Worst drought in decades hits Brazil’s northeast

Brazil’s northeast is suffering its worst drought in decades, threatening hydro-power supplies in an area prone to blackouts and potentially slowing economic growth in one of the country’s emerging agricultural frontiers. Lack of rain has hurt corn and cotton crops, left cattle and goats to starve to death in dry pastures and cut sugar cane

Farm group backs U.S. immigration reform

The largest U.S. farm group is throwing its weight behind a new immigration law reform that would allow undocumented workers already in the country to gain legal status. Delegates at the annual meeting of the six-million-member American Farm Bureau Federation issued the call after U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack asked them to speak up for


Thailand struggles to find storage space for rice

bangkok / reuters Thailand, struggling to find storage for a rice-buying scheme that cost the country its crown as the world’s biggest exporter of the grain, will rent private warehouses to store this month’s harvest, government officials say. February’s harvest will add five million to seven million tonnes to stocks, on top of the 20

Brazil GMO planting to increase by 14 per cent

Reuters / Brazil will increase the amount of land planted with genetically modified soy, corn and cotton by 14 per cent this season from a year ago as it shoulders a growing share of the world’s agricultural output, local analytics firm Celeres said Dec. 17. That is more than the 12.3 per cent expansion in





China vows to get tough on firms that flout food safety laws

shanghai / reuters / Beijing will introduce tough new laws to punish firms that flout food safety laws, the official Xinhua news agency reported, a significant move in China’s struggle to get its abysmal food safety record under control. Under the new regulations, to take effect in April, firms caught producing or selling unsafe foods

Saudi investor ties up with Russian grain dealer

moscow / reuters / A Saudi Arabian investment company has set up a joint venture with SAHO, a Siberian grain producer, to ship Russian wheat and barley to the Middle East and North Africa. The deal is a rare one between Russia and Saudi Arabia, which consumes about 15 million tonnes of grain per year.


Rural Germany faces steep decline

As farms get larger and land more expensive, young people from small towns are packing up and moving to the big cities in search of career opportunities. With a shrinking tax base, funding for the provision of services dries up, schools are shuttered, shops close, and doctors flee for greener pastures. Sound familiar? It should.