International news & Farming Articles

Spring seeding well underway in Europe

By Nigel Hunt April 9, 2013

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

Crops, International news, News

Larger farms face five per cent EU subsidy cut for 2013

April 9, 2013

Reuters / Farmers who receive more than 5,000 euros a year in European Union subsidies will see payments above that level cut by five per cent this year, to bring farm spending in line with proposed EU budget cuts. The European Commission will propose the move after its forecasts showed that farm subsidies for 2013,

Beef cattle, International news, Livestock

Horsemeat scandal buoys U.K. organic sales

April 9, 2013

Reuters / Sales of organic products in Britain continued to decline last year in contrast to continental Europe but the horsemeat scandal has sparked a revival, the country’s main organic certification body, the Soil Association, said March 20. “In the worst economic downturn in living memory, it’s not surprising to find subdued sales of a

Cereals, Grain Markets, International news, News

Egypt to spend $1.6 billion on local wheat purchases

March 28, 2013

cairo / reuters / Egypt’s government has allocated 11 billion pounds ($1.6 billion) to buy 4.5 million tonnes of wheat from local farmers this year, state media said March 24 as the most populous Arab country struggles to ensure supplies. Economic turmoil and a weakening local currency has made it harder for the government to

Grain Markets, International news, News

Black Sea 2013-14 grain exports to rebound

March 28, 2013

moscow/kiev / reuters The Black Sea region’s top three grain producers — Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan — will see output and potential export volumes restored in the 2013-14 marketing year with improved weather conditions benefiting crops. The three countries were hit by drought in 2012 which slashed their combined grain crop by one-third to 130

Crops, Grain Markets, International news

Egypt courts unrest by limiting subsidized bread

By Asma Al Sharif, Tom Perry March 28, 2013

Egypt plans to start rationing subsidized bread, taking a risky step to curb the budget deficit by restricting supplies of cheap loaves vital to the poor. The government will start rationing “after two months,” Supply Minister Bassem Ouda said. Trials of a rationing system using electronic smart cards will begin in the restive Suez Canal

International news, News

Policy shift needed to tap Africa’s farm potential

March 25, 2013

Reuters / Africa’s agricultural sector could become a $1-trillion industry by 2030 if governments and the private sector radically rethink policies and support for farmers, a World Bank report said March 4. Africa’s food market, currently valued at $313 billion a year, could triple if farmers modernized their practices and had better access to credit,

Cereals, Crops, Grain Markets, International news, News, Oilseeds

Argentina threatens barley export cap in bid to boost wheat crop

By Hugh Bronstein March 25, 2013

Grains behemoth Argentina is pushing farmers to produce more wheat by threatening to crack down on the fast-expanding barley sector, which growers are using as a hedge against export curbs, sources with direct knowledge of the situation told Reuters. With national inflation seen by private economists at 30 per cent this year and global food

Beef cattle, International news, Livestock, Livestock Markets

Aussie beef exports to China on record pace

March 25, 2013

canberra / reuters /Australian beef sales to China are set to surge more than eightfold this year, to around 50,000 tonnes annually from about 6,000 tonnes a year ago. “In the last six months there has been a bigger jump in China’s beef imports from Australia because China blocked beef imports from Brazil due to

Beef cattle, International news, Livestock, Opinion, Other livestock

Neigh… I mean, nay, I say!

By Alan Guebert March 25, 2013

The coincidence was positively delicious. Shortly after Swedish furniture seller Ikea found itself, shall we say, saddle deep in a saucy mess that featured racier red meat in its Swedish meatballs than you’d normally get from the average European cow, the USDA announced changes to its controversial country-of-origin labelling, or COOL, law for American meat.

Daily Network News

CFIA updates plant protection regulations

U.S. grains: Corn, wheat ease after gains driven by Black Sea jitters

CBOT Weekly: Watching for Chinese soybean purchases

International news