Gauging the odds on an FTA, counting lost-opportunity costs In February, the Obama administration pledged to “intensify” talks with Colombia on the free trade agreement initially negotiated by the US in 2006. Now Senator Max Baucus (D-Montana), who is leading a trade...
The Chinese don’t drink much apple juice, they make it for US The latest issue of Amber Waves, the quarterly from the US Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service, spotlights China’s role as the world’s largest supplier of apple juice concentrate and the...
LATAM may be on course for growth, but diversification is needed Writing in the Miami Herald earlier this month, Andres Oppenheimer asks whether 2011 will be the dawn of the “Latin American decade” – as a recent Standard & Poor’s webcast argues [you can access a...
USDA 10-year agricultural projections concede major role to ethanol and biodiesel The US Department of Agriculture just released its long-term forecast for the farm sector. USDA Agricultural Projections for 2011-20 cover sector indicators, commodities, and trade. Key...
Biofuel byproduct goes to market as a livestock feed Blogging about the first the U.S. Agribusiness Trade and Investment Mission to Peru and Ecuador earlier this month, Michael Scuse of the U.S. Department of Agriculture tells of visiting a Peruvian feed mill and...
Corn ethanol is cast as a culprit in rising food prices (again) A Financial Times report from the Commodity Markets Council annual meeting (this week in Palm Beach) notes that Dodd-Frank financial system reforms top the list of worries for the commodities futures...
Taking the measure of democratic values and the impact of the downturn The Americas Society/Council on the Americas (AS/COA) is hosting a discussion about the findings of the 2010 AmericasBarometer Survey, in New York City tomorrow morning from 8:30 am to 10:00 am...
Sorting out possible causes as yet another global food crisis looms The world’s poorest are at risk of being priced out of the market for food because … we’re burning corn and other staple crops for biofuel … the rising middle classes in the BRICs and beyond are...
WWF’s Aquaculture Dialogues yield standards for farming tilapia and pangasius Just before Christmas, the WWF (World Wildlife Federation) released news that tilapia farmed in Indonesia and Honduras will be placed in a brand-new category within its seafood guide:...
But unfreezing trade will take time We’ve written before on the diplomatic tit-for-tat that virtually shut down commerce between Colombia and Venezuela. After the erstwhile trading partners called it quits in July 2009, binational trade fell by more than 60%. One year...
