A year into its trial cultivation which began in mid-2023, Guyana’s millet production is now classified “surplus” for domestic utility. The government achieved this target through the Tacama Mega Farm whose 1,300 acres under millet strand a natural watershed.  Plans to expand the above acreage to new areas are already underway, per a Guyana Chronicle report of June 16, 2024. Key expansion regions for millet production...

The rain-delayed Oklahoma wheat harvest is recording high quality yields of 60-61 pounds a bushel near its completion. This is despite an early reduction in test weights to between 57 and 59 a bushel, especially in southwest Oklahoma.  As the harvest continues however, weights will average 60 pounds a bushel since the lesser weights occurred before the rains. This is according to...

As the Oregon strawberry (Fragaria ananassa) season ends, you-pick services are intense with pickers buying the fruits from $1.85 per pound. In the spirit of the times, the Salem Statesman Journal on June 13, 2024 reported various offers for you-pickers in the strawberry-rich Willamette Valley. Most consumer self-picked and frozen strawberry offers are at the price range of between $1.85 and $4 a pound. For...

As East Africa’s finance ministers read budgets on June 13, agricultural budgets in Kenya and Uganda decreased by differing margins. Kenya’s agricultural kitty dipped by 0.2%  to 84.9 billion shillings ($656.871 million) for the 2024-25 period. In retrospect, the budget for the 2023-24 financial year had been higher at 98.1 billion shillings ($758.999 million). This is even as Uganda’s agricultural sector’s allocation fell...

China could heavily tax incoming animal products from Europe in retaliation against tough Electric Vehicle (EV) tariffs that the European Union (EU) imposed on June 12, 2024. Following the announcement of EV tariff raises from 10% to 38.1% starting July 4, focus quickly shifted on possible retaliation. China is apparently already readying to launch a probe on Europe-originating dairy and pork imports. Targeting Dairy...

At $493.1 million, Vietnam’s pepper export value is up year-on-year (y-o-y) in the five months of 2024, the Vietnam News Agency reports.   This increase in revenue was however ill-matched by a yearly export volume decrement of 13.2% to 114,424 tonnes.  Prices Buoy Vietnam’s Pepper Export Value  Handsome international prices of pepper however propped the fall in volume and ensured an export value...

A legislation in New York State has prohibited the fishing of horseshoe crabs for reasons other than educational studies.  Fishing quotas will only apply to scientific education purposes but not for biomedicine or commerce. This effectively means that the long-lived “vulnerable-to-extinction” species will spawn freely this summer in the state.  According to a June 7, 2024 press release, the passing of...

Ivory Coast on June 7, 2024 temporarily halted unprocessed cocoa bean exports, edging the international cocoa price to a five-week peak. National regulator Le Conseil du Café-Cacao informed export firms with no grinding facilities that they wouldn’t buy cocoa beans till end June.  At the same time, cocoa futures for July delivery in London and New York witnessed a daily price...

The world’s food prices continued to rise for three consecutive months in May 2024 following upshot cereal and dairy prices despite low-priced vegetable oils. According to the FAO Food Price Index (FPPI) report of June 7, 2024, May’s food prices edged those of April by 0.9%. At 120.4 points, May’s FPPI was 1.1 points more than April’s upward revision of 119.3 points. However,...

The rose harvest in Kazanlak, Bulgaria has begun early June in the famous Rose Valley, the starting point of premium rose oil. For 2024, rising temperatures have propelled an early harvest as pickers worry a rainfall-heatwave combination may impact yields. But this has not prevented thousands of sightseers from coming from around the world to see the rose-picking event. According to the Associated Press, Rose Valley...