US: Tax vehicle could save exporters major money
A little-used tax vehicle has the potential to lower the tax liability of those who export produce out of the US. Though the specific tax implications vary from State to State, virtually anyone who exports goods out of the US can benefit from an often overlooked tax vehicle called an IC-DISC.IC-DISC stands.....

Shop is victim of internet shopping phenomenon
UK: Prince Charles' veg shop closes its doors
Prince Charles’ farm shop in Gloucestershire has been forced to shut because of the rise of online shopping.The Veg Shed at Close Farm, Shipton Moyne, Tetbury, has closed its doors for the final time after eight years.Customers were told the business would focus on a vegetable box delivery scheme, however.....

Colombia: Exports to the US grew 3.7% in first year of NAFTA
One year after entering the Free Trade Agreement with the United States, domestic exports to North America (not including mining and energy, coffee and bananas) increased by 3.7%, said Hernando José Gómez, NAFTA Czar. These figures are for the period from May 15, 2012 to March 30, 2013.He argued that.....

Fair trade product sales in Germany increase
German consumers bought 533 million Euro worth of products with the Fairtrade mark - an increase of 33 percent, reports the German website Proplanta.de. Mainly sales of Fairtrade flowers, bananas and coffee developed well. "In the past year, fair trade products have been available in the entire German food.....

Nature Fresh sponsors event to promote healthy kids
Nature Fresh Farms was one of the sponsors at last week's “Let's Get Kids Active” summit in Ontario. The event, which was focused on childhood development and getting kids to lead healthy lives, was part of a series of events that lead up to the International Children's Games (ICG) to be held this Summer in.....

Spanish police find record drug haul in melon shipment
Last week Spanish police announced the discovery of 32 tonnes of hashish hidden in a truck full of melons from Morocco. The drugs find is one of the largest ever made in Spain, with an estimated street value of 50 million Euro. The melons had been shipped to the country from the port of Tangiers. When the.....

FreshFel fights decrease in consumption fruit and vegetables
"As an import market Europe is not so appealing anymore"
Freshfel is the European association for the fruit and vegetable sector. According to Philippe Binard, General Delegate for FreshFel Europe, they are busy with various activities at the moment. "We are a platformto coordinate and the voice for the sector in Brussels. Also there isan important aim in order to.....

"Russia offers opportunities to suppliers from the fruit and vegetable sector"
Russia import more and more fruit and vegetables all the time, while their own productiondecreases. In 2012, the country became the most important sales destination for Spanish fruit and vegetables. This according to a report from Business Boost International, a company, which help MKB-companies to work.....

100 kilos of cocaine found among vegetables at Bilbao's port
The Ertzaintza (the Basque Country's regional police) seized 100 kilos of very pure cocaineat Bilbao's portwhich were hidden within a container that contained agricultural products. The drug was found almost two weeks ago when unloading operators spotted some strange suitcases among the boxes of fresh.....

Mexico: Avocado Packers are burned down in Michoacan
Two avocado packers were burned intentionally on Thursday in the town of Tancítaro, Michoacán, by an unidentified armed group, causing huge losses. There are no detainees.According to sources of the Attorney General of the State, the flames consumed all the companies called "Fine Fruits" and "Agroexport",.....

BKX Trading finds successful importing formula
For Maroun Khouri, no matter what you're importing, it's all about the procedure. Whether it's handbags, designer goods or produce, the procedures you use will determine whether or not you're a success. So when he and his partner, Apanatche Bark, formed BKX Trading and started importing ginger root from.....

Russia refuse Turkish strawberries
The Russian authorities have refused entranceto 18 tons of strawberries from Turkey. The federal inspection service for animal and plant health (Rosselkhoznadzor) have, during a check-up found Californian trips (Frankliniella occidentalis Pergande) on the fruit. Alexey Alekseyenko, spokesman.....

"Caution: the company commits pure blackmail"
Mmcd reports defaulter Novfrut, St. Petersburg
Henri Parianos of Mmcd BVBA reports a new defaulter. He says: "If you don't want to lose any money, I advise you not to do business with a company called Novfrut. The company is located at 60 Sofiyskaya Street, St. Petersburg. The managing directors are Namig and Novruz Halilov and the buyer is Shamil.....

Centre-pivot irrigator ruts contributing to accident rate amongst Groundspreaders
Centre-pivot irrigator ruts are contributing to the high accident rate amongst Groundspreaders.The New Zealand Groundspread Fertilisers’ Association, (NZGFA) would like to see a reduction in recent accident rates amongst Groundspreaders. NZGFA president Stuart Barwood said that, “we are aiming to make.....

Moroccan agriculture becomes a booming sector for Spanish investors
With agriculture accounting for approximately 15% and 20% of GDP, the Moroccan agricultural sector opens a market of opportunities to foreign investors, especially for Spanish companies because of their geographical proximity.The SIAM (International Agricultural Exhibition), which this year includes 15.....

