NAIROBI, (Reuters) – Eat them, poison them, and use scent to drive them to cannibalism – as a second wave of locusts threatens to devour East Africa’s crops, scientists in a Nairobi lab are experimenting with novel ways to kill them. Swarms are the worst for t... More »
SANTIAGO (Reuters) – With residents and courts ringing the alarm about depleted water supplies in Chile’s Atacama salt flat, the world’s top lithium miner Albemarle (ALB.N) quietly filed a proposal in December for a network to monitor flows beneath the parched... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Fireflies are under threat globally, with familiar hazards such as habitat loss and pesticides compounded by another peril: humankind’s ubiquitous nighttime artificial light that plays havoc with their balletic nocturnal courtship, scien... More »
SALADILLO, Argentina (Reuters) – There is a saying among farmers when times are hard on the Argentine Pampas: “Unsaddle the horse until the sun comes out”. That saying is starting to spread in farm towns like Saladillo, after the populist-leaning Peronists won... More »
((This story corrects to remove temperature conversions in fifth paragraph)) By Barbara Goldberg NEW YORK (Reuters) – Two-thirds of bird species in North America, already disappearing at an alarming rate, face extinction unless immediate action is taken to slo... More »
NEW YORK/FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Bayer AG has not offered to pay billions of dollars to settle claims in the United States related to the Roundup herbicide, mediator Ken Feinberg said, dismissing a report to that effect which drove its shares as much as 11% high... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Sydney’s city council said on Friday it was reviewing its weed management, which included the use of Bayer AG’s Roundup, after other councils in Australia began cutting ties with the product amid concerns about possible links to cancer. The ... More »
OSLO (Reuters) – Norway’s $1 trillion wealth fund can invest again in miner Rio Tinto and retailer Walmart after their exclusions from the fund’s investments on ethical grounds were revoked, the board of the central bank said on Tuesday. The fund can also resu... More »
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Food technologies-focused Finistere Ventures and three Israeli firms said on Monday they formed a partnership that would invest up to $100 million in agrifood startups in Israel. Finistere will be joined by Tnuva, Israel’s largest food co... More »
MOSCOW (Reuters) – A blast at the Azot chemical plant in Russia’s region of Perm killed three people on Monday, the Interfax news agency cited the Emergency Ministry as saying. The blast occurred during maintenance work, Russian news agencies cited the ministr... More »
SAO PAULO (Reuters) – When Fabio Schvartsman took the reins of Vale SA in 2017, he suggested a motto for the world’s largest iron miner, turning the page on a tailings dam disaster that hit a small Brazilian town two years before: “Mariana, never again.” That ... More »
CHICAGO (Reuters) – China’s approval of imports of a DowDuPont Inc (DWDP.N) genetically modified soybean puts rival Bayer AG (BAYGn.DE) on the defensive, investors and analysts said, as U.S. farmers will have a new choice when planting their most valuable agri... More »
A bee is seen on a flower in a forest near the village of Berezhok, north of Minsk, July 23, 2014. REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko LONDON (Reuters) – Wild bees and honeybees are put at risk by three pesticides from a group known as neonicotinoids, Europe’s food safet... More »
FILE PHOTO: Amazon.com’s logo is seen at Amazon Japan’s office building in Tokyo, Japan, August 8, 2016. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon/File Photo WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Amazon.com Inc will pay a $1.2 million penalty to settle nearly 4,000 alleged violations of U.S. l... More »
FILE PHOTO: The seal of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission hangs on the wall at SEC headquarters in Washington, DC, U.S., June 24, 2011. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo BOSTON (Reuters) – A group representing large investors voiced concern that the ... More »
Rodents have joined mosquitoes in the cross-hairs of scientists working on a next-generation genetic technology known as "gene drive" to control pests. More »
French farmer Marc Leprince pulls up a dead weed in an alfalfa field non-treated with weedkillers during an interview with Reuters in Greneville-en-Beauce, France, November 30, 2017. Picture taken November 30, 2017. REUTERS/Christian Hartmann NIOVILLE, France ... More »
FILE PHOTO: Monsanto logo is displayed on a screen where the stock is traded on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., May 9, 2016. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Monsanto Co said on Thursday that M... More »
