In Brief… – for Jul. 29, 2010

Soybean breeder honoured: Veteran Ontario soybean breeder Norman Bradner was awarded the 2010 Canadian Plant Breeding and Genetics award at the recent Canadian Seed Trade Association annual meeting in Kelowna. The award is peer nominated and selected recognition of an outstanding contribution to the advancement of plant agriculture. In addition to being a prolific varietal

Biofuels From Deforested Land To Fail EU Standards

Palm oil grown on recently deforested land is unlikely to be acceptable for use in European biodiesel, a draft report from the European Commission shows. The environmental standards add to a growing list of challenges for Asia’s palm industry, including Indonesia’s $1-billion climate deal with Norway last month and consumer worries about deforestation. The European


French Firms Pull The Plug On Palm Oil

French firms have stepped up restrictions on the use of palm oil, decried for being linked to deforestation in Asia, in a move that may boost demand for local oils. But some warned it could raise new food and land problems. The debate about palm oil’s impact on the environment has intensified after green groups

Ethiopia Targets Land For Commercial Farms

Ethiopia plans to offer three million hectares of land over the next two years for investors to develop large-scale commercial farms, a government official said Nov. 5. Countries in Asia and the Gulf – such as China, India and Saudi Arabia – have rushed to buy farmland abroad to grow crops for their own people


Indonesia Defends Converting Peatlands To Palm Estates

“Some companies are interested in peatlands and we are working with those who want to safeguard the environment and ensure our country’s prosperity.” PALM PROTESTS: Protesters from Greenpeace, dressed as orangutans, demonstrating outside the Unilever building in London last year. Greenpeace said it wanted to raise awareness of companies who buy palm oil from companies

Signals Point To “Weak” El Niño Pattern

“If we were to switch over to an El Nińo, one would expect an end of the drought in Argentina.” – ANNE FRICK Indications of an El Nińo weather pattern have stalled after building for several months, and that’s generally good news for grain crops in Australia and South Africa, experts said. But scientists expect


Barley Outlook Poor Despite Small Crop

For three-times-daily market reports from Don Bousquet and RNI, visit “ICE Futures Canada updates” at www.manitobacooperator.ca Grain and oilseed prices at ICE Futures Canada in Winnipeg closed the week ended Sept. 3 lower, with big declines in canola. Canola was undermined by weakness in the Chicago soy complex, the beginning of the harvest, favourable weather

Renewed Food Inflation Risk As Funds Eye Edible Oils

Less than two years after a surge in global food prices caused panic and riots around the world, investors are starting to return to vegetable oil markets and raising the spectre of renewed food price inflation. Billions of dollars change hands annually in the markets for palm, soybean and other vegetable oils, which are used


Soy Hits Six-Month High, Canola Doesn’t Follow

For three-times-daily market reports from Don Bousquet and RNI, visit “ICE Futures Canada updates” at www.manitobacooperator.ca Grain and oilseed futures at the ICE Canada futures market closed the week ended April 17 mixed with canola moderately higher in the face of sharp gains in the U. S. soy complex. Commercial demand lifted the market with

Food/Fuel Debate May Come Off Back Burner

“But it (biofuel) is still a very significant demand source for the feed grains and… it is likely to increase with the U. S. government looking to increase their ethanol-blending mandates” – DOUG WHITEHEAD, COMMODITY ANALYST The steep drop in energy prices from last year’s peaks has cooled the food-versus-fuel debate for the moment, but