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 futures rally as wheat falls only to rise again
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,...
Ivory Coast’s cocoa bean season warms up to fair weather
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 becomes last resort for Japanese senior citizens
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...
Full-cycle eel Farming comes again to Japan
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...
U.S. government’s stopgap funding saves Farm Bill right on time
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...
Smashburgers: the trendy patties taking over London, New York
Costlier than a hamburger but solid and crispier on the inside, the smashburger is trending in London and New York. In London, select food joints are selling them by the pound, halves and quarter of pound measures to satiate the population. With a pounder costing below £15 in the UK, the smashburger is relatively accessible for a beef roll, hence its popularity. After all,...
Delayed California grapes promise a vintage wine harvest
The 2023 California wine grape harvest is turning up late but promises to be the best yet in years. The late harvest follows a chilly winter, then an early spring, tailing off with a relatively cool summer. The vineyards took long to bud and ripen after weather events including Tropical Storm Hilary delayed planting. All in all, some farmers are citing this the...
Consumers at price crossroads after Peshawar government fixes vegetable prices
On November 5, the district administration of Peshawar in Pakistan reduced vegetable prices amid food inflation but consumers see no respite. At a glance, fixed onion prices fell to Pakistani Rupees 120 ($0.43) per kilo. The prices of white and red potatoes also depreciated to Rs90 ($0.32) and 130 ($0.47) respectively. Sources around the district, however, say that tomatoes and lemons still attract 20% and...
Worldwide lobster and crab overview: five curious new developments
Five curious happenings on climate, larvae exports and species’ invasion dominated lobster and crab news end October, 2023. First, the fairly good news concerns the crab invasion on Canada’s Pacific coast in the week ending October 23. Matt Peck, a researcher, recounted to The Guardian of finding a rocky coast off Haida Gwaii archipelago swimming with oyster-catchers. Their prize? Thousands of crabs that locals first spotted...