Bloyce Thompson, MLA for the district of Stanhope-Marshfield since 2019 and ag minister from 2019 until last summer, was again appointed April 14 as King’s minister of agriculture, justice and public safety and attorney general.

King’s shuffle also decouples what was until now the ministry of agriculture and land. The latter file now goes to a “realigned” department of housing, land and communities, to be led by Rob Lantz, the rookie Progressive Conservative MLA for Charlottetown-Brighton.

The new housing, land and communities department is expected to be “working closely with municipalities on developing a provincewide land-use plan” for Prince Edward Island, the government said in a release.

Thompson, a third-generation dairy farmer and former board member with Dairy Farmers of P.E.I., was first named ag minister as a rookie MLA following the April 2019 provincial election, in which he unseated incumbent premier Wade MacLauchlan.

King last July had shuffled Thompson over to the economic growth, tourism and culture portfolios, and replaced him on the agriculture and land, justice and public safety files with then-finance minister Darlene Compton.

Compton, who’d been the province’s first female ag minister, has been shuffled out of cabinet in King’s April 14 announcement. Thompson also becomes deputy premier, a role Compton had held since 2019.

“This team is a mix of experience and new perspectives, geographically represents our island, and has a record number of women serving as members of executive council,” King said in his release.

Both Thompson and Compton easily won their ridings in the April 3 provincial election. Thompson held his constituency of Stanhope-Marshfield with 2209 votes, a spread of 1,643 votes over his lone challenger, NDP candidate Marian White.

New deputy

Separately on April 14, King also announced changes to the senior civil service, including the formal appointment of Brian Matheson as deputy minister of agriculture, effective April 17.

Having already served as acting deputy minister of agriculture and land since 2019, Matheson has been with the provincial ag department for about three decades, most recently as director of policy and agriculture resources since 2015.

Matheson has taken part in national policy and regulatory discussions and negotiations at the federal/provincial/territorial table over the past five years as part of his policy and regulatory responsibilities, the province noted.

As the province’s seniormost ag bureaucrat, Matheson replaces Laurie Loane, who left the deputy minister post in 2019 to return to her previous job as executive director of the P.E.I. Agriculture Sector Council. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Russia is the world’s largest wheat exporter, supplying it mainly to Africa and the Middle East. It competes with the European Union and Ukraine.

The ministry “is currently doing technical work with the regions to refine the form and structure of the operational data on crop harvesting and sowing of winter grains,” it said on Wednesday.

“Once this work is completed, the information will continue to be published on the ministry’s website on a daily basis,” it added.

The latest harvesting data on the ministry’s website is as of Aug. 6. Its analytical centre Specagro last published the data as of Aug. 11, when Russia had harvested 74.9 million tonnes of grain before drying and cleaning.

The ministry last week left its 2021 grain crop forecast unchanged at 127.4 million tonnes, including 81 million tonnes of wheat, the Interfax news agency reported.

Its forecast is higher than those of analysts.

The ministry is in discussions with state statistics service Rosstat over a difference in their estimates of Russia’s 2021 grain sowing area, Interfax reported last week, citing the ministry.

The ministry’s crop forecast takes into account one million hectares which farmers resowed with grain this year, it told Interfax, adding that the ministry and the stats service planned to disclose their consolidated point of view on the issue soon.

Rosstat’s estimate of the pre-harvest winter wheat area was one of the reasons behind a wave downgrades of Russia’s 2021 grain crop in August, along with dry and hot weather.

— Reporting for Reuters by Polina Devitt.

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The cows were kept in what an animal rights activist called “hellish” conditions on the Karim Allah, which docked in the southeastern Spanish port of Cartagena on Thursday after struggling to find a buyer for the cattle during the past two months.

The beasts were rejected by several countries over fears they had bovine bluetongue virus. The insect-borne virus causes lameness and haemorrhaging among cattle. Bluetongue does not affect humans.

The veterinarians’ report concluded that the animals had suffered from the lengthy journey. Some of them were unwell and not fit for transport outside of the European Union, nor should they be allowed in the EU. Euthanasia would be the best solution for their health and welfare, it said.

The report did not say if the cattle had bluetongue disease.

