Reading Time: < 1 minute Berlin | Reuters –– Germany plans to back an European Union proposal that would allow the continued use of glyphosate in herbicides, according to a letter from the agriculture ministry. Glyphosate is used in many herbicides including Monsanto’s Roundup, but has provoked a dispute between EU and U.N. agencies over whether it might cause cancers. […] Read more
Germany backs EU plan to approve glyphosate
German regulator investigates possible tractor cartel
Reading Time: < 1 minute Duesseldorf | Reuters –– Germany’s anti-trust regulator said Friday it was investigating a possible cartel of companies making agricultural machinery, particularly tractors. It did not name any targets of the probe. German agricultural trading group Baywa said the cartel office had searched its headquarters earlier this week on suspicion that some of its employees were […] Read more
Global markets: Japan, Germany cut economic forecasts
Reading Time: < 1 minute CNS Canada –– The following is a glance at the news moving markets globally. JAPAN CUTS INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION, ECONOMIC OUTLOOK – The Japanese government downgraded its assessment of industrial production and identified some areas of weakness in a monthly government report released on Wednesday. The reduced forecast for industrial production is due to weaker demand […] Read more
University sets its sights on fusarium
This major U of M lab program hopes to stop fusarium before it starts
Reading Time: 4 minutes Protecting crops from the ravages of fusarium is a never-ending job for investigators like Dr. Dilantha Fernando and his staff at the University of Manitoba. The most common species of the pathogen is fusarium graminearum, commonly known as fusarium head blight (FHB) or fusarium scab. It’s a cereal crop pathogen that has become the most […] Read more
McDonald’s to offer first-ever organic burger, in Germany
Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — McDonald’s will offer its first-ever 100 per cent organic beef hamburger for a limited time in Germany, as a growing number of global diners demand food that is more natural and less processed. From Oct. 1 to Nov. 18 McDonald’s will offer “McB” burgers, made with organic beef sourced from organic farms in […] Read more
German bioenergy generates quandary
German biogas producers produce as much electricity as two nuclear power stations. If that sounds like a great success, try talking to the farmers who grow the crops
Reading Time: 7 minutes It’s a perfect picture on a perfect day. A Claas chopper sends a steady stream of green rye into a tractor trailer while overhead, the main overland power line hangs in the blue sky. It’s perfect too as a representation of the Mayer Energy Farm in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, where Norbert Mayer grows all his crops […] Read more
Baking, parched fields set to trim EU wheat harvest
Reading Time: 2 minutes Paris | Reuters — A heatwave in Western Europe is adding to stress on wheat crops after a dry end to spring and reducing what had been very high yield potential only a month ago. Record temperatures for early July at around 40 C in parts of France unnerved traders in the European Union’s top […] Read more
Germany to press EU for national right to ban GMOs before 2015 harvest
Reading Time: 2 minutes Berlin | Reuters — Germany is pressing the European Commission to allow individual EU countries to ban cultivation of crops with genetically modified organisms (GMOs) before the 2015 harvest. German farm minister minister Christian Schmidt said “social-economic reasons” should be taken into account to allow a European Union country to ban GMO crops even when […] Read more
Farm in Germany makes the old world new
This man’s farm really is his castle, bristling with electronics and shrouded in subsidies and regulations
Reading Time: 5 minutes Many Canadian family farms proudly display a “century farm” plaque at their front gates, signifying at least 100 years of uninterrupted family ownership. But as impressive as that may be, 100 years hardly registers on the European scale. The Graf family of North Rhine-Westphalia, a province in northern Germany, can trace its ownership back to 1340. […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
