Farming in Mercosur A new fight over foot-and-mouth

摘要

South america produces some of the world's cheapest and best-tasting beef. But its ranchers are watching Europe's cattle diseases with mixed feelings: optimism that a collapse in European meat production will boost their exports—and horror at the thought that they might face the same problems. They had some good news this week: the European Union declared Brazil, like Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, its partners in the Mercosur trade block, to be at very low risk from mad-cow disease. But there was bad news too: in Argentina, an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease (fmd) has grown worse, with cases at 175 ranches. And there were rumours of a new outbreak of the disease in southern Brazil.