Tag Archives: Agriculture

Germany

More Swine Fever Cases Detected Among German Wild Boars | Instant News


Photographer: Sebastian Willnow / DPA / Getty Images

Photographer: Sebastian Willnow / DPA / Getty Images

Germany has confirmed the first case of swine fever in the state of Saxony, signaling that the disease is spreading beyond its initial hotspots in Brandenburg.

African swine fever was detected in wild boar killed in poaching in Saxony, near the Polish border, Germany’s Agriculture Ministry reported Saturday in a statement.

A wild boar was first diagnosed with swine fever in Brandenburg on September 10 and there are now 117 cases nationwide. The disease currently affects only wild boars, and no pigs have been infected, the ministry said.

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uk

Oil Futures Drop as the 2nd Coronavirus Wave Ignites Demand Fears | Instant News


Financial markets fell on Monday after the United States, the world’s largest economy, reported more than 83,000 new COVID-19 infections over the weekend, topping the previous record of 77,300 cases in July when Sun Belt state saw a sharp spike that was largely controlled inside. a month. Health officials, however, warned the new spike was different and unlikely to be easy to control as it coincides with cooler flu season and weather. That sentiment was echoed in comments from White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows who said on Sunday that the United States would not be able to control the pandemic amid a surge in new cases.

In parts of the European Union, the relentless increase in COVID-19 infections has triggered what is technically a lockdown from the past eight months, including curfews and the resumption of non-essential businesses. On Sunday, Spain and Italy declared a national state of emergency, while the Czech Republic closed its national borders and asked its citizens to refrain from all non-essential travel. Traffic activity in the 19-nation economic bloc further eroded this weekend, with volumes falling below a Jan 13 baseline in Italy, Spain and the UK.

The effect of this restriction is already evident in the Eurozone economic data for early October, with consumer confidence across the 19-nation economic bloc deteriorating to negative 15.5 and the services sector falling deeper into contraction with a reading of 46.2.

Domestically, offshore oil producers in the Gulf of Mexico have once again begun pulling staff and shutting down production platforms ahead of Tropical Storm Zeta which is now expected to hit the Louisiana Coast as a Category 1 hurricane Wednesday evening, Thursday morning. The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement estimates that about 15.87% of current oil production in the Gulf of Mexico has been closed as of Monday afternoon.

During the session, December West Texas Intermediate futures fell $ 1.29 or more than 3% to settle at $ 38.56 bbl and December Brent crude on ICE fell $ 1.31 to $ 40.46 bbl on a month-delivery contract. next January with a premium of 35 cents. November NYMEX ULSD futures slumped 2.95 cents to settle at a 3-week low of $ 1.1218 gallon, with the December futures holding a 0.61 cent premium for expiring contracts. The RBOB November contract fell 2.73 cents to $ 1.1116 a gallon and second-month delivery on the second month finished the session at a discount of 1.47 cents. December Brent crude, November ULSD and RBOB contracts expire Friday afternoon.

Liubov Georges can be reached at [email protected]

(c) Copyright 2020 DTN, LLC. All rights reserved.

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Food & Drink

EU Stiff Food Import Standard and California Wine Renewal | Instant News


EU Stiff Food Import Standard and California Wine Renewal



From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson with Your Agribusiness Renewal.

** Livestock organizations from across the country sent letters to Senate Committee chairman Ag Pat Roberts, and Congressman Collin Peterson, chair of the Ag House Committee, encouraging support of S. 4647 and HR 8557, the proposed Cattle Market Transparency Act 2020.

The letter said the two measures represented a balanced approach between providing key information and transparency for cattle producers while maintaining the confidentiality of the packaging sector.

The groups are calling for full and fair consideration and trial on the first suitable date possible.

** The EU is moving to raise environmental and food safety standards for agriculture under the “Farm to Fork” strategy, which will eventually also apply to food imports.

Mercatus Center economist Christine McDaniel said if the EU went this path in a way consistent with the WTO, it would be up to American farmers and food processors to figure out how to meet European consumer demand within the Farm to Fork guardrail.

** About a quarter of Sonoma County’s grapes will not be picked this year, according to estimates released last week.

The Sonoma County Grape Growers Organization said the wildfires and economic problems related to the pandemic were causing losses, which could total more than $ 150 million.

More than 70% of farmers surveyed said at least some of them

their grapes will not be picked or rejected by the wineries due to forest fires or associated smoke.

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Food & Drink

Using AI to unlock the genetic secrets of food | Instant News


One startup is using machine learning to identify what it calls “nutrient dark matter”.

Why is it important: More than 99% of phytonutrients – natural chemicals produced by plants – are unknown to science. If we can light up that dark matter, we can identify and grow compounds in food for specific health values.

How it works: Startup Brightseed uses a proprietary AI platform called Forager to predict the likelihood that plants have useful natural compounds and the likelihood that these phytonutrients may have certain health benefits.

  • These platforms are trained in large libraries of biomedical and plant research. That allows AI to make the connection between plant ingredients and health effects much faster than any human scientist can.
  • “It effectively works as a Google search engine for these compounds and what they can do,” said Jim Flatt, CEO of Brightseed. “Once we find the compound, we can develop products and services around it.”

Details: The Forager system can filter by specific chemical compounds, or based on health benefits, looking for materials which might affect cholesterol or cognitive function.

  • Earlier this year Brightseed announced a partnership with Danone North America to use the Forager system on soybeans.
  • That’s a sign that even one of the most widely used plants on Earth may have additional nutritional secrets that AI can uncover.

What they say: “AI allows us to deal with things that would have taken too long in the past computationally,” said Flatt.

Underline: As interesting as possible use biotechnology to synthesize an entirely new compound is, we are only just beginning to understand what is already in the world – and AI can accelerate that discovery.

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Italy

‘Olive tree leprosy’ destroys Italian olive oil production | Instant News


Italian farmers are facing devastation because of an epidemic of “olive leprosy” that ravages orchards throughout southern Europe.

Xylella bacteria have hit particularly hard in the country’s Puglia region along the southeast coast. That along with hail and drought has led to a 25 percent drop in the country’s olive oil production, according to the Guardian.

Italy controls about 15 percent of the total world market for olive oil, which ends up mostly in the United States, France, Germany and Japan. The price of Italian olive oil has risen sharply due to supply disruptions.

The country’s agricultural lobby, Confagricoltura, says the situation is more stable among olive groves in central Italy.

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