Page 870 of articles about news

President Barrack Obama last week signed legislation that is designed to help more farmers and ranchers restructure their loans versus being forced into foreclosure. According to Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wisc.) who introduced amendments to the 'Helping Families Save Their Homes Act.' This new action will require government agencies to make sure that banks use their TARP funds to help farmers in need of financial assistance.

The present system for monitoring and tracing Irish pork products is ineffective and significant changes are required in order to avoid a repeat of the total recall of Irish pork products which has resulted in a cost of millions of euro in compensation payments to the Irish taxpayer. This is one of the findings of the report published today, by the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.

In order to ensure the eradication of FMD virus, Chinese Taipei uses non-vaccinated pigs as sentinel animals on every farm. During the routine active surveillance in the livestock market, a pig was found NSP antibody positive. The prefecture animal disease control competent authority traced back to the original farm. The result of clinical investigation showed that all pigs on farm were healthy. Samples for serological tests and virus isolation were collected and sent to the National Laboratory. The laboratory confirmed positive results for NSP and negative for virus isolation. A total of 57 farms within 3-km-radius of the index farm have been under vigilant monitoring and no clinical or serological evidence of infection has been found.

The OIE has informed about the presence of foot-and-mouth virus serotype A in Guangxi and Guizhou provinces.

The genetic programme for the organic pig production sector that is most beneficial in the short term is a rotational crossbreeding structure with purebred and terminal AI boars that are specifically selected for organic pig production. The Animal Breeding and Genomics Centre (ABGC) and the Institute for Pig Genetics (IPG) made this recommendation after analysing data from organic pig farms and evaluating lines and genetic programmes in a bio-economic and a genetic model.

Responding to President Obama's directive to upgrade the nation's food safety system, the White House Food Safety Working Group, launched a website to provide information about the group's activities and progress.

The Government of Canada is investing in young farmers and the future of Canadian agriculture. Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture Pierre Lemieux announced today an investment of more than $3 million in the Canadian 4-H Council over a four-year period under Growing Forward, the new national agricultural policy framework aimed at building a profitable sector for all farmers across the country.

The Council took note of the request made by the French delegation and supported by other delegations regarding the situation on the pig meat market. The Commission representative maintained the position that no measure is required at this stage.

Over the later years the costs of meat control increased strongly (36.7 percent per kg slaughtered pig over just two years) and reduced the slaughterhouses’ competitiveness.

The sub-regional representation will be responsible for improving the quality of national veterinary services. It will look into harmonizing methods used to prevent and control diseases and the public-private animal health delivery services established in the region. The new representation will also be part of a Regional Animal Health Centre to be established in collaboration with the FAO in the framework of the OIE/FAO GF-TAD’s programme (Global Framework of the progressive control of transboundary diseases).

Russia shall increase pork production at least by 200 thousand tons a year through 2012, as the First Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, Viktor Zubkov declared. Mr. Zubkov pointed out that currently Agriculture Ministry has been elaborating a special program on hog breeding development. He reported that implementation and reequipment of about 250 hog complexes and farms for the previous two years afforded to increase pork production almost by 0.5m tons.

In a major turnaround from nearly going extinct a few years ago, Welsh pigs are set to have their own breed society and a Government-backed scheme aimed at commercial producers and increasing breeding sows from 400 to 2,000.

Fresh or chilled beef and veal production for January - April 2009 totaled to 21.3 thousand tons, down 41.6% from the same period of 2008 (36.5 thousand tons). Thereat, April production output was 6.1 thousand tons, as Ukrainian State Statistics Committee reports.

The Livestock Marketing Fairness Act, S. 1086, a new bill which its authors claim will "stop years of unfair and manipulative meat-packer practices that negatively impact ranchers and farmers," was introduced May 20 by U.S. Senators Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa and Tim Johnson, D-S.D.