and National Beef (NBEEF.UL) in the United States.Shares in Marfrig rose as much as 3.4% in Sao Paulo before paring some gains to trade up 0.9% Minerva shares were up 2.2% in morning trading but reversed course in early afternoon slipping 0.5%.($1 = 5.1118 reais)Reporting by Ana Mano in Sao Paulo; additional reporting by Lucinda Elliott in Montevideo; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and Bill Berkrot Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab , opens new tab Browse an unrivalled portfolio of real-time and historical market data and insights from worldwide sources and experts. , opens new tabScreen for heightened risk individual and entities globally to help uncover hidden risks in business relationships and human networks. © 2025 Reuters. All rights reserved Get our news on your inbox! Suscribe x MercoPress, en Español Montevideo, May 5th 2025 - 11:26 UTC Brazilian beef' packer Marfrig Global Foods SA said it is in the process of hiring 400 people to work at its Promissão plant in the state of São Paulo as Chinese demand warrants an increase in meat production Promissão is one of five Brazilian plants operated by Marfrig authorized to sell meat products to China Marfrig did not say how many people already work at the plant and how much more beef it would be able to produce once the new hirings were concluded Marfrig has a total of eleven units certified to export to China in South America there are four in Uruguay and two in Argentina No other company has as many plants with permits to export to China in South America China granted export licenses to 25 Brazilian meatpacking plants this week allowing the country’s fast-growing protein industry to feed more people in the Asian nation where disease has hurt local supply Two Marfrig plants in Mato Grosso were included in that list Brazil’s Agriculture Ministry said the plants - including 17 for beef exports and one each for pork and donkey meat would be able to export immediately Commenting for this story is now closed.If you have a Facebook account, become a fan and comment on our Facebook Page New Report RevealsThe rabbinate’s Department of Slaughter Abroad sends hundreds of shochtim (ritual slaughterers) to slaughterhouses across the globe in order to ensure a supply of kosher meat for Israel 2023Get email notification for articles from Haaretz FollowSep 18 2023Hundreds of shochtim (ritual slaughterers) sent abroad by the chief rabbinate to work in slaughterhouses across the globe are being paid under the table the Israeli investigative platform Shomrim reported this week describing a deeply corrupt process with little to no government oversight Under current law, non-kosher meat cannot be imported to Israel and the rabbinate’s Department of Slaughter Abroad supervisors and other personnel abroad twice a year – often for months at a time – to work in primarily South American slaughterhouses in order to ensure a steady supply of kosher food These workers are not considered civil servants and are usually paid either via a middleman or directly by the meat importers They often receive part of their salary off the books Their monthly salaries are high by Israeli standards starting at 25-30,000 shekels ($6,500-7,800) and rising to NIS 100,000 for team leaders ($26,000) Shachal is “responsible for all slaughter teams trained abroad it also approves the composition of the team of slaughterers and inspectors according to the size and characteristics of the factory and according to the level of training required there.” The department remains “in continuous contact with all the slaughtering teams and provides answers to all the problems that arise both with the team members and with the importers” that it assigns personnel described how he was unable to deposit part of his salary because he lacked documentation to explain how he had received the money He further alleged that his complaints about the system have led to death threats from importers — a claim denied by the importers An official in the Ministry of Religious Services told the Israeli investigative outlet which models itself after the American non-profit newsroom ProPublica that the rabbinate is unaware of the illegal payments because it does not maintain an employee-employer relationship with those it sends abroad "Real things need to be fixed,” the source told Shomrim adding that he believed that “some of the criticism leveled by slaughterers is unjustified” even if they have legitimate complaints Aside from allegations of bribery and nepotism in the system for certifying shochtim Shomrim also reported team leaders pocketing funds meant for the slaughterers’ food and other expenses locals had happened on multiple occasions despite guidelines requiring kashrut personnel abroad to be "pious in public.” the rabbinate told Shomrim that “the issue of the wages of the crew members is the responsibility of the importers and those who pay their wages We do not have specific information about a situation of illegal wages.” Israel’s chief rabbinate-supervised kashrut certification system has long been dogged by allegations of corruption Open gallery viewA Jewish customer choosing a cut of meat at a deli in Denver 2017.Credit: denver/ShutterstockAccording to a 2016 draft Finance Ministry report about 2.8 billion shekels ($850 million) a year is spent on kashrut supervision fees in Israel A State Comptroller’s report in 2017 lambasted the system as corrupt and marked by conflicts of interest because restaurants multiple workers in the Health Ministry’s food service department were convicted of bribery and breach of trust after admitting to taking bribes from food importers – money food processors and more – in exchange for advancing the importers’ requests the longtime head of the rabbinate’s kashrut department was indicted on charges of accepting bribes Arazi’s arrest followed the 2017 conviction of former Holon Chief Rabbi Avraham Yosef the son of former Chief Rabbi Ovadia Yosef who was convicted of breach of trust after using his position to promote the interests of a kosher certification agency associated with his family then-Religious Services Minister Matan Kahana set a plan in motion to privatize the system certifying kosher food sparking the outrage of the chief rabbinate whose monopoly over the kashrut system that the reform intended to end The dramatic move would have created competition among private companies to manage the certification system while the rabbinate’s supervisory body would continue inspecting businesses to make sure they meet halakhic standards of kashrut Sephardi Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, the brother of convicted Rabbi Avraham Yosef, claimed that privatization would pave the wave for female inspectors, leading to "licentiousness and a lack of modesty.” adding trade talks with Indonesia are also taking place.