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On the day it officially left the European Union, the United Kingdom on Jan. 1 joined the International Grains Council (IGC). The UK had been a member of the IGC as part of the EU, but in 2016 British voters chose to break away from the EU, a decision commonly referred to as Brexit. After several years of negotiations, the EU and UK reached a trade deal on Dec. 24 and the UK officially left the EU on Jan. 1. The UK . . . 
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Friends of the Earth Malta will be hosting a curated online short film selection, showing films that touch on food systems, alternative agriculture, and humans’ relationship with animals.
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Early prospects point to increased area for 2021 wheat crops but conditions are mixed. FAO’s forecast for global cereal production in 2020 has been lowered for the third consecutive month, with downward revisions for all the major cereals. Nonetheless, global cereal production is still expected to reach a record high level of 2 742 million tonnes, 1.3 percent above the previous year’s outturn. Forecast at 1 472 million tonnes in 2020, world coarse grains production has been cut by 6.8 million tonnes month on month. The bulk of the revision reflects reduced yield prospects for maize in the United States of America (USA), which...
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Global food commodity prices rose sharply in November to their highest level in nearly six years, according to a benchmark United Nations report released today. The FAO Food Price Index averaged 105.0 points during the month, up 3.9 percent from October and 6.5 percent higher than its value a year earlier. The monthly increase was the sharpest since July 2012, putting the index at its highest level since December 2014, the Food and Agriculture Organization said. The FAO Food Price Index tracks changes in the international prices of the most globally traded food commodities. All of its sub-indices rose in November. The FAO Vegetable Oil Price Index gained a stunning 14.5 percent in the month, led by an ongoing rally in palm oil prices linked to sharp contractions in world inventory levels. The FAO Cereal Price Index rose 2.5 percent from October, +19.9 % vs November 2019. Wheat export prices rose, linked to reduced harvest prospects in Argentina, as did maize prices on account of lower output expectations in the United States of America and Ukraine as well as large purchases by China. International rice prices held steady during the month.
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Early in the COVID-19 outbreak, there were concerns that the health crisis would develop into a large-scale food crisis similar to the 2007-08 food price crisis, when panic buying and counterproductive policies exacerbated initial supply disruptions. While food supply chains have seen disruptions, and there are future risks that require attention, a food price crisis has been avoided so far, in part thanks to improved transparency in global staple crop markets. Transparency on market conditions and policies is critical in helping reduce market uncertainty, exposing bottlenecks and highlighting risks, all of which help market participants and policy makers develop more effective responses in times of crisis. More broadly, transparency is essential for global markets to work and provide a resilient supply of affordable food. Yet, transparency is not automatic: it requires investments in gathering comparable information, monitoring market and policy developments, and communicating clearly about the findings...
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China is forced to seek out alternatives to Ukraine to source corn and moves to US. The corn harvest is nearly complete in Ukraine, which in most years is the No. 1 exporter of corn to China. But persistent dry weather this summer has sharply reduced production. The USDA estimates the Ukraine corn crop at 28.5 million tonnes, down 20% from last year’s 35.8 million tonnes. As a result, Ukraine corn prices have jumped. FOB prices of Ukraine corn have appreciated 40% versus this time last year, and are up over 25% since early September. More than half of Ukraine’s corn exports head to China.
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U.S. farmers expanded seedings of winter wheat this autumn for the first time in eight years as strong demand and dry weather in several producing countries fuels higher prices for the grain, farmers and analysts said. Winter wheat, seeded in the Northern Hemisphere in autumn for harvest in June, is the first cash crop to be planted since an agricultural commodity price rally began in August. The rally is a welcome relief for farmers after four years of global surplus grain stocks that have kept prices low and hobbled the U.S. agricultural economy.
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The first official UK cereal and supply and demand estimates for the 2020/21 season were published this morning, including a wheat ‘deficit’ for the first time. Normally when the estimated operating stock requirement is taken away from the balance of supply and demand, a surplus is available for either export or free stock. However, with the wheat balance currently forecast as the tightest in decades, a deficit has been identified, due to many supply and demand factors. These include, but are not limited to, changes in demand later in the season, accuracy of official data and uncertainty around the future of trade after the Brexit transition period.
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Without deep legislative and structural reforms, Lebanon's agricultural sector could suffer severely, pushing even more people out of work and into poverty. One hundred years after its creation, Lebanon is invited to rethink its economic model in the context of a profound internal crisis and regional turmoil. The collapse of its financial and banking sectors, paired with the domination of a corrupt and incompetent political elite, has led the country to the verge of becoming a failed state in which people cannot access food and basic services. Within this overall environment, rethinking agriculture is a key element in building a sustainable economic model that reduces geographical inequalities and ensures food security.
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The First Mediterranean Assessment Report (MAR1) prepared by the independent network of Mediterranean Experts on Climate and environmental Change (MedECC) founded in 2015 is now finished. MedECC assesses the best available scientific knowledge on climate and environmental change and associated risks in the Mediterranean Basin in order to render it accessible to policymakers, stakeholders and citizens. The report includes a Summary for Policy-makers (SPM), which comprises the key messages of the MAR1.T
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La crise sanitaire mondiale nous le rappelle avec brutalité : l'agriculture est au cœur de la géopolitique. Des millions de personnes risquent d’entrer dans la pauvreté et dans la faim à cause d'un virus qui paralyse l'économie. Pour en parler, Ali Laidi reçoit Sébastien Abis, co-auteur du livre "Géopolitique de l'agriculture" (éd. Eyrolles).
