Voluntary restrictions in place as English counties remain in drought

THE English counties of Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire and parts of Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire and Norfolk are still in a drought, the Environment Agency said in a report on its website.

Voluntary restrictions are still in place for about 180 farmers near the Cambridgeshire Fens, according to the report.

Winter wheat in Britain is being threatened by at least one new race of the plant disease, brown rust, according to a report from the National Institute of Agricultural Botany. The impact of the disease, which was found in June on “most winter wheat varieties” in Britain has yet to be determined.

Agco Corp, the maker of Massey Ferguson and Challenger farm equipment, will invest $300 million (€210m) to $350m over several years to design and manufacture tractors in China, chairman and chief executive, Martin Richenhagen, said.

The investment will include engineering expenses and building a factory to assemble tractors and components, Richenhagen said yesterday.

Russia approved meat import quotas for next year, the government said in a document published on its website yesterday and dated July 27.

Inbound poultry imports will reach to 330,000 metric tonnes in 2012 and quotas on pork and its byproducts will be set at 350,000 tonnes, according to the document. Frozen beef quotas will be set at 530,000 tonnes and chilled beef at 30,000 tonnes.