China Urges Tougher Punishments For Food Safety Crimes

China’s courts have been ordered to increase the severity of punishments for food safety crimes, including capital punishment for cases that lead to fatalities, Xinhua news agency reported. The court’s directive appeared to be the latest move to regain public confidence after a series of food safety scandals, including the most serious recent case in

Canada’s Food System Needs An Overhaul

The federal and provincial governments should encourage farmers to ramp up production this year to take advantage of strong prices but also help ease tight world stocks of grain and other commodities, says the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute (CAPI) and the Canadian Federation of Independent Business. They issued reports in early February urging gover nments


African Agriculture Coming Of Age

Agrowing African food sector can yield private sector returns on the back of government support, said a report on Oct. 26, which also said that a global grain reserve may be needed to protect consumers from price spikes. Local initiatives aiming for an African equivalent of the Green Revolution, which swept developing countries in the

Farmers Want More Research Spending

Groups representing more than 100,000 crop growers are launching a campaign to push for more investment in agricultural research in Canada. Called Farmers for Investment in Agriculture (FIA), the campaign wants Ottawa to at least reverse the 40 per cent decline in public research funding for agronomics that has occurred since 1994. Inflation and less


Agribusiness Challenged To Solve World Problems

“We cannot go on the way we’re going and we need the food industry to say it first, when an industry doesn’t take these problems face on, it leads to disaster.” – JEFFREY SACHS Private agribusiness companies must lead the drive to sustainable agriculture if the world is going to succeed in winning the fight

Health And Agriculture Need Joint Strategy: Capi

Linking agriculture and health policy could improve Canadians’ health and, at the same time, revive this country’s agricultural sector, says a new report released by the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute (CAPI). Canada’s health crisis, a result of rising rates of obesity and diet-related chronic diseases and the farm income crisis could be tackled by what


Biofuel output seen up on lower feedstock costs

Global biodiesel output is likely to climb 27 per cent to 14 million tonnes in the 2008-09 oil year as producers capitalize on weak raw material prices and absorb excess inventories, a leading industry analyst said Dec. 3. Alternative energy fuels would be the only source of additional demand growth for vegetable oils, as demand

EU to scrutinize competition in food retail sector

EU regulators warned Nov. 26 of a risk that consolidation in the food retail sector might act against the interests of consumers and producers, saying a close watch should be kept on uncompetitive behaviour. A draft paper authored by the European Commission called for case-by-case screening of a string of retail practices that could be


Pulse Canada releases video showcasing research

Research always produces a pile of reports and other paper documents. Three years of it at Pulse Canada was no exception. But instead of producing another thick document, as the final report of its Pulse Innovation Project, the national organization has found a novel new way to share their findings: an upbeat, 10-minute video. The