LEVERKUSEN, Germany (Reuters) – Bayer is seeking to defend its pharmaceuticals business that will be diluted in importance by the takeover of Monsanto and faces a threat to revenues in 2024 when the blockbuster heart drug Xarelto loses its patent. The firm’s p... More »
FILE PHOTO: Monsanto’s research farm is pictured near Carman, Manitoba, Canada August 3, 2017. REUTERS/Zachary Prong/File Photo (This Nov 9 story corrects paragraph 11 to remove phrase at end to show Spiegelhalter did NOT say the possible association with AML ... More »
Struggling commodities trader Noble Group agreed to sell its Americas-focused oil trading business to Vitol for about $580 million as part of a debt-cutting strategy, and warned of a big loss for its third quarter. More »
BASF has agreed to buy seed and herbicide businesses from Bayer for 5.9 billion euros ($7 billion) in cash, as Bayer tries to convince competition authorities to approve its planned acquisition of Monsanto. More »
BASF (BASFn.DE) will take a look at further assets coming onto the market after agreeing to buy seeds and herbicide businesses from Bayer (BAYGn.DE) for 5.9 billion euros ($7 billion), its chief executive said. More »
European shares hit their highest in nearly four months on Friday, helped by gains in Bayer after an asset sale deal paving the way for the German drugmaker's $66 billion acquisition of Monsanto. More »
At a state-of-the-art plant in northern Nigeria, shiny machines stand next to a conveyor belt ready to crush tomatoes to satisfy the country's insatiable demand for tomato paste. More »
A Belgian town honored its 22-year-old tradition of making a giant omelet on Tuesday amidst an egg contamination scare, cooking 10,000 eggs in a pan four meters wide. More »
FILE PHOTO: A view of the exterior of the JP Morgan Chase & Co. corporate headquarters in New York City May 20, 2015. REUTERS/Mike Segar/Files Canadian mergers and acquisitions rose about 13 percent to C$120.5 billion ($93.2 billion) in the first half of 2017,... More »
Makan Delrahim, who was chosen by President Donald Trump to be the top U.S. antitrust regulator, said on Wednesday that he would maintain independence from the White House in enforcing antitrust law. More »
Visitors taste Pisner beer at the Norrebro Bryghus in Hedehusene, Denmark, May 4, 2017. REUTERS/Julie Astrid Thomsen A Danish brewery is drawing on 50,000 liters of urine collected from the largest music festival in Northern Europe in producing a novelty beer ... More »
The Palmer amaranth weed is pictured in Harrison County, Iowa, United States in this undated handout photo obtained by Reuters March 31, 2017. Bob Hartzler/Iowa State University/Handout via REUTERS A U.S. government program designed to convert farmland to wild... More »
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at the annual Friends of Ireland St. Patrick’s Day lunch honoring Irish Taoiseach Enda Kenny in the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., March 16, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque President Donald Trump’s proposal to do away with th... More »
The western bumble bee, Bombus occidentalis, is seen in this undated U.S. Department of Agriculture photo. REUTERS/Stephen Ausmus/USDA/Handout via Reuters More than 700 of the 4,000 native bee species in North America and Hawaii are believed to be inching towa... More »
The logo of Swiss agrochemicals maker Syngenta is seen at its headquarters in Basel, Switzerland July 22, 2016. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann/File Photo China National Chemical Corporation (ChemChina) has extended until April 28 its $43 billion tender offer for Swiss ... More »
Officials spray maize plants affected by Armyworms in Keembe district, Zambia, January 6, 2017. REUTERS/Jean Mandela Scientists tracking a crop-destroying caterpillar known as armyworm say it is now spreading rapidly across mainland Africa and could reach trop... More »
Officials observe a weed-spraying function on a robot in wheat paddocks near the township of Emerald, in the state of Queensland, Australia, in this handout picture taken on August 9, 2016. Swarm Farm/Handout via REUTERS Parts of Australia’s farming industry a... More »
Small scale farmer Mutale Sikaona and agricultural officials examine maize plants affected by armyworms in Keembe district, Zambia, January 6, 2017. Picture taken January 6, 2017. REUTERS/Jean Mandela A maize pest that has devastated crops in southern Africa i... More »
File Photo: A rusty patched bumble bee which the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed listing for federal protection as an endangered species is pictured in Madison, Wisconsin, U.S. August 7, 2015. Photo courtesy of Rich Hatfield/Handout via REUTERS The rus... More »
Five more cases of bovine tuberculosis have been confirmed in cattle from the same Alberta herd as a cow slaughtered in the United States in September that was found to have the disease, Canada’s food system regulator said on Friday. More »
