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agriculture | farmers | food

Honduras accepts Canadian pork, beef, signs FTA
9-Nov-2013
Honduras has granted full market access to Canada’s pork and beef as the two countries move to sign a new free trade pact.
Peru, Israel foster agriculture cooperation, eyeing for FTA
4-Nov-2013
Peru and Israel have signed a declaration aimed at increasing agriculture cooperation and optimization of water resources, striving towards a bilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA), Peru’s Agriculture and Irrigation Ministry (Minagri) has reported.
Canadian beef makes gains in EU agreement, but US must aim higher
2-Nov-2013 Beef Magazine
Canada won’t realize the benefits negotiated under CETA until it allows imports of beef produced in the EU, which is still banned due to BSE. This is a concession the EU will also press the US to make in the TTIP, says the US beef industry.
Japan politicians criticise Shinzo Abe’s trade pact push
16-Oct-2013 FT
“Why should Japan take its own underpants off?” a parliamentarian from rural Toyama prefecture told reporters last week, after a senior Japanese negotiator suggested that Tokyo may have to make concessions over a set of highly protected agricultural products.
Can $150 melons boost Japan’s post-TPP agriculture exports?
16-Oct-2013 The Diplomat
While Japanese farmers fret that the TPP will cut import tariffs and flood the domestic market with cheap foreign produce, Abe sees the potential for an increase in luxury food exports – specifically pertaining to Japan’s world-class fruit, rice and beef.
Australia: Farmers seek bigger slice of FTAs
11-Oct-2013 The Australian
Australian farmers are demanding that Tony Abbott’s proposed free trade deals with China, Japan and South Korea unlock a greater share of Asian markets that are predicted to expand agricultural imports by more than $90 billion in real terms by 2050.
Thailand: Assembly of the Poor demanding Thai-EU FTA Talk must not restrain freedom of seed
8-Oct-2013 LVC
Over 100 farmers from Assembly of the Poor gathered in front of Thai Government House in Bangkok late September in a campaign action to scrutinize the implications for farmers’ seeds of the second round of Thai-EU FTA negotiations going on in Chiangmai
Four TPP members offer to kill all tariffs
23-Sep-2013 Japan Times
Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Chile are offering the other TPP members total tariff elimination on all agricultural and industrial goods, a source close to the talks said.
Colombia is latest addition to pantheon of free-trade follies
19-Sep-2013 The Guardian
The failure of free-trade agreements has repeatedly highlighted the need for more humane, intelligent agricultural interventions
FTA between EU and New Zealand called for
9-Sep-2013 Global Meat News
New Zealand’s High Commissioner has called for a free trade agreement between his country and the European Union so there can be increased trade in meat.
Farmers’ strike in Colombia highlights impact of free trade deal on local communities
6-Sep-2013 FSRN
Radio interview with Julia Duranti, with Witness for Peace. The group works in some of the hardest-hit regions for farmers in Colombia.
Colombian workers and farmers take on global neoliberalism
5-Sep-2013 IUF
The wave of strikes and demonstrations is not only the most significant social movement in decades in Colombia. It is currently the most broadly based challenge to the global neo-liberal project.
NPPC, other organizations urge adoption of TPP principles
2-Sep-2013 Agri-Pulse
A coalition of agricultural and food organizations led by the National Pork Producers Council and Cargill sent a letter recently to urge U.S. trade negotiators to include its “core” principles for a final Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement.
A struggle for survival in Colombia’s countryside
31-Aug-2013 Eyes on Trade
The source of this uprising lies in policies not up for discussion in the country’s current peace talks: the impact of the US-Colombia FTA – implemented in May 2012 – and policies that have similarly afflicted Colombian campesinos (small-scale farmers).
Japanese farmers’ opposition to TPP waning, Malaysian minister says
29-Aug-2013 Global Post
Malaysia’s International Trade and Industry Minister Mustapa Mohamad told Kyodo News, "The Japanese shared with us some issues they have in agriculture, but they told me that opposition is slowly dying down. It wasn’t as serious as it was six months ago. In their view, it’s manageable."
Colombian government to negotiate with striking farmers
27-Aug-2013 BBC
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos says his government will enter into negotiations with agricultural workers as their strike enters its ninth day.
Car handouts ’hindering FTA with China’
26-Aug-2013
The executive chairman of the company behind Australia’s top-selling cheese brand has warned that the Australian government’s support for the car industry is holding up a free-trade agreement with China.
Pigs on Boeing 747s from UK to China
16-Aug-2013
Following a trade deal, breeding pigs are being flown from the UK to China, up to 900 per flight in Boeing 747s.
The Trans-Pacific Partnership: A threat to democracy and food sovereignty
8-Aug-2013 Food First
This Backgrounder outlines the agreement’s assault on democracy and food sovereignty and examines the TPP’s likely impacts on food and agriculture in Japan, the latest country to join negotiations.
Taking steps to ensure compliance with EU food norms: Govt
8-Aug-2013
Admitting to increased stances of rejection of food consignments by EU in the last three years, India today said it is taking steps to ensure compliance with the European norms.