The vibrant tropical daisy and ornamental flower Gazania rigens has turned invasive in south Australia, with control costs hitting millions. An ability to survive in diverse soils and dry conditions has aided the shrub to spread on roadsides, dells and even cereal farms. Currently on sale by the local nursery Bunnings and online stores, the ornamental plant...
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA)’s recall of 1.7 million dozen cage-free brown eggs from possible Salmonella enteritidis contamination has rekindled price concerns. On June 5, California-based August Egg Company volunteered the market withdrawal of eggs sold between February 3 and May 15, 2025. The recall affects central, southern and western states, namely Arizona, California, Washington, Wyoming, Illinois,...
Ivory Coast is experiencing a good rapport between rain and cocoa, favoring a mid-crop that has delayed from previous dry weather. According to Reuters on June 9, 2025, soil moisture from good saturation is buoying hopes of gains for the April-September crop. Unlike the 2023-2024 season when a virus enjoined to cut production, in 2025 rainfall...
The eastern India state of Odisha has in June 2025 secured market entry for its popular mangoes in France and Belgium. Successful negotiations by the state’s Department of Agriculture & Farmers’ Empowerment in conjunction with Palladium India locked the deal. The bilateral development brings Odisha’s mangoes to seven lucrative city destinations that include Dubai, Rome,...
Over 50% of paddy producers in Japan feel that rice prices are “too high” for consumers, in a survey by an agricultural association. In a first for a country that lived for decades without inflation, consumers have lately been queueing to purchase affordable rice. With retail rates doubling in the year ending May 2025, 43.1% of...
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on June 6 reported a third consecutive monthly sugar price index decline by 2.9 points for May 2025. May’s sugar index dropped -2.6% from April’s, to 109.4 points, even as the global prices of most other categories performed better. This follows a similar decrement in both March and April, driven by a positive...
Lobster fishermen and sector representatives in Maine hope President Donald Trump will ease fishing by reopening an important fishery. Initially, President Barack Obama made the lobster-rich Cape Cod coast adrift 4,900 square miles a marine park. Trump reverted the decision in 2020, only for President Joe Biden to close it again in 2021. The...
In what began in 2019 as a ten-year national reforestation drive, bamboo (bambusa polymorpha) farms in Uganda are slowly but surely flourishing. Along the Nile in Njeru, Buikwe District in central Uganda, a biofortification company has established a tissue culture laboratory. Modern Laminates Ltd intends to extend its virgin role of kraft paper production and transform...
Sarawak on northwest Borneo island in Malaysia is courting a steep beef price after import controls, preempting circular farming system plans. Parts of the state had the highest beef rates countrywide at 95 ringgit ($22.41) a kg by June 6, 2025. While retail offers across Malaysia in early June clocked 27-48 ringgit ($6.37-11.32) a kg, Sarawak’s averaged 64 ringgit ($15.10). State...
The Alto Hualluga coffee belt on the banks of Hualluga river in the Huánuco region of central Peru is lately embracing caffeine value addition. All this is thanks to an intervention program by the National Commission for Development and Life Without Drugs (Devida), reports Agraria. The program will give specialty coffee and processing know-how to 200 smallholders...