Torrential rain and snow have lately hosed through the central California strawberry belt and created market shortage amid high demand. Some key producers in Santa Maria in central California such as Markon Cooperative sent advisories of harvest disruptions by rain. The cooperative cited over 2 inches of rain in northern Santa Barbara, which effectively postponed picking schedule...
Agriculture Canada has in February added 0.5 million tonnes to its monthly estimate of the 2024-25 canola ending stock. The raise over the foregoing January estimate puts the ending reserve at 1.3 million tonnes or half 2023-24’s 2.75 million tonnes. This means that the 2024-25 stock might go down to the wire as the tightest...
A once-in-a-lifetime experience has recalled defunct whaling after a humpback whale spouted kayaker Adrian Simancas on the Strait of Magellan, Chile. Still garnering clicks on video weeks later, the mid-February 2025 experience took place at the southernmost expanse of South American waters. Even though the whale took Adrian into its open jaws, it spit him out...
The end of a 3-month ban in Zamboanga and Visayan Sea in mid-February 2025 could cool fish prices in PH, especially sardines. Since quarter 4, 2024, the Philippines has been implementing a fishing ban on the southern seas to protect the sardine stock. This lifting of the moratorium comes just a week after the Zamboanga del...
For the second year, milkmen in New Zealand could again bag a NZ$10 ($5.72) per kilogram of milk solids (kgMS) farm gate average. As the last quarter of the 2024-25 season closes in May, milk could still lock at the forecast NZ$10+ ($5) per kgMS. Westpac’s forecasts have even got bold enough to bet that the product...
Rural development is the focus of India’s 2025-26 agriculture budget after Agriculture and Farmers Welfare amassed 40% of the departmental budget. The total national budget of 50.65 trillion rupees ($582.5 billion) focused mainly on infrastructure development and agriculture. On February 17, 2025, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi noted that annual agriculture & allied budget has increased 12%. The allocation...
The South Africa sugar industry expects the Finance Minister Enoch Gogongwana not to increase a biting health levy during the February 19, 2025 budget. While the minister may not terminate the controversial health promotion levy (HPL), he might offer a 60-month moratorium of not raising it. According to the executive director of South African Sugar Association (SASA) Sifiso Mhlaba...
Once a revered source of Indonesia’s Trinitario and Forastero cocoa varieties, West Papua province is lately witnessing a production resurgence. West papua Now reported on February 14, 2024 how Jayapura Regency where the Grime River plies has overcome production decline by dibbling new cocoa seedlings. Local farmers are currently utilizing disease-resistant seedlings from the regency government that can withstand the Helopeltis...
60 days on, Oregon’s Dungeness crab season is bringing top dollar to crabbers amid low inventories at sea. Back-to-back mid-December openings in the 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 seasons have bequeathed Oregon early bird prices. In both seasons, the state’s fishermen enjoyed a week or two before California and Washington belatedly opened their seasons in January. But not so...
Rising egg consumption in Sri Lanka is enjoying price amelioration after the country moved from net importer status to sufficient producer. The Sri Lanka Producers’ Association announced on February 2, 2025 that the country has attained self-sufficiency. January Price Spike Dampens Consumption Ironically, the news came at a time when customers were switching to other protein...