Agriculture

• Monday, June 14th 2010 - 04:17 UTC

  Cuba for the first time names agronomist as Minister of Agriculture

  

  Cuba has removed General Ulises Rosales Toro as agricultural minister and made him a technical adviser for the island's sugar, agricultural and food production industries. A government statement Saturday characterized the move as a promotion for Rosales. He remains a member of the powerful Politburo.

• Thursday, June 10th 2010 - 06:52 UTC

  Cuba is coffee dry: the country has become a net importer of the bean

  

  Cuban coffee production tumbled 90% in the last few years forcing the government of President Raul Castro to spend 50 million US dollars annually in importing the beans to ensure domestic consumption revealed the official weekly Trabajadores.

• Thursday, June 10th 2010 - 06:07 UTC

  Brazil expects 145.8 million tons crop in 2010; soybeans area up 7.2%

  

  Brazil's crop will reach 145.8 million tons in 2010, up 8.8% from 2009, according to a May projection released on Tuesday by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). The projection is 0.5% lower than April’s, released in May.

• Friday, June 4th 2010 - 22:44 UTC

  Soy consumption could help with prostate cancer and baldness, say scientists

  

  Scientists have claimed that eating soy could help prevent men from developing prostate cancer and from going bald. US researchers found a molecule produced in the intestine when soy is digested stops a hormone which can fuel prostate growth or cause baldness.

• Monday, May 31st 2010 - 01:18 UTC

  Brazil has become a “haven” for the use of world banned agro-toxics

  

  Brazil in recent years has become the main destination for agro-toxic products banned in Europe, United States and most of South America’s countries with strong farm sectors. Brazilian farmers make unrestricted use of ten to twelve chemicals which are specifically banned in the European Union, United States and most of South America claims O Estado de Sao Paulo.

• Tuesday, May 25th 2010 - 10:26 UTC

  Argentina’s Soy King praises Uruguay and its farming revolution

  

  Gustavo Grobocopatel also known as the Soy King of Argentina praised Uruguay’s conditions for corporate growth and said the country in the last seven years has undergone “revolutionary changes”.

• Friday, May 21st 2010 - 02:15 UTC

  South American bumper soy beans crop to push prices down

  

  The specialized publication Oil World raised its forecast for the world 2009/2010 soy beans crop in 47.6 million tons compared to the previous season, totalling 258.9 million tons. The upward estimate is boosted by the South American crop which will be 37 million tons larger than the 134 million tons of the 2008/09 harvest.

• Friday, May 21st 2010 - 01:31 UTC

  Uruguay’s rice harvest reached 1.15 million tons; good prospects for next crop

  

  Uruguay’s 2010 harvest of clean, dry rice reached 1.15 million tons with an average yield per hectare of 7.094 kilos. Total area planted was 161.900 hectares according to Uruguay’s Ministry of Agriculture Statistics Office.

• Thursday, May 20th 2010 - 21:07 UTC

  Argentine farmers furious with government’s handling of relations with China

  

  Argentine Small Farmers Association (FAA) leader Eduardo Buzzi charged against the government over China's decision of suspending all Argentine soybean oil imports which is considered by many as retaliation to some restrictions that the Cristina Fernández de Kirchner's administration imposed on Chinese products.

• Tuesday, May 18th 2010 - 04:29 UTC

  Cuba scraps bureaucracy to help farmers boost food production

  

  Cuba's private farmers will in future purchase supplies directly instead of having them allocated by the state, the government said on Sunday, in the latest concession to demands for more autonomy.