“It is not even mentioned, which is very surprising,” said Miquel Masramon, a lawyer representing the ship owner Talia Shipping Line. The ship is registered in Lebanon, according to VesselFinder.

“My impression is that they will definitely go ahead with the slaughter and destruction of the animals and it’ll be difficult for us to prevent it,” he said.

Masramon said he would push for the return of blood samples taken from the animals and impounded by authorities on Thursday to be released and tested “to prove if there is any bluetongue.”

The agriculture ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It said earlier on Friday that it would make appropriate decisions after analyzing information from the inspection.

The vessel originally left Cartagena to deliver the cattle to Turkey. But authorities there blocked the shipment and suspended live animal imports from Spain, fearing bluetongue infection.

That rejection turned the ship into an international pariah. Several countries refused it entry even to replenish animal feed, forcing the cows to go several days with just water.

The cows likely have severe health problems after their “hellish” crossing, said animal rights activist Silvia Barquero, director of the Igualdad Animal NGO.

“What has happened to the waste produced by all these animals for two months? We are sure they are in unacceptable sanitary conditions,” Barquero told Reuters.

The agriculture ministry’s experts counted 864 animals alive on board. Twenty-two cows died at sea, with two corpses still aboard. The remains of the others that died were chopped up and thrown overboard during the journey, the report said.

Ownership of the cattle is unclear. The exporter, World Trade, said it is not responsible because it sold the animals, Masramon said. Reuters has been unable to reach World Trade for comment.

A second ship, the ElBeik, also set sail from Spain in December with a cargo of nearly 1,800 cows. It is currently moored off the Turkish Cypriot port of Famagusta.

— Reporting for Reuters by Emma Pinedo and Nathan Allen in Madrid, and Juan Medina and Marco Trujillo in Cartagena; additional reporting by Ali Kucukgocmen in Istanbul; writing by Nathan Allen and Jessica Jones.

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The province announced Wednesday that all slaughter work licensed under its Meat Inspection Regulation for Class A, B, D and E sites will now be regulated through the ag ministry, starting Dec. 1.

Oversight of Class D and E on-farm licensees is currently the responsibility of regional health authorities’ environmental health officers.

The move will help ensure “overall consistency” in Class D and E administration, the province said Wednesday.

The province said the move will also streamline licensing to “reduce the administrative burdens” for animal slaughtering businesses, while also “increasing frequency of inspections to ensure food safety and animal welfare is maintained.”

The change is a response to “recent consultation,” the province said, noting a 2018 report from the provincial legislature’s select standing committee on agriculture, fish and food on local meat production and inspection.

That report cited presenters who suggested inspection rules and standards in place for Class A and B facilities could be “expanded or modified” to apply to Class D and E facilities, “thereby bringing provincial meat inspection within a single centralized system.”

The Small Scale Meat Producers Association, for one, recommended bringing all licence classes “under the purview of a single authority, preferably the ministry of agriculture,” the report noted.

Such a move, the report said, “could increase efficiency, reduce capacity for error, and provide clearer direction and better understanding of regulations and the codes of practice for producers and processors.”

The committee’s report also showed respondents to its survey “indicated that current regulations are too restrictive or onerous for small producers, and can increase costs where profit margins are already minimal.”

B.C.’s Class D licences are currently available in 10 regional districts where it’s been deemed “unlikely that Class A or B abattoirs will operate due to low population, low livestock numbers and transport challenges.”

A Class D licence permits a holder to slaughter up to 11,340 kg per year (that is, up to 25 “animal units”) of their own animals and other peoples’ animals on farm. That meat may be sold “with appropriate permitting from health authorities” at the farm gate, to retail outlets and temporary farm markets, within the district in which the licence was issued.

Class E licences, meanwhile, are available anywhere in the province, but under “more restrictive” conditions than for Class D. Class E licensees first must complete a feasibility study that “clearly indicates lack of available slaughter services.”

Class E licensing permits a holder to slaughter up to 4,536 kg (up to 10 animal units) per year — but of their own animals only — on the farm. That meat may be sold at the farm gate, and to temporary farm markets within the regional district — but not to retail outlets.

Also, the agriculture ministry currently recommends against granting a Class E licence in cases where a Class A or B abattoir is located within up to an hour’s travel time from the proposed Class E site.

