Agriculture

• Wednesday, November 8th 2017 - 18:30 UTC

  Stop using antibiotics in healthy animals to prevent the spread of resistance, warns WHO

  

  The World Health Organization is recommending that farmers and the food industry stop using antibiotics routinely to promote growth and prevent disease in healthy animals.

• Wednesday, November 8th 2017 - 12:26 UTC

  Irish “grave concerns” about the beef industry with the EU/Mercosur trade deal

  

  Ireland's Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed has expressed “grave concerns” about the offer of a beef tariff rate quota in last month’s round of European Union/Mercosur discussions, which he said gives rise to potentially very serious consequences for the Irish and EU beef sector in particular.

• Wednesday, November 8th 2017 - 07:35 UTC

  Finnish company sets out conditions for the building of a second pulp mill in Uruguay

  

  Finland's UPM and the Government of Uruguay have signed an investment agreement, which outlines the local prerequisites for a potential pulp mill investment. The agreement details the roles, commitments and time-line for both parties as well as the relevant items to be agreed prior to the final investment decision, reported the Finnish company in a release on Tuesday.

• Wednesday, November 8th 2017 - 05:17 UTC

  Nidera Seeds, which operates mostly in Latin America, sold to Syngenta

  

  Chinese grains trader COFCO International has agreed to sell its crop seeds business to Swiss-based Syngenta AG as it overhauls its activities following a series of major overseas acquisitions The deal to sell Nidera Seeds, which operates in Latin America, was announced by COFCO International and Syngenta in a statement on Monday.

• Saturday, November 4th 2017 - 10:45 UTC

  Argentina and Peru try to sort out ethanol dispute and sign accord to promote overall trade

  

  Argentina and Peru are seeking to resolve a dispute stemming from Peru’s decision to apply anti-dumping tariffs on imports of Argentine biodiesel a year ago, Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski said on Friday.

• Saturday, November 4th 2017 - 10:40 UTC

  Brazil becoming main supplier of soybean to China at peak US marketing season

  

  Brazil is expected to win a larger share of China’s soybean imports in coming months, hitting U.S. exporters during the peak marketing season for their most valuable farm product as the world grapples with a fifth consecutive bumper crop.

• Wednesday, November 1st 2017 - 08:53 UTC

  Farmers' lobby chief becomes Argentine Agriculture ministry head; ex minister to Brussels to negotiate EU/Mercosur deal

  

  Argentina will replace Agriculture Minister Ricardo Buryaile with Luis Miguel Etchevehere, currently the president of the Argentine Rural Society, the powerful agriculture and livestock industry group, Cabinet Chief Marcos Pena said on Tuesday. Buryaile will next serve as Argentina's ambassador to the European Union.

• Wednesday, November 1st 2017 - 08:02 UTC

  Europe prepares to have jets fly with an eco-fuel mix from vegetable oil and animal fat plus kerosene

  

  Jets in Europe will soon run on eco-fuel produced from vegetable oil and animal fat. The new fuel will be mixed with traditional kerosene. According to latest reports, planes running on the mixture of renewable and traditional fuel will start flying next year from Geneva in Switzerland.

• Friday, October 27th 2017 - 22:47 UTC

  Glyphosate debate divides Europe and it fails to vote on license extension

  

  European Union countries failed this week to vote on a license extension for weed-killer glyphosate, delaying again a decision on the widely used herbicide that critics say could cause cancer. The EU said in a statement the relevant committee did not hold a vote at a meeting and that it would announce the date of the next meeting shortly.

• Thursday, October 26th 2017 - 02:26 UTC

  World wine production at its lowest in 50 years; Europe hard hit, but Argentina will see 25% increase

  

  World wine production is having a historically bad year. Europe, home to the world's leading wine producers, is making wine at significantly lower levels than usual – and that's because of “extreme weather events” such as frost and drought that have damaged vineyards, according to the International Organization of Vine and Wine, (OIV)