Worries about the quality of this year’s western European wheat crop are emerging, as harvest activity moves to a key growing belt in top producer France and gets underway in Germany. Grain experts are painting a mixed picture of projections with French production expected to at least match last year and larger harvests anticipated in
Quality concerns flare up as EU wheat harvest gathers pace
Rapeseed thrives in Germany but French yields fall
The outlook for rapeseed crops in Germany continues to improve, but prospects for crops elsewhere in western Europe are less promising with some low initial yields reported in France and production in Britain set to fall sharply. The rapeseed harvest in Germany, which is set to overtake France this year as the European Union’s top
EU takes step back from market-driven farming
Reforms agreed by European Union negotiators on Wednesday offer subsidies to keep farms producing in regions where conditions are hard, going against the bloc’s shift towards relying on market forces in agriculture. Since 1992, the EU has been altering its common agricultural policy (CAP) to encourage farmers to grow crops in response to market prices,
U.S.-Japan wheat trade set to resume
The discovery of unapproved genetically modified (GM) wheat in Oregon is unlikely to hit long-term U.S. wheat sales to Japan and could spark debate about whether importers should tolerate very low levels of “foreign material,” industry sources said on Tuesday. News of the unapproved wheat growing in Oregon, reported on May 29, prompted Tokyo to
Deregulation sparks rise in grain container trade
Deregulation of grain trading in Australia has led to an explosion in shipments in containers rather than bulk — a trend that may be repeated in Canada, although on a less spectacular scale, industry sources said on Tuesday. Australia, where grain markets were deregulated in 2008, now ships around two million to 2.5 million tonnes
EU pesticide ban may curb rapeseed production
Rapeseed production is likely to fall in the European Union, top grower of the oilseed, from the 2015 harvest after the bloc voted to protect bees by banning three of the most widely used pesticides. The EU has decided to restrict from Dec. 1 the use of a class of pesticides known as neonicotinoids, which
Spring seeding well underway in Europe
Reuters / Spring seeding is in full flow in western Europe with a sharp rise in area expected in Britain after wet weather wrecked autumn plantings, but a significant drop is anticipated in Germany due to much more favourable conditions. In France, the EU’s top grain producer, conditions were generally satisfactory, with mild, dry weather
The rains caused economic pain in England
Wheat production will plummet while livestock producers are being hammered by the sky-high cost of imported feed
Reuters / Last year’s record rains will squeeze Britain’s farmers well into 2014 and force makers of bread and biofuels to buy more costly imports. Production of wheat is set to fall to its lowest level in more than a decade this summer, forcing purchases of bread-quality grain from Europe and North America. Livestock farmersIGC forecasts larger world wheat crop
Most of the increased production will be absorbed by higher demand and end-season stocks are expected to rise by only two million tonnes
World wheat production in 2013-14 is tentatively expected to rise by four per cent, the International Grains Council said Feb. 21, issuing its first forecast for next season’s supply-and-demand balance for the commodity. “Much (of the increase) is expected to be absorbed by higher demand and end-season stocks are likely to rise by just twoBritain makes rare North American soft wheat purchase
Acargo of 20,000 to 25,000 tonnes of North American soft wheat will be shipped to Britain shortly with a poor-quality domestic harvest forcing millers to look to imports, trade sources said Feb. 6. Britain’s wheat imports this year have been running at their fastest pace for nearly 20 years after the harvest was hurt by
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