64 new outbreaks of Foot and Mouth Disease have been confirmed in South Korea. Most of the cases occurred in pigs, with 48,700 cases out of a susceptible population of 131,801. However, there was also one outbreak on a cattle farm, with two cases in a population of 33 cattle. All the. Read more...
The latest FAO food outlook shows meat prices falling as production grows and input costs fall.Meat prices have fallen in the first four months of 2015, according to the latest Food Outlook published by the FAO. This comes as global meat production is anticipated to continue expanding, at around 1.3 per cent in 2015, 4 million tonnes up on 2014. Meat production is being driven by expansion in the pig and poultry sectors. As lower input costs, for example low feed costs from good global cereal and grain harvests, have supported increasing supply, finished prices have remained proportionately low. With expansion of meat production predominantly in regions where. Read more...
Large multinational processing companies, retailers and foodservice organisations are starting to define the way that producers view animal welfare and ethical, sustainable production. More and more large and wealthy organisations are laying down the minimum standards they expect from their farmer producers. And they are dictating farming practices, often ahead of legislation, not only in the advanced farming communities but also in developing and emerging nations. One of the latest high profile organisations to join the campaign to improve welfare conditions and sustainable practices on the farms that produce the food it sells is the US retail giant,. Read more...
As the infection rate of avian influenza in the US slows, the economic implications could be only just beginning, write John Newton and Todd Kuethe from the University of Illinois' Farmdoc Daily project. In a previous Farmdoc Daily article in May, we reviewed USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) Update on Avian Influenza data with respect to USDA Census identified county-level poultry populations to provide perspective on the magnitude of the ongoing bird flu outbreak. At the time of that article, there were 133 confirmed cases representing 25.7 million birds affected in the US. A majority of the confirmed cases were in Upper Midwest states. Read more...
A draft law to ban the cloning of all farm animals, their descendants and products derived from them, including imports, in the EU was voted by the Environment and Agriculture committees yesterday (Wednesday 17 June). MEPs beefed up the European Commission’s initial proposal, citing high mortality rates at all development stages of cloning and EU citizens’ animal welfare and ethical concerns. "Due to the negative effects on animal welfare, cloning for farming purposes is rejected by a large majority of consumers. Furthermore, we do not need cloning to ensure meat supplies in the EU. Prohibiting cloning is therefore a matter of. Read more...
In a surprise development at this week's European Union Farm Council meeting, the United Kingdom said it would not be signing up to a new 'Animal Health Law' agreed by Brussels and the European Parliament. The law will merge and update many scattered items of old legislation, so as to help prevent and halt new outbreaks of animal diseases such as avian flu or African swine fever and keep pace with scientific progress. "This agreement is a big step forward for the farming community. The most important achievement is that the new law will for the first time establish a clear link between animal welfare, animal health and public health. "It is also a. Read more...
A United Nations’ target set in 2000 to reduce global hunger by a half by 2015 had almost been achieved.According to the State of Food Insecurity in the World report from the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, the International Find for Agricultural Development and the World Food Programme, 72 countries out of the 129 being monitored had achieved the First Millennium Development Goad of “cutting by half the proportion of people, who suffer from hunger by 2015”. A total of 29 of these countries had reached the World Food Summit goal set in 1996 to “eradicate hunger in all countries, with an intermediate view to reducing. Read more...
A new guide by FAO aims to help ensure anti-child labour measures are included in agricultural and rural development programmes, in particular those targeting family farmers. Programmes intended to boost local food production and support family farmers often do include components to address the issue of child labour in agriculture. But sometimes they do not, and can even contribute to the problem when improvements in productive capacity lead to increased labour demands that are met through child workers. And many agricultural development programmes do not monitor or evaluate the impact they have or may have on child labour. FAO's new guide seeks to. Read more...
On Wednesday, the U.S. House voted 300-131 to repeal the mandatory country of origin labelling (COOL) law for beef, pork and poultry, says a University of Missouri weekly update. This vote followed the fourth ruling against the U.S. law by the World Trade Organization, write Professors Ron Plain and Scott Brown. This is an attempt to keep Canada and Mexico from implementing retaliatory tariffs on U.S. products. Action by the Senate is still needed. The June WASDE reduced USDA's forecast of 2015 beef production by 1.1 per cent, but increased their 2016 prediction by 0.9 per cent. They are now predicting 1 per cent less beef this year than last and 3 per cent more. Read more...
Members of the European Feed Manufacturers' Federation (FEFAC) showed lower compound feed production last year compared with 2013, in final estimates presented at the organisation's Annual General Meeting in Cologne recently. Compound feed production in the EU-28 in 2014 reached 153.4 million t, which is 0.5 per cent less than in 2013. While pig feed and cattle feed production dropped by 1.2 per cent, poultry feed has seen its volume of production grow by 0.3 per cent. As a consequence, poultry feed consolidated its position of leading segment of EU compound feed production, now well ahead of pig feed. The most important factor having impacted feed production. Read more...
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