FEDS DRAGGING CHAIN OVER ELECTRONIC TAGS (New Zealand)

4:00AM Monday Jan 19, 2009

by Owen Hembry

PUBLISHED BY ‘THE NEW ZEALAND HERALD’

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HARD TIMES HIT HORSE FARMS – MANY RANCHERS STRUGGLING TO STAY IN BUSINESS AS FEED PRICES CONTINUE TO RISE (USA)

Sunday, January 11, 2009 at 4:26 a.m.

by Paul Payne & Martin Espinoza

PUBLISHED BY ‘THE PRESS DEMOCRAT’ (USA)

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GUJARAT GETS READY TO SCRIPT COUNTRY’S FIRST LIVESTOCK POLICY (India)

26 Dec 2008, 01:40 hrs IST

by Himanshu Darji – ET Bureau

PUBLISHED BY ‘THE ECONOMIC TIMES’ (India)

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LULA DIZ QUE CHICO MENDES FEZ A DIFERENÇA NA DEFESA DA PRESERVAÇÃO DA FLORESTA (Brazil)

18/12/2008

Agência Brasil

PUBLISHED BY ‘PORTAL RONDÔNIA’

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ARGENTINA ANUNCIA MEDIDA PARA ELEVAR EXPORTAÇÃO DE CARNE EM MEIO À CRISE

22/12/2008 17:17

Da France Press

PUBLISHED BY ‘CORREIO BRAZILIENSE’ (Brasil)

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MPT PEDE MULTA DE R$ 10 MI CONTRA BERTIN POR OMISSÃO (Brazil)

Segunda-feira, 22 de Dezembro de 2008 – 12:01

por Ângela Kempfer

PUBLISHED BY ‘CAMPO GRANDE NEWS’ (Brazil)

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FIRST PORK, NOW TAINTED BEEF IN IRELAND – DIOXINS IN CATTLE DOUBLE OR TRIPLE LEGAL LIMITS; MEDICAL CHIEF SAYS NO HEALTH RISK

DUBLIN, Ireland, Dec. 9, 2008

Associated Press

PUBLISHED BY ‘CBS NEWS’ (USA)

(AP) Ireland announced Tuesday it has found illegal levels of dioxins – the chemicals that are devastating its pork industry – in cattle, but insisted its beef was safe to eat.

Agriculture Minister Brendan Smith said Ireland has decided not to recall any of its beef products at home or abroad because, unlike the contamination of pork products, the level and extent of dioxin found so far in cattle is much lower.

Smith said dioxin tests had come back positive for three farms out of 11 tested so far, while results were pending for 34 more farms that received dioxin-contaminated feed. He described the three farms that failed as “technically noncompliant, but not at a level that would pose any public health concern.”

Smith said the government would prevent any cattle at those three farms from being slaughtered and put into the food chain until they could be individually tested for dioxin levels. Until then, he said, no meat from those farms would be permitted to enter the market.

Alan O’Reilly, deputy chief executive of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland, said dioxin levels detected in cattle from the three farms were two to three times over legal limits. He contrasted that with last week’s finding of dioxin levels in pigs that were 80 to 200 times over those limits.

“There’s a huge difference,” O’Reilly said.

Ireland’s chief medical officer, Dr. Tony Holohan, said the levels of dioxins detected in Irish beef and pork would not pose a health risk to anyone who ate either meat.

“To all intents and purposes this is not a public health issue. … We do not expect to see symptoms as a result of this,” Holohan said.

Nonetheless, the latest findings threatened to undermine Ireland’s annual $2 billion industry in beef, Ireland’s primary agricultural export – more than three times the value of Ireland’s gridlocked pork industry.

Ireland’s major pigmeat processors have been refusing to start slaughtering an estimated 100,000 pigs at nine farms where illegally high levels of dioxins have been confirmed. The processors have already laid off 1,400 workers and say they won’t budge until the government reimburses their costs.

