International News

US meat processors turn to air cleaning tech after coronavirus outbreaks

Tyson Foods Inc, which produces beef, pork and chicken, said it is doing extensive research on air flow and testing ultraviolet air treatment systems across several plants. It is not known whether such technologies kill the new coronavirus The moves underscore the mounting pressure to protect workers in the US meat industry, which has seen more than 16,000 plant employees in 23 states infected with COVID-19 and 86 worker deaths related to the respiratory disease. Plant employees and their families have said processors like JBS and Tyson Foods told sick workers to show up at plants, and moved too slowly to protect them with social distancing and equipment like masks. As worker infections grew, so have meatpackers' legal problems. In one case, the family of a Pennsylvania man who died from COVID-19 sued JBS USA parent company JBS SA for failing to protect him at the meat plant where he worked. Low temperatures, which generally allow viruses to survive in the air longer, and crowded working conditions have made meatpacking plants global coronavirus hotspots. The World Health Organisation last week acknowledged "evidence emerging" of the airborne spread of the novel coronavirus.

Canadian government announces new measures to help agriculture sector mitigate the spread of COVID-19

The governments of Canada and Manitoba announced a new $3 million

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cost-shared Canadian Agricultural Partnership programme to support projects that will help agricultural processors mitigate the spread of COVID-19, Federal Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau and Manitoba Agriculture and Resource Development Minister Blaine Pedersen announced today. “Food producers and processors have had to deal with so many new challenges over the past months, while continuing to supply Canadians with the high-quality food they produce. Manitoba processors have stepped up to deal with those challenges, just as Canadians have never been more appreciative of the importance of our food supply chain. The funding our two Governments are delivering together today gives Manitoba processors an extra financial boost to adjust to the challenges presented by COVID-19 and help keep their workers safe,” said Marie-Claude Bibeau, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food.

Nigeria's poultry farmers lobby for reduced interest rate to bolster industry

The Poultry Association of Nigeria has called on the federal government and the Central Bank of Nigeria to establish a new interest rate framework to rescue hard-hit poultry farmers. According to reporting ,Nigeria’s poultry sector is facing a 60 percent price increase for raw materials and 40 percent of poultry farming ventures are failing. In response, Ezekiel Mam, President of the Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN) has called on the federal government, the Central B a n k a n d o t h e r fi n a n c i a l institutions to allow access to loans at a 5 percent interest rate. Mam hopes that access to the loans and other official supports could keep Nigeria’s poultryindustryafloat.

Brazil's poultry exports could grow by 48 percent over the next 9 years

A recent industry analysis predicts a 29 percent increase in Brazil's poultry production and a 48 percent increase in exports before 2030. Brazil released the Projections for Brazilian Agribusiness. The document outlines the potential opportunities for Brazil's agriculture sector, finding that there is ample room to increase Brazil's agricultural output. As part of a general upswing in production, the report identifies Brazil's southern states of Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina and Paraná as the main growth centre – expecting those states to make up 62 percent of Brazil's agricultural growth.

UK and EU trade deal faces further setbacks

Britain and the European Union clashed on 23 July over a potential free trade agreement, with the EU saying a formal deal was “unlikely”. Reuters reports that though the EU feels an agreement with Britain is unlikely, London is holding out hope that a deal could be reached in September. Since Britain left the bloc in January 2020, talks on the trade agreement and other future ties have all but stalled, with each side accusing the other of failing to compromise before a transition period runs out at the end of this year. Those accusations grew louder after the latest round, with the EU's negotiator Michel Barnier saying London had shown no willingness to break the deadlock and his British counterpart David Frost describing the bloc's proposals as failing to meet the government's demand to be treated as an independent country.