Long, scaly, heavy and youthful-looking she may look, but new DNA results show that Methuselah is a century old (±9). The lungfish which lives in Steinhart Aquarium in San Francisco, could be the oldest living fish in any pond, globally. In spite of her unique longevity status, Methuselah still shows no signs of age. DNA evidence makes her the oldest among 231 lungfish from Fiji and Queensland,...
Newbury Agricultural Show revives after a two-year hiatus
Newbury, the celebrated market town in Berkshire, southeast England, revived its famous Newbury Agricultural Show this September with thousands attending. Southeast England agricultural enthusiasts saw the last of the show in the pre-COVID year, 2019. The BBC’s Countrylife Live programme tried to reboot the event in 2021 but this did not happen. This year, the agricultural show took place between September 16th and 17th, 2023. The showcase...
Starbucks faces lawsuit alleging its “Refresher” fruit drinks contain no fruit
A federal district judge in Manhattan handed Starbucks a class action lawsuit for selling “Refresher” fruit drinks containing no fruits. While dismissing two of the eleven petitions by two aggrieved consumers, U.S. district judge, J.P. Cronan, noted the unreasonable lack of fruit ingredients in fruit drinks. This gives direction to a case that has been bubbling for at least one year. In August 2022, Noan Kominis...
Hans Sauter on Pinkglow® pineapples : “Innovation has allowed Fresh Del Monte to differentiate product lines that cater to different market segments”
Consumer demand has shifted to a new genetically modified pineapple, the lycopene-enhanced “Pinkglow pineapples” by Fresh Del Monte, a company that grows and distributes pineapples worldwide. A product of long-term genetic engineering, the Pinkglow pineapple marks a major research breakthrough. Selina Wamucii talks to Hans Sauter, Chief Sustainability Officer and Senior Vice President, Corporate R&D, QA, and Agricultural Services at Fresh Delmonte Produce Inc. He...
Thailand savors the first two shipments of Avocados from Australia
Thai gourmets have sampled the first directly shipped Australian avocados after a May, 2023 export deal finally came to fruition. In acknowledging the good news, Australia’s Minister of Agriculture Murray Watt posted a joint ministerial statement. He said that two consignments equal to 6 tonnes were the first to arrive in Thailand before September 12, 2023. On his part, the Minister of Trade and...
Will the Philippines surpass China as world’s top rice importer?
The Philippines is making inroads on the rice imports’ record which China has held since 2019. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported that the southeast-Asia nation will surpass China’s imports for the 2023/24 period. The Philippines might end up importing 3.9 million tonnes in the 2023/24 market year. This will be above the 3.5 million tonnes of China’s revised rice imports for the same period. ...
Alberta is greening through cover cropping
Canadian farmers in Alberta province have revived the old cover cropping practice that is greening their fields past conventional seasons. Takeover of potato and corn fields by ryegrass, oats, legumes and other oilseeds is transforming farms and farmers are abandoning the conventional seasonal crop system in favor of this soil-enriching old-time practice. Dieter Gagelmans, whose farm in Alberta spans 344 hectares, told CBS of the...
Ukraine sues three neighbors over extended grain import ban
Ukraine rues Poland’s, Hungary’s and Slovakia’s extended agricultural imports ban and has sued them at the World Trade Organization (WTO). Kyiv’s Trade Representative, Taras Kachka, first briefed journalists on this decision shortly after the three regional neighbors defied the European Commission’s end to the 6-month EU-wide ban on Monday. Beforehand, Kuchka had told Politico that he thought Hungary’s rejection “a very bold movement...
New technology ushers biodiversity-based farming in the Netherlands
Biodiversity is the first impression for a visitor to the Farm of the Future at Wageningen University in Lelystad, Netherlands. This is thanks to Artificial Intelligence (AI) and farming technology. All kinds of crops underline the pest- and climate-conscious inter-cropping model on this open air field. A September 4, 2023 BBC story shows how the background is like any other on a typical European farm....
Ross Jones foresees Exciting times ahead for California Table Grapes: “all new table grape varieties will be powdery mildew resistant at some point down the road”
California recently marked a centenary of table grape breeding on September 12, 2023. These milestones of research are courtesy of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s research arm (ARS) and the California Table Commission, which entered the partnership in 1981. Mr Ross A. Jones, Senior Vice President/ Chief Science and Technology Officer at California Table Grape Commission talks to Selina Wamucii...