News archive
19 July 2018
MHP developed environmental policy
News -The Ukraine-based agroholding MHP takes measures to minimize the impact of the company’s operations on the environment. The company has developed an environmental policy and a common form of annual reporting on environmental issues for each of the MHP’s enterprises. In addition, each of the enterprises has employed certified environmentalists who maintain the relevant registries and monitor compliance of these documents with legislation.
19 July 2018
Eridon expanded its land area
News -The Eridon group of companies completed the acquisition of 39,000 hectares from the company Kyiv-Atlantic Ukraine. According to Eridon, this was the next step toward the development of vertical integration of the business, which unites agricultural production, dealership supplies of seeds, fertilizers, crop protection products, agronomy consulting, and the design and construction of modern processing and storing facilities. Eridon also reported that the nearest plan of the company is to improve performance of its current business assets.
19 July 2018
Oane Visser: Russian agroholdings will strongly depend on governmental policies
Opinion -Russia is a major player in global agricultural markets and has vast fertile land reserves. In a decade after the financial crisis of 1998, which some experts referred to as a "blessing in disguise", Russia has achieved rapid economic growth. With real GDP growth reaching 8.3% in 2000 and 5% in 2001, Russia became attractive for investors. Especially, investments in land raised the interest of people with capital. The latter included also the Russian oligarchs who searched for new investment opportunities. Many experts see this as a starting point of the emergence of the so-called agroholdings. Oane Visser, Associate Professor at the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) of Erasmus University Rotterdam, sheds some light on the development of agroholdings in Russia in an interview to largescaleagriculture.com.
19 July 2018
BRF Brasil dismisses employees in Mineiros
News -The agricultural giant BRF recently dismissed 50% of the employees of the turkey slaughtering sector in BRF Brasil Foods Refrigerator in the city of Mineiros. In March, BRF Brasil had already given collective vacations for 30 days to 497 workers due to restructuring. This massive layoff directly affects 500 farm workers who will also lose their...
18 July 2018
Mega farms accused of water poisoning due to overpumping
News -Scientists at Stanford University found a direct correlation between the level of water contamination with arsenic and the level of land sinking due to overpumping by mega farms. This situation is especially true for the Central Valley in California, US. The high concentration of arsenic in ground water occurs due to pumping too much water at one time. While arsenic is a naturally occurring element, high doses of it can be toxic causing cancer, heart disease, skin lesions, and liver and kidney damage. The large farms are accused of releasing too much arsenic by pumping too much ground water with the largest pumps they could find and from the deepest wells they could dig, while the government does not issue enough water regulations to create a pumping plan.
18 July 2018
Large scale poultry farming is opposed by residents in UK
News -Cinders Farm, a large scale poultry farm in Ruabon, UK, recently submitted a planning application for four large chicken sheds to Wrexham Council's planning committee. The rearing houses, measuring 110 metres long and 25 metres wide, would be designed for up to 225,000 birds, reared for meat production. However, local residents have started a...
18 July 2018
Avex dismis 200 employees from plant in Rio Cuarto
News -Cordoba-based Avex S.A., a major producer of whole, cut, chilled and frozen chicken and a subsidiary of the Brazilian food group BRF S.A., will dismiss 200 employees from its plant in Rio Cuarto, Argentina. Avex was one of the two acquisitions in Argentina made by BRF in 2011 for a total sum of $ 150 million. It employs approx. 500 people and has the slaughter capacity of 750,000 chickens per week. BRF S.A. is in the middle of a financial restructuring, selling its units in Argentina, Europe and Thailand, to focus its business on the Brazilian and Asian markets.
17 July 2018
Kernel's shares lost one third of their value within a year
News -The shares of the largest Ukrainian agricultural holding, Kernel, lost 29% of their value within the year and reached zl 46.55 ($ 12.6) at the Warsaw Stock Exchange on July 16th, 2018. Within the last month the value of the share fell by 6% and since the beginning of the year 2018 - by 18%. The reason for such negative dynamics may be a statement about the termination of cooperation between Kernel and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). According to Anton Usov, Senior Adviser for External Communications at EBRD, the bank is not working with Kernel for a number of reasons.
16 July 2018
Agroliga's early crops harvest exceeds expectations
News -Due to favorable weather conditions, the Agroliga group of companies started the harvesting season of early crops earlier than usual. About 37% of the areas provided good quality grain. Many years of improvement of fertilizer application technologies, trainings of agronomists and loss minimization strategy during harvesting made it possible to...
16 July 2018
BRF hires banks to advise on the sale of its assets
News -Brazilian meat processor BRF is undergoing a restructuring process which involves the sale of operating units in Europe, Argentina and Thailand, as well as job cuts. The reason for this restructuring is the company's plan to focus on its core markets in Brazil in order to increase its capital structure and to lower its debt-to-EBITDA ratio. In order to accomplish this aim, the company hired the investment units of ItaúUnibanco Holding SA and Banco Bradesco SA to advise on the sale of its assets.