“This change will enable effective oversight and create more opportunities for small on-farm abattoirs,” Lillooet rancher and SSMPA vice-president Tristan Banwell, a Class D licensee, said Wednesday in the province’s release.

“We will also have a clear path to growth for those who want to expand their facilities, which is crucial as we work to rebuild diverse local economies in rural areas.”

“We look forward to working collaboratively with all licence holders to ensure food safety and animal welfare requirements are being met, while continuing to support more opportunities for the production and sales of locally raised meat products in B.C.,” provincial Agriculture Minister Lana Popham said in the same release. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Though dog meat remains a delicacy in many regions, the ministry of agriculture said in a notice published on Wednesday that dogs would no longer be considered as livestock. It uses that designation for animals that can be bred to provide food, milk, fur, fibre and medicine, or to serve the needs of sports or the military.

“As far as dogs are concerned, along with the progress of human civilization and the public concern and love for animal protection, dogs have been ‘specialized’ to become companion animals, and internationally are not considered to be livestock, and they will not be regulated as livestock in China,” it said.

The coronavirus is widely believed to have originated in horseshoe bats, and could have been passed onto humans by intermediary species on sale in the markets of the city of Wuhan, where the pathogen was first identified.

China subsequently banned the breeding, trading and consumption of wildlife, and revoked all existing licenses. It has also promised to revise legislation to make the ban permanent.

The draft guidelines published on Wednesday, which have been opened to the public for consultation, listed 18 traditional livestock species — including cattle, pigs, poultry and camels.

It also added 13 “special” species that would also be exempt from wild animal trading restrictions, including reindeer, alpaca, pheasants, ostriches and foxes.

Dog consumption has become increasingly unpopular in China, and the southern city of Shenzhen became the first to ban it last month.

However, the Humane Society International, an animal welfare group, estimated that around 10 million dogs a year are still killed in China for meat, including stolen pets. The city of Yulin in the region of Guangxi holds an annual dog meat festival in June.

“This draft proposal could signal a game-changer moment for animal protection in China,” said Wendy Higgins, a Humane Society International spokeswoman.

— Reporting for Reuters by David Stanway.

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Zelenskiy has pledged to lift a longstanding ban on the sale of farmland, a move that supporters say will unlock enormous opportunities for investment in the agriculture sector of one of the world’s largest grain exporters.

It is part of a push to make Ukraine more attractive to investors and tackle entrenched corruption. The country’s economy has been propped up by Western aid since the 2014 Maidan protests and the outbreak of a conflict with Russian-backed forces in the eastern Donbass region of Ukraine.

Speaking at a televised meeting alongside his newly appointed Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk, Zelenskiy said he wanted parliament to “adopt a law on the agricultural land market and lift the moratorium on the sale of land by Dec. 1, 2019.

“Now we have a unique situation, a unique chance to carry out all necessary reforms. We have everything for this: the political will of the president, the majority in the Verkhovna Rada (parliament), the government and the prime minister ready to work,” Zelenskiy said.

He also announced a special law for the protection of foreign investment — the details of which were not specified — by the start of January.

Zelenskiy’s Servant of the People party won 254 of 450 seats in parliamentary elections in July, the first time a ruling president’s party has won an absolute majority in the legislature and the right to independently form a government.

Oleksiy Honcharuk, the newly appointed prime minister, announced Thursday Ukraine will no longer have a separate agriculture ministry, bringing it under the oversight of the economy ministry.

— Reporting for Reuters by Natalia Zinets and Pavel Polityuk; writing by Matthias Williams.

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Traders interpreted it as a result of the close attention with which Russian officials have been monitoring how big exporters are faring given a lower 2018 crop since September.

The new union will be created by around April, when the ministry plans to start discussing grain export plans with traders for the 2019-20 marketing season which starts on July 1, it said.

The ministry also said it did not plan to impose any restrictions on grain exports. It kept its forecast for Russia’s 2018-19 grain exports at 42 million tonnes, including 37 million tonnes of wheat.

Speculation that Russia, the world’s largest wheat exporter, could limit exports later in the 2018-19 season have supported global wheat prices in recent months.

