Among the major issues on the table are the potential for international ethanol trade, the impact of crude oil prices on sugar prices, and the impact of the European Union's reform of its sugar market on the world's farmers, he said. The program also will look at promoting sugar in diet foods rather than using artificial sweeteners. THE future of the world's sugar industry is be discussed by delegates from around the world in Brisbane this week. Email me if my comment is published Search...

In our country, where 65 per cent of the population depend on agriculture for livelihood, the farmer seems to have become a myth. Around 57 per cent know nothing about crop insurance. Minimum support prices (MSPs) have gone up substantially, but awareness regarding MSPs amongst farmers is pathetically low. Subsidies allotted for their benefit have led them to a vicious cycle of debt and dependence on state support and induced them to unsustainable farming practices. Therefore, higher is...

WASHINGTON -- Thin trading on the spot cheese market makes it ripe for manipulation, and that could affect the price of milk and other dairy products, the investigative arm of Congress said Thursday. Less than 2 percent of all cheddar cheese made in the United States is traded at the CME, among only 30 participants, which range from dairy cooperatives to large companies. There are few active cheese traders at the CME and the volume of cheese that changes hands is small, the GAO said,...

But lawmakers stopped short of banning the use of the word "vodka" for spirits made from other ingredients, such as sugar beet or fruits, a move that experts said could have provoked trade disputes with countries like the United States and Brazil. Parliamentarians from traditional vodka-producing countries, such as Finland, Poland and Sweden, had pushed for stronger rules that would effectively have expelled vodka producers from other continents from the European market. The rules -...

Precise and timely estimates of crop yield, area, production and other farm data will help in taking correct policy decision and monitoring progress of various programmes and schemes. It was agreed that efforts will be made for online transfer of district level data to the States and from the State headquarters to the Centre on production, prices etc. A number of initiatives including use of new technological tools are likely to be used for crop estimation in future. For decentralized...