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☆ There's a simple solution to make wine more sustainable: sheep
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-12 | by ( Lauren Edmonds | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Now, Whitehall Lane Winery has eight vineyards, including six in Napa Valley and two in Sonoma Valley. "The whole country is dotted with cows and sheep," Moulton said, referring to the 9.6 million cattle and 26 million sheep that live there. Whitehall Lane Winery. Whitehall Lane Winery. Whitehall Lane Winery.

Persons: Jason Moulton, Moulton, They'll Organizations: Service, Sonoma Valley ., American Sheep Industry, Lincoln University Viticulture Locations: Whitehall Lane, Oakville, United States, Napa Valley, Helena, Sonoma Valley, New Zealand, Lincoln, Auckland, Hawke's, It's, Whitehall Lane Winery, Whitehall, Nevada, Moulton

☆ Michael Pollan's deliciously simple meal plan to avoid ultra-processed foods — and where it falls short
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-13 | by ( Hilary Brueck | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

"We all make compromises," Pollan told Business Insider ahead of the release of his latest documentary, Food, Inc. 2, out April 12. "We do the best we can, and people pick out the issues they want to deal with, and can deal with." AdvertisementAt home, Pollan tries his best to avoid eating industrial meat, eggs, or any other product from big factory farms. They keep a stash of well-sharpened knives, ready to chop and cook a rainbow of veggies for dinner most nights. The reality is that Pollan does participate in America's industrialized food system.

Persons: Michael Pollan, it's, Pollan, I'd, He's, Joey Hadden, Jon Tester, he's Organizations: New York Times, Food, Inc, Business, Amazon, Taco Bell, Democratic, Food Inc Locations: Alaska, yuba, Moroccan, Berkeley , California, Waterloo , Iowa, Florida, Washington, Montana

☆ Bayer calls off break-up to tackle challenges for up to 3 years
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-05 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

The Bayer AG logo sits behind silhouetted members of the management board during the company's annual general meeting in Bonn, Germany, May 25, 2018. The cutbacks will reduce annual costs by 2 billion euros from 2026, it added. To shore up its finances, that German drugmaker has slashed dividends, keeping what analysts estimate would have been combined payouts of 6-7 billion euros over three years. Bayer's net debt at the end of 2023 was up 8.5% to 34.5 billion euros. The company said it would seek to reduce net debt by 1-2 billion this year.

Persons: Bayer, Bill Anderson, Anderson, glyphosate Organizations: Bayer AG, Reuters, Monsanto Locations: Bonn, Germany

☆ Colombia Turns Drug-Fumigation Planes Into Fire Fighters
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-14 | by ( Feb. | At P.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: 1 min

BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombia on Wednesday added eight aircraft, some previously used to fumigate drug crops, to its fire-fighting fleet as it braces for more dry El Nino weather that has stoked major wildfires. President Gustavo Petro declared a natural disaster in January as fires ravaged areas of the world's second-most bio-diverse country. Petro attended an event in Tolima province displaying the four AT-802 Air Tractor planes and four Black Hawk UH-60 helicopters, originally donated by top ally the United States, that were refitted to drop water and chemicals to quell flames. The planes were used to spray the herbicide glyphosate on illegal plantations of coca, the chief ingredient in cocaine, until 2015 when the flights were stopped due to health concerns related to the chemical. (Reporting by Luis Jaime Acosta; Writing by Julia Symmes Cobb; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

Persons: Gustavo Petro, Petro, Luis Jaime Acosta, Julia Symmes Cobb, Cynthia Osterman Organizations: Tractor Locations: BOGOTA, Colombia, Nino, Tolima, United States

Those losses ended a nine-trial winning streak for Bayer, shattering investor and company hopes that the worst of the Roundup litigation was over. Her case will help test whether plaintiffs' recent victories were an aberration, or the payoff from favorable court rulings and a shift in plaintiffs' strategy. Plaintiffs' lawyers reject the notion that the evidence about regulators explains their wins. While plaintiffs' lawyers in earlier trials mentioned other chemicals, transcripts of recent closing arguments suggest they have become more prominent. More Roundup trials are expected in 2024.

