Agriculture

• Friday, January 13th 2012 - 21:02 UTC

  Trade of illegal pesticides booming in Europe under control of organized crime

  

  The trade of illegal and counterfeit pesticides is proliferating in Europe reports Europol. The exceptional ‘low risk – high profit’ margin, combined with the lack of harmonisation in legislation and implementation, make this a fast growing area of organised crime.

• Thursday, January 12th 2012 - 21:52 UTC

  FAO Food prices index in spite of mild drop, reached highest average in 2011

  

  Food prices fell in December 2011 with the FAO Food Price Index dropping 2.4%, or five points from November, FAO said on Thursday. At its new level of 211 points, the Index was 11.3% (27 points) below its peak in February 2011.

• Wednesday, January 11th 2012 - 06:38 UTC

  Brazil targets record harvest of 160.3 million tons of grains and oilseeds in 2012

  

  The Brazilian government lowered 0.1% its estimate for the 2012 harvest that should reach 160.3 million tons, considered a record volume. Overall this year’s harvest should be 0.3% above the 159.9 million tons of 2011, according to data from the Brazilian Geography and Statistics Office, IBGE.

• Wednesday, January 11th 2012 - 06:30 UTC

  Argentine farm leader says Agriculture minister is not qualified and knows little about droughts

  

  An Argentine farmers’ leader said that Agriculture Minister Norberto Yauhar who tried to downplay the seriousness of the current drought for crops, “is not qualified for the job, plus knows very little about droughts”.

• Tuesday, January 10th 2012 - 05:59 UTC

  Chile preparing forest restoration plan for ravaged areas of Torres del Paine Park

  

  As emergency workers finish extinguishing the last traces of fire in Torres del Paine National Park, now the Chilean government is beginning to look at the next critical phase in handling the disaster in Chile’s world-famous adventure destination.

• Tuesday, January 10th 2012 - 05:57 UTC

  Chilean per capita meat consumption has doubled in the last two decades

  

  In the last two decades Chileans consumption of different meats has doubled according to data from the Agriculture Policy and Studies Office, ODEPA, released this week. From the 39.6 kilos of 1991, meats consumption soared in 2011 to 84.2 kilos on average, and not taking into account fish and sea food.

• Tuesday, January 10th 2012 - 05:54 UTC

  FMD in Paraguay: 168 livestock sacrificed and major investigation into previous outbreak

  

  Paraguay veterinary services concluded Monday midday the termination of 168 livestock mostly belonging to a farm where an outbreak of foot and mouth disease was confirmed 2 January in the county of San Pedro to the centre north of the country.

• Tuesday, January 10th 2012 - 05:53 UTC

  Chavez and Ahmadinejad mock 'US imperialism' and joke about having an atomic bomb

  

  Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Venezuela's Hugo Chávez lavished each other with praise on Monday, mocked US disapproval and joked about having an atomic bomb at their disposal.

• Tuesday, January 10th 2012 - 05:49 UTC

  Bush fires in Patagonian Chubut out of control; several towns evacuated

  

  Authorities from the Argentine Patagonia province of Chubut issued a red alert on the fires that affect forest areas and decided to evacuate El Hoyo town, while 40 Chilean fire-fighters were expected to arrive to the mountain region to help put out the bush fires.

• Monday, January 9th 2012 - 06:49 UTC

  Argentine Farming emergency committee meets this week to address extreme drought

  

  The Argentine Agriculture Ministry has summoned the Committee on Farming Emergency and anticipated it would engage in “surgical work” in order to reach “all areas of the farming sector” suffering from extreme drought.