© MMVIII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

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PUBLISHED BY ‘CBS NEWS’ (USA)

CANADA HAULS US TO WTO OVER COUNTRY-OF-ORIGIN LABELING FOR BEEF, PORK

Last update: December 2, 2008 – 5:58 AM

by Bradley S. Klapper – Associated Press

PUBLISHED BY ‘THE STAR TRIBUNE’ (USA)

GENEVA – Canada filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization on Tuesday over a new U.S. law that requires retailers to provide country-of-origin labeling for fresh beef and pork, officials said.

The Canadian government said it was concerned the U.S. rules were discriminating against Canadian agricultural exporters, who have lobbied hard for a legal challenge at the WTO.

“We believe that the country-of-origin legislation is creating undue trade restrictions to the detriment of Canadian exporters,” Canadian Trade Minister Stockwell Day said in a statement.

The WTO confirmed receipt of Canada’s complaint.

Canadian farm groups say a growing number of meat plants in the U.S. are refusing to accept Canadian cattle and hogs for processing since the Country Of Origin Labeling (COOL) law went into effect on Oct. 1.

Under country of origin labeling, Canadian cattle and pigs must be segregated in U.S. feedlots and packing plants, prompting some firms to only deal with American livestock. Canadian animals are also required to have more documentation about where they come from and, in the case of cattle, must have tags that indicate they are free of mad cow disease.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative in Washington could not immediately comment.

Ottawa’s filing at the Geneva-based trade referee initiates a two-month consultation period between the North American neighbors. If they fail to reach a settlement, Canada can ask the WTO for a formal investigation. Such trade disputes can result in punitive sanctions, but usually after years of litigation.

Canada and the U.S. are the world’s biggest commercial partners, but have battled for years over trade issues involving beef, corn, dairy and wheat. In 2006 the two countries signed an accord on softwood lumber, a key component in home-building, ending a decades-long dispute that once fueled talk of an outright trade war.

“We are committed to a respectful working relationship with our American neighbors,” Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz said, “but have always made it clear that these new regulations must not discriminate against Canadian producers.”

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KANSAS FEEDYARDS SEE SHARP DECLINE IN CATTLE (USA)

Posted on Tue, Nov. 25, 2008

by Roxana Hegeman – The Associated Press

WICHITA, Kan. – At a time when the consumer appetite for beef is waning amid the economic downturn, the number of cattle going into feedlots in Kansas and across the nation also has taken a steep dive.

The latest cattle-on-feed statistics come at a time of high input costs for fattening the beef and deep losses for the nation’s cattle-feeding industry.

On Monday, the Kansas Agricultural Statistics Service reported that the state had 2.23 million head of cattle in its large feedyards as of Nov. 1. That number is down 8 percent from the same month a year ago, but up 3 percent from last month.

Cattlemen during October also placed 15 percent fewer cattle on feed, meaning the available slaughter supply will remain tight in the coming months. The number of animals leaving the feedyard for slaughter was down 12 percent in October, compared with the same month last year in Kansas.

At Hitch II feeders, assistant manager Dale Nicodemus said the feedyard near Garden City is running at less than three-fourths full. The feedyard has a capacity of 45,000 head.

“At this time of year that is significant. Most of the time we are jammed full at this time of the year,” Nicodemus said.

Some of the smaller feedyards , those with a capacity of fewer than 1,000 head of cattle , are empty and for sale, he said.

“Normally we are very full this time of year. The fall run was very small this year , almost nonexistent,” Nicodemus said.

He blamed the smaller numbers of cattle coming into the yard in part to a wetter year in Kansas that has allowed cattle to remain on grazing longer and to drought conditions elsewhere that have forced producers to cut the size of their herds.

The Kansas numbers were reflective of trends nationwide.