Persons: Wolfgang Rattay, Kelly Martel, Bayer, Martel, glyphosate, That's, Tom Kline, Jason Itkin, Ernest Caranci, Bart Rankin, Rankin, Brendan Pierson, Alexia Garamfalvi, Bill Berkrot Organizations: Bayer AG, REUTERS, Bayer, U.S, Monsanto, . Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, Union, Health, Thomson Locations: Wuppertal, Germany, Philadelphia, Pleas, Pennsylvania, Europe, New York

☆ Bayer ordered to pay $1.56 billion in latest US trial loss over Roundup weedkiller
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-19 | by ( Tom Hals | Thomson Reuters | Tom Hals Is An Award-Winning Reporter With Years Of Experience Working In Asia | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Logo of Bayer AG is pictured at the annual results news conference of the German drugmaker in Leverkusen, Germany February 27, 2019. Each was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma that they alleged was caused by using Roundup on their family property. Bayer has said that decades of studies have shown Roundup and its active ingredient, glyphosate, are safe for human use. The verdict is the fourth straight loss in court for Bayer, after the company had been found not liable to plaintiffs in nine consecutive trials. In 2020, Bayer settled most of the then-pending Roundup cases for up to $10.9 billion.

Persons: Wolfgang Rattay, Bayer, Valorie Gunther, Jimmy Draeger of, Daniel Anderson of, Draeger's, Brenda, Bart Rankin, Forrest Weldon, Tom Hals, Bill Berkrot Organizations: Bayer AG, REUTERS, Bayer, Monsanto, Union Investment, U.S . Environmental Protection Agency, EU Commission, European Food Agency, European Chemicals Agency, Thomson Locations: Leverkusen, Germany, Missouri, Cole County , Missouri, New York, Jimmy Draeger of Missouri, Daniel Anderson of California, Wilmington , Delaware

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Commission will continue the use of the controversial chemical herbicide glyphosate in the European Union for 10 more years after the 27 member countries again failed to find a common position for or against a prolongation. The Greens political group of the EU Parliament immediately urged the Commission to backpedal and ban the use of glyphosate. The 10-year extension proposed by the European Commission required a “qualified majority,” defined as 55% of the 27 members representing at least 65% of the total EU population of some 450 million people. Pascal Canfin, the chair of the Environment committee at the European Parliament, blamed the EU Commission president for moving forward despite the stalemate. EU member states are responsible for authorizing the use of products in their national markets, following a safety evaluation.

Persons: unconclusive, ”, Bas Eickhout, unfiled, “, Pascal Canfin, Ursula von der Leyen, Emmanuel Macron Organizations: European Commission, European Union, Greens, EU, Environment, Monsanto, Bayer, Agency for Research, Cancer, World Health Organization, Environmental Protection Agency, Greenpeace Locations: BRUSSELS, backpedal, California, France, U.S, Germany, Italy

☆ Bayer says it is keeping strict line on settling glyphosate litigation
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

The 120 metres high Bayer Cross, logo of German pharmaceutical and chemical maker Bayer AG, consisting of 1710 LED glass bulbs is seen outside the industrial park "Chempark" of the chemical industry in Leverkusen, Germany, September 23, 2023. "We have no appetite to write humongous checks," said CFO Wolfgang Nickl in a media call after the release of third-quarter results. He added that Bayer has sound legal and scientific arguments to pursue its cases and appeals in court. Last week, a California jury found Bayer liable in a case brought by a man who claimed his cancer was due to exposure to the company's glyphosate-based Roundup, the third consecutive defeat for Bayer. Before that, Bayer had won nine cases in a row.

