Agribusiness Update for Tuesday 10/22/13

Canada and the European Union have announced a Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement. The deal will give Canada duty-free access to the E.U. for up to 50,000 metric tons of beef, 80,000 tons of pork and 3,000 tons of bison. It also removes nearly all of the European tariffs on Canadian agricultural products like wheat and canola oil. The entire process is expected to take 18 to 24 months.

The U.S. Grains Council notes efforts are intensifying in Geneva to secure a trade package for consideration at the December World Trade Organization Ministerial in Bali. A Council fact-finding mission recently joined representatives of U.S. Wheat Associates and the American Farm Bureau Federation in intensive discussions on agricultural issues with WTO representatives.

Perhaps the key to solving the world's future food needs is managing population growth. That's the opinion of Earth Policy Institute Founder Lester Brown. Brown says water resources from Asia to the Great Plains in the U.S. are being depleted, rising affluence in developing countries is creating demand for grain-fed meat and plant yields are approaching the limits of what photosynthesis can bear.

That's today's Agribusiness Update from the Ag Information Network.