Reuters — Mondelez International, the maker of Cadbury chocolates and Oreo cookies, said it would stop using eggs laid by caged hens for its products sold in Canada and the U.S. by 2020. Formed in 2012 by Kraft Foods’ spinoff of its grocery business, including the Christie and Nabisco cookie and cracker lines, Mondelez joins […] Read more
Snack maker Mondelez plans for cage-free eggs by 2020
FAO seeks help for drought-ravaged Ethiopia
Rome | Reuters — Ethiopia faces its worst drought in decades, leading the United Nations’ food agency to call on Friday for an emergency cash injection of US$50 million to help the country overcome the crisis. Crop production has fallen up to 90 per cent in some regions and failed completely in the country’s east, […] Read more
EU to review use of last-resort antibiotic on farms
London | Reuters — European drug regulators launched a review on Jan. 11 of the use in farming of a key last-line antibiotic called colistin, after international research found alarming evidence of a gene that makes bacteria resistant to the drug. The London-based European Medicines Agency (EMA) said it was responding to a European Commission […] Read more
U.S. forecaster sees El Nino conditions weakening
Reuters — The El Nino phenomenon currently affecting weather is expected to weaken during the Northern Hemisphere spring and transition to normal conditions by late spring or early summer, a U.S. government weather forecaster said Thursday. The Climate Prediction Center (CPC), an agency of the National Weather Service, was in line in its monthly forecast […] Read more
Syngenta still looking at different tie-ups
Zug | Reuters — Syngenta is in talks about a possible merger and is weighing a number of options, the Swiss agrichemicals group’s chairman said Wednesday. Michel Demare said last month that the crop chemicals and seeds company was in talks with China’s state-owned ChemChina, U.S. seeds giant Monsanto and others. When asked about the […] Read more
China and vessel glut drive Baltic index to fresh low
Reuters — The Baltic Exchange’s main sea freight index, which tracks rates for ships carrying industrial commodities, slid to a fifth consecutive record low on Monday on economic worries about China and a surplus of vessels. The overall index, gauging the cost of shipping dry bulk cargoes including grain, iron ore, cement, coal and fertilizers, […] Read more
Korea finds hogs infected with foot-and-mouth
Seoul | Reuters –– South Korea has detected foot-and-mouth in a southwestern hog farm, the first such discovery in nine months and a blow to authorities pushing to contain the disease. The case involved a type of the disease that animals are inoculated against in South Korea, with all 670 hogs at the infected farm […] Read more
Switzerland asks voters not to ban farm derivatives trade
Zurich | Reuters –– Switzerland’s government on Tuesday urged voters to reject a campaign to ban trading in agricultural derivatives, saying the well-meaning attempt to alleviate world hunger would not succeed and only jeopardize Swiss jobs and tax revenue. The “No Speculation with Food” initiative is subject of a binding referendum on Feb. 28 under […] Read more
Saudi dairy firm buying California land for fodder
Reuters –– Saudi Arabia’s Almarai, the largest dairy company in the Gulf, has spent C$45 million to buy land in California to supply its business with alfalfa hay, it said Sunday. The 1,790 acres of land at Blythe — in the state’s southeast corner, about 200 km east of Palm Springs — was acquired through […] Read more
China says must change corn supports to clear stockpile
Beijing | Reuters — China must lower corn prices to reduce its massive corn stockpile and curb imports of corn substitutes including barley, sorghum and distillers’ grain, state media quoted a senior agricultural official as saying. Chen Xiwen, deputy director of the Central Rural Work Leading Group, said China needed to modify its reserve-based crop […] Read more
Canadian Cattlemen Presents: Depth of Field
