New York is observing the National Agriculture Week, March 17 to 21. For the Empire State, it is all about dairy, whose prices currently show stability. State-level milk prices gained $3 per hundredweight [CWT] year-on-year early 2025 amid rising consumption. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture [USDA], New York was selling milk at $25 per hundredweight, 14% above January 2024’s. The state’s...
Kingfish aquaculture in New Zealand aggressively beckoning NZ$3 billion
Ruakākā in northern New Zealand is honing a multi-billion-NZ-dollar industry via its commercially promising youthful kingfish aquaculture. The Haku Farm project by the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) is readying to overtake farmed salmon revenue with that from cultured kingfish. Haku, whose name in the Maori means kingfish, anticipates to make the kingfish industry worth NZ$3 billion ($1.73 billion) by 2035. When...
Cassava farming in Nigeria finally paying off via bioethanol
Nigeria’s cassava sector is slowly but surely turning lucrative through huge bioethanol projects, finally redeeming massive hidden potential. One of these is the Cassava Bioethanol Initiative championed by Abubakar Bagudu, the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning. The other is the strategic backing by the Minister of Agriculture for a leading farming project known as Agbeyewa Farms. Doubling Cassava Production for Bioethanol...
Ethiopia almost doubles milk production in 36 months
A crossbreeding initiative, feed improvements and infrastructural upgrades have gifted Ethiopia with 12 billion liters of milk, almost double 2022’s production. Under the Yeremat Tirufat or “Bounty of the Basket” initiative, crossbreeding has grown eightfold in three years and increased milk volumes. Hence the project could help reduce annual imports of dairy products and alleviate above-average prices. According to the Ethiopia New Agency,...
Brazil ups 2024-25 corn production estimate by 8% y-o-y
The 2024-25 corn output in Brazil could increase by 8.8% year-on-year (y-o-y) in tandem with impressive grain production. According to a March 13, 2025 report by the Systematic Survey of Agricultural Production (LSPA), uptick yields will support this increase. In a promising market year for local cereals and oilseeds, LSPA pegs corn production at 124.8 million tonnes. Three Different Positive Estimates LSPA’s latest...
Beef levy weighing in on Australia’s shores?
Australia is keeping a weather eye on a possible beef levy by April 2, 2025 if the U.S. taxes agricultural imports. This amid uptick export prices of Aussie trim beef bound for the U.S., by 26% year-on-year, up to mid-February, 2025. Hints of a beef surtax surfaced on March 2 when President Trump advised federal farmers to have “fun” and prepare for agricultural tariffs....
Cocoa rates founder temporarily on ICCO’s surplus forecast
Global cocoa rates rallied slightly on March 12, 2025 to $8,137.28 a tonne but are still nursing recent price lows over surplus projections. Earlier on March 10, the cocoa price had finally bowed down to its lowest point since December 2024, at $8,100 a tonne. The slump followed a 2024-25 surplus projection of 142,000 tonnes on February 28, 2025 by the...
Pizza and pie deals go combo on Pi Day
March 14 is Pi Day when Americans usually look forward to relishing discounted circular foods, especially pizza and pie. Pi is the Greek mathematical constant “π” or numeral 3.14159, which represents the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. It is the first three digits of this number that provide the name day of March 14. The day...
Table grape varieties from South Africa earmarked for PH
After ten years of negotiations, the Philippines has finally allowed imports of various table grape varieties from South Africa, beginning February 26, 2025. Popular varieties like Crimson Seedless could form a major share of exports to the new market. They will also constitute a part of the 23 to 25% remaining portion of non-Europe bound South African table grapes. Currently,...
United States Department of Agriculture purchases $100 million in local fish
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is reprising its status as the government department with the most annual purchases by sourcing $100 million in domestic fish. The department’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) arm had by March 7, 2025 awarded multimillion-dollar contracts to pollock, shrimp and catfish suppliers. Some of the supplies will end up in the agency’s Child Nutrition...