Prince Charles Champions Organic Farming, Criticizes Big Ag Subsidies In DC Speech

WASHINGTON -- Prince Charles is in Washington talking about environmentally friendly farming, and he says it's a change from giving royal wedding toasts.

After greeting students at Georgetown University on Wednesday, Charles spoke passionately about organic and sustainable farming for almost an hour. He made only brief reference to the worldwide hubbub over his son Prince William's wedding to Kate Middleton last week. Charles called his remarks "a change from making embarrassing speeches about my eldest son during wedding receptions."

In his speech, the Prince of Wales criticized government subsidies for large-scale agriculture and encouraged more government and business support for organic and environmentally-friendly food production. The United States spends tens of billions of dollars a year on such subsidies.

Charles, who will meet with President Barack Obama later Wednesday, is in Washington for a three-day visit. On Tuesday, he visited the Supreme Court and an urban farm in Washington. The small farm grows produce for low-income residents.

At Georgetown, he shook hands with students who stood in the heavy rain hoping to get a glimpse of him as he arrived.

He called rising hunger and obesity problems around the world an "increasingly insane picture" and proposed less use of chemical pesticides, artificial fertilizers and antibiotics. He criticized industrial pollution and global dependence on oil.

"The point, surely, is to achieve a situation where the production of healthier food is rewarded and becomes more affordable and that the earth's capital is not so eroded," Charles said.

He praised first lady Michelle Obama's campaign to combat childhood obesity and hunger along with U.S. manufacturers' efforts to produce healthier foods.

"You cannot help but feel hopeful when such huge corporations like Wal-Mart back local sourcing of food and decide to stock their shelves with sustainable or organic produce," he said. "Industry is clearly listening."

The heir to Britain's throne is a firm supporter of environmentalist causes, and runs an organic farm on his Highgrove estate in western England. He has a line of organic foods, Duchy Originals, which donates profits to his charities.

Comments

[KatherineJosh]

08:47 AM on 05/17/2011

i've been drinking bird nest soup every night (i only get the homemade kind
back at home). the only reason why i drink it is because it's supposed to be
good for complexion.

i’ve been taking the store-bought kind online (e.g.
http://www.geocities.jp/hongkong_bird_nest/index_e.htm of famous branded
only of course) which is directly mailed from Hong Kong. this would be at a
more affordable price.

[sho-nuff]

01:59 PM on 05/09/2011

I have to say the old chap looks pretty fit these days....

[brit prof]

11:51 PM on 05/08/2011

He means well, but goodness is he out of touch!

There are 65 million people in the UK, most of them are not rich enough to buy organic.

More importantly, without factory farming, we simply could not feed ourselves. There simply isn't the land to allow the number of beasts we eat to roam freely.

If it bothers you, become vegetarian (as I did twenty five years ago).

Only the wealthy can afford to ease their consciences with 'organically produced' food.

BTW, did you know that there is a minimum size for the cages that poultry are raised in? And many an unscrupulous farmer puts bird in cages just a tad larger and calls them 'free range'.

[LMPE]

06:12 PM on 05/07/2011

As Johann Hari noted, Chuck's professed concerns about the environment would have more credibility were he not one of the biggest individual polluters in the UK, taking even the most frivolous trips in his private jet.

[brit prof]

11:52 PM on 05/08/2011

Indeed. Plenty of limo-riding environmentalists out there.

[brit prof]

12:24 AM on 05/09/2011

Although, on reflection, he is the heir to the throne and so there are legitimate security concerns.

[BlackYowe]

02:21 AM on 05/07/2011

He has allot of good ideas. I have seen some of the things he has worked on in the UK too.

[rowdiman]

05:48 PM on 05/06/2011

Anytime someone in a position of influence, uses it to promote healthy ideas, we all win.

I applaud him.

[chaarrle]

04:41 PM on 05/06/2011

here's a link to a video posted on the WP site concerning this plea for some sanity in the way we grow our food. http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/prince-charles-on-what-makes-farming-sustainable/2011/05/04/AFElR0nF_video.html

[chaarrle]

04:15 PM on 05/06/2011

Please, please, please Prince Charles go talk to Michelle and see if you can get her to jump on this bandwagon. I will watch every video that is posted of her dancing the Dougie or whatever if only you can get her to act on your great common sense. Whew, finally, maybe we aren't all doomed to the chemical enema the government subsidizes (In his speech, the Prince of Wales criticized government subsidies for large-scale agriculture and encouraged more government and business support for organic and environmentally-friendly food production. The United States spends tens of billions of dollars a year on such subsidies.)

[Ichor]

03:19 PM on 05/06/2011

Ok, all this advice from a guy who's into his sixties and still waiting for his first job.

[chaarrle]

04:31 PM on 05/06/2011

could we just stick to the issue addressed in the article and leave your bitter jealousy out of it.

[BlackYowe]

02:21 AM on 05/07/2011

That is so so unfair.

[AwShucks]

02:13 PM on 05/06/2011

Talk about someone who looks like he was organically grown.

This from a man who has someone to squeeze the toothpaste onto his toothbrush.

[chaarrle]

04:35 PM on 05/06/2011

please, could we just stick to the issue addressed in the article and leave your bitter jealousy out of it. please. and why are you a moderator anyway? if your going to moderate these posts you should leave your personal bias out of it.

[COPESTIR3]

11:48 PM on 05/06/2011

Please could we just stick to the issues addressed in this article and leave your bitter comments out of it. You are the one that seems to be off of target.

