Competitive Improvements Depend On Your View

Farm groups trying to answer MPs’ questions about improving the competitiveness of producers have a lot of similar suggestions mixed with the occasional poke at the Canadian Wheat Board. Most have told the Commons agriculture committee the industry needs more basic research, expanded trade deals, better transportation and more domestic processing. They share considerable optimism

WTO Head Says Trade Restrictions Mounting

International commerce risks being strangled by a gradual buildup of restrictions that could undermine policies to revive the world economy, the head of the World Trade Organization (WTO) said March 26. WTO Director General Pascal Lamy said there were no signs of an imminent descent into intense tit-for-tat protectionism. “The danger today is of an


Research, Trade Top Priorities For Farmers

“There just simply isn’t the return in cereals and pulses under our system to spur private research at the levels necessary.” – DOUG ROBERTSON, ALBERTA GRAIN FARMER AND GGC PRESIDENT More basic agriculture research and improved trade deals will go a long way toward helping Canadian farmers be competitive internationally, farm groups say. Grain Growers

Asia-Pacific Poor Face Triple Crisis

Asian and Pacific countries are particularly vulnerable to the triple threat of food and fuel price volatility, climate change and the global economic crisis, a United Nations agency said March 26. This is because the region has almost two-thirds of the world’s poor and half of its natural disasters, the UN Economic and Social Commission


Report Rips Tories’ CWB, CGC Policies

“Piece by piece, the minority Conservative government under Stephen Harper is dismantling Canada’s highly successful grain system.” The Canadian Grain Commission and the Canadian Wheat Board are essential to the export success of Prairie farmers but the Harper Conservatives are trying to destroy them, a report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives says. The

WTO Deal And Supply Management Can Coexist: Trade Expert

An agriculture trade deal at the World Trade Organization’s Doha round would not have to spell the end of Canada’s supply management system, according to a former senior trade official. Contrary to what is often said, the decades-old system that protects Canada’s dairy, egg and poultry industries through tariffs, supply quotas and price controls does


U. S. Ranchers Eye More EU Access For Beef

U. S. ranchers who raise cattle without growth hormones may gain more access to European markets if the United States and European Union settle a beef trade dispute that has lasted more than 20 years, a U. S. industry spokesman said March 16. But the size of the additional market access has not been determined,

Trade Risk In Emerging-Country Farm Policies

Steps taken by major emerging economies to counter food price volatility and spur farm development have in many cases undermined international trade, the OECD said March 17. In a report on farm policy in seven emerging countries – Brazil, Chile, China, India, Russia, South Africa and Ukraine – the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development


U. S. Lawmaker Blasts China Food Safety

The United States has “serious issues” with food imports from China and needs to do more to prevent contaminated products from entering the U. S. food supply, an influential House lawmaker said March 18. At the same time, Washington needs to toughen up its own outdated food safety laws after a series of food recalls

EU Farm Export Refunds Seen Unlikely After 2013

The European Union will use export refunds (subsidies) as an emergency measure to support agricultural prices until 2013 but must then find new mechanisms, a leading official with the European Commission said March 11. If world prices are lower than internal support levels, the EU refunds the difference to exporters. “I personally don’t see that