News archive
06 August 2018
SanCor and AFIP negotiate debt restructuring
News -The dairy cooperative SanCor is again in a negotiation process with the AFIP (Federal Administration of Public Revenues of Argentina) to restructure its tax debt. The AFIP will not make any exemptions to SanCor, but the cooperative will be given an opportunity to choose between one of the payment plans that the tax collection body has suggested....
06 August 2018
Four Ukrainian Agroholdings keep a stable landbank
News -According to the research conducted by Latifundist.com, the following four Ukrainian agroholdings have kept their landbank stable during the last five years: AgroGeneration, Agroprosperis, Astarta-Kyiv, and MHP. AgroGeneration has been keeping its land bank at 120,000 hectares. Agroprosperis added 30,000 hectares to its landbank in 2014 and has been keeping it at 430,000 in 2015-2018. Astarta-Kyiv expanded its landbank by 5,000 hectares in 2016 and has kept it at 250,000 hectares. MHP increased its landbank by 50,000 hectares in 2014-2015 and has been keeping it at 370,000 hectares.
03 August 2018
Adecoagro to increase efficiency of rice production
News -Adecoagro, the largest producer of rice in Argentina, plans investments to streamline the milling and drying processes of rice in the mill of the city of Franck. Adecoagro grows rise on 40,000 hectares nationwide. It also plans to build two more silos in the mill of Franck in order to increase the storage capacity of rice and to cover the demand for rice from Mexico and the European Union. Adecoagro is also building a second rice processing plant in Argentina for $ 7 million.
01 August 2018
FCC generated net loss in the first half of 2018
News -Food Contract Corporation (FCC), the subsidiary of KazAgro, generated KZT 2.6 billion ($ 7.4 million) of net loss in the first half of 2018. Compared to a net loss of KZT 6.9 billion ($ 19.7 million) in January-June of 2017, the financial performance of the company improved. The revenues from sales of goods and services increased 2.5 times to KZT...
01 August 2018
Adecoagro gives up on SanCor to buy two plants for $ 45 million
News -In April 2018, Adecoagro had informed of its intentions to form a partnership with SanCor, in which SanCor would have 10 % of the new company. However, Adecoagro is now being interested in acquiring only two plants of the dairy cooperative: Chivilcoy and Devoto for $ 45 million. At these plants SanCor produces milk powder, butter and cream. This decision is based on the difficult financial situation of SanCor and the impossibility for Adecoagro to overtake the loans of SanCor.
01 August 2018
Ekosem-Agrar changes legal form due to IPO plans
News -Germany based agroholding Ekosem-Agrar, the parent company of the Russian EkoNiva Holding, has begun preparations for the initial public offering of shares on the stock exchange (IPO). The shareholders decided to change the organizational and legal form to increase the company's flexibility and future financing for its growth. In this case, an IPO is just one of the options for raising funds. The choice of alternative scenarios and the decision on the timing of the placement will depend on the state of financial markets, industry development, and strategic considerations. The founder and the largest shareholder of EkoNiva, Stefan Dürr, specified that the funds are needed to expand production, including milk processing, in order to increase the share of products with high added value. The holding's agricultural enterprises operate in the Voronezh, Kursk, Novosibirsk, Kaluga, Ryazan, Orenburg and Tyumen regions, controlling more than 385,700 hectares of agricultural land. EkoNiva's total cattle herd amounted more than 110,500 animals, including 51,800 dairy cows, by July 1st 2018. At the end of 2017, the gross milk production of the company reached 300,000 tonnes, which made it the largest producer of raw milk in Russia.
31 July 2018
Joaquim Bento de Souza Ferreira Filho: State policies stimulated large farm development in Brazil
Opinion -The objective to generate revenues for the state budget through agricultural trade gave rise to the agricultural land expansion in the Cerrado region (Central region of Brazil) in the 1970s. State policies provided incentives to convert these vast land areas into farmland and to produce tradable agricultural products, especially soybeans. The conversion of the Cerrado was probably the biggest and the fastest land-use change in human history. This fact caused an extraordinary change in the landscape and stimulated the emergence of large scale farming oriented to fulfil the state program of import substitution. Joaquim Bento de Souza Ferreira Filho, Senior Professor at the "Luiz de Queiroz" High School for Agriculture, University of São Paulo, Brazil, explained to largescaleagriculture.com the reasons behind this development and the role large scale farms are playing in the Brazilian economy.
31 July 2018
Svarog West Group implements CSR program
News -The Antoninskoye enterprise, which is part of the Ukraine-based Svarog West Group corporation, continues to implement the corporate social responsibility (CSR) program "With people and for people!". Since its foundation, Svarog West Group Corporation has been pursuing an active social policy, cooperating with village communities and cities situated in its area of operation. The main goal of this work is organizational, methodological and financial support of public initiatives that promote the development of rural communities and increase the level of their social security. The program includes meetings, discussions, and trainings, which help to understand the needs and problems and identify ways to address them. The company supports territorial communities in the fields of education, culture, medicine, sports, spirituality, military service, as well as targeted assistance.
30 July 2018
Most US consumers oppose increased subsidies for large farms
News -According to the latest survey jointly conducted by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and POLITICO magazine, the majority of Americans do not support increasing subsidies for large agricultural businesses, on the contrary, they support the increase in subsidy payments only for small and medium-size farms. A total of 46 % of respondents favored increasing subsidies for small and medium-size operations while only 16 % said the same for large businesses. As far as large farms were concerned, almost half of respondents favored keeping subsidy payments at current levels, while one third of the respondents said they should be decreased.
30 July 2018
Smart technology can hurt small farms in South Africa
News -The use of smart technologies in agriculture is a hot topic. The media report about exciting potential of self-driving tractors, drones, remote monitoring, and so on. But according to Dr. Justy Range, Business Development Manager at Freshmark Systems, these kinds of technological applications are part of a much more complex socioeconomic changes, especially in South Africa. He states that, ironically, increased adoption of smart solutions in agriculture could hurt small scale farming since larger farms are likely to exploit economies of scale to further increase the effectiveness of their operations. This could push the small growers out of the market. And this is something that Africa cannot afford.