Looming political fight puts U.S. farmers on battlefield

Analysis: It usually takes a year to draft new Farm Bill but the cost of failure may be too high to bear

(Reuters) U.S. lawmakers are short on time and money to make the biggest cuts in agriculture in a generation and failure risks unintentionally driving up food prices and adding to an already onerous deficit. Fractious Republicans and Democrats may wait until the last minute to agree to significant cuts to farm supports amid historically high




U.K. on drought watch

Large parts of Britain are facing a drought this year after groundwater reached levels not seen for more than 35 years, which could spell restrictions for farmers and households. Rivers, canals and reservoirs are running low after a second dry winter in a row, with some areas receiving less than 70 per cent of normal


Arab countries consider grain storage site

The Arab Authority for Agricultural Investment and Development (AAID) is considering building a system for storing three to six months of grain reserves for the Gulf region, a senior official from the investment bank said Feb. 22. AAID, which was set up by Arab governments in the late 1970s, will study construction of storage for




Brazil planning giant Amazon soybean port

rio de janeiro / reuters / Brazilian port authorities are planning a new grains port in the Amazon region, a terminal designed to become the country’s largest soybean export centre and to slash transportation costs for farmers, the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper reported Feb. 18. The proposed 18-million-tonne-a-year Port of Outeiro would be built


U.S. food sales to Cuba fall

U.S. agricultural exports to Cuba declined six per cent last year on top of a 31 per cent decline in 2010 as the Communist-led island’s financial woes continued and it turned elsewhere to buy food, a trade group said Feb. 22. Cuba, which imports most of its food, gets chicken, corn, soy, wheat, pork and

Belarus threatens to ban farm imports from Ukraine

kiev / reuters / Belarus has threatened to ban imports of Ukrainian sunflower oil, corn and several other agriculture commodities after Ukraine announced it was barring imports of Belarussian milk and dairy products, Ukraine’s Farm Ministry said March 3. The retaliatory move by Belarus marked an escalation in a regional trade war over dairy products