Chicago | Reuters –– Cargill will stop selling seeds, fertilizer and crop chemicals to farmers in the Black Sea region, as the global trader continues to cut back operations in the face of sliding commodity prices. The 150-year old company, one of the world’s largest privately held corporations, is in the middle of a restructuring […] Read more
Cargill to stop selling seed, inputs in Black Sea region
Packers approved to move beef, pork to Ukraine
Inspectors have approved 15 Canadian beef and pork processing plants to export to Ukraine, more than doubling the number of Canadian meat plants able to ship to the country. Federal Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay and Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland on Monday announced Ukraine has, essentially, approved beef and pork exports from any Canadian federally-registered establishment […] Read more
Drought to shrivel Ukrainian wheat harvest in 2016
Kiev — Severe drought across half of Ukraine has hit winter sowing and could sharply reduce the country’s 2016 wheat harvest, a senior state weather forecaster said on Monday. The drought, in which the central Dnipropetrovsk region suffered its driest autumn in 50 years, could lead to a 20 per cent year-on-year fall in the wheat […] Read more
Black Sea in it for the long haul
The Former Soviet Union, once Canada's largest wheat customer, is now its largest competitor
Black Sea wheat exports are projected at an all-time high this year, and there is good reason to have confidence in this forecast. During the 2015/16 marketing year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimates that the states of the former Soviet Union excluding Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia (FSU-12) will export a record 45 million […] Read more
Russia to add more countries to food import ban list
Moscow | Reuters — Russia said on Tuesday it planned to add new countries to the list of those from which it has banned food imports in retaliation for western sanctions imposed on Moscow over the Ukraine crisis. Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich did not name the countries to be added to the list. “I […] Read more
Cargill posts Q4 loss on one-time charges, revenue down
Reuters — Cargill Inc. on Thursday became the latest large agribusiness to report disappointing quarterly results as one-time charges and slowing economies in key emerging markets stung the privately held global commodities trader. Minnesota-based Cargill said it lost a net $51 million in the fiscal fourth quarter ended May 31, compared with a profit of […] Read more
Ukraine opens to more Canadian beef imports
Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz and International Trade Minister Ed Fast have announced the Ukrainian market has opened for beef from cattle under 30 months of age and ready-to-eat meat. In 2014 Ukraine lifted a ban on imports of other Canadian beef products imposed after Canada reported a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in 2003. A […] Read more
Talks wrap on Canada/Ukraine free trade pact
Canada’s crop and livestock producers expect to benefit soon from a free trade agreement with Ukraine, on which the two countries’ governments have now formally completed talks. Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced Tuesday, during a visit from Ukraine’s Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, that trade negotiations between the two countries wrapped up in Kiev on July 9, and […] Read more
Russia, Ukraine may cut grain crop forecasts as temperatures rise
Moscow/Kiev | Reuters — Major Black Sea wheat exporters Russia and Ukraine may cut their official 2015 grain crop forecasts as recent hot weather has raised the risks to plants and rains elsewhere have delayed the harvest and dented quality, farmers and officials said. Russia and Ukraine’s agriculture ministries have said if hot weather persists […] Read more
Russia to extend ban on Western food imports to early 2016
Moscow | Reuters — Russia plans to extend a ban on Western food imports for six months starting from early August, after the European Union extended its own sanctions against Moscow, Russian officials said Monday. European Union foreign ministers extended economic sanctions against Russia until Jan. 31 on Monday, keeping up pressure on Moscow to […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
