A BILL protecting the rights of agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) entering into Agribusiness Venture Arrangements (AVA) has hurdled the House Committee on Agrarian Reform.

SENATOR Cynthia A. Villar has presented to the plenary a bill establishing a more affordable system for certifying organic products.

THE Department of Agriculture (DA) is seeking to establish a drone technology center with the help of universities, in order to map disaster-prone areas and facilitate faster field validation of damage caused to agriculture by calamities.

BANGKOK -- Japan’s Yanmar Agribusiness Co Ltd. said on Tuesday that it plans to expand its business in South and Southeast Asia beginning this year with its newly launched tractors.

PARIS -- France is ready to provide 7 to 9 billion euros ($8-10 billion) of subsidies for renewable gas but only if the industry can substantially lower its costs, the government said on Friday.

BRUSSELS/NEW YORK -- The European Commission said on Tuesday it had concluded that US soybeans can be used in biofuels in the European Union, part of the bloc’s push to improve strained trade relations with the United States.

WASHINGTON -- US farmers now have until Feb. 14 to apply for federal aid designed to offset the impact of retaliatory Chinese tariffs on American crops, the US Department of Agriculture said on Monday, after delays caused by the month-long government shutdown.

BRUSSELS -- The European Union will begin legal action at the World Trade Organization this week against US duties imposed on Spanish olives, EU trade chief Cecilia Malmstrom said on Monday.

PARIS -- French utility EDF said on Monday it had reached an industrial milestone in the implementation of an ecological fuel process known as Ecocombust to replace coal in power generation, which could be used in the Cordemais and Havre plants.

MOST rice farmers in the Philippines still prefer inbred seed instead of hybrid varieties despite the latter’s higher yields, the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) said.

THE Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development (DOST-PCAARRD) said it launched a soybean research and development (R&D) program with the aim of increasing farmers’ incomes by boosting production and lowering post-harvest losses.

THREE technology demonstration centers will be set up in Camarines Sur, Leyte and Davao this year by the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PHilMech).