Persons: Wolfgang Rattay, Wolfgang Nickl, Bayer, Ludwig Burger, Miranda Murray Organizations: Bayer, Bayer AG, REUTERS, Rights, Thomson Locations: Leverkusen, Germany, U.S, California

☆ Brazil child cancer deaths linked to soy farming, study finds
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-01 | by ( Ana Mano | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The U.S. researchers found a relationship between soy production and related community exposure to agrochemicals including glyphosate, a widely used weedkiller that some genetically modified soybean seeds are designed to tolerate. "We find a statistically significant increase in pediatric leukemia following expanded local soy production," the PNAS article said, based on Brazilian childhood cancer incidence and disease mortality data spanning 15 years. Specifically, the study found a correlation between soy farming and childhood blood cancers, especially acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), the most common blood cancer in children. There were 123 additional deaths of children under age 10 from 2008 to 2019 from ALL following the expansion of soybean production in Brazil, the researchers found. That number would have been higher were it not for the country's high-quality cancer treatment centers, the researchers said.

Persons: Adriano Machado, Ana Mano, Nancy Lapid, Bill Berkrot Organizations: REUTERS, SAO PAULO, U.S . National Academy of Sciences, Thomson Locations: Luziania, Goias, Brazil, U.S, China, United States

☆ Colombia Potential Cocaine Output Rose 24% in 2022 - UN
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-11 | by ( Sept. | At P.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +2 min

Also at a more than 20-year high was potential cocaine output, which rose 24% to 1,738 metric tonnes. Coca is the chief ingredient in cocaine, whose production has fueled the Andean country's six-decade armed conflict, which has killed at least 450,000 people. Petro's government wants to help rural communities voluntarily substitute some 100,000 hectares of coca crops over the next four years, an official told Reuters recently. The government wants to reduce cultivation areas to 150,000 hectares and production capacity to 900 metric tonnes by 2026, Osuna said. Some 13% of Colombia's annual deforestation is linked to illicit crops, Environment Minister Susana Muhamad told a drugs conference last week.

Persons: Candice Welsch, Welsch, Gustavo Petro, Colombia's, Nestor Osuna, Osuna, Susana Muhamad, oversupply, Luis Jaime Acosta, Oliver Griffin, Julia Symmes Cobb, Richard Chang Organizations: United Nations Office, Drugs, Reuters, UN, Food Locations: BOGOTA, Colombia, Putumayo province, Ecuador

July 25 (Reuters) - Further deterioration in demand for glyphosate-based weed killers led Bayer (BAYGn.DE) to cut its full-year earnings outlook and announce a 2.5 billion euro ($2.8 billion) write-down on glyphosate-related assets. That was lower than a previous 2023 outlook of 12.5 billion euros, or slightly higher. Free cash flow would come in at zero, down from a previous prediction of 3 billion euros, the company said. "Based on the anticipated market development, in particular with respect to the glyphosate business, Bayer also expects to record a goodwill impairment of approximately 2.5 billion euros," it said. That would result in a second-quarter net loss of 2 billion euros.

Persons: Bayer, Bill Anderson, Roche, Markus Manns, Anderson, Hurricane Ida, Werner Baumann, Thomas Escritt, Ludwig Burger, Jonathan Oatis, Susan Fenton, Kirsten Donovan Organizations: Union Investment, Barclays, FMC, BASF, Bayer, Thomson

BERLIN, July 24 (Reuters) - Weak demand for glyphosate-based weed killers led Bayer (BAYGn.DE) to cut its full-year earnings outlook for the second time and announce a 2.5 billion euro ($2.8 billion) write-down on glyphosate-related assets. That was lower than a previous 2023 outlook of 12.5 billion euros, or slightly higher. Free cash flow would come in at zero, down from a previous prediction of 3 billion euros, the company said. "Based on the anticipated market development, in particular with respect to the glyphosate business, Bayer also expects to record a goodwill impairment of approximately 2.5 billion euros," it said. That would result in a second-quarter net loss of 2 billion euros.

