Page 924 of articles about news

According to reports from RosStat, meat production in the Russian federation increased by 11.6% in the last year, reaching a total of 2.9 million tonnes. (Original in Russian. Read Google translation here).

The minister of agriculture for Hessen has decided to increase controls to prevent the appearance of classical swine fever (CSF) in wild boars after the appearance of outbreaks of the disease in wild boars in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate. (Original in German. Read Google translation here).

China increased pork imports 470 percent year-on-year by volume in the first 10 months of 2008 to meet demand and stabilize prices, the General Administration of Customs reported Tuesday.

USDA released its monthly Cold Storage Report this week, showing meat and poultry stocks are entering freezers at a faster pace than a year ago. The combined beef, pork and poultry inventories on Dec.31, 2008, at 2.193 billion pounds, were about 13 percent higher than the previous year, and 14 percent higher than the five-year average.

Pork Marketing Canada's Choose Canadian program is a voluntary national labelling initiative involving pork processors and retailers that identifies Canadian pork in the retail meat case. The label which bears a Canadian flag and the words "Canadian Pork-Porc Canadien" is easily identifiable and is intended to differentiate pork produced in Canada from imported product.

U.S. Trade Representative Susan C. Schwab announced today that USTR is modifying the list of EU products subject to additional duties in connection with World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute settlement rulings in the EU – Beef Hormones dispute. The modifications, which also help respond to a court-ordered review, make additions to and deletions from the list of the products subject to additional duties, change the EU member States whose products are subject to the duties, and for one product, increase the level of the additional duties.

At its meeting today (Friday), the Board of AHDB agreed to provide a financial contribution to promote the Red Tractor Logo. It decided to pursue State Aid Approval immediately, as a prerequisite for any investment decision on consumer promotion activity.

Led by the University of Saskatchewan, the FOBI network is a multidisciplinary initiative composed of private, public and academic members from the University of Alberta, the University of Calgary, Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development, Feedlot Health Management Services Ltd., Prairie Swine Centre Inc. and the Saskatchewan Research Council. The FOBI network will focus on creating higher quality livestock feed from ethanol waste, also known as co-products or distillers grains. The research will explore the integration of livestock production and wheat-based ethanol production, and focus on creating new co-products and new markets for existing co-products and Canadian farmers.

U.S. livestock production has shifted to much larger and more specialized farms, and the various stages of input provision, farm production, and processing are now much more tightly coordinated through formal contracts and shared ownership of assets. Important financial advantages have driven these structural changes, which in turn have boosted productivity growth in the livestock sector. But structural changes can also generate environmental and health risks for society, as industrialization concentrates animals and animal wastes in localized areas.

According to data from the Statistics Office of North Rhine – Westphalia, approximately 700 piglet producing herds disappeared during the last year. A census in November last year showed a total of 4225 herds, which is equivalent to 14.3% fewer than the year before. (Original in German. Read Google translation here).

Cattle and hog producers facing hard financial times now have until September 30, 2010, to repay cash advances under the Advance Payment Program (APP). The extension of the repayment deadline for livestock advances was announced today by Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz. In addition, the first $100,000 of each producer’s advance will continue to be interest-free.