FarmlyticsThe European Union is to apply the principle of “subsidiarity” and allow individual member states a greater say on the regulation of GM Crops. The move will allow member states to decide whether or not GM crop varieties can be grown or used for food and feed on their territories. The European Commission will still […]
The Chinese government is continuing to take steps to fight against a slowing economy – with an announcement to stimulate growth, by cutting the reserve requirement ratio for banks. This it hopes will boost lending by adding more liquidity into economy. The latest IMF economic outlook figures (April 2015) forecast that GDP growth in China is expected to […]
A bigger than expected oilseed crop in Latin America is likely to offset a poor harvest within India. The USDA also report that US farmers will plant an extra 1 million acres of soyabeans in 2015/16 compared with 2014/15, mostly replacing corn across the corn belt, and cotton across some of the Southern States. US […]
The latest US Livestock and Poultry Outlook report shows the extent that Avian Influenza related restrictions are impacting on US poultry exports. Total broiler shipments in February were 17% down on February 2015. Export bans by China and South Korea went into effect in January, on top of an existing ban by Russia. The continued […]
DEFRA have published the latest data on the use of fertiliser in UK agriculture. Long term data shows that the use of Nitrogen fertiliser on crops and grass on UK farms peaked in the mid 1980s at 1,674 thousand tonnes, when concerns over the impact on the environment, policy changes, and economic pressures lead to […]
The USDA has released its latest data on milk production costs. The average costs of producing a cwt of milk in the US in January 2015, was 6% down on December 2014, and 8% down on January 2014. The biggest drop was in the cost of purchased feed which was 16% down on December, and […]
A chapter in the latest IFPRI Food Policy Report 2014-2105, highlights the importance of family farms. There are a 570 million farms in the world, but the majority of them are small – 80% operate on less than 2 hectares and occupy just 12% of the worlds farmland. Three-quarters of farms are in Asia, and 60% are in […]
April 2015 will mark the end of an era within EU milk production, after more than 30 years milk quotas will be abolished. The UK dairy sector has changed dramatically since the introduction of quotas, in 1984 there were 3.28 million dairy cows in the UK, with 50,625 dairy herds. In 2013 the herd has […]
A relatively strong US dollar is impacting on the meat trade with beef imports into the US reported to be 63.7% up in January 2015, compared with January 2014. The increased imports are mainly coming from Australia, New Zealand, and Nicaragua. The USDA is predicting that US beef imports for Q1 2015 will be 31.7% […]
In his budget, the UK Chancellor George Osborne has announced a change in the way farmers are taxed. In the future taxable income will be based on an average of five years rather than two. The move is seen as a pre-election move to boost flagging support for the Tory party in rural areas; however […]