Reuters – Extreme heat waves that previously only struck once every 50 years are now expected to happen once per decade because of global warming, while downpours and droughts have also become more frequent, a U.N. climate science report said on Monday. The report www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1 found that we are already experiencing those effects of climate […] Read more
Once-in-50-year heat waves now happening every decade: U.N. climate report
Deere, Bear Flag aim to automate tractors as ‘fast as possible’
Reuters – U.S. tractor maker Deere & Co said on Thursday it would buy tech startup Bear Flag Robotics for $250 million, with the goal of developing over the next year systems Deere can sell to allow farm tractors to operate without a human driver in the cab. “We are effectively in market with real […] Read more
Bayer Q2 misses forecasts as costs, forex effects bite
Frankfurt | Reuters – Bayer shares fell to their lowest levels in more than seven months after the German agricultural and pharmaceuticals group reported lower-than-expected second-quarter core earnings due to higher production costs and currency headwinds. Second-quarter earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) before special items fell 10.6 percent to 2.58 billion euros ($3.05 billion), […] Read more
Millers, bakers fret as drought withers North America’s spring wheat
Reuters – Millers and bakers are draining wheat reserves and paying more for spring wheat used in baking, as drought shrivels crops across the Canadian Prairies and northern U.S. Plains that produce more than half of the world’s supply. U.S. and Canadian farmers are bracing for a sharply smaller spring wheat harvest due to the […] Read more
Dominican Republic to kill thousands of pigs over swine fever outbreak
Santo Domingo | Reuters – The Dominican Republic will slaughter tens of thousands of pigs after detecting outbreaks of African swine fever in 11 of the country’s 32 provinces, authorities said on Monday. Fernando Duran, administrator of the state-run Banco Agricola, told a news conference the government will pay pig farmers the market price of each animal […] Read more
Meatpacker Tyson Foods mandates Covid vaccines for workers
Reuters – Tyson Foods Inc said on Tuesday it was mandating COVID-19 vaccinations for its entire workforce, joining a growing list of major U.S. companies as they face renewed pandemic restrictions due to the fast-spreading Delta variant. Surging COVID-19 cases and new guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that requires […] Read more
Cargill to reopen Guelph beef plant after coronavirus outbreak
Reuters – Cargill Inc plans to begin reopening its Guelph, Ont., beef processing plant next week on Dec. 29, days after it closed the facility due to an outbreak of COVID-19 infections among workers, the company said. Last week, Cargill voluntarily agreed to the temporarily closure as 82 workers tested positive for the virus and […] Read more
Bayer cancels plans to sell U.S. crop product in 2020 over safety concerns
Chicago | Reuters – Bayer AG has scrapped plans for wide sales next year of a chemical that is intended to protect U.S. crops from yield-robbing worms, citing ongoing safety concerns. The decision is the latest setback for Germany-based Bayer following its acquisition of Monsanto for $63 billion in 2018. Bayer is separately battling thousands of lawsuits claiming Monsanto’s glyphosate-based […] Read more
U.S. livestock: Futures rally on choppy grains, hopes for Chinese buying spree
Chicago | Reuters – Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) live hog futures rallied on Tuesday, as competition among packers for spot delivery grew and animal weights slipped after the recent U.S. heat wave, traders said. Live cattle futures also inched up, supported in part by choppy trading in U.S. grain futures and growing questions of whether […] Read more
China culls 200,000 pigs due to African swine fever – official
China | Reuters – China, the world’s top pork producer, has culled 200,000 pigs so far following outbreaks of highly contagious African swine fever in the country, a Chinese animal health official said on Friday. While that represents only a tiny portion of the nearly 700 million pigs slaughtered in China each year for sale as pork, restrictions […] Read more
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