#agribusiness

#agribusiness

In 2009, Wall Street had just imploded, and the Mojave Desert town of Victorville, California-sunblasted, shoddily constructed, and abruptly abandoned-was one of the housing bubble's most spectacular wipeouts. But amid the boarded-up McMansions and tumbleweed-traversed deserted culs-de-sac, the journalist Yasha Levine stumbled upon an entirely different story. Seeking water, a drought-stricken Victorville bulk-purchased enough to supply as many as 30,000 families for a year. The arrangement gave Levine pause: Since when did a public resource like water come with a deed? That question unspooled into the reporting behind his new documentary, Pistachio Wars.

Lula approved a bill easing environmental licensing rules but vetoed or altered 63 out of nearly 400 articles due to pressure from environmental groups.

The $8.2-billion US merger of Bunge and Viterra is now complete, forming one of the world's largest agribusiness companies.