World farming reports

21 March 2000



World farming reports

• German consumers reject British beef
  
  The daunting task facing Britains farmers as they attempt to win back business in Europe has been shown in a new survey.

• Retinal imaging to ID livestock?
  
  Retinal imaging may someday replace branding and ear notching on livestock, it is reported.

• Ontario farmers slash use of insecticides
  
  Farmers have drastically cut their insecticide use over the past 15 years, but reliance on weed killers has soared, according to an Ontario government study

• US makers into fast tractors
  
  Europeans have been making fast tractors for years. Now US makers are entering the race. Together they will redefine how Americans think about tractors.

• Deere & Company begins India tractor production
  
  Deere & Companys joint venture for tractor manufacturing in India has started production of 55-horsepower tractors.

• Charolais bull semen to Sweden
  
  Semen from two highly rated Charolais bulls – Barringtons Olympian and Maerdy Impeccable – is to be exported to Sweden

• Saudi Arabia bans Danish meat in health scare
  
  Saudi Arabia has announced a ban on Danish meat and milk products because of BSE fears.

• Record Australian wheat shipment sets sail for Iraq
  
  Australian wheat sold by AWB Limited to Iraq is now being loaded in the largest shipment of grain ever to be exported from Australia.

• Aventis wins appeal against Monsanto
  
  A judge in North Carolina has affirmed a US$65m award to Aventis CropSciences in its suit against Monsanto seed subsidiary Dekalb Genetics for the misappropriation of glyphosate-tolerant corn technology.

• EC takes The Netherlands to court over nitrates
  
  The European Commission is to apply to the European Court of Justice against the Netherlands for non-respect of the EU Nitrates Directive.

• EU needs no cyanide-free label on Hungarian food
  
  The Hungarian government has said the EU does not require separate certification that its exports of animal products and food are cyanide-free, after the poisonous chemical entered Hungarian rivers.

• Scottish firms reject GM food
  
  Leading Scottish food and drink suppliers are among top European firms that are rejecting genetically modified ingredients, claims Friends of the Earth.

• Hungarian dairy farmers protest over unpaid milk money
  
  Three hundred Hungarian dairy farmers took to the streets demanding billions of forints in unpaid milk money from MiZo-Baranyatej Rt, currently under liquidation.

• US Grains Council critical of Japanese GMO certification
  
  Japans mandatory certification of GMO products could blatantly disrupt U.S. agricultural export trade, claims the president of U.S. Grains Council.

• 25m biotechnology centres to study GMOs
  
  Three biotechnology centres are to be built in Ireland at a cost of 25 million.

• Hungary and Vietnam revive farm links
  
  Hungary and Vietnam could closely co-operate in scientific research and education, a senior Hungarian agriculture ministry official has announced.