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agriculture | farmers | food

US pork dependent on new trade agreements
2-Nov-2007 NPPC
The future of the US pork industry depends on concluding new trade agreements, the National Pork Producers Council today told congressional lawmakers.
Mexico stands up to FTA
31-Oct-2007 Prensa Latina
About 40 Mexican rural organizations agreed Wednesday to create a unitary front against the North America Free Trade Agreement. As part of the peaceful resistance plan, farmers will camp on the central square of Zocalo starting Monday to defend the rights of four million Mexican agricultural producers.
Farmers deserve a fair hearing
30-Oct-2007 East African
We should not be surprised at the Kenyan state’s almost complete lack of understanding of the concerns raised in a suit filed last week by the Kenya Small Scale Farmers Forum, with the support of the Kenya Human Rights Commission, to block any trade agreement between Kenya and the EU.
Protecting Korean farmers key goal of FTA talks with China
29-Oct-2007 KOIS
The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry said Seoul stressed the need to reflect the concerns of local farmers in any future free trade agreement (FTA) with China at preliminary discussions held in Weihai last week.
Kenya: Manufacturers join trade case
28-Oct-2007 AllAfrica.com
The stage is set for a battle pitting small-scale farmers against manufacturers and exporters of fresh produce. On Friday, the Kenya Association of Manufacturers and Kenya Fresh Produce Exporters Association applied and were included in the case as interested parties to support the Government against the farmers and the Kenya Human Rights Commission.
Caribbean nations grapple with biofuel issues
28-Oct-2007 USA Today
In the United States, experts debate whether biofuel growth in the tropics will cut into profits for Midwest producers. Special free-trade agreements with those countries can make it less expensive to ship ethanol from there to the US coasts.
Legal obstacles emerge over free trade deal with Europe
25-Oct-2007 Business Daily Africa
A landmark case has entered the Kenyan corridors of justice as a group of farmers and a human rights watchdog move to challenge the State over ongoing negotiations for a new trade agreement with Europe.
Farmers get a shield in India-EU FTA
22-Oct-2007 Economic Times
The free trade agreement (FTA) component of the India-European Union comprehensive economic cooperation agreement (CECA) is likely to exclude nearly 150 farm products to shield Indian farmers from increased competition posed by subsidised goods.
Seoul not to link rewriting of US beef import rules to FTA: agriculture minister
21-Oct-2007 Hankyoreh
South Korea’s top agriculture policymaker said that there will be no linkage between plans to rewrite US beef import rules with the ratification of the free trade agreement that was signed in late June.
’EU undermining agriculture in Africa’
19-Oct-2007 IPS
Europe is undermining its own efforts to strengthen African agriculture by foisting free trade on the continent, a Ghanaian farm leader has complained.
Guatemala union heads killed despite US trade deal
18-Oct-2007 Reuters
Masked gunmen dumped a Guatemalan banana picker’s bullet-ridden corpse yards from fields of fruit bound for the United States, a grim reminder of the risks of organizing labor in the Central American country.
Guatemala: FTA, neolib affect food supply
17-Oct-2007 Prensa Latina
Neoliberal policies and the free trade agreement with the US have made Guatemala rely on others to feed its population, a study published here denounces.
One man protests against FTA agreement
17-Oct-2007 China Daily
A farmer carries a model pig during his one-man protest in front of the hotel where South Korean-EU free trade talks are being held in Seoul
Farmers: JPEPA is anti-Filipino
14-Oct-2007 SunStar
In the series of consultations made by the Philippine Peasant Institute (PPI) with farmers, most of them believe that it is anti-Filipino, anti-farmer, and contrary to the Constitution.
Zimbabwe: White farmers appeal to Sadc
13-Oct-2007 AllAfrica.com
The last remaining white commercial farmers have appealed to the regional Southern African Development Community (Sadc) Tribunal in an effort to stop government from expropriating their properties.
Debate rages as Jpepa stirs up a hornet’s nest
13-Oct-2007
Various groups around the Philippines have come out with guns blazing, claiming that the proposed Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement will only harm farmers in the countryside.
Thai food exports to reach Bt600 billion
12-Oct-2007 MCOT
Thailand’s food exports are expected to increase by 7.8 per cent from last year to Bt600 billion this year and to further rise by 10 per cent next year due to the free trade area (FTA) agreements and an increased demand for products as a result of global warming, according to industry executives.
Seoul, Ottawa to focus on barley, bean in free trade agreement talks
7-Oct-2007 Yonhap
South Korea and Canada will focus on barley, bean, potato and other farm products in free trade agreement talks that reopen in Ottawa this week
Ghana: Poultry sector to be hardest hit by EPAs, stakeholders kick against it
24-Sep-2007 AllAfrica.com
For the last few years, the Ghanaian market has been flooded with cheap imported chicken from the European Union and the United States. These are usually fatty chicken parts that come in packages without labels. Demand for local poultry has collapsed, threatening the livelihoods of over 1,000 poultry farmers in both small and large-scale poultry farming in Ghana. The current situation will be compounded when the EPAs take effect in 2008 with the removal of tariffs across board.
S. Korean cattle breeders protest US beef
20-Sep-2007 Cattle Network
Some 7,000 South Korean cattle farmers converged near the National Assembly in Seoul on Tuesday to protest the government’s pending free-trade agreement with the United States.