Asia Pacific | Australians eating more red meat Australians are eating more b...

Asia Pacific

 

Australians eating more red meat
Australians are eating more beef and lamb despite climbing prices due to the drought, a conference was told Wednesday.

 

Japanese Leaders May Approve $75 Billion of New Spending to Boost Economy
Japanese leaders may approve extra spending of as much as 9 trillion yen ($74 billion) today to prop up the economy as the government moves to clean up 52.4 trillion yen of banks' bad loans. 

 

Scandal-ridden Japanese meat processor reports 82 percent drop in profits
Nippon Meat Packers, one of Japan's largest meat processors said that first half earnings dropped 81.5 percent from last year and profits fell 63.6 percent.

 

Europe

 

EU Tells United States to Lift Trade Barriers or Face WTO Hearings
The United States must eliminate a number of trade barriers or it will face hearings at the World Trade Organization, the European Union said in a report released yesterday.

 

Are French Making a Turn on Biotech?
Recent press reports have talked about the benefits of biotech, and refuted claims of opponents to the technology, according to a new embassy report.

 

Pampered Pork
German researchers find that comfortable pigs produce more pork.

 

USA

 

Cattle Disease Genetic Code Mapped
Scientists have mapped the genome of the livestock disease Johne's, an advance that could lead to a greater understanding of a similar illness in humans, the Agriculture Department said Tuesday.

 

Ruling Gives Pork Checkoff New Life
Craig Christensen, vice president of the National Pork Board, talked with Bryce Anderson Tuesday about the recent pork checkoff ruling on DTN Today, a daily market wrap-up. DTN Today can be accessed at.

 

Bovine TB outbreak discovered in Calif.
A dairyman was paid by the federal government to slaughter his herd of 6,400 cows after an outbreak of bovine tuberculosis.

 

U.S. agriculture vulnerable to biological attack
LAS VEGAS, Nov 20 (Reuters) - The United States is virtually unprotected against a biological attack on its agricultural sector, which would have devastating economic consequences, scientists at a conference on biological warfare said on Wednesday.

Pork checkoff to continue during appeals
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit granted a stay for the national pork checkoff, which allows collections and programs to continue without interruption while an appeal is pending.
The stay postpones implementation of an Oct. 25 decision by a district court in Michigan that the Pork Promotion, Research and Consumer Information Act violates the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment. Under that ruling, checkoff collections were to cease by Nov. 24. In accordance with the new court order, the national pork checkoff will remain in effect and pork producers and importers must continue to pay the related assessments through the appeals process. In a similar but completely separate case, the beef checkoff also continues to be collected during the appeals process stemming from a unfavorable ruling on the Beef checkoff in June.
For more information on the beef ruling, click here.