Farm Strike Friday

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentine farmers will launch a seven-day strike starting on Friday that will freeze grain and beef sales from one of the world's biggest suppliers of corn, beef and soybeans, farm leaders said on Tuesday.

The strike, aimed at protesting the government's farm policy, revives a long-running dispute that has rattled local financial markets and tested President Cristina Fernandez over the past two years.

Carlos Garetto, leader of the Coninagro farm group, told a news conference that the strike expressed "producers' unrest and the critical situation in the provinces, which is growing and worsening."