Page 745 of articles about news

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has established a new scholarship program for non-veterinary students who wish to pursue careers that have an impact on the health of animal agriculture.

Member States have the obligation to establish a system for advising farmers on land and farm management, the so-called Farm Advisory System (FAS). It is a major component of the 2003 Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform and had to be introduced by 2007. The objective of the FAS is to help farmers to become more aware of on-farm processes relating to the environment, food safety and animal health and welfare.

The resource under the temporary state aid aimed to support the farmers from the pig and poultry breeding sector will be allocated for maximum absorption of the resources. The financial resource approved under the scheme amounts to BGN 3.48 million.

The National Agri-Food Service, Quality, and Health Service of Mexico (SENASICA) has declared Chiapas as Aujeszky disease-free zone, meaning that 68% of their national territory is free of this disease that affects swine.

In the 3rd quarter of 2010, just under 2 million tonnes of meat were produced from commercial slaughtering in Germany, 4.2% more than in the same quarter a year earlier. As further reported by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), this rise was mainly due to the significant increase in the number of pigs slaughtered. The production of poultry meat is also on the rise, while the production of beef is declining.

Since the introduction of EU Animal By-product Regulation (ABPR) 1774/2002, the open burning and burial of fallen livestock on-farm has been prohibited. A new research project has examined the current methods of livestock disposal available to farmers within the UK, EU and globally. Upon consultation of farmers around the UK, a novel method of on-farm storage and bioreduction was desired to try to reduce the cost of disposal and increase compliance to EU legislation.

Despite improvements in daily liveweight gain and pigs finished per sow, Britain still lags behind its European competition in the production stakes. The latest figures from the BPEX publication on international cost of production show Britain produced 1643kg pig meat per sow in 2009 – the lowest of all the EU countries.

The majority of Europeans associate food and eating with enjoyment. According to a new Eurobarometer survey, those who are concerned about possible food-related risks tend to worry more about chemical contamination of food rather than bacterial contamination or health and nutrition issues. The poll also showed most Europeans have confidence in national and European food safety agencies as information sources on possible risks associated with food.

International prices of most agricultural commodities have increased in recent months, some sharply. The FAO Food Price index has gained 34 points since the previous Food Outlook report in June, averaging 197 points in October, only 16 points short from its peak in June 2008. The upward movements of prices were connected with several factors, the most important of which were a worsening of the outlook for crops in key producing countries, which is likely to require large draw downs of stocks and result in tighter global supply and demand balances in 2010/11.

The High Level Forum for a Better Functioning Food Supply Chain is meeting for the first time in Brussels on Tuesday 16 November. It will adopt a work plan to boost competitiveness and to promote best contractual practices in the European food sector, extending the work of the previous High Level Group on the Competitiveness of the Agro-Food Industry to the whole supply chain. Vice President Antonio Tajani is leading this exercise together with his fellow Commissioners Michel Barnier (Internal Market and Services), John Dalli (Health and Consumer Policy) and Dacian Cioloş (Agriculture and Rural development).

The latest figures from the Danish statistics service show a drastic reduction in the use of antibiotics in swine production during the first trimester of this year.

In a world first, the Australian pork industry voted today to pursue the voluntary phasing out of gestation stalls by 2017.