Agricultural exports jump on Chinese demand

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China’s hunger for all forms of raw commodities is expected to underpin a 6.5 per cent surge in Australia’s agricultural export earnings to $34.6 billion this financial year. It comes after the value of Australian agricultural exports to China soared 32 per cent in 2010-11, on top of a 19 per cent gain the previous [...]

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Davis Breeder to Talk Changing Bee Industry in Argentina

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Bee breeder-geneticist Susan Cobey will deliver the keynote address at the beekeeping technology symposium on Production of Live Material at the 42nd Annual Apimondia International Beekeeping Congress, set Sept. 21-25 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Cobey, who has a dual appointment at UC Davis, and Washington State University, will speak Friday, Sept. 23 on “Changes and [...]

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Markets React to Crop Conditions and Chinese Corn Rumors

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Rumors are circulating that China is aggressively seeking corn from either the US or Argentina. With the US Department of Agriculture’s crop condition numbers showing another 2% decline in corn and a 3% decline in soybeans, some of the “bears” who have been talking about much “better than anticipated” yields might have to eat a [...]

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PepsiCo to share farming expertise with China

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PepsiCo Inc said on Monday it plans to work with the Chinese government to promote sustainable farming and speed the development of China’s rural areas, its latest effort to raise its profile in a growing market.PepsiCo said its memorandum of understanding with China calls for the company and the Ministry of Agriculture to build and [...]

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Food security in South Africa

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Agricultural innovation needs to be encouraged in a responsible manner and not strangled by a bureaucratic regulatory system. MORE than 200 years ago, the political economist, Thomas Malthus, predicted that population growth would eventually exceed the world’s ability to feed so many people. The challenge today is to feed additional billions, and this can be [...]

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EU Court rules on GMO contamination; opens door to biotech liability

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By Rady Ananda On Sept. 6, the European Union’s top court paved the way for farmers and beekeepers to recoup losses when their crops or honey become genetically contaminated from neighboring GM fields. The European Court of Justice ruled that all food products containing GMOs – whether intentional or not – must undergo an approval process. This marks [...]

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Sen. Pat Roberts: Trade Agreements are Long Overdue and Hurting Kansas Agriculture and Aviation Jobs

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WASHINGTON, D.C. – On the Senate floor, Senator Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), Ranking Member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, called on President Obama to send the pending trade agreements with Korea, Panama and Columbia to the Senate for a vote, saying their inaction is hurting the economy and thousands of Kansas jobs.

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Will there be enough corn?

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Will there be enough corn? Agricultural economists across the country are pondering this question. “With the 2011 corn crop not likely big enough to meet demand and as prices continue to rise, livestock producers soon might be facing a critical decision: whether they should reduce their use of corn for feed,” said Chris Hurt, a [...]

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Virginia’s Apple Harvest Looks Good

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The weather in 2011 has been hard on many of Virginia’s agricultural crops, but the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services says the outlook for the 2011 apple crop is very good. In early September, staff from VDACS’ Office of Sales and Market Development contacted growers representing the state’s major apple-growing areas and the [...]

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Plan farms for climate change: Minister

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Adapting agriculture in Africa to accommodate drastic climate changes will reap benefits for future food security and the poor, International Relations and Co-operation Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane says. “Food security is important to Africa’s economy as it impacts heavily on a country’s poverty alleviation and sustainable development plans,” she said at an African ministerial meeting on [...]

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Drought stress blankets Indiana, likely continues into harvest

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The abnormally dry and drought conditions that most of Indiana is experiencing don’t appear to change as farmers statewide prepare for harvest, according to the associate state climatologist. Indiana is at the eastern end of a Midwest drought region, which has been classified as severe and covers much of central Illinois and part of southeast [...]

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Highly Leveraged Agriculture Will Keep Food Prices Volatile And High

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With food prices remaining stubbornly high near record levels, price swings and volatility have come to constitute a new normal in the commodities complex.  While pass-through to consumers is slow, this will put renewed pressure on producers, leveraged in terms of efficiency, and and will put the world’s poor at risk as small disruptions, such [...]

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Turkish experts due to visit Somalia to find permanent solutions

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Turkish experts and journalists will travel to famine-stricken Somalia on Monday to find permanent solutions to the country’s problems. Turkish experts and journalists will travel to famine-stricken Somalia on Monday to find permanent solutions to the country’s problems. A delegation comprised of 170 people including experts of several Turkish institutions and journalists would fly to [...]

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Bee invaders attracted to fragrant gardens

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For the second year in a row, the Al-Waha District, south of Alkhobar has become home to colonies of dwarf bees. Attracted by the flowering gardens of private homes in the suburb near the Arabian Gulf, the bees have built their combs suspended from window ledges, under trellises and even attached to the security grills [...]

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