Reading Time: < 1 minute Berlin | Reuters — Farmers in Germany will have to gradually reduce their use of glyphosate and stop using it completely from 2024 in order to preserve clean habitats for insects, under draft legislation passed by the country’s cabinet on Wednesday. “The exit from glyphosate is coming. Conservationists have been working toward this for a […] Read more
German cabinet approves legislation to ban glyphosate from 2024
Law would still need parliamentary approval
Triple-herbicide-tolerant soybean set for limited 2021 release
Bayer's XtendFlex soybeans pick up needed approvals
Reading Time: 2 minutes Bayer Crop Science expects to have “a small volume” of its new XtendFlex soybeans in the Canadian seed market for the 2021 growing season. XtendFlex soybeans, whose trait package is stacked with herbicide tolerance for glyphosate and dicamba as well as glufosinate, will be available in Canada for planting this spring, but not in all […] Read more
China to approve further domestic GMO corn, soy crop varieties
Reading Time: 2 minutes Beijing | Reuters — China said on Monday it was set to approve the safety of another genetically modified (GMO) corn variety and a GMO soybean, both produced by Beijing Dabeinong Technology Group Co. Ltd. The move comes after China last year approved three domestically designed GMO crops as safe, the first in a decade, […] Read more
Mexico farm lobby blasts ban on GMO corn
Country's organic growers welcome ban
Reading Time: 2 minutes Monterrey, Mexico | Reuters — Mexico’s main agricultural lobby on Saturday criticized the government’s decision to ban genetically modified corn, while organic growers hailed the move that should protect smaller farmers. Mexico will “revoke and refrain from granting permits for the release of genetically modified corn seeds into the environment,” stated a decree issued Thursday […] Read more
France to help farmers to abandon glyphosate weedkiller
Reading Time: 2 minutes Paris | Reuters – France will give financial aid to farmers who agree to halt use of glyphosate, the farm ministry said on Monday after President Macron said he had failed with efforts to ban use of the weedkiller by 2021. Glyphosate, first developed by Bayer’s Monsanto under the Roundup brand, has generated intense global […] Read more
Bayer resolves more U.S. Roundup cases
Judge keeps pause on litigation
Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — Attorneys for Bayer and U.S. consumers suing the company over allegations its Roundup herbicide caused cancer told a judge on Thursday they are continuing to resolve thousands more U.S. cases, improving prospects for its US$11 billion deal to end the litigation. The hearing was a contrast to the contentious tone among the parties […] Read more
New Brunswick returns ag minister, ag critic in election
Liberals' former ag minister among casualties
Reading Time: 2 minutes New Brunswick’s incumbent agriculture minister and opposition ag critic are among those returning to the legislative assembly as the provincial Tories locked in a governing majority. As of 9 p.m. CT Monday, incumbent Premier Blaine Higgs’ Progressive Conservatives, who went into the vote with a 22-seat minority government, were elected in 27 of 49 ridings. […] Read more
Mexico to phase out use of glyphosate
Farmers to have until 2024 to phase out herbicide
Reading Time: < 1 minute Mexico City | Reuters — Mexico will gradually phase out use of the herbicide glyphosate by the time the current administration ends in late 2024, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Wednesday, following a ministerial spat over the product. Acknowledging differences between his agriculture and environment ministries over the herbicide, which is used in […] Read more
Bayer books second-quarter loss after settlement
Reading Time: < 1 minute Frankfurt | Reuters — German drugs and pesticides group Bayer reported a 9.5 billion-euro (C$14.86 billion) net loss for its second quarter, following a US$10.9 billion settlement of U.S. lawsuits claiming that its Roundup herbicide caused cancer. The charges stemmed mainly from agreements which attempted to wrap up legal disputes inherited with its US$63 billion […] Read more
Bayer loses California appeal of Roundup verdict
Damages payable to plaintiff are further reduced
Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — Bayer AG failed to persuade a California appeals court to overturn a verdict favouring a school groundskeeper who claimed its Roundup weed killer caused his cancer but reduced the amount of damages by 74 per cent, to US$20.5 million. The decision by the California Court of Appeal came after a San Francisco jury […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
