Reuters — Canadian convenience store operator Alimentation Couche-Tard said on Monday it would buy U.S. convenience store chain CST Brands in a deal valued at about US$4.4 billion, boosting its presence in the southeastern U.S. and Eastern Canada. San Antonio, Texas-based CST is one of the largest publicly traded fuel retailers in North America and […] Read more

Couche-Tard to buy Corner Store owner in US$4.4B deal

U.S. watchdog clears ChemChina’s takeover of Syngenta
Zurich | Reuters — A U.S. regulator has cleared ChemChina’s US$43 billion takeover of Swiss pesticides and seeds group Syngenta, the companies said Monday, boosting chances that the largest foreign acquisition ever by a Chinese company will go through. The decision should remove significant uncertainty over whether the acquisition of the world’s largest pesticides maker […] Read more

Tisdale drops ‘Land of Rape and Honey’ slogan
Reuters — The Saskatchewan town of Tisdale is no longer the “Land of Rape and Honey,” it said on Monday, as it dropped a slogan that had been a constant source of complaints. The slogan referred to rapeseed, also known as canola, a major product of Tisdale and the surrounding region along with honey. But […] Read more

Monsanto reported giving Bayer limited access to its books
Frankfurt | Reuters — U.S. seed company Monsanto has given German suitor Bayer limited access to its books after turning down a sweetened US$64 billion takeover offer last month, two sources familiar with the situation told Reuters. The parties have not yet signed a non-disclosure agreement, which would allow Bayer to conduct due diligence, but […] Read more

Lack of grain storage seen as record Russian crop looms
Moscow | Reuters — Russia is facing a lack of grain storage as it remains on track to produce the largest cereals crop in post-Soviet history, the head of Russia’s Grain Union, a non-government farmers’ lobby group, said Tuesday. Arkady Zlochevsky, the head of the union, told a briefing in Moscow he expected a grain […] Read more

Trump names six U.S. governors as ag advisors
Chicago | Reuters — U.S. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump named 64 agriculture policy advisors on Tuesday, including the governors of Iowa and five other farm states and a former federal agriculture secretary. The announcement came as Trump, a New York businessman seeking his first elected office, looks to improve his standing among voters, particularly those […] Read more

Egypt tightens import quarantine rules on grains
Cairo | Reuters — Egypt has tightened its agriculture quarantine regulations, imposing a rule that will prevent grain shipments suspected of contamination from being offloaded until they receive test results, according to a letter sent to traders Monday. The rule comes just one month after the world’s biggest wheat buyer discontinued its controversial zero tolerance […] Read more

Egypt public prosecutor orders 13 arrested in wheat corruption case
Cairo | Reuters — Egypt’s public prosecutor has ordered the arrest of 13 people for 15 days pending an investigation into their role in a wheat procurement corruption scandal, judicial sources said on Saturday. Egypt, the world’s largest wheat importer, has been mired in controversy over its wheat supplies, with industry officials claiming that over […] Read more

Britain to plug EU funding gap for farms, colleges
London | Reuters — Britain will fill a gap of as much as 4.5 billion pounds (C$7.5 billion) in funding for agriculture, universities and its regions that will open up when Britain leaves the European Union, finance minister Philip Hammond said. Scientists, farmers and others who got EU funding were facing uncertainty after Britain voted […] Read more

JBS quarterly profits beat expectations
Sao Paulo | Reuters — Brazil’s JBS SA, the world’s largest meat processor, posted better than expected second-quarter profits on Wednesday, helped by a sharp increase in revenues from its pork business in the U.S., said the company. São Paulo-based JBS earned 1.657 billion reais (C$650 million) in net income last quarter, compared with 252 […] Read more