A watermelon production hub in eastern Taiwan expects a 10% annual drop in the mid-May 2025 harvest due to foregoing spring cold. According to Taiwan News, the 1,600 hectares (ha) under watermelon in Hualien County could reap some 20,000 tonnes this initial harvest. In the lead is the Fenglin township, which tops the county’s watermelon acreage at 600 ha. The township however...
“Time for Polish Apples” ends spring with “a series of sampling activities both at home and abroad”
The Association of Fruit Growers in Poland is ramping up apple sampling events around Europe via its “Time for Polish Apples” moniker. Having so far toured Poland, Germany and Portugal, the spring campaign’s final stops this May incorporate Denmark. The series finds Poland heading the Council of the European Union (EU) and in the first rank of continental fresh apple output. Selina Wamucii learns...
Agricultural production growth in PH hits 1.9% in Q1 2025
Annual production growth in seafood, poultry and crops has propelled the Philippine’s agricultural sector by 1.9% in Q1, 2025. The Philippines Statistics Authority (PSA) on May 7, 2025 reported that agriculture and aquaculture generated 437.74 billion peso ($7.89 billion) this first quarter. This is vis-á-vis the 429.62 billion peso ($7.75 billion) of Q1, 2024. Crops Although their output rose modestly by 1%,...
Lamb for prawns: monumental India-UK trade deal dawns
India and the UK on May 6, 2025 struck a major trade deal that scraps duty for especially whiskey, textiles, prawns and lamb. The two top 6 economies mutually expect the deal to generate £25.5 billion ($34.1 billion) yearly, starting 2040. While India will initially slash duties on 90% of incoming goods, it will reduce them to zero levy by 2040. Britain...
Sugar consumption up along with market distortion
The U.S. secretary of health Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s reference to sugar as “poison” is helping spotlight rising global consumption and market distortion. When Kennedy Jr. banned some artificial sugar dyes from processed public food in April 2025, he illuminated the global consumption situation. The American Heart Association brings the federal context forward by citing that each American utilizes 60 pounds of...
The Canada lobster rate has fishers circumspect before Mother’s Day
As the spring lobster season in Canada nears Mother’s Day when demand rises, lobstermen are worried about the rate. Beforehand, the Fish, Food and Allied Workers Union (FFAW) published the starting April 20-26 price at C$10.39 ($7.50) a pound. FFAW’s rate usually considers industry publication Urner Barry (UB), which stipulates that for every US$5 UB price, fishers get US$3.25. Furthermore, all prices...
20-peso rice in the Philippines pauses till elections
The Philippines’ Commission on Elections (Comelec) has suspended the 20-peso 1-kg rice program till after the May 12 elections. According to a May 1, 2025 statement by George Eric Garcia, head of Comelec, the halt aims to prevent polarization. By local law mandate, activities that seem related to electioneering ought to stop ten days before the upcoming midterm vote. The Department of...
Cocoa from Peru baits the EU market with 250% growth, y-o-y
Peru has earned $63 million in January and February 2025 from cocoa bean exports to the European Union (EU)’s market, reflecting phenomenal growth. According to food analyst Jorge Niño de Guzmán on Agraria, this rise by 250% year-on-year (y-o-y) owes to strong international prices. Guzmán adds that all agri-food sectors had by February 2025 earned over $2.233 billion or 6.7% growth,...
Livestock products of Afghanistan enter Kabul’s agricultural showcase
The Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock of Afghanistan on May 1, 2025 launched a horticultural and livestock products exhibition in Kabul. The four-day showpiece has based its motto on how agriculture and livestock guarantees health and economic growth. On display across 263 stalls are local saffron, livestock merchandise, medicinal herbs, irrigated crops, spices, dairy, and women’s handicrafts. Women’s Leather Handicrafts The Badam...
Rock crab fisheries in California end decade-long closure
A decade later, rock crab pots will finally grace fisheries in northern California. This is after the Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) temporarily opened the shores it closed in 2015. According to the CDFW on April 24, 2025, the fisheries resume from the California/Oregon border to the northern jetty of Humboldt Bay. Fisheries will therefore extend from the northern state...