Russian Federation – GOR Ag Development Forecast for 2012-2014
An overview of the Russian Ministry of Economic Development's macroeconomic assumptions and sector-specific production forecasts on grain, sugar, oilseeds, meat, poultry, dairy, fishery, forestry, and food retail/catering in the latest GAIN report from...

Building Trust through Quality Assurance
Building success in the market, both domestically and internationally, is based on building trust in the quality and safety of products and now more importantly trust in the ethical correctness of production, writes ThePigSite editor in chief, Chris ...

African Swine Fever: an Increasing Threat for Europe
African Swine Fever (ASF) is a highly contagious disease, which has no vaccine and often leads to 100 per cent mortality. With Russia unable to control its rapidly spreading ASF outbreak, the threat of this devastating disease in Europe is growing.

US Food Safety Policy Enters a New Era
Research conducted by the USDA Economic Research Service (ERS) over the past two decades provides a number of lessons that can help identify efficient and effective means of implementing the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2010.

Meeting Global Demand for More Meat
As the world has welcomed its seven billionth person, the concerns of meat and food producers globally are turning to how this ever growing population is going to be fed, writes ThePigSite Editor in Chief, Chris Harris.

Analysis of UK Pork and Pork Products Import Trade from 2013
The latest BPEX Imports Report provides an analysis of UK pork and pork products import trade and the possible implications of the EU sow stall ban from January 2013.

Canada-South Korea Free Trade Agreement
The free trade between Canada and South Korea was formally launched in July 2005 but has gone largely nowhere since then despite several high-level meetings between the leaders, such as a November meeting in 2010 on the fringes of the G-20 in Seoul and...

Group Housing of Gestating Sows from 2013
The requirements for housing sows and gilts during pregnancy after stalls are banned in the EU from 2013 are reviewed in the 2010 annual report from the Danish Pig Research Centre.

Short Term Outlook for Arable Crop, Meat and Dairy Markets
EU agricultural markets are strongly affected by the macroeconomic outlook, according to the European Commission's Short Term Outlook for Arable Crop, Meat and Dairy Markets.

Setting Health and Safety Standards for the World
International standards for food safety and animal health and welfare can be and often are contentious issues, writes ThePigSite Editor in Chief, Chris Harris.

EU Changes its Approach to Pig Welfare
The future EU strategy on animal welfare in the pig meat sector needs to be based on a global multi-stakeholder approach, writes ThePigSite Editor in Chief, Chris Harris.

Bleak Picture for Russian African Swine Fever Situation
Major concerns have been raised over the potential for African Swine Fever that was first discovered in Georgia and has now spread to Russia to spread to other countries in Europe, writes ThePigSite Editor in Chief, Chris Harris.

CAP Proposals: Changes to Direct Payments
Commissioner Dacian Ciolos set out European Commission proposals for the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) last week. ThePigSite looks at what changes are been proposed to farmers' direct payments.

France Reflects on Cost of Cheap Food at Any Price
“The real victims of the latest [agricultural] crises are those who have invested the most,� French farm minister. Bruno Le Maire. told delegates at a day-long conference in Paris to discuss the way agricultural commodity prices develop into retail...

Danish Pig Research Centre: Annual Report 2010: Environmental Regulations
The 2010 annual report from the Danish Pig Research Centre outlines the latest environmental regulations in Denmark.

Controlling Price Volatility in Food
Concerns over volatility in the food and agriculture market stem from fears over price rises and behind this, fears over food security, writes ThePigSite editor in chief, Chris Harris.

Evolution: Economic and Agriculture Development in Sub-Saharan Africa
The five most important policy categories for economic development in sub-Saharan Africa are identified in this report by Dr Giovanni Gasperoni and Tricia Beal of Novus International. They focus particularly on empowering agriculture best practices and...

Study Backs Pig Producers' Lost Margin Claims
French pig producers have seen their share of the retail ticket for loin-based retail cuts fade by nearly one-quarter between the years 2000 and 2010, on the basis of figures published by senior French government economist Philippe Chalmin, writes Peter...

Reforms Will Bring a Greening of the CAP
Towards the end of June new proposals for the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy are expected to come out of Brussels, writes ThePigSite editor-in-chief, Chris Harris.

Environment Enrichment for Pigs
A report was published jointly by BPEX and the UK's University of Bristol in December 2010 on the need for objects or substrates to help prevent tail biting and the best options for providing environmental enrichment. Jackie Linden, editor of ThePigSite,...

EU Pig Production to Fall
Pig production in the EU is expected to fall in the second half of next year and through into 2012, writes ThePigSite senior editor, Chris Harris.

Kansas Swine Day 2010
Proceedings of the Kansas Swine Day 2010 conference, which focused on the nutrition and nursery pigs and finishers as well as feed management.

Group Sow Housing Focus Groups – Initial Results
Initial results of a project to uncover what pork producers need to be able to comply with this new law requiring sows to be kept in group housing during most of their pregnancy. The article appears in the latest MSU Pork Quarterly and is written...