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The 4th International Conference on Global Food Security addresses the topic of food security at all levels, from local to global, from an interdisciplinary and systemic food systems perspective. It aims to better understand environmental, nutritional, agricultural, demographic, socio-economic, technological and institutional drivers and pathways of current and future global food security.
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Seeking to improve its food security, China plans to increase its corn acreage as the country has seen a decline in acreage, Reuters reported, citing Tang Renjian, the new Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs. The government is currently focusing on expanding corn acreage in the northeast and around the Yellow River, Huai River and Hai River. The new push for increasing corn production comes after China depleted its corn reserves due to rising corn prices. Importers have been bringing in record . . .
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The world we inhabit today has changed dramatically since we first began farming thousands of years ago. Yet the challenge to provide food security to all is not new and has been a common struggle throughout our past. By looking back, we can see how things have developed and use our knowledge to think in different ways and open up new possibilities for the future of our food system.
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One hundred years after its creation, Lebanon is invited to rethink its economic model in the context of a profound internal crisis and regional turmoil. The collapse of its financial and banking sectors, paired with the domination of a corrupt and incompetent political elite, has led the country to the verge of becoming a failed state in which people cannot access food and basic services. Within this overall environment, rethinking agriculture is a key element in building a sustainable economic model that reduces geographical inequalities and ensures food security.
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In the Middle East and North Africa, planting of winter wheat crops continued in November, and there is concern in parts of North Africa due to insufficient precipitation and in conflict-affected areas of Syria and Libya.
CIHEAM News's insight:
Eloy SOGLOHOUN's curator insight,
December 8, 2020 9:31 AM
LatitudeGPS, accompagne les structure agricoles en Afrique. Precision Planting permet de rééquiper les vieux semoirs pour plus de précision lors du semis.
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Russia is considering increasing the size of its grain export quota to 17.5 million tonnes from 15 million during the last five months of the current marketing year, the agriculture ministry told Reuters on Nov. 30. Russia, one of the world’s largest grain producers and exporters, imposed a grain export quota in the last quarter of the 2019-20 marketing season to stabilize domestic supplies at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. It plans to impose another export quota from Feb. 15 to . . .
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The current stocks in the country with the government and the private sector are over 56 million tonnes, which the government will have to offload ahead of the arrival of the new crop in April. India is likely to export 3.5 to 4 million tonnes of wheat to the neighbouring South East Asian and West Asian countries till March, compared to the 0.18 million tonne in the previous year, if the government extends an export subsidy, said the trade. The current stocks in the country with the government and the private sector are over 56 million tonnes, which the government will have to offload ahead of the arrival of the new crop in April.
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Russia's grain export quota for February through June 2021 will consolidate the market positions of major traders and speed the exit of smaller players, analysts said. The loss of smaller traders will also disrupt supplies to secondary seasonal importers, they added. The number of smaller trading companies in Russia, one of the world's largest wheat exporters, has fallen steadily in recent years while large exporters - some of which are state-controlled and have crucial access to port infrastructure - have increased their market share.
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Brazil's Chamber of Foreign Trade (Camex) has renewed the import quota of 750,000 tons of wheat from outside Mercosur and exempt of the Common External Tariff (TEC) currently at 10%. Purchases can be made from Novr 18 this year to November 17, 2021. The quota was established in a commitment made by the country to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2019. This July, due to the shortage of wheat in the Brazilian market and the high prices, CAMEX allowed the import of an extra quota of 450,000 tons, TEC-free, from outside Mercosur until November 17 of this year. Brazil is one of the world's main importers of wheat. Almost 60% of domestic consumption comes from abroad mainly Argentina, other suppliers include United States, Uruguay and Paraguay.
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China is set to import more U.S. corn, with volumes for next year seen hitting the top end of market expectations and squeezing global grains prices. State-owned food titan Cofco Corp. has sold 10 million tons to domestic private mills and will probably boost purchases from the U.S. even further, according to people familiar with the matter. This could put China’s total imports of the American crop on track to hit 30 million tons next year, the people estimated.
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In 1995 an ambitious project was launched to encourage cooperation between Mediterranean countries – including Arab states and Israel – and the European Union. Over the past 25 years, the original initiative has grown into an organization of 43 states. Israel would do well to integrate into this regional body more effectively, particularly during the current age of normalization
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Turkey’s agriculture-based exports have increased by 6.3% year-on-year in the first nine months of 2020, according to the country's forestry and agriculture minister.
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Sustainable Food Systems in the Mediterranean: Accelerating progress on the 2030 Agenda in the COVID19 Context. A side-event of the 3rd Global Conference of the One Planet Network (10YFP) Sustainable Food Systems Programme (25 Nov- 3 Dec 2020), designed as an interactive web-dialogue to discuss the need for a collaborative effort to accelerate a food systems transformation in the Mediterranean region, in the COVID-19 context.
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