U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack was in Europe in June meeting with agricultural trade officials and stakeholders to expand U.S. agricultural trade and to emphasize the importance of agriculture’s role in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (T-TIP) currently being negotiated.

Beef prices across Brazil have recovered and now average 20 percent higher than this time last year, according to Brazil’s Center for Advanced Studies on Applied Economics (CEPEA).

There’s a lot being made about plans to import fresh, frozen and chilled beef from Brazil into the U.S. Much of the commentary on this subject is long on conjecture and speculation and short on facts.

U.S. agricultural imports for 2014 are forecast to be $110 billion, which is $500 million more than the preceding forecast and 5.9 percent higher than 2013.

Tens of thousands of people rallied in Germany recently to demand a global right to food and nourishment.

The global food supply is sufficient to feed the world’s entire population, but its uneven distribution leaves a significant proportion of the population food insecure while others live in abundance of food.

Global beef and veal production for 2014 is forecast up marginally at 58.6 million tons, according to the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service.

For the first eight months of 2013, the U.S. beef trade balance was positive to the tune of almost 30,000 metric tons (534,181 tons exported against 504,575 tons imported), whereas over the same period last year, imports were slightly higher, according to USDA Foreign Agricultural Service data.

Despite recent price declines, relative high beef prices exist and threaten to curb demand, according to Rabobank’s global cattle price index report. Continued downtrend in cattle prices across the globe, notably in two of the most important export countries, Australia and Brazil, and the strengthening U.S. dollar also contributed to pushing overall global cattle prices down. However, according to Rabobank, the broader picture for demand indicates consumers are becoming increasingly reluctant to keep paying high prices for beef.

With consumer interest in animal welfare on the rise, meat packers are adopting standards and auditing processes that go beyond those from government or industry, says Lily Edwards-Callaway, who oversees welfare programs for JBS, S.A., the beef company giant based in São Paulo, Brazil. Prior to joining the company, Edwards-Callaway earned her Ph.D. studying under Temple Grandin at Colorado State University and served on the faculty at Kansas State University.