Universiti Malaya (UM) experts have found links between lion’s mane mushroom and therapy that may help heal neurodegenerative ailments. This at a time when Malaysia’s September harvest has just ended while the winter mushrooming season in the Northern Hemisphere is at its peak. The sub-species Hericium erinaceus is of particular interest to both sides of the world as it is native to North...

The super pig population in Canada has blown up to unmanageable levels and threatens to expand into the United States. What is a super pig? “Super Pigs” are hybrids of huge domestic hogs and the best specimens of the wild boar.  The genetic combination of the best of both worlds makes these species survive better than typical pigs. While the ancestors of the wild...

UK’s pig prices are in free-fall amid rising carcass weight and falling pork demand in the third week of November. Pig carcasses lost 0.9 pence to settle at 213 .48 pence per kg on 18th November for the standard pig price (SPP) category. The price for the previous week ending 11th November was  213.57 pence a kg.  All Pig Price (APP) margins fell slightly by -0.41%...

U.S’. grain markets closed on a lower note before Thursday’s Thanksgiving Holiday, while groceries eased prices this Black Friday. In Chicago, wheat edged up by a paltry 3/4 ¢ for the December contract, for an evening best of $6.14 1/2 a bushel.  This slight back-to-back improvement from the previous day follows supply gap after recent sales of winter wheat to China. Corn...

U.S. corn and soybean prices rebounded November 21 due to weather even as winter wheat lost only to recover dramatically. This at a time when dry weather across northern Brazil and wet conditions in the south are determining U.S. agricultural futures. Chicago welcomed a 2% rise in soybean prices on the wings of unequal weather forces in the source country,...

Plenty of rain and sunshine in the past week promises a bumper 2024 cocoa bean crop in Ivory Coast ahead of the dry season. This news uplifts September 2023 projections of a 20% fall in Côte d’Ivoire’s cocoa supplies for the 2023/24 crop.   This is happening as the 2023/24 cocoa beans’ planting season picks from October to March.  Even as the rainy season nears...

Smart farming is going the extra mile for a graying population in Japan, even as the youth shun farming careers. With the average Japanese farm worker aged 67, the state is turning to smart farming technology to make agriculture productive. Since 2019, Japan has been tapping the Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to collect and analyze farming data. Four years...

Production of eels in Japan has got a boost after Kindai University became the world’s second ever facility to artificially breed eel. In mid-November 2023, the Osaka-based university announced a full cycle hatching innovation of this scarce species.  The campus facility harvested eggs from a female eel and hatched them through artificial insemination. After the resulting offspring had reached maturity, the researchers repeated...

The U.S. Congress has voted a one-year extension to key nutritional, crop and conservation programs of the 2018 Farm Bill through the stopgap funding bill. The stopgap funding bill is a resolution that aims to prevent government shutdown due to lack of funds. Lack of extension to the farm bill, which expired on September 30, 2023, could have ended funding for some...