Reading Time: 2 minutes Brussels | Reuters — The European Union on Thursday delayed a vote on renewing sales approval for the herbicide glyphosate, used in Monsanto’s Roundup, amid a transatlantic row over whether it may cause cancer. Experts from the EU’s 28 nations had been due to vote on a proposal to extend by nine years licensing of […] Read more
EU delays vote on glyphosate license amid cancer row
U.N. experts find glyphosate unlikely to cause cancer
Reading Time: 2 minutes London | Reuters — The herbicide glyphosate, sold by Monsanto in its Roundup product and widely used in agriculture and by gardeners, is unlikely to cause cancer in people, according to a new safety review by United Nations health, agriculture and food experts. In a statement likely to intensify a row over its potential health […] Read more
World food prices edge up in April
Reading Time: 1 minute Rome | Reuters — World food prices rose slightly in April, up for the third month in a row but they remained almost 10 per cent lower than a year earlier, the United Nations food agency said on Thursday. The Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) food price index, which measures monthly changes for a basket […] Read more
FAO chief expects food prices to fall further
Reading Time: < 1 minute Abu Dhabi | Reuters — World food prices are seen falling further this year having settled near their lowest in seven years pressured by slowing economic growth, the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) director general said Tuesday. The FAO’s food price index, which measures monthly changes for a basket of cereals, oilseeds, dairy […] Read more
Egypt quarantine authority to ban ergot until new laws passed
Reading Time: 2 minutes Cairo | Reuters — Egypt’s agriculture quarantine authority will continue to apply a zero ergot policy on wheat shipments until new legislation is issued, the new head of the authority told Reuters on Tuesday. Former quarantine chief Saad Moussa’s zero-tolerance policy on common grains fungus ergot resulted in shipments to the world’s biggest importer of […] Read more
Egypt to allow trace ergot in wheat
Reading Time: < 1 minute Cairo | Reuters –– Egypt will allow wheat imports with trace levels of the ergot fungus of up to 0.05 per cent, the agriculture ministry said Monday, a day after the head of its agriculture quarantine authority was changed. Former quarantine head Saad Moussa’s zero tolerance policy on ergot had led to shipments to the […] Read more
World food prices stable in February near seven-year low
Reading Time: < 1 minute Rome | Reuters –– World food prices stabilized in February, as rising vegetable oil and meat prices offset declining cereal, sugar and dairy prices, the United Nations food agency said Thursday. The Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) food price index, which measures monthly changes for a basket of cereals, oilseeds, dairy products, meat and sugar, […] Read more
FAO seeks help for drought-ravaged Ethiopia
Reading Time: < 1 minute Rome | Reuters — Ethiopia faces its worst drought in decades, leading the United Nations’ food agency to call on Friday for an emergency cash injection of US$50 million to help the country overcome the crisis. Crop production has fallen up to 90 per cent in some regions and failed completely in the country’s east, […] Read more
Threat of food crisis seen fading as grain stocks climb
Reading Time: 2 minutes London | Reuters — A sudden change in the weather no longer raises the spectre of a food price crisis, with grain stocks rebuilt and governments now paying much closer attention to agriculture, a senior United Nations economist said in an interview Monday. “The buffer is big and unexpected shortfalls can be met by (grain) […] Read more
Number of hungry people worldwide drops below 800M, U.N. says
Reading Time: 2 minutes Rome | Thomson Reuters Foundation –– The number of people in the world still going to bed hungry 15 years after the U.N. placed eradicating hunger and extreme poverty at the top of its Millennium Development Goals has dropped to 795 million, according to a report released on Wednesday. The report by three U.N. agencies […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
