Agriculture

• Monday, July 4th 2011 - 19:18 UTC

  EU/Mercosur launch ‘timid’ sixth round of trade negotiations in Brussels

  

  Mercosur/European sixth round of negotiations to reach a wide ranging cooperation and trade agreement took off Monday in Brussels, but rather timidly with no immediate prospects of an exchange of proposals for market access.

• Friday, July 1st 2011 - 15:46 UTC

  Expected bumper crop in US makes corn prices suffer its biggest fall in 15 years

  

  The price of corn suffered its biggest fall for 15 years on Thursday, prompting speculation that the high cost of food may start to ease. Corn prices dropped 10% after a US Department of Agriculture report that farmers are sowing unexpectedly large amounts of the grain.

• Friday, July 1st 2011 - 06:46 UTC

  Desforestation in Brazil doubles, in anticipation of an amnesty for illegal logging

  

  Deforestation rates in the Brazilian Amazon, the world’s biggest rain forest, more than doubled last month as farmers become more confident they’ll be granted amnesty for illegal logging.

• Friday, July 1st 2011 - 06:29 UTC

  Australian MPs plant to limit purchase of prime farmland by foreigners

  

  Australian lawmakers are demanding a review of foreign investment rules to stop foreign mining companies, including those from China, buying up prime farmland.

• Friday, July 1st 2011 - 06:23 UTC

  EU farm budget frozen for next seven years and conditioned to ‘greening’

  

  The European Union has published its long-awaited budget, which will see spending on the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) frozen for the next seven years and make 30% of direct support conditional on ‘greening’.

• Tuesday, June 28th 2011 - 06:01 UTC

  Avoid raw sprouts and seeds to prevent outbreak of E. coli, say Dutch and UK health officials

  

  Dutch and British health officials advised people to avoid raw sprouts and seeds after scientists linked an outbreak of E. coli in France to a highly toxic one in Germany that has killed 47 people.

• Monday, June 27th 2011 - 06:40 UTC

  Global rice production reaches 476 million tons in 2011; strong Mercosur recovery

  

  Global rice production is expected to touch 476 million tons in 2011, on the back of improved weather conditions, as the influence of La Niña is expected to neutralize by June, United Nation’s body FAO said.

• Monday, June 27th 2011 - 06:30 UTC

  Food inflation in Latam and Caribbean averaged 7.4% in May

  

  The inflation for food items in Latin America and the Caribbean reached 7.4% in May, according to FAO. The sharp rise in the regional prices was attributed to an even sharper increase in food prices which on a world wide basis rose 37% in May compared to world food prices in May 2010, the FAO said in a report from its regional headquarters in Chile.

• Monday, June 27th 2011 - 06:19 UTC

  Argentina’s soy bean crop will represent 8bn USD in levies for the Treasury

  

  Soy export taxes for the 2010/2011 crop will represent 8 billion US dollars for the Argentine Treasury compared to 6.3bn in the previous season, according to estimates from the country’s Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock.

• Friday, June 24th 2011 - 19:08 UTC

  Argentina’s trade surplus in May rose 29%; imports soared 39%

  

  Argentina's trade surplus in May rose 29% from the previous month, thanks to high prices for the country's exports of grains and manufactured goods, the national statistics agency said Thursday.