Several US states, spear headed by Florida are on a campaign to ban the sale and distribution of lab-grown or cultivated meat. The process of making cultivated meat involves extracting cells from an animal, which are then fed with nutrients such as proteins, sugars and fats, and they were first cleared for consumption in the US in 2022. The end product is genetically indistinguishable from traditionally produced meat.
Paraguayan President Santiago Peña and Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida met Friday in Asunción to strengthen bilateral ties as well as to further discuss a free trade agreement (FTA) with the Southern Common Market (Mercosur). Peña, who holds the group's rotating presidency, expressed in a statement his “fervent desire” to “move forward with a free trade agreement between Mercosur and Japan.”
Argentina's 2024 exports of soybean, corn, wheat, sunflower, and barley have been projected to reach barely US$ 29.3 billion, which would represent a US$ 5.7 billion recovery from 2023 but a US$ 1.7 billion slump compared to the last five years' average, the Grain Stock Exchange in Rosario (BCR) announced in its latest Guía Estratégica para el Agro (GEA) report. The new figures represent an 18% downward revision from December's calculations.
The United States Senate last week passed a resolution overturning the US Department of Agriculture rule allowing Paraguayan fresh beef imports. The next step in the process in the House of Representatives where the show of bipartisan consensus is expected to be repeated, reported the US Beef Newsletter.
Uruguay's rural producers underlined that the constant appreciation of the local peso against the US dollar was detrimental to their exporting activities and insisted that the appropriate exchange rate should be US$ 1 = UY$ 58 instead of UY$ 37.5, which represents a 3.9% drop so far this year.
Presidents Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Emmanuel Macron launched Tuesday in Belém a € 1 billion investment bioeconomy program for the Brazilian Legal Amazon as well as for the part of the Amazon within French Guiana to raise funds through public and private investments over the next four years, Agencia Brasil reported.
It's rice harvest time in Uruguay, and the country expects to collect over a million tons of the cereal which is enjoying a favorable international prices prospect since the world's main exporter India, has dropped out of the market. The production of Uruguay's 150,000 hectares of rice paddies are expected to bring in close to US$ 700 million in exports this year, which will be higher than the US$ 550/600 million from the 2023 harvest.
Growers from Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay Tuesday launched the South American Federation of Yerba Mate Producers to protect and promote their activity and work toward its worldwide dissemination, it was announced in Buenos Aires. The founders of the new guild highlighted mate's value as a natural and healthy food in the global market.
European Parliament elections are scheduled for next June, so the European Commission faced with growing protests from farmers and their marches on some of the main cities, Berlin, France and Brussels, has in response proposed concessions on climate and environmental measures.
The administration of Argentine president Javier Milei announced last week plans for a US$550 million investment to build a new port in the Rosario region, the country's major grains and oilseeds hub.