Agriculture

• Saturday, November 21st 2015 - 08:09 UTC

  High expectations in Argentina of a record soybean sowing in 2015/16

  

  Argentina's much-watched soybean sowings will set a record this season, but the country is heading for a weaker wheat harvest, despite ideas of “very good” yields, the country's farm ministry said. In its first estimate the ministry said soybean sowings for 2015-16, pegged area at 20.6m hectares, a rise of 800,000 hectares year on year.

• Thursday, November 12th 2015 - 10:04 UTC

  Brazil increases soybean forecast output to 102.8m tons for the 2015/16 season

  

  The Brazilian government increased its forecasts for what’s already expected to be a record season for soybean output and exports as farmers expand the planted area while yield prospects rise on above-average rainfall.

• Wednesday, November 11th 2015 - 07:25 UTC

  Argentine agro-business shares booming on presidential candidates' pledges

  

  Argentina's agro-business shares are booming in the Buenos Aires stock exchange since 26 October, following the first round of the presidential election, and expectations are even greater on the promises from the two candidates that will be disputing the runoff on 22 November.

• Tuesday, November 10th 2015 - 06:33 UTC

  FAO food commodity prices rose in October 3.9%, but 16% down from a year earlier

  

  The FAO Food Price Index averaged nearly 162 points in October, up 3.9% from September, while still down 16% from a year earlier. FAO's latest Cereal supply and Demand Brief slightly trimmed its October 2015 forecast for global cereal production and now projects production at 2.53 billion tons, 1.1% below last year's record output

• Friday, November 6th 2015 - 08:40 UTC

  Monsanto GM seeds blocked from two Mexican states; consultation with local communities mandatory

  

  Monsanto, the world's largest seed company, has been blocked from planting genetically modified soy seeds in the southern Mexican states of Campeche and Yucatan after the country's Supreme Court granted an injunction against the country’s agriculture ministry, teleSur reported.

• Thursday, November 5th 2015 - 05:51 UTC

  Argentine farmers hold on to their crops waiting for electoral promises, but 'dry' central bank reserves

  

  Argentina's election season has dramatically changed the agricultural landscape in the country, one of the world's breadbaskets. Exporters are now more confident than ever that profits will soar next year, creating a short term impact of plunging sales abroad and reduced cash-flow in the Argentine Central Bank’s coffers, although that could change in 2016.

• Sunday, October 25th 2015 - 10:16 UTC

  Monsanto in the dock? possible mass tort civil action against glyphosate

  

  Personal injury law firms around the United States are lining up plaintiffs for what they say could be “mass tort” civil actions against agrochemical giant Monsanto that claim the company’s Roundup herbicide has caused cancer in farm workers and others exposed to the chemical.

• Saturday, October 24th 2015 - 09:11 UTC

  Wealthy nations expenditure on its farmers far outstrips global food aid

  

  Wealthy nations spend 20 times more on farm subsidies than the US$12 billion they allocate to food aid and support for poor farmers annually, John McArthur, a senior fellow with the Brookings Institution, the think-tank which led the new research, said.

• Tuesday, October 13th 2015 - 07:00 UTC

  Brazilian recession begins to hit US companies profits and shares

  

  Agricultural giant FMC is the latest company to warn about operations in Brazil and now the stock is crashing. On Monday the $5 billion agricultural company announced that it would lay off 800-850 people — saving the company about $150 million a year by 2017 — while also cutting its profit outlook for the third quarter and all of 2015.

• Monday, October 5th 2015 - 23:20 UTC

  Agricultural expansion main factor of Brazil's deforestation and it's expanding

  

  Agricultural expansion is the chief contributing factor to the deforestation of Brazilian ecosystems and has accelerated in recent years, according to an official study released last week.