A Syngenta logo is pictured in their office in Singapore, February 12, 2016. REUTERS/Edgar Su/File Photo China National Chemical Corp (ChemChina) [CNNCC.UL] has sought antitrust approval for its $43 billion bid for Swiss pesticides and seeds group Syngenta (SY... More »
Chris McKay, PotashCorp load-out supervisor at the Cory Mine, examines potash inside one of the storage facilities near Saskatoon, Saskatchewan October 10, 2013. REUTERS/David Stobbe Canada’s Agrium Inc (AGU.TO) and Potash Corp of Saskatchewan Inc (POT.TO) sai... More »
An Indian scientist holds a genetically modified (GM) rapeseed crop under trial in New Delhi, India February 13, 2015. REUTERS/Anindito Mukherjee/File photo A government panel has cleared commercial use of what would be India’s first genetically modified (GM) ... More »
A bumble bee collects pollen from a flower in a garden near York, northern England, June 28, 2008. REUTERS/Nigel Roddis Wild bees that forage from oilseed rape crops treated with insecticides known as neonicotinoids are more likely to undergo long-term populat... More »
By Richard Leong and Ross Kerber | NEW YORK/BOSTON NEW YORK/BOSTON Legg Mason Inc’s Bill Miller, whose mutual fund beat the S&P 500 handily for 15 consecutive years at the turn of the century, is riding off into the sunset after his recent lagging returns left... More »
CHICAGO The agricultural unit of German chemicals company Bayer AG will halt future U.S. sales of an insecticide that can be used on more than 200 crops after losing a fight with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the company said on Friday. Bayer lost ... More »
BRUSSELS A team of scientists at a Belgian university say they have created a machine that turns urine into drinkable water and fertilizer using solar energy, a technique which could be applied in rural areas and developing countries. While there are other opt... More »
NEW YORK In a conservative suit and tie, Jim McCann does not look like a hippie. But the founder of 1-800-Flowers is using flower power to push a powerful social agenda. In June, McCann transitioned to the role of chairman of the company he founded 40 years ag... More »
BRUSSELS An impasse between EU nations on whether to allow Monsanto’s Roundup and similar weed-killers to continue to be sold means that the European Commission, rather than national politicians, will decide the issue next week. With most EU attention focused ... More »
WASHINGTON Legislation with bipartisan support that would revamp U.S. chemical safety law for the first time in decades is advancing in Congress, winning overwhelming passage in the House of Representatives as backers sought quick Senate action. Senate leaders... More »
Across the U.S. Farm Belt, top grain handlers have banned genetically modified crops that are not approved in all major overseas markets, shaking up a decades-old system that used the world’s biggest exporting country as a launchpad for new seeds from companie... More »
LONDON As the world focuses on Zika’s rapid advance in the Americas, experts warn the virus that originated in Africa is just one of a growing number of continent-jumping diseases carried by mosquitoes threatening swathes of humanity. The battle against the in... More »
OSLO Bees and other pollinators face increasing risks to their survival, threatening foods such as apples, blueberries and coffee worth hundreds of billions of dollars a year, the first global assessment of pollinators showed on Friday. Pesticides, loss of hab... More »
WASHINGTON They emerge from their hiding places at night, driven to slake their thirst for human blood. Vampires? No. Bedbugs! These tiny insects have staged a global resurgence in the past two decades after being nearly eradicated in many regions, but scienti... More »
HARARE A scorching drought in Southern Africa that led to widespread crop failure could nudge African nations to finally embrace genetically modified (GM) crops to improve harvests and reduce grain imports. The drought, which extends to South Africa, the conti... More »
BEIJING A Chinese biotech seed firm is aiming to launch the country’s first genetically modified corn products overseas on the home turf of the world’s top agricultural companies, as Beijing’s reticence over GMO food keeps the domestic market off limits. The p... More »
LYON/PARIS, France (This 10 September, 2015 story was refiled to changes the headline, first paragraph to show Monsanto liable, not “guilty”, in the civil court ruling) A French court upheld on Thursday a 2012 ruling in which Monsanto was found to be liable in... More »
ZURICH Syngenta AG, the Swiss agricultural chemicals maker, was seen opening up more than 7 percent after a source said Monsanto Co. had sweetened its takeover offer, according to premarket indicators in Zurich. U.S.-based Monsanto increased its offer to buy S... More »
