Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has praised her country for ranking first in value added agricultural growth in the European Union (EU) in 2024. This was in a press statement on the government website on January 22, 2025. The Italian National Institute of Statistics (Istat) put yearly growth at 3.5% vis-á-vis EU’s collective 0.2% growth. Agricultural production improved by 1.4% year-on-year (y-o-y),...
Farmtok spotlights farming as an iconic activity
Farmtok, an ecosystem of farming influencers on TikTok, has made agriculture cool. It has been sharing anything from aerial tours of farms to a few thrilling seconds of grain harvests. There have been many influencers, some of them like Zoe Kent demonstrating through clever pesticide connections how “farming is for the girls.” According to an AP News story on January...
Aussie lychees in a China state of mind
Aussie lychees are thirsting after China with producers rushing to harvest and ship the fruits as the Lunar New Year demand mounts. Shipments from the domestic lychee capitals of North Queensland in northeast Australia and the island of Tasmania are closely following the October-March harvest. Mid-January through early February marks the second busiest time of the year after Christmas for...
Czech Republic’s agricultural producer prices climb 8.1%
Czech agricultural producer prices steered upward by 8.1% year-on-year in December 2024, driving food prices up. According to a January 17, 2025 release by the Czech Statistical Office, most costs emanate from related industries such as energy. The outlook points to hefty price tags ahead for basic foodstuff, a trend already apparent in commercial food. A monthly rise in industrial food production...
Deer hunt wraps up across the States
The 2024-25 national deer hunt in North America from Texas to Saskatchewan has ended with mixed preliminary results. In its Deer Report 2025, the National Deer Association (NDA) compared preliminary results with 2023 and 2024 progress. The report shows Illinois increased its total harvest of deer to 88,000 head in 2024 above the 2023 season. Additionally, 44% of this deer came from archers...
India might export 1 million tonnes of sugar
India could export 1 million tonnes of sugar in the 2024-25 season, despite expectations of low cane harvest. In a January 19 Reuters story, an unnamed official speculated that the country could authorize the million-tonne shipments. The export allowance might support local prices after millers agitated for a minimum selling price above 31 rupees ($0.36) a kg. Sugar cost in India is currently...
Corn and soy turn slightly bullish a week after WASDE
American corn was nearing the $5-a-bushel mark while soy prices were strengthening by mid-January, 2025. This comes a week after January’s World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) revised grain supplies downward. The January 10 WASDE estimated domestic ending stocks of corn at 1.54 billion bushels, with production 456 million bushels down. Since then, by the 17th the grain had gained at least...
Agriculture budget in India: sneak preview on rural spending
The presentation of the agriculture budget in India, probably on February 1, 2025 will mainly focus on rural income. Analysts expect Nirmala Sitharaman, the Union Finance minister to focus on easy credit access to rural income earners. 58% Rural Portion of Urban Spending According to a preview on Economic Times, the majority rural population of India manages only 58% proportion of urban spending....
Maize gets dear in South Africa, whets imports
South Africa has in the 2024-25 market returned to official white maize imports amid domestic shortage and price surge. This comes after a pricey late 2024 prompted the country to plan to expand the 2025 corn acreage. At 6,724 Rand ($357.18) a tonne in spot markets as of January 9, 2024, maize pricing is up by 55%, year-on-year (y-o-y). Shortage is one...
Egg inflation hits the United States, blame on bird flu
Consumers in United States are coping with egg inflation and are laying the blame at the door of bird flu. According to a BBC report on January 16, 2025, U.S.’ egg prices soared in December 2024 by 36% vis-á-vis December 2023. Although the avian flu has spurred the rise by occasioning shortage, the situation also owes to overall food inflation in the U.S. The Feds did...