Agriculture

• Monday, August 10th 2015 - 06:05 UTC

  Scotland to ban growing genetically modified crops

  

  Scotland is to ban the growing of genetically modified crops, the country's rural affairs secretary has announced. Richard Lochhead said the Scottish government was not prepared to “gamble” with the future of the country's £14bn food and drink sector.

• Monday, August 3rd 2015 - 09:29 UTC

  Argentine farmers at Palermo show opening: “please don't vote for 'populist adventures'”

  

  Argentine farmers have taken sides decisively ahead of events leading to the presidential election in October and the primaries next weekend. At the opening of the country's major Palermo agriculture show in Buenos Aires, the head of the Argentine Rural Society Luis Etchevehere called on his fellow citizens to avoid supporting “democratically elected leaders but intoxicated with authoritarianism” and “populist adventures”.

• Thursday, July 30th 2015 - 09:39 UTC

  Brazil's agriculture minister optimistic about a Mercosur/EU trade accord by end of the year

  

  Brazil' minister of agriculture Katia Abreu said she was very optimistic about Mercosur reaching a trade agreement with the European Union, and if there are problems look to Europe, because Mercosur members have almost agreed and finished their proposal.

• Monday, July 27th 2015 - 06:58 UTC

  Uruguay's meat exports in almost seven months close to the billion dollars

  

  Uruguay exports of meats reached 978 million dollars between January and 18 July of which 83% beef; 5,5% offal; 3% ovine; other industrialized meats 2.7% and 1.5% horse, according to the latest release from the country's Meats institute economics office, Inac.

• Thursday, July 23rd 2015 - 08:18 UTC

  Protesting French farmers promised €600m of emergency government help

  

  Dramatic protests across the north of France have won the country’s farmers €600m of emergency government help. This week thousands of tractors blockaded motorways and brought cities to a standstill, as the plight of producers dominated the nation’s news.

• Wednesday, July 22nd 2015 - 05:58 UTC

  French president to announce emergency measures in support of farmers

  

  President Francois Hollande has said he would unveil emergency measures to help France’s livestock and dairy farmers on Wednesday. Tuesday’s announcement came as as livestock farmers caused chaos in the north west of France, using tractors and trucks full of manure and rubble to block roads.

• Monday, July 20th 2015 - 07:37 UTC

  Dairy prices forecasted to continue falling as Southern hemisphere milking season takes off

  

  New Zealand dairy exporter Fonterra is cutting jobs in an effort to shore up its cash flows as a slump in global dairy demand, particularly from number one buyer China, threatens to snuff out the country’s “white gold rush.”

• Thursday, July 16th 2015 - 08:15 UTC

  Aphids beat latest 'odor' efforts to repel them and protect GM crops

  

  In what is described as a major blow to genetic modification of crops, a variety of wheat developed in the UK to repel pests has failed in field trials. The variety engineered to produce an odor that repels aphids, failed in the field test after it was successfully tested in the lab, proving a wide gap between lab and commercial application of the process.

• Monday, July 13th 2015 - 09:21 UTC

  Venezuela will stop buying Guyana rice amid escalating border dispute

  

  Venezuela has decided to stop buying much of Guyana's rice crop amid an escalating border dispute between the two neighboring countries, the Guyanese finance minister said. The administration of president Nicolas Maduro has in the past four years purchased about 40% of Guyana's rice production, about 200,000 tons, paying for it with oil that amounts to about half of Guyana's daily supply needs.

• Sunday, June 28th 2015 - 10:22 UTC

  Argentina's economy picks up 1.1% during first quarter compared to a year ago

  

  Argentina's GDP increased 1.1% during the first three months of 2015 compared to the same period last year, boosted by the domestic market and growths in the agricultural and construction sectors, the official Indec statistics bureau has revealed. This is the second quarter running that records an advance, following a drop in last year's third quarter.