Agriculture

• Friday, April 27th 2012 - 23:11 UTC

  World Bank Food Price Watch jumped 8% in four months to March

  

  Global food prices increased by 8% from December 2011 to March 2012 due to higher oil prices, adverse weather conditions, and Asia’s strong demand for food imports, according to the World Bank Group’s latest Food Price Watch.

• Thursday, April 26th 2012 - 06:07 UTC

  Brazilian congress approves forest bill that further threatens Amazon basin

  

  Brazil’s Lower house of Congress on Wednesday approved a bill that weakens the country’s benchmark environmental law protecting the Amazon and other areas, a move that some fear will lead to a spike in deforestation.

• Monday, April 16th 2012 - 06:02 UTC

  Uruguay became prisoner of Argentina, when it rejected a free trade accord with the US

  

  Uruguay has fallen prisoner of Mercosur and Argentina because it did not sign the free trade agreement with the United States which was offered to the country in the previous government of Tabare Vazquez, said two-times President Julio Maria Sanguinetti.

• Saturday, April 14th 2012 - 06:17 UTC

  Ocampo drops out from World Bank bid; gives full support to Nigerian candidate

  

  Former Colombian finance minister Jose Antonio Ocampo ended his bid to become World Bank president on Friday, leaving two candidates in an unprecedented challenge to US control of the global development institution.

• Tuesday, April 10th 2012 - 23:10 UTC

  US confirms poor soy crops in Argentina and Brazil; prices soar to 2008 levels

  

  Drought in major soybean producers Brazil and Argentina cut their production more deeply than expected the US government said on Tuesday in a report that drove prices to near their highest since 2008.

• Wednesday, April 4th 2012 - 02:20 UTC

  Brazil soy farmers expected to plant a record acreage after this year’s dismal crop

  

  Brazilian farmers will likely plant at least 26.2 million hectares with soybeans in the next crop, up 1.1 million hectares from the current 2011-12 crop, forecaster Agroconsult said Tuesday.

• Tuesday, April 3rd 2012 - 03:47 UTC

  Food inflation in South America is higher than the average overall index

  

  In the last two years inflation in Latin America has stabilized varying between 6% and 7%, according to the latest monthly report from the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) regional office.

• Sunday, April 1st 2012 - 08:45 UTC

  Sanctions on Iran force Uruguay to propose Teheran rice for oil barter deal

  

  Uruguay will consult with Iran the possibility of exporting rice in exchange for oil, the government of President Jose Mujica said on Friday.

• Tuesday, March 27th 2012 - 12:31 UTC

  World’s main food suppliers host FAO regional conference in Buenos Aires

  

  Food and Agriculture Organization, FAO, opened Monday its Latin America and Caribbean Regional Conference in Buenos Aires which will extend until next Friday when it will announce the issues that will guide FAO actions worldwide.

• Thursday, March 22nd 2012 - 01:46 UTC

  China announces more purchases of soybean during the first half of the year

  

  Chinese State of Administration of Grains revealed that the world's top buyer of soybeans is on course to import 25% more in the first half of this year than the first six months of 2011, which will benefit major producers Argentina, Brazil and US.