Mkisa, an agricultural company from the Republic of Georgia, is pushing the boundaries of blueberry and almond farming. Just three years into its operations, Mkisa has taken a bold, quality-oriented and technological approach to modern agriculture. The company’s first exhibition at Anuga food and beverage fair in Cologne, Germany in October 2023, was a resounding success. The product range at...

El Niño will extend to mid-2024, ending the current drought in Mexico but threatening Latin American agriculture in the long run. The Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) announced these outcomes in Santiago, Chile on October 19, 2023. Citing rising surface temperatures on the Pacific, the United Nations’ agricultural arm predicts abnormal rainfall in Central and South America. As a result,...

Scientists in Britain have utilized CRISPR-Cas9 to curb the multiplication of avian flu virus in poultry. This is even as bird flu, traditionally associated with Asia, continues to spread to Europe, Africa and North America. News of the breakthrough were published on the journal Nature Communications on October 10, 2023. Researchers announced that 9 out of 10 edited-gene chickens successfully...

Thanks to tight supplies, the bell pepper market is strong in the U.S., ahead of the November Thanksgiving holiday season. At the same time, there is a new ‘hottest pepper’ champ, with 1 million more heat units than its predecessor. High demand, low supplies There is currently high demand for green pepper in the U.S., as supplies diminish due to...

For the first time in 2023, the retail prices of lamb meat and mutton in Australia have slumped to AUD$10 per kg. The drop marks an initial 10% reduction of an oncoming bigger slash. This means that mutton is as cheap as chicken and may reduce further if retailers match farm gate price cuts. By October 17, 2023, farmers were...

Consumer prices of groceries in South Africa have risen but supplies of mangoes and avocado in Limpopo Province hold stead. On the occasion of South Africa’s October Food Month, officials have remarked that Limpopo is without food pressure due to its “rich and fertile soil.” Nationally, however, potato, onion and egg market prices have spiked by as high as 13%...

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) draws a line between trade and political affairs, according to the trade minister, spurred by the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.  “We don’t mix the economy and trade with politics,” commented Thani Ahmed al Zeyoudi to the press in Dubai, October 10.   Regarding the imminent siege of Gaza, al Zeyoudi echoed the foreign ministry’s statement that Hamas...

A week after U.S. corn and soybean prices fell, production statistics reveal that the September harvests are also down. The U.S. National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) announced on October 12, 2023 that yields will come shy of earlier forecasts. Corn will lose 1% in yield predictions but gain 10% year-on-year (y-o-y),  while soybeans will shed yield by 4%. October 1st, 2023 forecasts indicate 173...

Zimbabwe may experience lower-than-normal rains between December, 2023 and February, 2024 due to El Niño’s impact.  Hence, on October 11, 2023, the authorities suspended import tax on fertiliser to grant grain farmers a productive window before El Niño sets in. “Duty is wholly suspended…(for) twelve months” read the government’s notice of October 10,  shelving fertilizer imports tax till October, 2024. The state fears that the...

Nestling under favourable horticultural growing conditions, the 615 hectares of pomegranates in Iran’s western province of Kordestan will produce 10,000 tons in the 2023 season. According to Zahed Haji-Mirzaei, the director for horticulture affairs in Kordestan’s Agriculture Department, the harvest will continue to the end of the Persian November (November 21 in the Gregorian calendar). The director also reiterated that the current pomegranate production...