“The agriculture ministry is initiating the creation of a new association, a new union of grain exporters,” the minister, Dmitry Patrushev, was quoted as saying in a statement.

“We need to understand the common trends, the common demands of the market, which is why it is necessary to form a strong association that will represent the interests of the main exporters,” he added.

The ministry called for the participants of the meeting to join the work in setting up the new union.

Major exporters of Russian grain already have a lobby group — the National Association of Exporters of Agricultural Products — which represents mainly large foreign trade houses.

Russian trade houses have become powerful players in recent years and support the creation of the new union which will represent interests of everyone, one of them told Reuters.

For traders outside the country, the ministry’s statement raised concerns about the independence of the new union from Russian officials.

“Frankly it looks rather strange and to me raises the question why do this. Does the government want a new association that agrees with the government?” a European trader said.

Another European trader said: “We need to know more about it. Is it for export promotion or slowing exports?”

Russia’s agriculture ministry did not immediately reply to a Reuters request for comment.

Russia has exported 32.6 million tonnes of grains, including 27.3 million tonnes of wheat, since the start of the current 2018-19 marketing year.

— Reporting for Reuters by Polina Devitt, Michael Hogan and Maha El Dahan.

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The temporary decree, which will expire unless it is ratified within 120 days by Congress, strips power over land claim decisions from indigenous affairs agency FUNAI.

It says the agriculture ministry will now be responsible for “identification, delimitation, demarcation and registration of lands traditionally occupied by indigenous people.”

The move stoked concern among environmentalists and rights groups that the far-right new president, who took office on Tuesday, will open up the vast Amazon rainforest and other ecologically sensitive areas of Brazil to greater commercial exploitation.

The executive order also moves the Brazilian Forestry Service, which promotes the sustainable use of forests and is currently linked to the environment ministry, under agriculture ministry control.

Additionally, the decree states that the agriculture ministry will be in charge of the management of public forests.

Bolsonaro, who enjoys strong support from Brazil’s powerful agribusiness sector, said during his campaign he was considering such a move, arguing that protected lands should be opened to commercial activities.

Brazil’s 900,000 indigenous people make up less than one per cent of the population, but live on lands that stretch for 264 million acres, or 12.5 per cent of the national territory.

“Less than a million people live in these isolated places in Brazil, where they are exploited and manipulated by NGOs,” Bolsonaro tweeted, referring to non-profit groups. “Let us together integrate these citizens and value all Brazilians.”

Critics say Bolsonaro’s plan to open indigenous reservations to commercial activity will destroy native cultures and languages by integrating the tribes into Brazilian society.

Environmentalists say the native peoples are the last custodians of the Amazon, which is the world’s largest rainforest and is vital for climate stability.

After she was sworn in on Wednesday, new Agriculture Minister Tereza Cristina Dias defended the farm sector from accusations it has grown at the expense of the environment, adding that the strength of Brazil’s farmers had generated “unfounded accusations” from unnamed international groups.

Dias used to be the head of the farm caucus in Brazil’s Congress, which has long pushed for an end to land measures that it argues hold back the agricultural sector.

“Brazil is a country with extremely advanced environmental legislation and is more than able to preserve its native forests,” Dias said. “Our country is a model to be followed, never a transgressor to be punished.”

In comments to reporters after her speech, she said that decisions over land rights disputes were a new responsibility for the agriculture ministry. However, she indicated that in practice, the demarcation of land limits would fall to a council of ministries, without giving further details.

Good news for farmers

Bartolomeu Braz, the president of the national chapter of Aprosoja, a major grain growers association, cheered Wednesday’s move to transfer indigenous land demarcation to the Agriculture Ministry.

“The new rules will be interesting to the farmers and the Indians, some of whom are already producing soybeans. The Indians want to be productive too,” he added.

Three-time presidential candidate and former environment minister Marina Silva, who was beaten by Bolsonaro in October’s election, reacted with horror to the move.

“Bolsonaro has begun his government in the worst possible way,” she wrote on Twitter.

Dinama Tuxa, a member of Brazil’s Association of Indigenous Peoples, said many isolated communities viewed Bolsonaro’s administration with fear.

“We are very afraid because Bolsonaro is attacking indigenous policies, rolling back environmental protections, authorizing the invasion of indigenous territories and endorsing violence against indigenous peoples,” said Tuxa.