Persons: Bayer, Hurricane Ida, Bill Anderson, Roche, Werner Baumann, Thomas Escritt, Ludwig Burger, Jonathan Oatis, Susan Fenton Organizations: Bayer, FMC, BASF, Thomson Locations: BERLIN

☆ Marijuana farmers in Colombia push government to find a place for them
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-24 | by ( Stefano Pozzebon | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

Cajibio CNN —On a recent Friday morning, about 200 coca and marijuana farmers gathered in the small town of Cajibio, southwestern Colombia, to hear the government out. More than 200,000 farmers of drug crops live in criminality in Colombia because their harvest is illegal, according to COCCAM, a workers’ union representing farmers involved in cocaine and marijuana production. Meeting between Colombia's government and drug farmers in Cajibio. Opponents of legal marijuana, like rightwing opposition leader German Vargas Lleras, say legal weed would only push more people into drug consumption, and celebrated the collapse of the latest regulation effort. “This is not about me or you getting high, it’s about the farmers and the producers,” Miranda told CNN.

Persons: Gloria Miranda, Yulier Lopez, Lopez, Ivan Duque, Cajibio, “, Stefano Pozzebon, Gustavo Petro, Petro, Juan Carlos Losada, ” Losada, Losada, German Vargas Lleras, ”, ” Lopez, Luis Cunda, Cunda, Colombia Stefano Pozzebon, CNN Cunda, Miranda, ’ Chris Alexander, ” Miranda, Nestor Osuna Organizations: CNN, Justice Ministry, Colombian, Liberal, ’, Human Rights Watch, New, Losada Locations: Cajibio, Colombia, UNODC, Colombian, CNN Colombian, Colombia’s Cauca, COCCAM, Cauca, ‘, Miranda, Caloto, United States, Uruguay, Latin America, Denver, Colorado, New York State, Bogota

☆ Ex-Tesla engineer builds Aigen robots to eliminate weeds without pesticides
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-30 | by ( Lora Kolodny | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Aigen founders: Rich Wurden (CTO) and Kenny Lee (CEO) Courtesy: AigenThe Aigen Element looks like a drafting table on rugged tires. The company behind the robots, Aigen, was founded by Rich Wurden, an ex-Tesla engineer, along with former Proofpoint executive Kenny Lee in 2020. The Aigen Element uses computer vision to spot and eliminate weeds without pesticides. Typically, a fleet of the Element robots would pass over the field continuously, gathering data each time. Aigen's farm robots run on solar and wind power, with a lithium iron phosphate battery pack.

Persons: Rich Wurden, Kenny Lee, Glyphosate, Lee, Wurden, Hodgkins, he's Organizations: U.S . Environmental Protection Agency, Proofpoint, Farmers Locations: U.S, Minnesota, Seattle, cybersecurity

[1/4] Diet Coke is seen on display at a store in New York City, U.S., June 28, 2023. Aspartame, used in products from Coca-Cola diet sodas to Mars' Extra chewing gum and some Snapple drinks, will be listed in July as "possibly carcinogenic to humans" for the first time by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the World Health Organization's (WHO) cancer research arm, the sources said. Pepsico removed aspartame from sodas in 2015, bringing it back a year later, only to remove it again in 2020. Listing aspartame as a possible carcinogen is intended to motivate more research, said the sources close to the IARC, which will help agencies, consumers and manufacturers draw firmer conclusions. But it will also likely ignite debate once again over the IARC's role, as well as the safety of sweeteners more generally.

Persons: Coke, Shannon Stapleton, Health Organization's, JECFA, Nozomi Tomita, Zsuzsanna, Germany’s Bayer, Frances Hunt, Wood, Mars Wrigley, Kate Loatman, –, Jennifer Rigby, Richa Naidu, Michele Gershberg, Mark Potter Organizations: REUTERS, International Agency for Research, Cancer, Health, Joint WHO, Food, Agriculture Organization's, WHO, Reuters, Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour, Welfare, Food Safety Authority, U.S, International, Association, Cargill, International Council of Beverages Associations, Ramazzini Institute, EFSA, Pepsico, Thomson Locations: New York City, U.S, United States, Europe, Geneva, France, Italy, sodas

JECFA, the WHO committee on additives, is also reviewing aspartame use this year. The first group includes substances from processed meat to asbestos, which all have convincing evidence showing they cause cancer, IARC says. Like aspartame, this means there is either limited evidence they can cause cancer in humans, sufficient evidence in animals, or strong evidence about the characteristics. Pepsico removed aspartame from sodas in 2015, bringing it back a year later, only to remove it again in 2020. Listing aspartame as a possible carcinogen is intended to motivate more research, said the sources close to the IARC, which will help agencies, consumers and manufacturers draw firmer conclusions.

