South Korea has raised its foot-and-mouth disease alert to the highest level, culling and burying 480,000 pigs, sheep and cattle, and vaccinating livestock to contain a fast-spreading outbreak of the disease. The disease has prompted the authorities to shut down all livestock markets in the country, leading to a rise in the wholesale price of […] Read more
South Korea raises foot-and-mouth disease alert
Australia ownership probe spurs calls for food security
Sydney (Reuters) — An Australian probe into foreign ownership of the nation’s $31 billion farm sector has put food security back on that country’s political agenda. The government took foreign investors by surprise Monday, announcing a national audit of foreign ownership of farms and food production businesses, saying it wanted to get to the truth […] Read more
U.S. lifts restrictions on Bunge’s canola plant
(Reuters) — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has lifted restrictions against imports of Canadian canola meal from a Bunge Ltd. plant at Altona, Man., easing a situation that has sharply cut Canadian exports to the U.S. over health concerns. The FDA has removed the plant from its online list of plants that are […] Read more
Ottawa ruling on Potash bid expected soon
(Reuters) – The federal government will announce whether BHP Billiton can proceed with its hostile takeover bid for PotashCorp “in the not-too-distant future,” Prime Minister Stephen Harper said on Thursday. His comments indicate that Ottawa — due to make its ruling public by Nov. 3 — will not exercise the option of seeking a 30-day […] Read more
Beef seen moving to China as early as December
(Reuters) –– Canada’s first commercial shipments of beef and tallow to China in seven years may happen in December or early 2011, with technical work remaining to follow through on the Asian country’s political commitment to ease restrictions, an industry official said Tuesday. China agreed ahead of G20 meetings in June to accept Canadian boneless […] Read more
Scientists poised to wipe out rinderpest: FAO
(Reuters) –– Scientists are poised to eliminate the deadly cattle disease rinderpest, ending a malady that has devastated animal herds for centuries, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization said Thursday. “It would be the first time in history that humankind has succeeded in wiping out an animal disease in the wild, and only the […] Read more
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