Agriculture

• Monday, August 13th 2018 - 19:53 UTC

  Bayer confident glyphosate is safe for use and does not cause cancer

  

  Pharmaceutical group Bayer has dismissed claims that an ingredient used in weed killers is carcinogenic. The German company, which owns agriculture giant Monsanto, says herbicides containing glyphosate are safe.

• Saturday, August 11th 2018 - 09:53 UTC

  Monsanto loses Roundup weed killer case and will have to pay US$ 289 million

  

  A San Francisco jury on Friday ordered agribusiness giant Monsanto to pay US$ 289 million to a former school groundskeeper dying of cancer, saying the company's popular Roundup weed killer contributed to his disease.

• Thursday, August 9th 2018 - 08:15 UTC

  Cuban private farmers given more incentives to increase production

  

  Cuba said this week it was doubling the amount of land it granted would-be farmers and the lengths of their leases in an effort to increase stagnating agricultural output. The state owns 80% of the land and leases most of that to farmers and cooperatives. The remainder is owned by some 400,000 private family farmers and their cooperatives.

• Thursday, August 9th 2018 - 07:13 UTC

  Parana River low water level increasing freight costs for cereal transport

  

  Large grain transport ships using Argentine’s port hub of Rosario have had to reduce their cargo by between 3,200 and 4,300 tons because of an unusually low water level in the Parana River, the Rosario grains exchange said this week.

• Thursday, August 9th 2018 - 07:02 UTC

  Argentina expecting a bumper 2018/19 wheat crop of some 20m tons

  

  Argentine farmers are finishing this year's wheat sowing, helped by moist soils and cold weather that is prolonging the vegetative stage of crops, raising hopes of high yields and a record harvest, growers and analysts said on Wednesday. Cold Southern Hemisphere winter weather allows seedlings to grow more sprigs per plant. Harvesting starts in November.

• Wednesday, August 8th 2018 - 09:50 UTC

  UK farmers call to make food security a priority for a post Brexit scenario

  

  British farmers have called on the government to make food security a top priority on the day the country’s cupboards would run bare if households relied only on British produce. A long-term decline in self-sufficiency that has stagnated at around 60% in recent years means around three quarters of the shortfall is imported from the rest of the European Union.

• Monday, August 6th 2018 - 07:45 UTC

  UK embassy in Uruguay co-organizes major agriculture academic competition

  

  The British Embassy in Montevideo, Cuti, ARU and ANDE are co-organizing the third edition of Hackathon AGRO which will take place at Expo Prado 2018 on 14-16 September. Hackathon AGRO is an open competition for Uruguayan teams made up of researchers, entrepreneurs and experts in Information Technologies, Agro and Business.

• Monday, August 6th 2018 - 06:45 UTC

  East Australia suffering worst drought in living memory: massive cull of livestock

  

  The worst drought in living memory is sweeping parts of eastern Australia, leaving farmers struggling to cope and asking questions about their future. Record-low rainfall in some regions and successive seasons of above-average temperatures have blighted vast tracts of Australia's grazing and crop land.

• Friday, August 3rd 2018 - 07:48 UTC

  Falklands contrasting opinions on the Sao Paulo air link consequences

  

  The Falkland Islands government preferred choice for a second commercial flight to the South American continent has met with contrasting opinions as to the practical and potential future consequences of the Sao Paulo destination.This was clearly expressed in the Letters chapter of the Penguin News. One of them comes from the FI Chamber of Commerce, and the second from the main importer of fresh produce to the Islands.

• Friday, August 3rd 2018 - 07:24 UTC

  Falklands: Sao Paulo as second commercial flight draws strong local response

  

  The Falkland Island Government’s announcement of their preferred option for a second commercial flight between the Falklands and South America has been met with both applause and outrage, reports the latest edition of the Islands' weekly, Penguin News.