A senate inquiry in Australia is taking place on amicable payment arrangement between farmers and grocers.  While it takes 2 to 3 weeks for farmer remuneration by a local supermarket to happen, a pay rise often takes years. On March 11, 2024, producers in Orange, New South Wales, were bracing for a March 12 senate inquiry hearing against supermarkets. Many view the inquiry as...

Affordable cereals and vegetable oil helped lower world food prices by 10.5% year-on-year, per the FAO Food Price Index of March 8, 2024. A 22.9% yearly drop in cereal quotations counterbalanced appreciating animal products and lowered the February 2024 index.  FAO measures the appreciation or depreciation trends of agricultural commodity prices in terms of points every month. These points are the averages...

The commercially significant packing date for Vidalia onions of April 17, 2024 will coincide with rising onion acreage in south Georgia, U.S. Georgia’s Vidalia Onion Advisory Panel selected the date after careful soil and weather measurements to determine maturity timing. The 2024 harvest has the same timing as last year’s but boasts 11,000 acres, a thousand more than in 2023. Such increase in...

Thanks to a mild winter, the Pennsylvania maple syrup season came early in 2024 and is now in its second week. Since Pennsylvania’s Maple Ambassador Maddie Vandermark launched the season at a Bradford County farm on February 23, harvesting has been progressing smoothly.  To date, harvesters have been taking advantage of the fluctuating temperatures at the start of spring to maximize yields. The interaction between...

After 9 years in the making, a new banana variety in Oman could change the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)’s niche of agricultural economy. A strain of the resilient Williams (AAA) variety, this Cavendish mutant boasts superior adaptation to the Arabian climate. It also promises a high economic value due to its less curved bananas and high yield capacity. Its developers from Oman’s...

The mud crab season has begun in Bangladesh following a two-month yearly ban between January and February. On March 1, various fishermen took their nets and headed to the forested delta inside Mongla and Rampal coastal areas. The government gives the mud crab (Scylla olivacea)’s spawning timeline as January through February but new research reveals it usually happens in March and April.  Ban in...

American grain futures collectively fell on March 5 for diverse reasons including a new soy harvest in Brazil. Corn futures set for delivery in May slumped in Chicago on March 5, 2024 by 3 3/4 cents or 0.94%, to $4.26 a bushel. This followed a rebound to $4.3 per bushel a day earlier, which came as a result of temporary short covering.  Fears of...

Rice supply in the Philippines is heading into a stable phase through mid-2024, courtesy of the ongoing spring harvest. Additional supplies from Vietnam and a possible price stabilization deal with Cambodia will also meet domestic demand. As a consequence, the government assured on March 5 that rice prices will remain under 49 pesos ($0.88) a kg. The above retail price will also...

Global brewer Anheuser-Busch In-Bev has bought back some of its debt shares and now forecasts medium-term profits of 4 to 8% for 2024. Success from the Belgian beer company’s  global operations has also earned  the shareholders  a long overdue dividend raise of 9%.  These details emerged on February 29 after the brewer had settled $1 billion of the original $100b shares debt...

Deep-processing could save falling pepper exports from Vietnam, end occasional coffee depletion and boost value-addition on shrimp. Concerning pepper, the Vietnam Pepper and Spice Association (VPSA) on March 4, 2024 vowed to increase processed pepper from the reigning 30% margin of all pepper exports. This move will counter-balance lowering production of the national spice, which has been depreciating by 10.5% in recent...