Reading Time: 3 minutes Brussels | Reuters — Germany defeated its key EU ally France in a very tight vote on Monday to clear the use of glyphosate herbicide for the next five years after a heated debate over whether it causes cancer. After months of indecisive votes among the 28 member states in Brussels, Germany, whose Chancellor Angela […] Read more
Germany swings EU vote in favour of glyphosate
Brazil pushes back decision on Bayer-Monsanto tie-up
Reading Time: < 1 minute Sao Paulo | Reuters — Brazilian antitrust agency Cade on Wednesday extended its deadline to review Bayer’s proposed takeover of Monsanto by 90 days to late March, potentially spoiling plans to wrap up the US$66 billion tie-up by the end of the year. A spokesman said Cade had approved the extension at a session on […] Read more
U.S. farm study finds no firm cancer link to glyphosate
Reading Time: 2 minutes London | Reuters – A large long-term study on the use of the big-selling weedkiller glyphosate by agricultural workers in the United States has found no firm link between exposure to the pesticide and cancer, scientists said on Thursday. Published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (JNCI), the study found there was no […] Read more
Monsanto halts U.S. seed treatment launch after complaints of rashes
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — Monsanto put on hold the launch of a seed treatment on Wednesday, following reports it causes rashes on people, in the latest instance of complaints about a company product that was approved by U.S. environmental regulators. Monsanto froze plans for commercial sales of the product called NemaStrike, which can protect corn, […] Read more
Monsanto, BASF herbicides strain states with damage complaints
Reading Time: 4 minutes Chicago | Reuters — U.S. farmers have overwhelmed state governments with thousands of complaints about crop damage linked to new versions of herbicides, threatening future sales by manufacturers Monsanto and BASF. Monsanto is banking on herbicides using dicamba — and seeds engineered to resist it — to dominate soybean production in the U.S., the world’s […] Read more
Bayer sees more antitrust asset sales ahead
Reading Time: < 1 minute Frankfurt | Reuters — Bayer said it expected antitrust authorities to make the planned acquisition of Monsanto conditional on more asset sales after agreeing to sell seed and herbicide businesses for 5.9 billion euro (C$8.8 billion) to BASF. “By no means did the deal that was signed with BASF constitute the totality of antitrust divestitures… […] Read more
Climate FieldView data system ready for Prairies
Reading Time: 2 minutes In beta testing in the region for much of this year, the Climate FieldView crop data system from Monsanto’s Climate Corp. has gone live on the Prairies. The Climate Corp. announced Wednesday the Climate FieldView platform is available for purchase in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta on a per-acre basis, allowing farmers to start using it […] Read more
EU delays decision on glyphosate
Reading Time: 2 minutes Brussels | Reuters — EU countries failed on Wednesday to vote on a licence extension for glyphosate, delaying again a decision on the widely used herbicide that critics say could cause cancer. The European Commission said in a statement the relevant committee did not hold a vote at a meeting and that it would announce […] Read more
In glyphosate review, WHO cancer agency edited out ‘non-carcinogenic’ findings
Reading Time: 7 minutes London | Reuters — The World Health Organization’s cancer agency dismissed and edited findings from a draft of its review of glyphosate herbicide that were at odds with its final conclusion that the chemical probably causes cancer. Documents seen by Reuters show how a draft of a key section of the International Agency for Research […] Read more
Dicamba label sufficient, Health Canada says
Reading Time: 2 minutes Health Canada will not be further regulating the use of dicamba herbicide sprayed on growing crops, as has happened in the U.S. The government agency that regulates pesticides issued a statement to Glacier FarmMedia reiterating its support for the current Canadian labels. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last week increased restrictions on the use […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
