Havana | Reuters –– Cuba decided at a secretive Communist Party congress last week to reverse market reforms in food distribution and pricing, according to reports in official media, reflecting tensions within the party about the pace of economic change. President Raul Castro unveiled an ambitious market reform agenda in one of the world’s last […] Read more
Cuba backtracks on food reforms as conservatives resist change
U.S., European trade negotiators battle political headwinds
New York | Reuters — Facing deeply entrenched differences and political headwinds, the top negotiators trying to reach a sweeping U.S.-European free trade deal avoided agriculture, public procurement and other thorny issues in talks this week. Instead, Assistant U.S. Trade Representative Daniel Mullaney and European Commission lead negotiator Ignacio Garcia Bercera said on Friday they […] Read more
Poultry at risk for avian flu during migration
Cases of avian flu in commercial poultry in the U.S. and Mexico earlier this year are believed to have come from wild birds, which are now migrating north for the season, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency warned Friday. Avian influenza spreads when wild birds come into contact with commercial/small flocks, the agency said, urging producers […] Read more
Whole Foods wins dismissal of PETA lawsuit over meat claims
Reuters — Whole Foods Market won the dismissal of a lawsuit by a well-known animal rights group that accused the grocery chain of deceiving consumers into believing the meat it sells is raised more humanely than normal, resulting in overcharges. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) said the use by Whole Foods of […] Read more
Farms.com buys Better Farming
A U.S. online agriculture firm has taken another step into paper and ink with a deal for independent Ontario ag journal Better Farming. Ames, Iowa-based Farms.com announced last week it has taken a majority stake in Better Farming publisher Ag Media Inc. for an undisclosed sum. Ag Media was formed in 1999 by ex-employees of […] Read more
Manitoba ag minister unseated in Tory sweep
Manitoba’s incumbent agriculture minister was among the casualties in Tuesday’s provincial election as Brian Pallister’s Progressive Conservatives swept the New Democrats from office. Ron Kostyshyn lost his seat Tuesday to Tory candidate Rick Wowchuk, a schoolteacher from Swan River, by a spread of over 1,500 votes. Kostyshyn, a cow-calf producer from Ethelbert, Man., had been […] Read more
Ad Feature: Edmonton firm acquires water works capacity
Edmonton-based Stantec Inc., an engineering and infrastructure consulting company, has announced the biggest deal in its 62-year history. The all-cash deal for Broomfield, Colorado-based MWH Global, which Stantec said is expected to close in the second quarter could increase Stantec’s annual revenues by about 60 per cent, to more than $4.5 billion, while its global […] Read more
Bayer to consider shedding animal health unit
Leverkusen, Germany | Reuters –– Bayer might look into selling its animal health division if it continues to struggle to find takeover targets for the business, the German drugmaker’s incoming chief executive said. “Animal Health is a business that we have been trying for many years to strengthen strategically, that is to say inorganically. That […] Read more
England’s farmland prices fall ahead of Brexit vote
London | Reuters –– Farmland prices in England fell by 3.2 per cent in the first quarter of this year — the largest quarterly decline since 2008, weighed partly by uncertainty ahead of the June 23 referendum on European Union membership, estate agent Knight Frank said. Knight Frank’s Farmland Index fell to 19,538 pounds (C$35,881) […] Read more
Russian cheese lovers find way around import ban
Moscow | Reuters — An entrepreneur has found a way to supply Italian parmesan, Dutch Gouda and British Cheddar to cheese connoisseurs in Russia, sidestepping a ban on importing European food that the Kremlin imposed in the fallout from the conflict in Ukraine. Russia’s government banned wholesale imports of fresh food products from the European […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