The U.S. inventory of cattle and calves on feed totaled 11 million head on Nov. 1, down 7 percent from the same month last year. Placements nationwide during October were down nearly 11 percent below 2007 to 2.44 million cattle, while the number of animals leaving the feedyard for slaughter were down 3 percent from last year to 1.81 million cattle.

While cattle supplies have tightened a little more than the industry was expecting before the report came out, the big story remains what is happening to the demand side, said James Mintert, a Kansas State University economist.

Industry experts say the economic downturn may continue to affect the demand for beef, particularly more expensive cuts such as tenderloin, as cash-strapped consumers turn to cheaper cuts or to chicken or pork.

Prices for tenderloin at the beginning of July were running about the same as a year ago. Two weeks ago, they were 28 percent to 32 percent below last year. They recovered slightly in the past week and are now running about 12 percent to 13 percent below a year ago.

“That is indicative at the wholesale level of buyers backing away from high-valued cuts because they were concerned about their ability to market to consumers in an environment where everybody is worried about their income, everybody is worried about what is happening to their asset values,” Mintert said.

Those cattle industry concerns also are reflected in the futures market. Since Labor Day, live cattle futures have dropped $20 a hundredweight because of concerns about domestic and export demand, Mintert said.

“We hope that demand can rebound when the economy starts to grow again,” said Todd Domer, spokesman for the Kansas Livestock Association. “Nobody knows when and if we’ve reached bottom yet.”

***

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) , North Dakota’s Mill and Elevator reported a $12 million loss during July, August and September, which its manager said was the largest quarterly loss in the 86-year history of the state-owned mill.

Vance Taylor, the mill’s general manager, blamed the loss on large price swings for hard red spring wheat last spring, along with turbulence in the futures markets , which the mill has used to limit its financial risks , and a decline in flour demand.

In its last budget year, which ended June 30, the mill lost $821,607. It was the flour mill’s first annual loss since 1994.

William Wilson, a North Dakota State University economics professor, told the state Industrial Commission on Monday that grain market volatility is likely to continue for three to five years.

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PUBLISHED BY ‘PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS’ (USA)

BRAZIL’S ROBUST ECONOMY PROPELS QUEST TO BE GLOBAL PLAYER

Published: Nov 11, 2008 05:54 PM Modified: Nov 11, 2008 05:54 PM

by Tyler Bridges, McClatchy Newspapers

BRASILIA, Brazil – For years, critics said that Brazil was long on potential and short on performance. Not anymore. This massive country has become one of the world’s biggest democracies and an economic powerhouse.

Now Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva wants his nation to have a bigger role in world affairs. He’ll press his case when leaders from the major industrial and developing nations convene Saturday at the G-20 summit in Washington.

Before the meeting, Lula has called on wealthier nations to overhaul the global finance system and give a bigger say to developing countries such as Brazil.

“We need new, more inclusive governance, and Brazil is ready to face up to its responsibilities,” Lula said last Saturday at a meeting of finance ministers and central bank presidents in Sao Paulo. “It is time for a pact between governments to build a new financial architecture for the world.”

In the short term, Brazil wants the smaller G-7 group of industrialized countries to expand to include Brazil and other developing countries, said Amaury de Souza, a political analyst in Rio de Janeiro.

“We want a permanent G-14,” de Souza said, saying that Russia, China, Mexico and India should be among the additions.

Brazil also wants developing nations to have a greater voice at the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the United Nations.

“Global power structures were frozen in the aftermath of World War II,” de Souza added. “Excessive latitude of action was given to European countries.”

Only a few years ago, Brazil’s president wouldn’t have dared to demand a greater role. Hyperinflation, a roller-coaster economy and political instability plagued Brazil in the 1990s.

The country’s stock market plummeted after Lula was elected in 2002. Investors feared the longtime leftist leader, a former auto factory worker who hadn’t graduated from high school.

However, Lula has promoted business investment while putting more money into the hands of the poor. The economy has boomed for three years, propelling millions of Brazilians into the middle class.

