Farmers May Further Cut Acreage 7/30/2007 4:39:00 PM ETRelated symbols: AGE Bloomberg By Shruti Date Singh July 30 (Bloomberg) -- Cotton rose to a one-week high in New York on speculation farmers will switch acres to other crops because of concern a World Trade Organization ruling may threaten U. Farmers May Further Cut Acreage 7/30/2007 4:39:00 PM ETRelated symbols: AGE Bloomberg By Shruti Date Singh July 30 (Bloomberg) -- Cotton rose to a one-week high in New York on speculation farmers...

Scientists aim to give farmers a little more breathing room in the future by breeding or genetically altering plants so that they need less water while producing the same amount of crops or more. He said company researchers are aiming to develop cotton plants that will produce as much cotton as traditional plants but with 20 percent less water. For example, Monsanto spends more than $2 million a day on breeding and genetic research to develop drought-tolerant plants, improve the quality of...

Consequently, cotton and lint production went down as well as local textiles and garments manufacturing, leading to the closure of several key industries in the sub-sector. The board's ginneries were sold to private entrepreneurs and marketing was decontrolled while prices of seed cotton were determined by supply and demand. Liberalisation opened the industry to private sector participation from production, ginning and marketing to input supply. Import liberalisation in the 1990s led to an...

By Sabihuddin Ghausi KARACHI, July 30: Textile tycoons in Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi wait anxiously for the much-talked about long-term textile policy as abrupt political developments and bomb blasts delay the presentation of a draft before the prime minister by Textile Minister Mushtaq Cheema. By Sabihuddin Ghausi KARACHI, July 30: Textile tycoons in Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi wait anxiously for the much-talked about long-term textile policy as abrupt political developments and...

TRADE: United They Talk, So Far By Ravi Kanth Devarakonda GENEVA, Jul 30 (IPS) - Unprecedented unity among a large majority of developing countries has put paid to aggressive attempts by rich countries to tilt the balance in the precarious Doha trade negotiations in their favour. TRADE: United They Talk, So Far By Ravi Kanth Devarakonda GENEVA, Jul 30 (IPS) - Unprecedented unity among a large majority of developing countries has put paid to aggressive attempts by rich countries to tilt the...

In many parts of the country, "farming the government" is the main occupation of farmers who harvest big subsidies to support highly mechanized operations. More and more, a rural landscape composed of numerous small, family-run operations is becoming a thing of the past, and the government's support of industrial agricultural is partly to blame. Farmers also face higher costs for fuel and fertilizer, reflecting the higher costs of petroleum. After a year when prices hit levels lower than...