The winter citrus marketing campaign in South Africa registered gains by week-23, 2025 and included surplus mandarin shipments to India. Exporters look forward to repeating the 2024 success when 164.5 million 15-kilogram citrus boxes engaged international markets. By marketing week 23 [before June 6, 2025], Eastern, Western and Northern Cape had aggregated about 46.5 million 15-kg boxes of citrus. The...
Gazania ornamental flower turning south Australia into a costly jungle
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 is nevertheless increasingly attracting production...
Brown eggs recall in several states could stoke price pressure
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, Indiana, Nevada and New Mexico....
Cocoa and weather crossroads favor Ivory Coast’s mid-crop
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 poses no affiliated disease threat. ...
Odisha squeezes its celebrated mangoes into France, Belgium markets
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, London and Dublin, among others....
Rice producers in Japan feel for consumers on soaring prices
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 storekeepers are fearing that customers...
FAO sugar index continues triple-month decline by -2.6% in May 2025
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 2025-26 global production outlook. Since...
The Maine lobster sector expects Trump to ease lobstering
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 Maine Lobster Association (MLA) recently...
Uganda farms bamboo into economic empowerment
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 the leftovers into biogas. The...
The Malaysia beef price reaches a cut above in Sarawak
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 premier Abang Johari is laying...