Agriculture

• Friday, December 24th 2010 - 08:06 UTC

  Uruguay under agriculture “state of emergency” because of lack of rains

  

  The Uruguayan government declared Thursday an “agriculture state of emergency” because of the drought situation to the north of the country. The declaration opens the way to grant small farmers government support.

• Thursday, December 23rd 2010 - 08:39 UTC

  Brazilian soy crop estimate up; coffee prices reach a 13-year high

  

  Soybean growers in Brazil, the world’s largest producer after the U.S., may harvest more of the oilseeds next year than the government estimated earlier this month, Agriculture Minister Wagner Rossi said on Wednesday.

• Saturday, December 18th 2010 - 21:08 UTC

  Chilean wine industry booming: sales up 10% and exports 11.7%

  

  Between Jan and Oct 2010, 83 of the top 100 Chilean wineries increased their sales of bottled wine. According to figures from Wines of Chile, 68 of these wineries increased sales by more than 10%. Exports have increased by 11.7% compared to figures during the same period in 2009.

• Saturday, December 18th 2010 - 18:47 UTC

  Satellite data provide new way to monitor groundwater in agricultural regions

  

  When you dive into that salad full of lettuce grown in the United States West, there’s a good chance you are enjoying the product of irrigation from an underground water source. These hidden groundwater systems are precious resources that need careful management, but regulatory groups have a hard time monitoring them, owing to a lack of accurate data.

• Saturday, December 18th 2010 - 00:22 UTC

  Chilean Senators warn about ‘social impact’ of cheap US dollar for farm areas

  

  Senators representing agricultural parts of Chile strongly criticized the Central Bank and President Sebastian Piñera this week for turning a deaf ear to the “social, cultural and economic problems” created by the falling value of the US dollar, now hovering at 470 pesos to the dollar.

• Thursday, December 16th 2010 - 17:24 UTC

  Chilean farmers predict agriculture upturn for 2011

  

  The National Agriculture Society (SNA) this week predicted 2 to 4% growth in 2011 for Chile’s agriculture-based industries, compared to this current year’s dismal 1.9% growth.

• Monday, December 13th 2010 - 00:58 UTC

  EC begins crucial discussions on fisheries and agricultural policies reforms

  

  The European Commission Agriculture and Fisheries Council meets Monday in Brussels to begin the discussion process of the Common Agriculture Policy proposals recently set out. In the fisheries chapter the Council is expected to reach a political agreement on two regulations fixing the fishing opportunities for 2011 regarding certain fish stocks and groups of fish stocks applicable

• Thursday, December 2nd 2010 - 21:56 UTC

  Paraguayan grains and oil seeds 2010 crop reached a record 12.7 million tons

  

  Paraguay summer and winter crops in 2010 totalled 12.688.908 tons establishing a new record according to agronomist Luis Cubilla from the Agriculture Biotechnology Institute. The last best harvest was in 2008 with 10.5 million tons.

• Friday, November 26th 2010 - 23:59 UTC

  Russia orders 3 million tons of Argentine animal-feed corn; first delivery January

  

  Russia is interested in purchasing 3 million tons of Argentine animal feed corn to supply its domestic market following the catastrophic drought and fires suffered by the country during summer months in the northern hemisphere.

• Thursday, November 25th 2010 - 20:58 UTC

  World corn production slightly lower; lowest inventory in four years

  

  World corn production will be 0.5% lower than forecast last month as reduced U.S. and Brazilian crops result in smaller-than-estimated inventories, the International Grains Council reported on Thursday.