[AwShucks]

08:00 AM on 05/07/2011

Looks like that that toothpaste squeezing job has your knickers all in a pinch.

[Deborah Henry Hintze]

12:59 PM on 05/06/2011

I admire Prince Charles for the work he has done to help the environment and the organic farming movement. The money for big ag subsidies, as well as big oil subsidies, must be used for small farmers and green energy.

[DennyCrane]

09:22 AM on 05/06/2011

Republicans will label him a tree-hugging liberal. I'm surprised they haven't asked him for a birth certificate proving that he's really the prince.

[brokerallen]

12:50 AM on 05/06/2011

Charles has a point. A handful of companies control agriculture and they control congress. They promote genetically modified fruits and vegetables. They force farmers to buy seeds annually instead of using their own from the previous year. Many studies have shown that GM foods pose health risks and are banned in many European countries. Their governments listen to their citizens, unlike ours.

[chaarrle]

04:27 PM on 05/06/2011

brokerallen, it's worse than that. gmo seeds won't grow. you need heirloom seeds for that. that's why the heirloom seeds are being stockpiled in caverns that maintain a stable temp, someday we will need those seeds. try growing an avocado from seed. I used to do it all the time, now they just rot in the water. try growing anything from the seeds you get with the fruit. not happening.

[brokerallen]

05:09 PM on 05/06/2011

I hadn't thought it through but you are right. I live in the central valley of California which is some of the best ag land in the world. Several things I have grown from seeds out of my garden did not yeild fruit.

[Parade Keegan]

06:34 PM on 05/06/2011

Subsidies for farmers help sustain small (50 - 50k acres) and I support this. I have 20 acres and plant 5 acres every year so my land is on a 4 year rotation. I live on a large island in a river in the Pacific Northwest making the land immune to corporate farming and most (I would say all of us but there's one guy we're not sure about) of us organic farm. I don't do this as a living, I do it for my enjoyment and give my produce to our food bank (I'm not laying claim to an altruistic soul, I don't want the hassle of selling) up here. I use seeds produced by my previous years crops or I buy produce from organic markets and use the seeds from the produce. I don't have any problems growing anything. In my greenhouse I have some banana, citrus and avocados all grown from fresh organic produce. Some of my neighbors who farm as a livelihood do receive subsidies and they need them to survive and to continue farming and unless everyone wants to eat corporate produced produce and dairy I wouldn't fight all farm subsidies.

[HazelPethigFan]

08:44 PM on 05/06/2011

What studies? ..Would you care to list studies written by actual scientists? Have any? Huh? we've all been eating GM soybeans for 15 years.

Europeans are complete hypocrites. They ban GMO crops, but have allowed GMO insulin for 30 years. What makes insulin different than food? This has more to do with Europeans preventing food imports to protect local farmers. They use the urban, ignorant anti-technologyy, anti-sscience lefties as their pawns.

It doesn't work in the U.S. since we have stronger connections to real ag science.

[dhinds]

05:02 PM on 05/07/2011

1.- Many diabetics don't tolerate GM Insulin.

http://www.i-sis.org.uk/isp/A%20GM-Free%20Sustainable%20World.pdf

The Independent Science Panel (ISP) is a panel of scientists from many disciplines, committed to the Promotion of Science for the Public Good.

The Genetic Modification Group of the ISP consists of scientists working in genetics, biosciences, toxicology and medicine, and other representatives of civil society who are concerned about the harmful consequences of genetic modifications of plants and animals.

We find the following aspects especially regrettable and unacceptable:

Lack of critical public information on the science and technology of GM

Lack of public accountability in the GM science community

Lack of independent, disinterested scientific research into, and assessment of, the hazards of GM

Partisan attitude of regulatory and other public information bodies, which appear more intent on spreading corporate propaganda than providing crucial information

Pervasive commercial and political conflicts of interests in both research and development and regulation of GM

Suppression and vilification of scientists who try to convey research information to the public that is deemed to harm the industry

Persistent denial and dismissal of extensive scientific evidence on the hazards of GM to health and the environment by proponents of genetic modification and by supposedly disinterested advisory and regulatory bodies

Continuing claims of GM benefits by the biotech corporations, and repetitions of these claims by the scientific establishment, in the face of extensive evidence that GM has failed both in the field and in the laboratory

[dhinds]

05:03 PM on 05/07/2011

Ctd:

Reluctance to recognize that the corporate funding of academic research in GM is already in decline, and that the biotechnology multinationals (and their shareholders) as well as investment consultants are now questioning the wisdom of the ‘GM enterprise’

Attacks on, and summary dismissal of, extensive evidence pointing to the benefits of various sustainable agricultural approaches for health and the environment, as well as for food security and social well-being of farmers and their local communities.

These concerns have been outlined in letters to various world policy makers

[farmilyman]

09:06 PM on 05/05/2011

Prince Charles is showing Wash DC what real leadership on the subject looks like.

[the crustybastard]

11:56 AM on 05/06/2011

Which part?

The part where a man who's lived in one of the world's most heavily subsidized families is criticizing other families subsidies?

Or the part where a man who's never lifted a shovel pretends he knows more about farming than farmers?

[farmilyman]

03:24 PM on 05/06/2011

So you think organic farming is bad and big ag should get subsidies to further pollute the world genetically and chemically...........and destroy the family farms?

[chaarrle]

04:28 PM on 05/06/2011

that's hardly the issue here.

[European1919]

08:42 AM on 05/05/2011

Anyone who lends his DB6 Volante to sonny-jim so he can drive the missus home after the wedding is a cool dude.