Photographic report Belgian reception Beerbistro
Belgian fruit and vegetables more and more important for Canada
Last week the CPMA took place in Canada. On the evening of Thursday 18 April, VLAM organized a Belgian reception in the Beerbistro in Toronto. It was an opportunity to meet the Belgian stand holders and taste the quality of the Belgian products. Vegetable snacks in combination with Belgian beer - the.....

Georgia growers in pursuit of methyl bromide alternative
For decades, Georgia vegetable farmers relied on the soil fumigant methyl bromide to control weeds, insects and nematodes, but recent changes in environmental regulations have led them to find replacements.Stanley Culpepper, a weed scientist with the College of Agricultural of Environmental Sciences, has.....

Gianluca Bonaccorso, Unitrade Holland:
"A lot of winter vegetables to Italy, but fruit export insignificant"
Exports to Italy are at a low level at the moment, not in the least because of the relatively low temperatures.The export of winter products, such as cabbage, celeriac and carrots, has actually been good for a long period, but the export of fruit is laggingbehind, according to Gianlucca Bonaccorso of.....

Heidi Klum pays her children for drinking smoothies
The German top model Heidi Klum is advertising thick, fatty hamburgers. But with her children she is very strict about healthy food. Voluntarily, they don't reach for fruit and vegetables - so Heidi pays her children when they eat healthy food, according to the British newspaper 'Daily Mail'. "We are very.....

Kuehne & Nagel double profit in first quarter
The Swiss logistic concernKühne & Nagel International AG have almost doubled their profit in the first quarter of this year. The airfreightbranchesand contract logistics profited from the measures taken to increase the earning capacity. The net profit in the first quarter reached 132 million Swiss.....

UK: Cliff Richard music 'kills plants in greenhouse experiment'
An experiment has found that plants kept in a greenhouse died when exposed to Sir Cliff Richard's music. However, one of the gardeners involved said that he suspects foul play may have occurred to produce the curious results. Chris Beardshaw told BBC Radio 4's Gardeners' Question Time that flowers kept near.....

With a photo report
International Workshop NEV 2013 on “Nitrates, Environment and Vegetables”
The University of Torino (Italy) in cooperation with the European Commission has organized the International Workshop NEV2013 "Nitrogen, Environment and Vegetables" to support the implementation of Nitrates Directive (91/676/EEC).Professor Carlo Grignani (North Italy Working Group for Nitrates Directive).....

Switzerland: Vegetables and fish fresh from the roof
In almost all towns of the world the so-called 'Urban farms' are becoming more important, as published by the Swiss website swissinfo.ch. Also in Switzerland they have prospects, as shown during a visit to pioneer company UF001 LokDepot in Basle. The company is established on the roof of a marshalling.....

Florida battling crop eating giant snails
Florida officials say they are worried about an invasion of giant African land snails, which are devouring agricultural crops and can carry disease.Miami-Dade County officials estimate they have captured more than 120,000 of the snails since the Florida Department of Agriculture first discovered the current.....

Exporter Guy de Meyer: "Competition position more difficult"
"Because of surplus value compensation buyers may just give less"
From Monday 15th of April LAVA have started a 'surplus value compensation' to be added to various vegetables. A fixed amount is added to the clock price, which is paid in full to the grower. For cucumber this is 2 cents each and for tomatoes up to 5 cents/kg. The extra expenses arecharged for the efforts of.....

Scientists discover way to extract fingerprints from fruit
Researchers at Abertay University in Scotland have found a way to extract latent fingerprints from fruits and vegetables – a previously daunting task.According to a report in STV news, this is said to be the first time this has ever been achieved in the UK and could lead to more comprehensive evidence.....

India: Prisons turning criminals into growers
Indian prisons are developing their own vegetable gardens, where inmates can grow their own produce and, for the government, the costs of running the facilities can be reduced. Last year, Puzhal prison produced 1,000kg of pumpkin and brinjal along with other vegetables that managed to feed more than 2,000.....

Tomato and onion smuggling at the Brazilian border
Draughts affecting southern Brazil over the past few weeks and Argentina's attractive prices, measured in "blue" dollars, have led to an unusual form of smuggling at the national border, where it has become common to find Brazilians trying to smuggle tomatoes and onions to their country.The phenomenon is.....

Patagonian wants to add more perspectives to GlobalGAP
With over a decade of experience in the exportation of fresh fruit with Patagonian Fruits Trade in Argentina, Marcelo Galardini knows the business very well. Now he wants to use that experience to serve on the board of the certifying organization, GlobalGAP, to ensure that GlobalGAP remains the global.....

Netherlands: Liquidity assistance for horticulture
During the European book year almost 70 million Euro was paid to growers associations for assistance from CAP. This according tofigures from the Ministry of Economic Affairs. Most of the subsidy went to Coforta. In second place is FresQ. The European book year runs from 16 October 2011 to 15 October2012.....

