Beet and sugar pricing in Europe have both turned bearish, forcing farmers to reduce the cultivated area. Prices for raw beets were down by 35% year-on-year in Europe by February 2025, to 541 euro ($617) a tonne. This downturn has France’s sugar processor Tereos estimating that farmers in Europe will cut their 2025 planting area by 9%. Could this decline help...
Spring lobster season in P.E.I starts amid fisheries’ dredging
The Prince Edward Island or P.E.I. in Atlantic Canada began its lobster spring season on April 25, amid selective harbor dredging. Although 2025 prospects are high, the possible effect of tariffs on landing prices beclouds the sector. Early Opening Fisheries this year also open earlier than in 2024 when windy conditions had delayed the season to May 3. For 2025, northern and southeastern shores including...
TZ ends agricultural embargo on two SADC members
A retaliatory ban on agricultural imports from two South African Development Community (SADC)’s members by TZ has ended amicably. The lifting of the temporary embargo came just two days after Tanzania’s Minister of Agriculture Hussein Bashe had halted agricultural imports. A statement by the Plant Health and Pesticide Authority of Tanzania (TPHPA) on late April 26, 2025 cited diplomacy for the...
The PH rice program at 20 peso/kg draws embattled Vice President’s comments
Vice President Sara Duterte of the PH has kicked a hornet’s nest after suggesting that the 20 peso ($0.35)-per-kg rice ought to be “fit for human consumption.” Duterte, who awaits an impeachment trial just before upcoming elections, reiterated that such cheap palay is often for pigs. Fresh from a Hague visit, where her former President father faces trial, Duterte connected...
Humble Feast: Remembering Pope Francis Through His Favorite Foods
In a world that often equated power with extravagance, Pope Francis stood apart. His reign was marked not by opulence but by a quiet rebellion against it — a life built on simplicity, reflection, and the small, deliberate joys that defined his spirit. Now, even as the Vatican’s grand halls mourn his passing, it is perhaps at his humble table...
The Brazil soy sector lopes 2025 exports higher
Record production and less biodiesel blend percentage point to uptick soy product exports by Brazil in 2025, the industry says. According to the Brazilian Association of Vegetable Oil Industries (Abiove) on April 23, 2025, a bumper soy harvest at 170 million tonnes will push exports. The tally captures the output of the erstwhile harvest in February 2025, which was promising even during the...
Tanzania expands key agricultural plan, temporarily bans regional imports
Tanzania is launching an ambitious agricultural corridor plan on April 27, 2025, amid a surprise ban on agri-food imports from South Africa and Malawi. The East African nation boasts crop and livestock product diversity that inform both its ambitious agricultural plans and exports. Indeed, just before the retaliatory ban, the country announced the upcoming launch of the Agricultural Growth Corridors of...
The Türkiye apricot sector pines after past export glory following snowfall
A spring snow hail on April 10-12, 2025 that blighted apricot fields in Türkiye is bringing back recent export memories. The eastern Mediterranean nation cumulatively exported $330 million worth of apricots in the half decade ending 2024, reports Daily Sabah. Currently, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry is restoring orchards for the 2026 crop. However, valuable apricot export records inevitably inform the rehabilitation. From...
Arabica coffee price advances on strong Brazil’s real
Arabica coffee futures in New York on early April 23, 2025 rose to a 2 1/2-week high adrift a strengthening Brazil’s currency. Nasdaq reports that Arabica beans for May and July deliveries notched 2.96% and 3.22% respectively on the 23rd in daily advances. Meanwhile, Robusta at the International Coffee Exchange (ICE) futures benchmark retreated because it does not depend on Brazil’s currency. ...
Tuna canneries in American Samoa hail reopening of protected Pacific fisheries
An Executive Order by the U.S. President Donald Trump on April 17, 2025 to reopen protected Pacific fisheries is drawing mixed takes. However, for canneries that process the well-priced tuna in American Samoa, the order comes as a windfall. The Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument last allowed fishing within 50 miles of its waters before 2009. In 2009, President George W....