Russia Approves Pork From 11 U. S. Plants

Russia on March 11 approved 11 U. S. pork plants to resume pork shipments to that country and more plants may be approved, the U. S. Meat Export Federation told Reuters. “It is happening as we speak,” U. S. Meat Export Federation spokesman Jim Herlihy said of the approvals. The lifting of the ban on

Canada Could Gain From Southern Trade Dispute

“Until this gets resolved … I can’t see that we’re going to be able to sell to Brazil in the near future.” – REBECCA BRATTER Canadian wheat exports stand to gain from Brazil’s move to triple non-hard wheat tariffs against the United States, a Canadian Wheat Board official said March 10. The Brazilian government published


Industry Warns Of New EU Feed Import Disruption

The European Union faces renewed disruption to animal feed supplies this year unless policy-makers find a rapid solution to traces of genetically modified organisms in soy imports, industry groups have warned. Last autumn, imports of soybeans from the United States came to a near standstill because of the EU’s zero-tolerance rule on shipments containing tiny

Wild Plants Sought For Climate Traits

Farm experts plan to track down wild relatives of crops such as rice or wheat with traits that make them able to resist global warming in a project costing perhaps $50 million, a leading expert said March 9. “The wild relatives of cultivated crops … are largely uncollected or conserved in gene banks,” said Cary


EU Approves GM Potato For Industrial Use

The European Union’s decision on Mar. 3 to approve commercial production of the potato Amflora containing genetically modified organisms (GMOs) developed by German group BASF will open the way for sowings of the potato this year, BASF said. “The way is now clear for commercial cultivation of Amflora this year,” said Peter Eckes, president of

China Favours GMOs, But None Grown Yet

China will accelerate development of its own genetically modified (GMO) crops, seeking to secure food security and international competitiveness, an official from the country’s Ministry of Agriculture said. The official from the ministry’s biosafety administration office also denied recent media reports that China had already approved imported GMO grain seeds for widespread planting. His remarks


OECD Agree To Reinvest In Food Chain

“Some fluctuations are normal (but) these wild swings are unacceptable.” – NIKOLAUS BERLAKOVICH Farm ministers from the world’s richest countries said Feb. 27 they would study price volatility and look at ways of boosting innovation as part of efforts to help agriculture meet food and environmental challenges. But the gathering of members of the Organization

FAO Sees Less Wheat, More Coarse Grains

World wheat output could fall by five per cent in 2010 after two bumper crop years, but coarse grain output may rise, the United Nations’ food agency said. Wheat-planted areas in the United States dropped to the lowest level in almost a century because of bad weather and falling prices, the UN Food and Agriculture


India Politics Delay GM Vegetable Start

“It is my duty to adopt a cautious, precautionary, principle-based approach.” – JAIRAM RAMESH India has postponed the launch of its first genetically modified (GM) vegetable, saying it would adopt a cautious approach and wait for more scientific studies on the impact of the new variety of eggplant. “The moratorium will be in place until

India Reforms Fertilizer Pricing, Farms To Gain

India has eased controls on several fertilizers and raised prices of the popular urea nutrient by 10 per cent, raising hopes of more reforms, lower subsidies and higher margins for producers. The government, facing protests against soaring food prices, has cautioned fertilizer firms that if prices rise sharply, it will reimpose controls to protect farmers