Ecuador: Banana producers demand more security
Since, in recent years, various banana producers have been killed in the province of El Oro (Ecuador) as a result of crime, yesterday, a group of banana leaders asked the Governor of El Oro to be granted permission to bear arms so they will be able to defend themselves.When Juan Andrés Altamirano Moreno, 28,.....

One Direction's Harry Styles gets fruity with his followers
Harry Styles has been comparing sizes on Twitter.The One Direction singer shared a photo with his followers of himself holding a bunch of tiny bananas in his hand - and a cluster of huge fruit in the other.'Baby nanas,' Tweeted Harry, 19.Harry - who's currently touring the country on 1D's Take Me Home tour -.....

Guiness Record
Mexico produced the world's largest guacamole
The world's largest guacamole, surpassing the two and a half tons of avocado mixed with onions tomatoes and lemons, was prepared in Tancítaro, Michoacán (Mexico); thus, unofficially breaking the Guinness Record that the US still holds."I want to say that with 2,670 kilos, the record for the world's biggest.....

Juan Roig, President of Mercadona, the man who fulfilled his dream
The President of Mercadona made a family pact to direct the company in 1981 and acquired the majority of the society a decade after. Juan Roig learned the 'culture of effort' in his childhood and youth and applied it in the company."No one understands what he is because he doesn't seem to be it". This is how.....

Argentina: Jacob Glueck, founder of Citromax, passed away
Last Monday the founder of Citromax SACI and one of the pioneers in the local citrus industry, Mr. Jacob Glueck, passed away.Mr. Glueck, as he was known, was a native of Hungary and was one of the survivors of the Nazi Holocaust. He arrived in Argentina where he founded the company that his daughter is.....

Spain: Gang of theives kill watchman in field of oranges
A Bulgarian who guarded a field in Cheste (Spain) died last night as a result of being shot by a group of men he had driven away hours earlier, after having caught them trying to steal oranges.The deceased, a 40 year-old resident of the township, was with another fellow countryman, both hired by the owner to.....

Peru: Ambitious plan to drill through Andes to water desert
Fresh water that now tumbles down the eastern flank of the Andes mountains to the Amazon basin and eventually the Atlantic Ocean will instead move west through the mountains to irrigate a patch of desert on Peru's coast. It will then drain into the Pacific Ocean.The Herculean project to reverse the flow of.....

Strikes could resume later this week
Chilean ports resume activity
Most ports in Chile were returning to normal operations on Saturday after an extended strike, but the central port of San Antonio remained closed over the weekend.If workers at San Antonio do not reach a deal by Tuesday, the rest of port workers will resume their strike in solidarity, Richard Orellana, head.....

Weak Euro hardly any effect on vegetable import
The rate of exchange for the Euro compared to the Swiss Franc has decreased by about 25% over the last five years. But the import of vegetables in Switzerland did not normally become proportionally cheaper.This is according to the latest 'market report fruit and vegetables' from the German'Bundesamt für.....

Asparagus and iceberg lettuce important
Fruit and Vegetable production Lower Saxony
During 2012 1,174 companies in the German federal state of Lower Saxony produced a totalof 587,100 tons ofvegetablesand strawberries. This according to figures of the'Landesbetrieb für Statistik und Kommunikationstechnologie Niedersachsen' (LSKN). Of these 207 companies cultivated in glasshouses. Vegetables.....

Austria remains an importing country
Once again, in the 2010/2011 season, the Austrian agricultural sector was only able to cover part of the country's demand. For grain and potatoes, 88 percent of the demand was covered, for wine 66 percent, for fruit 52 percent, for oilseed 50 percent and for vegetable oil 50 percent, figures from.....

No bankruptcy, redundancies certain
Netherlands: No Horti Fair 2013
There will be no Horti Fair this year. The trade fair organisation will deliberate about next year after Easter. There was no lack of interest for the Horti Fair in Aalsmeer, according to Nijdam. We booked more than one third of the surface area within a month. Even when we are fully booked, however, we will.....

Fruit and vegetable attorney Hans Borsboom:
"Traditionally few written agreements in fruit and vegetable sector"
The fruit and vegetable sector has always played an important role in the life of Hans Borsboom. "I was born and raised in the Dutch town of Barendrecht. The fruit and vegetable ‘virus’ got hold of me at an early age. As a student I always had summer jobs with fruit and vegetable companies. When I became a.....

Guatemala: Stockton finds new applications for Timorex Gold
Though Timorex Gold was initially developed by the Stockton Group (STK) as a sustainable and effective control of Black Sigatoka in bananas and a broad spectrum of diseases in vegetables, fruit trees and vineyards further testing and applications have yielded new uses for the biofungicide. Now, Stockton has.....

Netherlands National Nutrition Conference
Netherlands: "Get children used to vegetables as young as possible"
"Teach babies to get used to the taste of vegetables as early as possible, even earlier than fruit, for improved acceptance," recommends Dr Gerry Jager of Wageningen University. "Learn young, learn for life" was the theme of the 6th National Nutrition Conference, an initiative of the Alliantie Voeding.....