Reading Time: < 1 minute Brazil's environmental protection agency IBAMA has imposed 365 million reais (C$88.9 million) in fines on cattle ranches and meat packers, including the world's largest JBS SA, for raising or buying cattle on illegally deforested land in the Amazon.
Brazil fines meat packers $64 million for buying cattle from deforested Amazon land
McDonald’s rules out beef patties as source of E. coli outbreak
Reading Time: < 1 minute McDonald's on Sunday ruled out beef patties as a source of the E. coli outbreak linked to Quarter Pounder hamburgers, which has killed at least one person and sickened nearly 75 others.
U.S. grains: CBOT soybeans, corn drop on continued supply pressure
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago Board of Trade soybean and corn futures fell on Friday, as hefty supply from a rapid U.S. harvest weighed heavily over contracts, market analysts said.
U.S. livestock: Cattle futures fall on positioning before USDA data release
Reading Time: < 1 minute Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures dipped slightly on Friday, while feeder cattle and lean hogs ticked up as traders squared positions prior to the release of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Cattle on Feed report, after a choppy week of trading, analysts said.
Putin to examine Black Sea shipping proposals from Turkey’s Erdogan
Reading Time: 2 minutes Russian President Vladimir Putin said his Turkish counterpart, Tayyip Erdogan, had proposed reviving contacts on Black Sea shipping but that he had not yet had time to study the documents.
Canada’s immigration cuts could hurt labor pool, industry groups say
Reading Time: 2 minutes Immigration cuts, meant to ease strained housing and social services, could hurt the country's labor pool, some industry groups said yesterday.
Fast-food chains hold the onions after McDonald’s E. coli outbreak
McDonald's pulls Quarter Pounder from one-fifth of its US restaurants
Reading Time: 3 minutes U.S. fast-food chains were pulling fresh onions out of their menu items on Thursday after the vegetable was named as the likely source of an E. coli outbreak at McDonald's restaurants that has sickened 49 people and killed one.
US confirms two human bird flu cases in Washington state
Reading Time: < 1 minute The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday confirmed two of the four presumptive positive bird flu cases among poultry farm workers in Washington state.
JBS, Sigma vie for Kraft Heinz’s $3 billion hot-dog business, sources say
Reading Time: 2 minutes Brazilian meatpacker JBS and Mexico's Sigma Alimentos are among those competing to acquire Oscar Mayer, the hot dogs and cold cuts business of packaged food giant Kraft Heinz, according to people familiar with the matter.
China moves to develop rural economy with plan to boost farmers’ income
Reading Time: < 1 minute China's agriculture ministry outlined measures on Thursday for provincial governments to boost farmers' income by developing the rural economy, including efforts to spur employment of migrant workers.
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
