agriculture | farmers | food

plus livestock, forestry, etc

Swiss cheese threatened by trade deals
Chemical products and cheese top the list of Swiss exports endangered by a proposed trade deal between the European Union and the United States, a government agency reported on Thursday.
Activists fret about RCEP impact
Access to affordable medicine and farmers' control over seeds could be undermined by the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership being negotiated between Asean member countries and six other trade partners, says FTA Watch in Thailand
Key to lead mission to India; ASEAN FTA review announced
Prime Minister John Key will lead a trade delegation to India next week, saying the pursuit of a trade agreement with the highly protected agricultural giant is "the primary reason we're going" but playing down the likelihood of early progress
Activists reject ratification of seed patent in ASEAN RCEP
An activist group is calling on the government to not ratify the ASEAN Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) clause on International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) 1991, saying that it will increase global corporations’ monopolistic control over small farmers.
Spain: Partnership agreement between EU and SADC rejected
The Joint Parliamentary Group has presented a non-legislative motion at the Parliament, urging the Government not to ratify the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between the EU and the Southern African Development Community.
German farmers divided over EU-Canada trade deal
The German agricultural sector is divided in its opinion of the deal: large farms relish the advantages and small enterprises fear the competition.
“If beef is not included”, there won't be no Mercosur-EU trade agreement, warns Uruguay
European Union and Mercosur coordinators to exchange the list of goods and services in mid October, the first formal meeting of its kind in fourteen years.
NFU President meets with EU farm leaders in Brussels, talks dairy crisis and CETA
NFU President encouraged Europe to solve its ongoing dairy crisis by adopting a Canadian-style supply management system instead of attempting to use the CETA trade agreement to increase dairy exports to Canada.
Japan, EU to discuss troublesome farm products separately in talks on economic partnership agreement
Japan and the European Union plan to discuss key farming products separately from other goods in negotiations on a proposed economic partnership agreement for free trade
Rice import scandal may ignite TPP spat in Japan
An official admission that importers and wholesalers may have been circumventing a government program designed to protect domestic farmers could have a negative impact on upcoming Diet discussions regarding the Trans-Pacific Partnership