With the world’s 10th biggest economy, Brazil has surpassed the United States as the biggest producer of iron ore and coffee. It’s become the world’s biggest exporter of beef, poultry, biofuels and orange juice concentrate, and is rapidly gaining in soybeans, corn and pork.

Brazil also has accumulated $200 billion in foreign reserves, almost as much as the rest of Latin America combined. That money will help cushion the global meltdown

Now, Brazil wants to be recognized for its fiscal track record and to avoid the risks that come with a global economic crisis.

“Brazil has new standing in the world,” said Rubens Barbosa, a private consultant in Brazil who’s served as the ambassador to the United States. “We think we can contribute more.”

Quietly, Brazil already has become the most powerful country in Latin America.

Brazilian companies are expanding Caracas’ subway system, constructing a massive hydroelectric dam in Ecuador and building a highway in Peru that will give Brazilian companies better access to Peru’s ports.

Brazil also has been flexing its diplomatic muscles throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. It leads the main United Nations peacekeeping mission in Haiti, where it has 1,200 soldiers.

Without fanfare, Lula has undercut the ambitions of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in South America, providing an important counterweight in the eyes of U.S. policymakers.

Lula has undermined Chavez’s dreams of building a 5,000-mile gas pipeline connecting Venezuela and Brazil and has stymied Chavez’s plan for the Bank of the South, meant to provide an alternative to the World Bank.

Now Brazil wants a reward for all its efforts.

“Brazilians view the current economic crisis as something of an opportunity,” said Jeffrey Cason, a political science professor and Brazil expert at Middlebury College in Vermont. “They think they can increase the interest of developed nations in giving them a seat at the table and place Brazil in a leadership position on behalf of poor countries.”

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© 2008, McClatchy-Tribune Information Services

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PUBLISHED BY ‘THE NEWS & OBSERVER’ (USA

OPINION: KEEPING GOOD COMPANY (Libya)

15/11/2008 14:37:00

by Zainab Al-Arabi

The bad news is that although certain events in a country might make people depressed because they have no control over them in the Third World, of which we are a part, the good news is that this doesn’t just occur in Third World countries who are always lectured at by First World countries about their economy, society, health, food, religion, etc. If anything the past couple of years have shown us that we are in good company.

Thanks to the oh-so-free press in the West – which is increasingly becoming more of a voice for certain corporations- we learnt belatedly of secret prisons in Europe, Pakistan, and Afghanistan where innocent Muslims were kept and tortured. We were informed –better late than never- of the complicity of human-rights-respecting Western governments in these dastardly events.

In Third World countries these wouldn’t have been so secret; everyone would know because of the idle time citizens have on their hands spent in fruitless conversation. And having relatives and neighbours in secret security services (again in Third World countries) helps to keep information flowing – who needs newspapers? A proud mother will tell her entire neighbourhood that her son is in ‘security’, and he can be observed sometimes showing his ‘secret’ I.D. at the bank to people so he can jump the queue.

Mismanagement of government files and losing classified information? Yes that too is presented as evidence of Third World incompetence, but should we complain about this accusation when a leading First World country has shown us that this is an everyday occurrence? I mean if British ministers and state officials leave classified information on bus seats and in car parks, then where is the problem?

Worse than that, they have also lost 20,000 cows. Present on computers, but nowhere to be found in real life, a BBC report states that the persons in charge are completely baffled by this problem. Well at least we know what happens to our cows: they die of neglect.

Over 200 head of cattle died in the Taourgha Project this year in between a change of management phase, according to television reports.

To be fair to the British, they’re seriously thinking of changing the government. In Third World countries, people aren’t so cruel. Give the poor guys another chance, we say. We still believe in that age old slogan of one for all and all for one.

Economic progress and free markets have forever been touted as signs and signals that the First World is truly a democratic dream that the Third World is unable to conceive. But the present global financial nightmare that has left many Americans homeless and/or bankrupt is also a by-product of the Bush freedom-loving-era.

