WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Canada and the United States will make a final push to iron out differences on a pact to modernize the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) by a Friday deadline set by President Donald Trump, but the atmosphere soured late on Thursday according to a media report. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer […] Read more
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Russia’s Steppe to boost grain exports, seek Egypt opportunity
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian agriculture holding company Steppe plans to ramp up grain exports sharply this season, part of its bid to become one of top five traders of Russian grain by 2020, the company said in a statement on Tuesday. Steppe, part of Russian business conglomerate Sistema , will also seek to join the […] Read more
Appetite for destruction: Soy boom devours Brazil’s tropical savanna
CAMPOS LINDOS, Brazil, (Reuters) – When farmer Julimar Pansera purchased land in Brazil’s interior seven years ago, it was blanketed in tiers of fruit trees, twisted shrubs and the occasional palm standing tall in a thicket of undergrowth. He mowed down most of that vegetation, set it ablaze and started planting soybeans. Over the past […] Read more
Trump: NAFTA threatened, Mexico deal made
(Reuters) – The United States and Mexico agreed on Monday to a sweeping trade deal that pressures Canada to accept the new terms on autos trade, dispute settlement and agriculture to keep a trilateral North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said the White House is ready to notify the U.S. […] Read more
General Mills changing Nature Valley labels after lawsuit’s pesticide claim
General Mills Inc agreed to stop calling the oats in its Nature Valley granola bars 100 percent natural to settle a lawsuit by three consumer groups that said the bars contained small amounts of the pesticide commonly known as Roundup. Beyond Pesticides, Moms Across America and the Organic Consumers Association on Thursday said the settlement […] Read more
Monsanto ordered to pay $289 million in world’s first Roundup cancer trial
(Reuters) – A California jury on Friday found Monsanto liable in a lawsuit filed by a man who alleged the company’s glyphosate-based weed-killers, including Roundup, caused his cancer and ordered the company to pay $289 million in damages. The case of school groundskeeper Dewayne Johnson was the first lawsuit to go to trial alleging glyphosate […] Read more
Plant breeders abandon EU
FRANKFURT, Germany (Reuters) — Bayer and BASF all but ruled out pursuing new genetic plant breeding methods at home after the European Union ruled the technology should be regulated like genetically modified organisms. The European Court of Justice (ECJ) said July 25 that gene-editing methods such as CRISPR/Cas9, which can rearrange targeted bits of DNA, […] Read more
Saudi agency stops buying Canadian wheat, barley
HAMBURG, Germany (Reuters) — Saudi Arabia’s main state wheat buying agency has told grains exporters it will no longer buy Canadian wheat and barley in its international tenders, European traders said yesterday as a diplomatic dispute between the two countries escalates. Traders said they had received an official notice from the Saudi Grains Organization (SAGO) […] Read more
Brazil judge suspends use of glyphosate
SAO PAULO, Brazil (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. The federal judge ruled Aug. 3 that new products containing the chemical could not be registered in the country and existing registrations would be suspended […] Read more
Informa raises U.S. 2018 soy yield forecast; corn unchanged
CHICAGO, Aug 3 (Reuters) – Private analytics firm Informa Economics raised its forecast for the 2018 U.S. soybean yield to 50.0 bushels per acre (bpa), from 49.8 previously, and left its U.S. corn yield forecast unchanged at 176.0 bpa, trade sources said on Friday. Informa projected U.S. 2018 corn production at 14.392 billion bushels and […] Read more
