California bans chlorpyrifos, all sales will end on Feb. 6, 2020

A widely used agricultural pesticide that California environmental officials have said has been linked to brain damage in children will be banned after next year under an agreement reached with the manufacturer, state officials announced Wednesday. Under…

FAO scales up and mobilize $500 million to fight against Fall Armyworm

FAO launched today a three-year Global Action for Fall Armyworm Control to scale up efforts to curb the growing spread of the invasive pest which is causing serious damage to food production and affecting millions of farmers across the world. Fall…

USDA pesticide report: 99% of samples below benchmark levels

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) today published the 2018 Pesticide Data Program (PDP) Annual Summary. The summary shows more than 99 percent of the samples tested had pesticide residues well below…

Swiss ban fungicide chlorothalonil

The Federal Office for Agriculture has banned chlorothalonil, a fungicide used since 1970s to prevent mildew and mould on crops. The federal office said that it had decided to withdraw the sales authorisation for products containing chlorothalonil…

USDA to Expand Agriculture Export Opportunities on Seven Trade Missions in 2020

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will sponsor seven agribusiness trade missions in 2020 to grow and diversify export opportunities around the world for America’s farmers and ranchers, Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural…

Global Grain Ending Stocks Continue Lower

A few weeks ago, we noted Mother Nature made a large dent in projected 2019 production and ending stocks. A few readers asked about the global ending stocks situation. For this week’s post, we review the global ending stock situation for corn,…

Austrian leader blocks ban on glyphosate, citing technicality

Austria’s caretaker leader on Monday made clear she would not sign into law the European Union’s first national ban on the weedkiller glyphosate due to a technicality, infuriating environmentalists while delighting farmers’ groups. A…

Upper House Japan approves US-Japan agreement on Ag Trade

seed industrToday, the National Potato Council (NPC) cheered the passage of the US-Japan Agreement on Agricultural Trade by Japan’s Upper House. Pending official announcements by both countries’ trade ministries, the pact will be enacted…

EU calls for study to justify 2018 gene-editing legislation

A landmark decision by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in 2018 changed the way gene-editing technology should be treated under EU law. This followed years of disputes, ending in the ruling that plants and animals created using this technology…