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The European Union won’t be signing a massive trade deal with a South American trade bloc until at least next month after Italy backed France’s call for a delay and as farmer protests in Brussels intensified, news reports said.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told EU leaders at their summit on Thursday that the Mercosur trade won’t be signed as scheduled on Saturday and instead would wait until next month, Politico reported, citing EU diplomats.
The report said von der Leyen told the group that Brazil President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva agreed to Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s request to postpone the signature to allow her to reassure the country’s farmers that they wouldn’t be undercut by cheap poultry and beef.
Protesters lit fires and hurled potatoes at riot police who responded with teargas and water cannons, as tensions boiled over at a farmer demonstration against the EU’s planned trade deal, reported Irish broadcaster RTE. The protests aimed to put pressure on EU leaders as they attended a summit to finalize the deal.
The EU had reached a tentative agreement earlier this week that would put tighter controls on imports of farm products that would result from the agreement, Reuters reported. The pact is the result of over two decades of negotiations and would create the world’s largest free trade zone. But it’s met objections from farmers.
The deal would allow the EU to export more vehicles, machinery, wines and spirits to South America, while opening Europe to the entry of South American beef, sugar, rice, honey and soybeans, according to AFP. Farmers have protested that the move will open up European markets to a flood of products that will damage their livelihood.
Livestock farmers, in particular, have been angered by the deal. It would provide for export quotas to the EU of a maximum of 99,000 tons of beef, which is 1.6% of the bloc’s production.
It provides for export quotas to the EU of a maximum of 99,000 tonnes for beef, which is 1.6 percent of the bloc’s production. According to AFP, the European Commission has said that tariffs of over 40%, and not 7.5%, would continue to apply to exports above the quote. French cattle farmers fear a threat to their competitiveness, the report said, arguing that South American producers aren’t subject to the same environmental and food-security measures as in Europe.
Ag bank earnings rise alongside loan demand
Alongside strong growth in farm loans, liquidity at commercial agricultural banks tightened and earnings increased during the third quarter, the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank reported Wednesday.
Citing the Reports of Condition and Income, the Kansas City Fed said the average loan-to-deposit ratio at agricultural banks increased to the highest level since 2019 and rose comparably more at lenders with the highest concentration of farm loans. Liquidity declined alongside consistently strong growth in non-real estate farm debt, which also supported an increase in average net interest margins and return on assets. Demand for farm loans has grown steadily alongside softening in farm financial conditions and farm loan delinquency rates increased slightly from a year ago but remained relatively low, the report said.
The regional Fed bank said the outlook for the U.S. farm economy remained subdued alongside weakness in the crop sector, but that strength in the cattle sector has lifted conditions in some regions and recently announced government assistance would provide support to farm incomes. Disparities in the crop and cattle sectors have been evident in credit conditions but despite profitability challenges for crop producers, aggregate farm financial stress has remained limited, the report said.
Ad hoc government payments associated with the American Relief Act and resilient farm real estate values have eased some strain in the sector throughout 2025. Looking ahead, market conditions in the crop sector are likely to keep profit opportunities narrow, but the recently announced Farmer Bridge Assistance Program will provide some relief to crop farmers in the coming months, the report said.
California evaluation backs year-round E15 use
Inside EPA reported that a long-awaited multimedia evaluation conducted by California’s regulatory agencies found that the use of 15% ethanol (E15) gasoline in Califorrnia won’t pose significant harms to public health or the environment compared with E10 that is predominantly used now.
The report paves the way for rulemaking that would permanently allow E15 sales, Inside EPA said. Although the California Air Resources Board and other environmental agencies didn’t find major health or environmental risks, officials in the report still emphasized the need to monitor for safety, according to Inside EPA.
Spanish police search lab in ASF outbreak probe
Spanish police searched a laboratory near Barcelona as part of an investigation into the origin of the outbreak of African swine fever in the same area, Reuters reported.
The court-ordered move follows concerns that the outbreak detected in wild boars may have stemmed from a laboratory leak, the report said. Genome sequencing showed the strain was similar to that used in research and vaccine development and differed from other cases in Europe.
The outbreak has threatened exports from Spain, the EU’s largest pork producer.