Horsemeat scandal gives a boost to England’s besieged butchers

Britons are flocking to their local butchers after horsemeat was discovered in a wide variety of frozen foods and restaurant items

In one of Britain’s oldest butcher shops, staff in straw hats are rushing to cope with a surge in demand for pricey pies and sausages from customers worried about a scandal over mislabelled horsemeat. Founded in 1850, Lidgates in London’s smart Notting Hill district retains a Dickensian atmosphere, but very different prices. A whole beef



Europe fears cutting farm aid will see remote areas wither

Reducing farm supports and moving toward a more market-oriented farm policy is raising fears that remote communities will wither, according to a member of the European Parliament’s agriculture committee. “There are genuine fears about land abandonment, village decline and a lack of young people in remote parts of the EU,” said Mairead McGuinness. Policies such

Ukraine winter wheat in good condition

Reuters / No more than 400,000 hectares of winter grain crops, or up to five per cent of the sown area, are likely to be reseeded this spring against 1.5 million hectares in 2012, a senior Agriculture Ministry official said Feb. 19. “We expect the reseeding of three to five per cent (of winter grain





Rains boost Australian beef prospects

Australia’s struggling beef industry has received a boost from recent rains in the east of the country, which will increase grass growth to fatten up herds in the world’s third-biggest beef exporter, producers said. The wetter conditions in the aftermath of Cyclone Oswald mean farmers will keep cattle in herds for longer to add weight,




Zimbabwe promises not to seize any more foreign-owned farms

Reuters / Zimbabwe’s government says it will not seize any more foreign-owned farms after losing multimillion-dollar compensation claims under a treaty aimed at protecting overseas investments. President Robert Mugabe started giving white-owned farms to landless blacks over a decade ago, a policy that had the unintended result of devastating food output in a country that