($1 = 5.1919 reais)Reporting by Nayara Figueiredo; Writing by Carolina Pulice; Editing by Sarah Morland and Lincoln Feast Projects developed in the Rural Extension discipline involved producers from Promissão and Campinas students learned about the reality of family farming Challenges faced by small rural producers in Latin America are sensitively portrayed in the play "O Extensionista" The show narrates the struggle of a rural community against large landowners who control the region's politics and economy while they hope to find support in solving these problems in a recently graduated agricultural engineer The conflict arises precisely when they realize that the young professional understands that their mission is to bring technical knowledge and new equipment to farmers without first knowing or considering the reality and social factors that interfere in the life of the community.  which received the Casa de las Américas Award in 1980 brings an important lesson to professionals who work with family farmers: rural extension must be carried out based on dialogue and mutual learning It is with this concern that students from the Faculty of Agricultural Engineering (Feagri) at Unicamp develop projects in rural communities in the discipline Sociology and Rural Extension two communities were the stage for these activities the Women's Group of the Cooperativa dos Produtores Rurais Campesinos (Cooprocam) of the Dandara Settlement and the Urban Agriculture Collective of the Community Garden of Parque Itajai Professor at Feagri and responsible for the discipline rural extension was characterized as an activity in which specialized professionals went to rural communities to work in a technical manner as this is something strategic for the transformation of life in the countryside it is necessary for agricultural engineers to have knowledge of local cultures and practices and be able to develop solutions suited to each reality.  "Rural extension has to occur through a relationship of dialogue between the farmer and the extension worker so that the construction of knowledge can occur which has to be appropriate to each reality I cannot simply take an experience worked on in a group to another group but the farmers also have their knowledge" in addition to having theoretical classes on Rural Sociology topics in the subject students carry out projects with family farmers a group that represents the largest portion of rural establishments in the country the difficulty was precisely in "going to the field" as social distancing is one of the main measures to prevent Covid-19 The alternative was to promote online meetings between students and farmers in addition to intensifying communication with them.  "The need for communication with farmers was greater This is because students were unable to go to the areas three virtual meetings were held with members of the Promissão and Campinas communities they divided themselves into groups to develop specific projects with the communities such as creating a system for controlling plantations projects for improving physical facilities and even suggestions for visual presentation and marketing Data for the development of the initiatives were collected in a second meeting where producers also learned about the proposed ideas and could contribute their opinions the projects were presented and handed over to the communities who will implement them according to their priorities and possibilities despite the discipline promoting three official meetings contact between students and producers was constant Family farming is present in almost 80% of rural properties Data from the 2017 edition of the Agricultural Census the most recent survey of its kind carried out by IBGE shows the great participation and importance of family farming in the country while at the same time making clear the sector's disparities 77% of rural establishments in the country are classified as places where family farming is practiced The activity is responsible for employing more than 10 million rural workers which represents 67% of jobs in the sector and occupies 80,9 million hectares of cultivated areas in the country represents only 23% of the total areas occupied by rural establishments in Brazil.  Unlike large monoculture properties focused on industry and exports it is on family properties where much of the fresh food that reaches our tables is produced less dependent on pesticides and sophisticated technologies Other advantages of family farming are the strengthening of local communities through commerce in addition to the preservation of the environment and the use of idle urban spaces through practices such as agroecology and urban agriculture This is an example of the work carried out by the Cooprocam Peasant Women's Group The 23 women who make up the group work with the production of medicinal herbs which are sold in agroecological baskets.  the students proposed a system for them to plan the production and management of the beds where herbs and spices are grown a project to build an operational shed and an e-commerce platform for online sales they also created a logo to be applied to the products sold.  believes that all proposals will contribute to the cooperative's work at all stages They made us look at ourselves and think about how we are working" Similar work is carried out by the Collective of Urban Farmers linked to the Itajai Park Community Garden around 25 residents work in an area of ​​10 thousand square meters growing vegetables for the community's own consumption and also for sale explains that the specialized support provided by students is important for the development of urban agriculture as the activity still has few application models.  "We have to remember that we live in a time when practically everything is starting from scratch knowledge is not widespread in Brazil to base ourselves on models We are therefore developing ideas about this" He also clarifies that direct contact with community residents is essential for the success of the initiatives as most of them have never had experience working in the field: "We work with children So it is necessary to develop models adapted to the current reality".  the students created a spreadsheet where farmers can control the cash flow of products sold a system that facilitates planning for production in vegetable beds and even a project for the construction of a bathroom with a biodigester which favors the permanence of residents in the place.  "The focus is on working with those who are on your side" Taught in the last semesters of the Agricultural Engineering course the subject offers students a perspective on rural life that they are not used to "Throughout the course we were very concerned with the use of technologies that we are engineers to innovate in the field the focus is to work with those who are on your side student on the course and member of the group that created the logo for the Cooprocam Women's Group.  Julia also states that building knowledge together with rural producers is an experience that students will carry throughout their soon-to-begin professional life: "It's not help we learn that no one is bigger or better than the other It is a discipline very based on the teachings of Paulo Freire they exchanged information with us".  In addition to the work of professor Vanilde Esquerdo the course also had the support of collaborating researcher Suzana Alvarez student Isabela Bratfischer as PAD and biologist Gastão Bosco Rodrigues.  Access JU news on Unicamp’s social networks secexec@unicamp.br