Allowing giant banks and giant companies to accept ‘bail-outs’ in hundreds, I mean “hundreds”, of billions of dollars without any legal repercussions or punishment, and without allowing citizens to seek legal redress, sounds, not just like the Third World to me, but worse.

Where else is thievery and crime rewarded by governments? Everywhere in the world it now seems. We shouldn’t feel too bad about ourselves, being Third World citizens. We have plenty of company.

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PUBLISHED BY ‘THE TRIPOLI POST’ (Libya)

AGRICULTURE SECTOR GROWS 4.19% IN 9 MONTHS — DA (Philippines)

11/13/2008

Farm output grew by 4.19 percent in the first nine months of the year with all sectors except livestock posting gains, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said yesterday.

Growth for the January to September period was down from 4.32 percent for the same period last year, the department said in a statement.

The statement attributed the rise in output partly to early planting, use of special high-yielding and early-maturing rice and corn seeds in some regions and earlier incidence of rainfall in some areas.

Crop output rose by 6.1 percent and accounted for 47.73 percent of total agricultural output in the first nine months of the year, the DA statement said.

The fisheries sector, which accounted for 26.14 percent of total agricultural output, rose by 3.55 percent in the first nine months.

Production of unhusked rice, the country’s main crop, rose by 7.22 percent to 10.59 million tonnes, the department added.

Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said in terms of value, the agriculture sector grew 22.23 percent to P836.3 billion at current prices.

Yap said the crops subsector, which accounted for 47.73 percent of the total agricultural output for the January to September period, grew 6.1 percent, with palay production rising by 7.22 percent and corn production by 4.86 percent. The subsector grossed P458.5 billion at current prices or 30.38 percent higher than the 2007 record for the same period.

With a 13.82-percent share in total production for the first nine months of 2008, the poultry subsector showed a 4.8-percent hike in output, mainly due to the increase in chicken yields. Poultry earnings rose 12.03-percent increase to P90.1 billion, Yap said.

The fisheries subsector, on the other hand, recorded a 3.55-percent increase in production, accounting for 26.14 percent of the total agricultural output. Aquaculture gained 5.31 percent, while commercial and municipal fisheries posted production increments of 1.54 percent and 1.91 percent, respectively.

Only the livestock subsector decreased production by 1.97 percent due to the 2.7-percent decline in hog output in the first three quarters. The subsector, which contributed 12.31 percent of the total output, still kicked up its profits 12.76% to P132.1 billion at current prices.

The growth of Philippine agriculture for the first nine months of 2008 was slightly slower than the 4.32 percent uptick in the same period in 2007, owing to climate change and sky-high petroleum prices that have jacked up the cost of everything from petroleum fertilizers to transport costs.

Yap said there could be a further weakening of farm growth in the last quarter of 2008 due to typhoon damage and the significant cut in the use of petrochemical fertilizers following the 100-percent jump in domestic prices. Field reports reaching the Department of Agriculture pointed to a 30-percent drop in sales of inorganic fertilizers nationwide during the wet or main crop, leading to an expected decline in per-hectare yields of farmers who were forced to scrimp on the use of this essential production input owing to exorbitant prices.

Even so, palay production reached 10.59 million metric tons (MT) in the January-September months, which is 7.22percent higher than the 2007 output for the same period, owing to aggressive planting in the third quarter brought about by better palay prices especially in the areas of the Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, Mimaropa (Mindoro-Marinduque-Romblon-Palawan), Western Visayas and Caraga.

“Moreover, the early onset of the rainfall allowed more plantings specifically in the rainfed areas of Western Visayas and Caraga, while the early release of irrigation water resulted in increased production in the palay farms of Cagayan and MIMAROPA,” Yap said.

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PUBLISHED BY ‘DAILY TRIBUNE’ (Philippines)