Category: Agriculture
USA: Food Safety Eclipses Rising Food Costs as Top Food Story of 2011
Food safety tops the list of an annual survey asking Americans to choose the most significant food story of 2011. Even in a year when global food prices hit record highs.
Pakistan: Energy, security challenges not insurmountable: UK Diplomat
The British Deputy High Commissioner in Pakistan, spoke at a reception for a UK trade delegation visiting the 6th Expo Pakistan 2011.
UK-Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Syed Qamar Raza also said huge potential existed for increasing bilateral trade as there was immense demand of quality halal food products in the UK which Pakistan could export.
The Mainstreaming Of Fair Trade
Consumer awareness of Fair Trade in the U.S. is around 34%–not as high as awareness of organic products, but it’s a large number considering that Fair Trade has been around in this country for less than two decades. Organic certification in the U.S. has existed since the early 1970s.
Pakistan: PBIT, Thai Embassy hold Halal Food conference
Punjab has the world’s fourth largest population of livestock with over 43 livestock breeds. Therefore given the importance of potential in Punjab for becoming the Halal food hub for the world, Thai organisations were invited for an exchange of information on the Halal Foods Business and to discuss cooperation between Punjab and Thailand in the Halal Food Business.
Pakistan: Government to establish 200 acre Halal Industrial Park
This industrial food products’ park will be provided full cover by the government and patronage from the top ranking departments, both from the private and public sector. This is the brainchild of Faisalabad Industrial Estate Development and Management Company (FIEDMC) and direct liaison with the Punjab’s Livestock and Dairy Development Department.
Let Them Eat Ethanol and Cash
By Greg Lindsay Why have global food prices spiked not once, but twice in the last three years, raising the specter of famine and triggering worldwide food riots–including the Arab Spring? [1] Many explanations have been floated, including climate change-related droughts in Australia, volatile oil prices, “food security” export restrictions, and last but not least, […]
Could cities rely 100% on urban agriculture for their food?
While urban agriculture has gained in popularity throughout U.S. cities, food imports from all around the world overwhelmingly feed our cities. But could that ever change? There are 2 articles here, one on a US study and the other an urban farm shop in inner London.
Pakistan: Pakistan urges Malaysia to expand import base of Pak products
Pakistan and Malaysia have agreed to enhance bilateral economic cooperation and explore avenues for joint ventures in a host of sectors, including agriculture, construction and Halal industry at the first ever meeting of the Pakistan Malaysia Joint Committee on Review of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the two countries.
US business mission eyes Saudi agro-food deals
The mission consists of top companies specializing in agricultural production, irrigation, livestock breeding, processed and halal food, organic fertilizers, soil treatment, animal feed and feed additives, land-use mapping, and low water use grass seeds.
Brunei: Yingluck holds closed-door meeting with Sultan of Brunei
Before leaving Bangkok, Yingluck said she expected to discuss with the sultan ways to strengthen cooperation between the two countries, including the exchange of knowledge on agriculture and halal food.
High Food Prices Threaten Poorest: World Bank
Food prices near record peaks and volatility in commodity markets are driving the lives of the world’s poorest people to the edge of survival, the World Bank warned on Monday. Global food prices in July were 33% higher than a year ago.
Rice Set to Climb as Thailand Plans Curbs, U.S. Crop Drops
The smallest increase in rice stockpiles in five years means global grain inventories will extend a decline that already drove food costs to a record.
Nigeria: Small enterprise and job creation
Supporting small and medium enterprises and agribusiness are key priorities for IFC in Africa, since these sectors account for the bulk of employment on the continent. Across Africa, IFC is supporting projects across the food supply chain, including processing, logistics, and distribution.
Oman: Food security vital
The Sultanate has attached great importance to food security and has set up a national committee for food security, besides developing strategies to ensure self-sufficiency and adequate availability of food.
Opinion: Can GM Foods Be ‘Halal’? Or Kosher?
Back in December 2010, a conference held in Penang, Malaysia with biotechnology experts and halal proponents ended with the conclusion that genetically modified food was halal ( ‘permissible’ for Muslims) as long as the sources from which they originate from are halal. This decision – which was accompanied by a fatwa declaring GM halal – came as a shock to some in the wider Muslim community who consider GM a deviation from god’s creation.
Canada: Where’s the beef… from?
We love our beef, we humans, so we share our planet with a heck of a lot of cattle. According to Gira, an international market research group, almost a billion beef cattle are being raised for dinner tables worldwide, about 12.3 million of them in Canada, primarily in Alberta and Saskatchewan. That’s about one head of beef for every three Canadians.
Brunei: Sarawak-Brunei ties on track
Cooperation between Sarawak and Brunei in five key areas – energy, agriculture, telecommunications, manpower exchange and tourism – is expected to increase following the visit of a state delegation there on Friday.
Opinion: Could religion be used to address environmental issues?
Religion and the environment may at first seem to be two mutually exclusive phenomena; but looking at the history of the religion, as well as the way people govern their lives, just might provide a much-needed solution.
Opinion: Europe sleepwalking as global food prices set to double
Global food prices will more than double within 20 years as a new age of crisis forces the collapse of our broken global food system, said Oxfam today. The international development agency said Europe is sleepwalking as the world enters into an unprecedented and avoidable reversal in human development.
USA: California Must Label Genetically Engineered Fish
Looming over consumers is the likelihood that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will approve the raising and selling of GE salmon–without labeling–in the very near future. The engineered fish grow to maturity twice as fast as normal salmon.
