Results of a lobster survey by the Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR) in summer 2025 show lobstermen under considerable economic sway. This first lobster industry survey since 2008 stemmed from the controversial attempt to raise the minimum haul size by 1 1/16th inches. Of the 4700 commercial license holders, 29% responded to the survey inclusive of 1,300 lobster harvesters and 66 dealers. ...

Keen to boost production and advance livelihoods, Kenya on October 8, 2025 proposed a farmer-accessible global auction for local produce, especially coffee. The Cabinet Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture & Livestock Development Mutahi Kagwe isolated coffee as the starting point. In the first rank of priorities is the digitization of the Nairobi Coffee Exchange (NCE) before other crop platforms...

Global food grew cheaper in September 2025 than in August due to low sugar and dairy market quotations, which countered volatile meat. According to the FAO Food Price Index (FPPI), global weighted food rates in September retreated to 128.8 points versus 129.7 points in August. Although 3.4% up year-on-year, the index was still 31.4 points or 19.6% below the March 2022...

Chum salmon and roe prices are tipping scales in Japan after 2025 landings in the northern island of Hokkaido slowed considerably. This has had an effect on domestic Atlantic salmon retail, which on October 1, 2025 ranged  at 4700-4900 yen ($30.92-32.23) a kg. These rates mark a 500-yen ($3.29) rise above 2022’s averages. The same goes for medium fillet portions for...

High temperatures could slash the culminating 2025 wild blueberry harvest in New Brunswick (NB), southeast Canada by 70% below average. Weather forecasts on October 6 for Nova Scotia and NB put temperatures at between 20 and 30ºC, versus the month’s norm of 15ºC. Regional wildfires also hindered the access of Crown (government) forests for two weeks in August, delaying the...

As the southern summer planting season in South Africa for maize, soy and sunflower gets underway, a robust 2025-26 canola harvest is nearing.  This November, Western Cape where the relatively new crop thrives, will be painted a golden sepia by the ripening oilseed. According to economist Wandile Sihlobo, production in 2025-26 could attain 311,640 tonnes, 7% above the 2024-25 season’s. The...

Increasing availability of cattle for sale dipped prices in the U.S. for the week ending October 4, 2025 (week 40) by $5 per hundredweight (cwt). According to the Watertown Daily Times on October 6, cattle prices were down from summer highs, buoyed by a weekly hike in available count. There were 555,000 head for sale or 3,000 higher than those from the previous week,...

Shipments of prepared palm hearts from Peru rose to approximately 3,273.5 tonnes in the January-August 2025 period. This marked a 25% increase year-on-year (y-o-y) despite gaining vegan cuisine at home. According to Agraria, quoting an Agrodata report of October 2, 2025, the exports earned the country a free-on-board value of US$9.667 million. The dispatches overtook January-August 2024’s nearly 2,598 tonnes, with France...

The government of the United States was having a shutdown of key services starting October 1, 2025, testing payments at peak fall harvest. Lapses in governmental funding preempt temporary closures of select services, including those by important agencies like the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The USDA processes farmers’ harvest payments for crops it directly books from them, offers loans,...

The New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) has brought relief by delaying the enactment of rope-less lobster fishing regulations in Maine’s federal waters. According to the council on September 25, 2025, the decision allows lobstermen to continue using their current roped traps or pots. Local congressman Jared Golden had beforehand on September 23 persuaded the NEFMC to forgo its enactment...