(Canada Beef Inc. photo)

Bulgaria opts out of growing GM crops

Sofia | Reuters –– Bulgaria has told the European Union it will ban the cultivation of crops with genetically modified organisms (GMOs) under EU rules that allow member states to opt out of GMO cultivation, the agriculture ministry said in a statement on Thursday. “The agriculture ministry upholds its position that Bulgaria should be free […] Read more

(Monsanto.com)

France bolsters ban on genetically modified crops

Paris | Reuters — France is to use a new European opt-out scheme to ensure a ban on the cultivation of genetically modified crops in the country remains in place, it said on Thursday. The European Union’s largest grain grower and exporter has asked the European Commission for France to be excluded from some GM […] Read more


(Allan Dawson photo)

Baking, parched fields set to trim EU wheat harvest

Paris | Reuters — A heatwave in Western Europe is adding to stress on wheat crops after a dry end to spring and reducing what had been very high yield potential only a month ago. Record temperatures for early July at around 40 C in parts of France unnerved traders in the European Union’s top […] Read more

Greek olives on display in a market in Athens. (CIA.gov)

Russia may allow food imports from three EU states

Moscow | Reuters –– Russia may allow around 20 firms from Hungary, Cyprus and Greece to return to its market after it orders the lifting of an embargo on food imports from the European Union, Interfax news agency quoted a senior official as saying on Tuesday. Russia banned foods from the 28-nation EU last year […] Read more



(University of California-Davis Olive Center photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

EU moves to stop spread of ‘olive tree leprosy’

Brussels | Reuters –– EU governments backed on Tuesday new measures to stop the spread of a bacterial disease that has attacked Italy’s olive oil production, the European Commission said. The new measures mean EU countries must reveal all outbreaks in the European Union, carry out official surveys and destroy all infested plants, as well […] Read more

EU lifts wheat, barley, rapeseed yield outlook

Paris | Reuters — The European Union’s crop monitoring service on Monday lifted its yield forecasts for this year’s soft wheat, barley and rapeseed harvests with growing conditions remaining mostly favourable despite a recent dry spell. Yields will stay below levels seen in 2014, when the EU posted record production in several crops, but exceed […] Read more