Persons: Coke, Shannon Stapleton, Health Organization's, JECFA, Nozomi Tomita, Zsuzsanna, Germany’s Bayer, IARC, Frances Hunt, Wood, Mars Wrigley, Kate Loatman, –, Jennifer Rigby, Richa Naidu, Michele Gershberg, Mark Potter, Susan Fenton Organizations: REUTERS, International Agency for Research, Cancer, Health, Reuters, Joint WHO, Food, Agriculture Organization's, WHO, Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour, Welfare, Food Safety Authority, U.S, International, Association, Cargill, International Council of Beverages Associations, Ramazzini Institute, EFSA, Pepsico, Thomson Locations: New York City, U.S, United States, Europe, Geneva, France, Italy, sodas

☆ I'm a 27-year-old surfer who moved to Costa Rica for a more adventurous lifestyle. Living abroad is an attainable goal, and I'm having the time of my life.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-28 | by ( Alcynna Lloyd | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Living in Costa Rica is helping save money to eventually start his own health and wellness business. I took a solo trip to Costa Rica to surf and enjoy the beach. However, in Costa Rica everything is grown locally and there are no chemicals like glyphosate in our food. We settled in Mal Pais, Costa Rica. By living in Costa Rica I've gained a sense of opportunism that I lacked in the US.

Persons: Luke McStravick, —, Mal Pais, Luke, Costa, It's, we've, I've, Costa Rica I've Organizations: Service, Facebook Locations: San Diego, Costa Rica, Mal Pas, United States, Mal, Philadelphia, Mal Pais, Santa Teresa, It's, San Jose, Sweden, Germany, Italy, South Africa

Companies Bayer AG FollowNEW YORK, June 15 (Reuters) - Bayer AG (BAYGn.DE) has reached a $6.9 million settlement with New York for allegedly making false and misleading claims regarding the safety of Roundup weedkillers, the state's Attorney General Letitia James said on Thursday. The settlement also requires Bayer and its Monsanto unit to stop advertising that claims Roundup products containing glyphosate are safe and non-toxic. Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New YorkOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Letitia James, Jonathan Stempel Organizations: Bayer, Bayer AG, Monsanto, Thomson Locations: New York

Companies Bayer AG FollowNEW YORK, June 15 (Reuters) - Bayer AG (BAYGn.DE) agreed on Thursday to pay $6.9 million to settle claims by New York Attorney General Letitia James that it misled consumers by advertising Roundup weedkiller as safe. The settlement resolves accusations that Bayer and its Monsanto unit failed to substantiate their repeated claims about Roundup products containing the active ingredient glyphosate. These claims included that Roundup "won't harm anything but weeds," and "do not pose a threat to the health of animal wildlife." James said Bayer's and Monsanto's advertising violated state laws against false and misleading advertising, and breached Monsanto's 1996 settlement with New York over its advertising of Roundup at the time. The settlement requires Bayer and Monsanto to stop advertising that glyphosate-based Roundup is safe and non-toxic.

