Impact of downed Brazil grains loader looms

Sao Paulo / Reuters/ A ship that collided with the main grain terminal at Brazil’s Santos Port could reduce corn and soybean exports from the South American country. There are fears that if repairs at the Guaruja Grain Terminal at Santos drag on into March, Brazil exports will fall far enough to push up world

U.S. Plains farmland values jump again

Farmland prices in the U.S. Plains states extended record-setting gains in the fourth quarter of 2011, rising 25 per cent from a year earlier as cash-rich farmers competed for land, the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City said Feb. 15. In a quarterly survey that provides an important gauge of the U.S. agricultural economy, the


“Cowgate” scandal rocks Malaysian government

Ascandal centred on cows and luxury condos raises the chances that Malaysian elections will be delayed and highlights Prime Minister Najib Razak’s stuttering efforts to reform the corruption-prone Southeast Asian nation. “Cowgate,” as it has inevitably been dubbed, is providing rich fodder for the opposition as it digs up dirt on a publicly funded cattle-rearing

No to more fungicide in orange juice: FDA

Reuters / The U.S. Food and Drug Administration declined to change the levels it will accept of an illegal fungicide commonly used in the Brazilian orange juice industry, the agency said Feb. 16. The Brazilian and U.S. juice industry groups had asked the FDA to allow higher levels of the fungicide, carbendazim, until June 2013


EU approves Morocco agriculture trade deal

European Union lawmakers approved a new trade deal with Morocco Feb. 16 that will significantly extend duty-free sales of agricultural, food and fisheries products between the North African kingdom and the 27-nation bloc. The EU’s agriculture chief, Dacian Ciolos, described the deal as both economically and politically significant. “It is a balanced agreement, which opens

Sights, sounds and smells in a far-off land

The sun was just peeking above the horizon as the Boeing 777 banked south just over Cairo, Egypt and headed for Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital that serves as the hub for all of Africa. We’d been travelling ahead in time, losing a night as we left Washington, D.C. at around 11 a.m. on Saturday,


World briefs, Feb. 2

Chinese premier favours modernization over grain imports beijing / reuters / China must push forward with modernizing agricultural technology as it faces increasing difficulty in meeting local food demand, Premier Wen Jiabao said in a recent essay. “The fundamental way out is to enhance the construction of modern agriculture to boost the complex agricultural productivity

Without January rains, one of two heifers will be sold

Co-operator editor Laura Rance is travelling on a media food study tour with the Canadian Foodgrains Bank. Updates are being posted on the Co-operator website at www.manitobacooperator.ca. The highway southwest of Addis Ababa to Wolayto-Soddo is wide and smooth, but there is no such thing in Ethiopia as setting the cruise control and just cruising,


World briefs Feb. 9

India eyes exports after record wheat crop new delhi / reuters / India is expected to produce a record 88.31 million tonnes of wheat in 2012, raising hopes the world’s second-biggest producer will allow additional exports to trim bulging reserves. “Temperatures have been ideal for wheat. Rains in January were very useful and we don’t