience, StartGrowingFood.com's special formula is designed to turn even a little 6-square-foot balcony into over 50 lbs of food. Thats $400 worth of fresh organic food, for only $8 worth of seeds. Its all about effective space and crop planning, says Dron, and StartGrowingFood.coms technology combines the precision of science with the resourcefulness of technology to create free customized growing plans. Plans are created using smart technology to optimize them for maximum food production and success in each users unique growing space.

We want to challenge the way we produce food in North America, while also re-connecting people to the food that nurtures them. Where some see buildings, we see vertically farms. Farms with food people love and trust, says Dron.

With increasing urban sprawl, society is experiencing a shift in the way people eat and live. The growing desire to eat local, organic food is increasingly challenging to meet considering the reduction of available agricultural land and increased use chemicals and genetic modification in commercial food production.

This innovative technology creates for visitors a free optimized plan designed for their personal space. It then remembers each users plan to future support them year with optional coaching tips and reminders tailored to them, and sent right to their phone. Tips like: Hey, were expecting a cold front, cover your basil or Hi, its time to thin your carrots. Click here for a quick how-to video

Margaret is turning to crowd sourcing site Indiagogo, to develop a user friendly version of the technology to make it easy and fun for everyone. As she explains, It feels right. We truly believe in the power of people coming together to help build something meaningful and thats why were turning to the community to be a part of creating StartGrowingFood.com. Supporters will have direct contact to feature discussions so their needs can be heard. Our community is a vital part of the process and plays a huge role in building something designed to by the community, to feed the community.

To learn more, visit http://www.StartGrowingFood.com

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About Margaret Dron: After spending a decade working for a variety of technology companies, Margaret decided to pursue her lifelong dream of entrepreneurship by launching a successful series of food and health expos while supporting communities that connect with over 220,000 fans.

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A New Technology is Challenging How and Where We Grow Food

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhZlXCw42Jg

Kiseki (Piano Version) - I Wish - Cubase Cover - Beautiful Lovely Relaxing Music
Kiseki (Piano Version) - I Wish Beautiful Lovely Relaxing Music (Cubase Cover) Original Music Information: Artist: Quruli Album: Kiseki (I Wish) / Original Soundtrack Released: 2011...

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Kiseki (Piano Version) - I Wish - Cubase Cover - Beautiful Lovely Relaxing Music - Video

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Relaxing Music Christmas Carols Royalty free no copyright
Kevin Macleod - At Rest Music by Kevin MacLeod. Available under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license Find all of his songs and download them for free here:http://incompetech.com.

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Relaxing Music Christmas Carols Royalty free no copyright - Video

Tinashe

Tinashe's inescapable "2 On" was one of the defining songs of 2014, and her unpredictably smoky Aquarius, was the year's best R&B album as well. A fledgling perfectionist whose label let her take her time with her debut, the former child actress has managed to get along with collaborators as disparate as Nick Jonas, Calvin Harris and, um, Charlie Sheen. SPIN caught up with the 21-year-old over the phone to learn how much hard work goes into making such relaxing music, and how she spent the best year of her life thus far.

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Aquarius was two years in the making, what kind of strings did you have to pull to get people off your back about rushing it? I was lucky to have a label that wanted to make sure when I presented my debut that I felt I was ready. They never put that much pressure on me to hurry or to rush. The most pressure came from myself, because obviously I was ready to move to the next chapter of my life. I wanted to put something out that was amazing and I had to take time until it was really ready.

Is it true that you didn't listen to any outside music while you were working on it? Well, not any. [Laughs.] I listened to music at the end of the day. I'm always trying to discover new stuff in magazines, blogs. But when I was doing the album, I didn't focus on that as much I was really more into creating my own.

What would you put on at the end of the day? I was trying to go back to my old school taste. Like, I always listened to Sade, Janet Jackson, Michael Jackson. People my parents played in the house growing up I always come back to that.

I love how Aquarius bridges different eras of R&B with current sounds. Like "2 On" reminds me of a lot of millennial jams, like "AM to PM." I don't know if it was necessary intentional, but I tried to have versatility within the music while still being consistent. I feel like at the end of the day, I always would try to make music that I wanted to listen to, stuff that I liked and wanted to hear.

Like Sean Paul? You quote him in "2 On." While we were writing the song I thought it was a really relatable melody and I love when people hear relatable melodies in songs. It's not even necessarily that they know where it's coming from; they just know that they like it, and I wanted to have that element in the song.

Did you really record over 100 songs for the album? Yeah, almost 200.

How many of those are going to see light of day? A couple of them have ended up on separate projects. One of the songs is on the Hunger Games soundtrack. So they're finding their own homes. If not, I don't know. They can release them when I'm dead.

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SPIN 2014 Exit Interviews: Tinashe

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OM ASHRAM - A Vision Becomes Reality
Paramhans Sri Swami Maheshwarananda is founder of Yoga In Daily Life system See: http://www.omashram.com http://www.yogaindailylife.org http://www.swamiji.tv.

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Sant Asharamji Bapu Amritvani (16th December 2014)
To Watch FREE LIVE Webcast of Sant Shri Asharamji Bapu on Mangalmay TV Visit : http://www.ashram.org/live For More Information Visit : http://www.ashram.org Join Ashram on Facebook ...

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Sant Asharamji Bapu Amritvani (16th December 2014) - Video

Five sisters, who had been inmates of Sri Aurobindo Ashram, have threatened to end their lives if anyone, including the Ashram Trust or Police, launches action to evict them from the premises as per the directions of the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court on December 9 directed Jayashreee Prasad, Arunashri Prasad, Rajyashree Prasad, Nivedita Prasad and Hemalata Prasad to vacate the premises within seven days, and if they failed to vacate the Jurisdictional police station All Mahila police station, Puducherry, should evict them from the premises, Ambabhikshu House.

Post on blog

The sisters also posted on their blog the copy of a letter addressed to the Trustees of Sri Aurobindo Ashram demanding assurance from them that they direct the police to stop the execution of the Supreme Court order and give a written undertaking to that effect.

All of us have decided to end our lives rather than face anymore injustice, harassment and victimisation. We are also going to leave suicide notes naming all of you and many others concerned responsible for constraining us to end our lives. Our suicide notes will cause adverse repercussions to the Ashram community as a whole.

'Restore facilities'

The sisters have also urged the Ashram Trust to restore all facilities of medical, laundry as provided to every inmate till the final outcome of the trial and the disposal of the pending cases.

The dispute could be traced back to 2002 when the Ashram took disciplinary action against Hemalata Prasad based on a report by a commission headed by a retired judge, constituted by the Madras High Court.

The enquiry concluded that the allegations against Hemalata is quite serious and if such misconduct is ignored and no action taken it will set a bad precedent and jeopardise the noble principles on which the Ashram is established.

Later the sisters brought up a sexual harassment allegation against the Ashram Trust and other members. The Ashram maintained that the allegations were false and ill-motivated.

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Sisters in Aurobindo Ashram threaten to end lives