Ireland fights UAE beef ban (AME Info) Ireland is pushing to have a six-year UAE and Saudi ban on its beef imports lifted, Gulf News reported. The two countries stopped European beef imports following an outbreak of mad cow disease in 2000. Irish trade officials said progress had been made in talks with the countries' governments. [News Source]

Wall Street is betting on the farm. Wall Street commodity funds that have been investing heavily in energy futures are now loading up on agricultural commodities like corn and livestock futures. [News Source]

N. IRISH FIRM BROUGHT BEEF TO FRANCE DURING ‘MADCOW’ CRISIS: REPORT (The Tocqueville Connection) PARIS, Jan 19, 2007 (AFP) - A firm in Northern Ireland illegally imported British beef into France in the late 1990s, during an embargo sparked by the "mad cow" crisis, a French police report alleged Friday. [News Source]

N. IRISH FIRM BROUGHT BEEF TO FRANCE DURING ‘MADCOW’ CRISIS: REPORT (The Tocqueville Connection) PARIS, Jan 19, 2007 (AFP) - A firm in Northern Ireland illegally imported British beef into France in the late 1990s, during an embargo sparked by the "mad cow" crisis, a French police report viewed by AFP Friday alleges. [News Source]