Under the new plan, FUNAI will be moved into a new ministry for family, women and human rights.

A former army captain and longtime member of Congress, Bolsonaro said at his inauguration on Tuesday that he had freed the country from “socialism and political correctness.”

An admirer of Donald Trump, Bolsonaro has suggested he will follow the U.S. president’s lead and pull out of the Paris climate change accord.

In addition to the indigenous lands decree, the new administration issued decrees affecting the economy and society on Wednesday, while forging closer ties with the United States.

— Reporting for Reuters by Stefani Inouye, Carolina Mandl, Anthony Boadle, Ana Mano and Gabriel Stargardter.

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A meeting at the agriculture ministry on Friday fuelled speculation among traders that Russia could consider grain export curbs once exports reach 30 million tonnes in the 2018-19 marketing season that began on July 1. The ministry denied export limits were discussed.

“So far there is no basis for the introduction of a grain export duty. The current price is not extraordinary,” Dmitry Patrushev told reporters in Russia’s central city of Vladimir.

“I repeat it again, the introduction of grain export duty is not planned so far.”

Speculation about potential export limits in Russia, the world’s biggest wheat exporter, pushed global wheat prices sharply higher last week, adding to worries about tightening global supplies after lower crops in several producing regions.

Russian exporters may step up grain shipments in the next few months in anticipation the government could put curbs on exports sometime after December, traders said on Monday.

Earlier on Tuesday, the agriculture ministry said it had upgraded its forecast for the country’s 2018 grain crop to 100-105 million tonnes from a previously expected 100 million tonnes.

That would be lower than a record harvest of 135 million tonnes of grain in 2017, but still large compared with the average of recent years.

“Despite unfavourable weather conditions, the crop will be higher than the average level of the last 10 years,” Patrushev said in a statement.

“We currently expect the crop at up to 105 million tonnes. Such a result would allow the country to fully cover its needs in grain and also to send a significant amount of grains for export,” he added.

The agriculture ministry sees Russia’s wheat exports totalling 35 million tonnes in the 2018-19 season.

In July 1-Aug. 15, Russia exported 6.8 million tonnes of grain, up 46 per cent year on year due to an earlier start of the 2018 grain harvest. That included 5.5 million tonnes of wheat.

— Reporting for Reuters by Polina Devitt.

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Japan’s agriculture ministry said it was seeking to buy 62,957 tonnes of food-quality Canada Western Red Spring (CWRS, 13.5 per protein) wheat in a regular tender that will close late on Tuesday. It usually issues tenders on Tuesdays.

Japan, the world’s sixth-biggest wheat importer, keeps a tight grip on imports of the country’s second-most important staple after rice, and buys the majority of the grain for milling via tenders typically issued thrice a month.

Japan last month announced it had suspended Canadian wheat imports following the discovery of some GM wheat plants growing along an oil well access road in southern Alberta. GM wheat is not authorized to be grown commercially in any country.

A Canadian Food Inspection Agency investigation found the plants to be an isolated incident. The Canadian Grain Commission, through monitoring, has found no evidence that unapproved wheat ever entered export cargos.

Federal Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay and Trade Minister Jim Carr, in a statement Friday, said Japan’s announcement “marks an end to all international trade actions” arising from the GM wheat discovery.

Japan’s decision, like South Korea’s June 26 decision to resume imports, “reaffirms the excellent quality and consistency of Canadian wheat,” they said.

Federal officials, they noted, “worked quickly and collaboratively with Japanese authorities to provide the necessary information to secure this positive outcome.”

“Today’s news proves that Canada’s science-based regulatory system works,” Tom Steve, general manager for the Alberta Wheat Commission, said in a release Friday.

“Not only does Canada’s grain handling system employ some of the most rigorous quality control protocols in the world, but we also prioritize transparency with our customers.”

“Japan is a long-standing, premium customer of Canadian wheat and is the highest-grade buyer of Canadian wheat in the world,” Cam Dahl, president of Cereals Canada, said in a separate release. “We appreciate that loyalty and highly value the collaborative nature of our trading partnership.”

— Includes files from AGCanada.com Network staff.

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