Persons: Letitia James, Bayer, James, Bayer's, Jonathan Stempel, Chizu Organizations: Bayer, Bayer AG, New York, Monsanto, Thomson Locations: New York

Mexico published a presidential decree on genetically modified (GM) corn in late 2020, saying it would ban GM corn in the diets of Mexicans and end the use the herbicide glyphosate by Jan. 31, 2024. The new decree eliminated the deadline to ban GM corn for animal feed and industrial use, by far the bulk of its U.S. corn imports. The new plan bans only GM corn used for dough or tortillas but leaves the door open to gradually substituting GM corn for animal feed and industrial use in the future. Some sector experts have said they worry that Mexico's restriction on GM corn, if successful, could set a precedent, prompting other countries to take a similar approach and disrupting the global corn trade. Corn for human food use comprises about 21% of Mexico's corn imports from the U.S., according to a representative from the National Corn Growers Association, citing U.S. Grains Council data.

☆ Bayer braces for falling profits in challenge for new CEO
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Ludwig Burger | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Bayer said in a statement that earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), adjusted for special items, would likely be between 12.5 billion euros and 13 billion euros ($13.2 billion - $13.8 billion) this year, excluding the effect of currency swings. Bayer said this month it would replace its CEO early, recruiting former Roche (ROG.S) executive Bill Anderson, amid demands by some investors that Bayer should simplify its diversified structure and split into separate groups. A $6.4 billion provision remained on the balance sheet for glyphosate payouts, the larger of the two legal burdens. So Bayer should really not be on the buy list of many investors at the moment," said Molnar. Bayer saw herbicide sales jump 44% in 2022 after hurricane Ida damaged rival producers and constrained Chinese suppliers failed to plug the gap.

☆ Bayer sees lower 2023 operating profit on cost inflation
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Ludwig Burger | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

FRANKFURT, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Agriculture and healthcare company Bayer (BAYGn.DE) said operating earnings would likely decline in 2023, hurt by higher costs and the reversal of last year's price boost for its glyphosate-based weedkillers. In a statement on Tuesday, Bayer said earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), adjusted for special items, would likely be between 12.5 billion euros ($13.23 billion) and 13 billion euros this year, excluding the effect of currency swings. In his last presentation of the company's quarterly results, Chief Executive Werner Baumann said the company is active in the right areas of business. For 2023, "the company anticipates lower prices for agricultural herbicides as well as for some of its established pharmaceutical products," Bayer said, also citing high inflation-driven cost increases. ($1 = 0.9447 euros)Additional reporting by Patricia Weiss Editing by Friederike Heine, Kirsten DonovanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

The country buys about 17 million tonnes of mostly GM yellow corn from the United States each year, mostly for animal feed. Mexico will still prohibit use of GM corn for human consumption, such as flour, dough, or tortilla made from the grain. About 20% of Mexican corn imports from the United States is white corn for food products. It will still move forward with its plan to ban imports of the herbicide glyphosate, with a transition period in effect until March 31, 2024. The United States had given the Mexican government until Tuesday to explain the science behind its proposed bans.

☆ Bayer investor calls for swift replacement of CEO -newspaper
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

FRANKFURT, Jan 28 (Reuters) - Bayer (BAYGn.DE) investor Deka has called for CEO Werner Baumann to be replaced ahead of his scheduled departure, adding to mounting pressure on the German drugmaker. "There is a window of opportunity for Chairman Norbert Winkeljohann to act before the annual general meeting at the end of April. He has to seize that opportunity, otherwise the pressure on him will increase as well," Speich added. "Generally speaking we are always open to a constructive dialogue with our stakeholders," a Bayer spokesperson said, declining to comment specifically on the interview. Another activist investment fund, hedge fund veteran Jeffrey Ubben's Inclusive Capital Partners, said this month it had also acquired a stake in Bayer.

WASHINGTON, Jan 23 (Reuters) - U.S. farm and trade officials raised "grave concerns" over Mexico's agricultural biotechnology policies in meetings with their Mexican counterparts on Monday, as lingering disagreements threaten decades of booming corn trade between the neighbors. The United States accounts for most of Mexican corn imports. U.S. officials traveled to Mexico to discuss Mexico's approach to agricultural biotech products. Mexico's agriculture ministry declined to comment, while the country's economy ministry, which handles trade, did not immediately provide comment. Mexican officials have said they will keep importing GM corn for animal feed.

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