London | Reuters — British supermarkets Morrisons and Aldi responded on Friday to pressure from financially strapped dairy farmers by raising the price they pay milk suppliers. U.K. farmers have warned they face financial ruin, with falls in the price of milk forcing many out of work and spurring others to blockade distribution centres and […] Read more
U.K. grocers Morrisons, Aldi give ground in milk dispute
Tyson cuts beef production due to cattle shortage
Reuters — Tyson Foods on Friday said it is permanently ceasing beef production at its plant in Denison, Iowa, effective immediately, as cattle ranchers work to rebuild shrunken herds following the severe Midwestern drought. The move by Tyson, the biggest U.S. meat processor, will affect 400 employees at the plant, which will continue byproduct rendering […] Read more
JBS doesn’t see Brazil beef exports to U.S. before 2016
Sao Paulo | Reuters — Meatpacker JBS expects fresh beef exports from Brazil to the U.S. to begin no earlier than 2016, later than the Brazilian government predicted, CEO Wesley Batista said Friday. An agreement between the two countries was signed in June, when Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff visited Washington, but Batista said it would […] Read more
El Nino now seen more likely to last into spring
New York | Reuters — A U.S. government weather forecaster on Thursday raised the likelihood that El Nino conditions would last into the Northern Hemisphere’s early spring to 85 per cent, boosting the probability that drought-stricken California could see increased rains. The Climate Prediction Center, a U.S. National Weather Service agency, last month forecast an […] Read more
CHS locks in fertilizer supply, scraps plan for N.D. plant
Reuters — U.S.-based agribusiness CHS Inc. said it would invest US$2.8 billion in a unit of fertilizer producer CF Industries to secure nitrogen fertilizer supplies. This is the third deal in a week in the highly fragmented global fertilizer industry, which is trying to cope with weak prices caused by excess supply. CHS will have […] Read more
Kraft Heinz to cut 2,500 jobs in Canada, U.S.
Reuters — Kraft Heinz Co. said it will eliminate 2,500 jobs in the U.S. and Canada, including about 700 at its Chicago-area headquarters. Heinz, backed by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway and Brazilian private equity firm 3G Capital — known as an aggressive cost-cutter — combined with Kraft in March in a $46 billion deal that […] Read more
Japan anxious at lull in Trans-Pacific trade talks
Tokyo | Reuters — Japan has expressed concern about a loss of momentum in talks on a pan-Pacific trade pact, after participants failed to agree to meet again this month to try to clinch a deal that would cover 40 per cent of the global economy. Ministers from the 12 nations negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership […] 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
K+S says retail shareholders back rejecting PotashCorp
Frankfurt | Reuters –– German salt and fertilizer company K+S AG says a survey of its retail investors shows they strongly support its rejection of a 7.9 billion euros (C$11.4 billion) takeover offer from Canada’s PotashCorp. K+S said on Monday it had surveyed retail, or non-institutional, shareholders, who hold about 30 per cent of its […] Read more
France says livestock crisis putting thousands of farms at risk
Paris | Reuters –– A downturn in France’s livestock sector has put thousands of farms close to bankruptcy, the government said Friday, as it seeks to contain a crisis that has undermined a flagship pledge to improve the livelihood of livestock producers. Farmers say a deteriorating international market, marked by a Russian food embargo, slowing […] Read more
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