Summary of newspapers of the previous day – 2.8.2010

Profit of Vitana increased significantly last year; revenues slightly decreased

A profit of the top Czech food producer, the company Vitana, increased significantly from 2.6 million crowns in year before the last to 120.6 million crowns. Revenues decreased by 1.3 percents to 2.290 billion crowns. ČTK found it out from an annual report of the company today placed in a Collection of documents. “We have succeeded to achieve this development especially thanks to a significant increase in efficiency of the entire firm functioning. A considerable part was also savings of production costs”, a spokesman of Vitana, Milan Linka, said to ČTK.

Member states do not want to make decision on GMO growing

According to a source from Belgium presidency, the member states are against the idea that each of than could individually make decision on whether it would allow or forbid growing of some of genetically modified crops (GMO) on its territory. It is not often that the Commission would offer new decision-making competences to the member states and they would refuse. However, this is just the case of GMO.

Crop will not be record breaking this year

The present harvest process could convince the non-agricultural public on what we farmers know always – that it is simply not possible to order the nature. Liberal theorems of type – the market will solve everything – are true with a certain likelihood in other branches of the national economy, but in agriculture decisively not. This year´s harvest, at least the present process, is the clear evidence of that. When I answer journalists´ question at a press conference on the 15th of July, concerning this year´s harvest, my answers were more than careful. The reasons were two in principle. At first, I did not want to fit myself in a propagator of bad news.

Farmers do not know whether and for how much they will sell poppy crop

Poppy fields substantially contribute to the landscape character of the region Pelhřimov. Whitish blooms are already away and the poppyheads wait only for harvest. Farmers expect with curiosity and fears how this year´s buy-out prices will be set for this traditional crop-plant. We grow poppy steadily on about one hundred and seventy hectares. New buy-out prices will bee only set. Last year, poppy was sold for thirteen to sixteen crowns per kilogram wich is below a limit of production profitability”, a chief of cooperative in Želiv, Josef Bulant, informed. “This year´s prices will be developed from what remained from the last year´s crop.