Stories by roberto-samora | Canadian Cattlemen

A tract of Amazon jungle burns as it is cleared by farmers at Rio Pardo in Brazil’s Rondonia state on Sept. 15, 2019. (File photo: Reuters/Ricardo Moraes)

JBS vows to monitor whole cattle supply chain’s impact on Amazon

Packer plans to move against cattle 'laundering'

By roberto-samora, GFM Network News September 23, 2020

Sao Paulo | Reuters — JBS SA, the world’s top meatpacker, said Wednesday it plans to combat destruction in the Amazon by monitoring its entire supply chain for deforestation by 2025, as pressure mounts from environmentalists and investors. Brazilian meatpackers are facing increasing criticism that beef production is fueling deforestation in the Amazon, where cleared […] Read more

Crops, Reuters, Soybeans

Brazil farmers push traders to end Amazon soy moratorium

By roberto-samora November 6, 2019

Sao Paulo | Reuters – Brazilian farmers plan to start a campaign next week to end a ban by trading firms on buying soybeans from parts of the Amazon rainforest cleared after 2008, leaders from a major farmer group told Reuters, citing support from President Jair Bolsonaro. The push to end traders’ voluntary “soy moratorium” — one […] Read more

File photo of wheat being loaded onto a bulk vessel at port in Russia. (YGrek/iStock/Getty Images)

Crops, Markets, Reuters, Spring Wheat

Brazil expected to introduce tariff-free wheat import quota from 2020

By roberto-samora September 3, 2019

Sao Paulo | Reuters — Brazil is expected to introduce a tariff-free wheat import quota of 750,000 tonnes per year starting from 2020, the president of the country’s wheat industry group Abitrigo, Rubens Barbosa, said on Tuesday. Brazil announced the opening of the tariff-free wheat import quota earlier this year in connection with President Jair […] Read more

A soybean plantation in Brazil. Genetically modified soybeans that rely on glyphosate for weed control are planted across the country. (MailsonPignata/iStock/Getty Images)

Crops, Reuters

Brazil judge suspends use of glyphosate herbicide

By roberto-samora August 7, 2018

Sao Paulo | Reuters – A Brazilian judge has suspended the use of products containing the agrochemical glyphosate, a herbicide widely employed for soybeans and other crops in the country. A federal judge in Brasilia ruled on Friday that new products containing the chemical could not be registered in the country and existing registrations would […] Read more

A coffee planter shows his coffee plantation in a farm in Sao Desiderio, Bahia state, Brazil on March 21. (Photo: Reuters/Roberto Samora)

Crops, Reuters, Soybeans

Coffee may profit more than soy in Brazil’s new farming frontier

By roberto-samora March 27, 2018

Luis Eduardo Magalhaes, Brazil | Reuters –– Farmers tending vast, flat soy and cotton fields that spread as far as the eye can see in northeastern Brazil are finding that coffee crops might provide higher profits in the country’s agricultural frontier. More coffee farms are being developed in the western part of Bahia state, which […] Read more

Beef Cattle, Livestock, Reuters

Brazil farm minister heads to U.S. over fresh beef ban

By Bruno Federowski, roberto-samora June 23, 2017

Sao Paulo | Reuters — Brazil’s agriculture minister prepared to travel to the U.S. on Friday to fight a ban on imports of fresh Brazilian beef, which hit shares of local meatpackers and revived concerns about the image of the world’s largest beef exporter. “We will fight for this market!” said the minister, billionaire soy […] Read more

Livestock, Reuters

JBS scandal might reduce Brazil meat supplies, industry group says

By Ana Mano, roberto-samora May 27, 2017

Sao Paulo/Cuiaba | Reuters — An unfolding corruption scandal involving meatpacker JBS SA may reduce meat supply in Brazil, potentially benefiting rivals of the world’s largest beef exporter, industry group Abrafrigo said. Since the scandal broke, JBS and ranchers have been at odds, with the company deciding to stop buying cattle for cash and producers […] Read more

Cereals, Corn, Crops, Markets, Reuters

Exporters fear Brazil agents’ strike could hurt corn exports

By roberto-samora September 20, 2015

Sao Paulo | Reuters — A strike by Brazilian federal agricultural agents responsible for approving certificates required for shipments could affect Brazil’s corn exports, the director of the cereal exporters association Anec Sergio Mendes said Friday. Mendes said the strike that started on Thursday was “the worst thing that could happen” to grain exports, though […] Read more

General, Markets

Brazil food safety agents start open-ended strike at ports

By roberto-samora August 16, 2013

Food safety inspectors responsible for clearing agricultural goods at Brazilian ports went on an open-ended strike Friday morning, saying there was political mismanagement and businesses were meddling in their agency. Wilson Roberto de Sa, president of federal food safety inspectors union ANFFA, said more than 80 per cent of the agents who clear all of […] Read more

Crops, Markets

Brazil faces prolonged regional wheat shortage after frosts

By roberto-samora July 26, 2013

Several days of frost this week over Brazil’s southern wheat belt has destroyed as much as 5 per cent of the national crop and will prolong the shortage of the grain on the regional market where prices are in record territory, the local flour milling industry association said on Friday. Board Chairman Marcelo Vosnika of […] Read more

Forecast, flea beetles complicate canola timing

CN bid for U.S. railway poses greater risk to competition, DOJ says

Barge backlog starts moving as Mississippi River reopens

GFM Network News