MOSCOW (Reuters) — Russia needs more guarantees to allow the U.S. pork imports from two subsidiaries of producer Smithfield Foods Inc., Russia’s veterinary and phytosanitary watchdog said on Tuesday. Russia banned most meat imports from the United States early last year because of concerns over the use of the feed additive ractopamine. The country previously […] Read more
Stories by Reuters News Service
Global diets get more similar in threat to food security: study
OSLO (Reuters) —Increasing similarity in diets worldwide is a threat to health and food security with many people forsaking traditional crops such as cassava, sorghum or millet, an international study showed on Monday. The report, which said it detailed for the first time the convergence in crops towards a universal diet in more than 150 […] Read more
ADM, Bunge Say Ukraine operations normal
CHICAGO (Reuters) — Bunge Ltd. and Archer Daniels Midland Co., two of the world’s top agricultural trading houses, on Monday said political tensions in Ukraine, a major grain exporter, were not affecting operations but that they were monitoring the unrest. “We have not seen any significant impact to business and continue to monitor the situation,” […] Read more
Australia drought threatens 2014-15 agricultural output
By Colin Packham CANBERRA, March 4 (Reuters) – Drought across Australia’s east coast might cut production of key agricultural commodities such as wheat, canola and beef next season and reduce exports, the government’s chief commodities forecaster said on Tuesday. Forecasts of a return of dry El Nino weather conditions across the key farming states of […] Read more
Supply worries push CME hogs to record high; live catttle mixed
By Theopolis Waters CHICAGO, March 3 (Reuters) – The lead Chicago Mercantile Exchange hogs contract spiked to a record high on Monday after tight supplies lifted cash prices, traders said. Packers in the Midwest hiked cash hog bids as much as $2 per hundredweight to coax pigs off farms pinned down by frigid temperatures and […] Read more
Ukraine hopes to ensure turmoil does not hit grain crop
KIEV, March 3 (Reuters) – Ukraine, one of the world’s largest grain exporters, will make sure political turmoil does not reduce spring grains sowing, the country’s new agriculture minister said, easing concerns over this year’s harvest. Global wheat and corn futures surged earlier on Monday as tensions in Ukraine stoked fears of disruption to […] Read more
Organic farm supporters say GMO contamination needs USDA controls
(Reuters) — Growing crops free from contamination by genetically modified crops and the pesticides used on those biotech versions is getting more difficult and more costly for U.S. farmers, and new government rules to control contamination are needed, according to report issued on Monday by an environmental organization and an organic food group. Based on […] Read more
Solid cash prices drive CME hogs to 2 1/2 year high; live cattle post new high
By Theopolis Waters CHICAGO, Feb 28 (Reuters) – The lead Chicago Mercantile Exchange hogs contract hit a 2-1/2-year high on Friday, supported by this week’s solid cash price performance, traders said. Higher-trending wholesale pork prices, short-covering and fund buying helped push CME April hogs to their 3.000-cents daily price limit. Funds are ‘rolling’ out of […] Read more
North Dakota latest state to confirm case of deadly pig virus
Feb 28 (Reuters) – North Dakota is the latest state to confirm a case of a deadly pig virus which has killed an estimated 4 million pigs in the United States since its discovery in the spring of 2013. The first North Dakota case of Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea virus, or PEDv, was confirmed in the […] Read more
Kverneland farm equipment to make debut in West
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Kubota continues to expand its role in the world’s agriculture market. The Japanese company was once known in North American circles for its well made, orange utility tractors, which got bigger over time. Tractors got tracks, hoes and other tools and construction equipment grew. Two years ago, Kubota bought the Norwegian farm […] Read more
