Wheat prices fell in Chicago, capping the fourth straight weekly decline, as buyers opted for supplies that are cheaper than grain from the U.S., the world’s largest exporter.
Corn declined to the lowest price in four months and soybeans fell as the dollar’s climb reduced the appeal of commodities as an alternative investment.
In a bid to protect farmers against increasing market volatility, EU farm leaders emphasised at a hearing on the long-term future of the EU dairy sector the need to further develop market risk management tools, including futures markets, as well as to maintain EU market management measures as a cornerstone of EU dairy policy, especially as the EU sells 9% of production on the world market.
The U.S. Agriculture Department’s first-ever in-depth organic farming survey found that less than 1% of U.S. farms are organic, yet they managed to generate $3.16 billion in sales in 2008.
The second victim was a young Japanese woman in her early twenties. On a business trip to the U.S., she ordered tuna sashimi for lunch. It seemed fishy to her—and she was dead right.
The third was a South African fisherman we'll call "Nate." He never ate a thing, but as he plied the waters of the new fishery he'd recently started working, elsewhere poachers harvested protected spiny lobster and exported them with false documents—further damaging recovering fishing grounds Nate hoped to one day fish again.
Seafood identity theft?
Wheat futures rose the most in four weeks in Chicago on speculation that U.S. farmers are holding onto grain, limiting supplies, after prices last month fell the most since June.
Sugar futures climbed following a forecast that the worldwide shortfall will be higher than estimated amid ample demand.
Australia, Brazil and Thailand have criticized the European Union for planning to export an extra 500,000 tons of sugar this year.
Construction officially gets under way Feb. 3 in Gramercy, La., on what will become one of the largest capacity sugar refineries in the United States.
The Obama administration wants to save billions of dollars by putting new limits on farm subsidies and cutting back on government support for crop insurance companies, according to the fiscal year 2011 budget proposal released Monday by the White House.