G20 CALLS FOR FARM INVESTMENT FUND

During its recent meeting in Pittsburgh, the G20 nations called on the World Bank to work with donor agencies to create a multilateral trust fund to increase agricultural investment in poor countries. In July, countries pledged $20 billion over several years to increase investment in agriculture in the world's poorest countries to bolster food security following record high food prices last year.
 
CWB urges Parliament to approve FTA with Colombia: Officials of the Canadian Wheat Board are calling on members of Parliament to ratify a negotiated free trade agreement with Colombia as soon as possible so as not to jeopardize wheat and barley exports worth C$135 million a year for western Canadian farmers. CWB pointed out that Colombia is an important, nearby market for high-quality Prairie grain and therefore are urging "all members of Parliament to support this deal and ensure that western Canadian farmers do not lose sales opportunities to their U.S. and Argentine competitors."
 
USDA to fund water quality efforts in Mississippi River basin: USDA has committed $320 million to a new initiative aimed at improving water quality and the overall health of the Mississippi River Basin. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says the money, which will be provided to 12 states over the next four years, would help reduce high loads of nutrients in key watersheds identified by USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service. Officials will focus on those watersheds with agricultural runoff that is high in nitrogen and phosphorus, said Vilsack.
 
WTO names panel to hear Brazil's complaint on U.S. OJ duties: The World Trade Organization has established a dispute panel to determine whether a U.S. antidumping duty order on imports of Brazilian orange juice violates global trade rules. Brazil is challenging the U.S. Commerce Department's use of the controversial "zeroing" methodology in an investigation that resulted in the imposition of definitive duties of up to 4.81 percent on imports of orange juice from Brazil. 
 
Purdue study shows more corn for biofuels raises water pollution levels: More of the fertilizers and pesticides used to grow corn would find their way into nearby water sources if ethanol demands lead to planting more acres in corn, according to a Purdue University study. The study of Indiana water sources found that those near fields that practice continuous-corn rotations had higher levels of nitrogen, fungicides and phosphorous than corn-soybean rotations
 
IFPRI calls for aid to avert climate change-caused farm crisis. Unless dramatic efforts are undertaken to improve farming technology available to producers in developing countries, wheat, rice and other key food staples will wither as the earth's temperature rises from greenhouse-gas emissions, according to a report by the International Food Policy Research Institute.
 
Japanese return to U.S. beef. While U.S. access to the Japanese beef market remains limited, consumers in what was once the country's biggest export market are more ready than in recent years to buy U.S. beef, according to surveys conducted by the US Meat Export Federation. However, despite this apparent consumer confidence in the meat, the Japanese government is unlikely to allow U.S. exporters much more access to the market, so sales will remain limited.