Reuters News Service

CHICAGO (Reuters) — U.S. farmers are preparing to plant a record 83.6 million acres to soybeans and 90.9 million to corn, the smallest area since 2010, according to a farmer survey released on Wednesday by Doane Advisory Services. Doane’s soybean acreage forecast is up 9.3 percent from the 76.5 million acres seeded last spring and […] Read more

BRUSSELS/LONDON (Reuters) — European Union leaders are preparing to set an October deadline for agreeing on the bloc’s 2030 climate and energy goals, a draft document seen by Reuters shows. At a meeting this Thursday and Friday, according to the draft, “The European Council will take stock of progress made on these issues at its […] Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) — Drought-plagued California will ease some protection for fish in the fragile San Joaquin-Sacramento River Delta, officials said Tuesday, a move expected to make more water available for farming and ease political tensions in an election year. The move marks a retreat from restrictions imposed earlier in the year which had widely […] Read more

BEIJING (Reuters) — The decaying bodies of at least 131 dead pigs were found in a major river in China’s eastern province of Jiangxi, the official Xinhua news agency said on Wednesday. China’s new leadership has identified pollution, long a source of public discontent, as one of its top challenges, and vowed to more strictly […] Read more

(Reuters) — Dow Chemical Co. said it aims sell a further $1.5 billion to $2.0 billion worth of assets as it looks to narrow its focus to electronics, agriculture and packaging. Dow, which is seeking to lower its exposure to volatile commodity prices, now aims to raise $4.5 billion to $6.0 billion from asset sales […] Read more

KIEV (Reuters) — Ukraine maintained a high level of grain exports in March, the agriculture ministry said on Wednesday, shipping abroad 1.7 million tonnes this month despite political turmoil. The ministry said in a statement that exports had included 1.6 million tonnes of corn  and 108,500 tonnes of wheat so far. Exports rose more than […] Read more

By Rod Nickel WINNIPEG, Manitoba, March 18 (Reuters) – Canadian grain shipments by rail have picked up since earlier this month when Ottawa ordered the two national railways to improve service, CN and a grain-handling group said on Tuesday. Transportation bottlenecks have left crops landlocked after a record-smashing harvest and frigid winter in Canada, the […] Read more

PARIS (Reuters) — French farmers and seed firms said they would mount a new challenge to a ban on growing genetically modified corn at the country’s top administrative court, saying it was unjustified. The move on Tuesday comes just three days after France published a decree to prevent the planting of Monsanto’s MON810 corn while […] Read more

SAO PAULO (Reuters) — Brazilian crushing association Abiove on Tuesday cut its forecast for the current soybean crop to a still-record 86.1 million tonnes from 88.6 million tonnes in February. In an emailed report, Abiove also said 44 million tonnes of soybeans rather than 44.5 million tonnes would be available for export. Abiove does not […] Read more