The US and China have for the past three months been locked in discussions about how to overcome a trade dispute that has slowed Chinese economic growth and seen the US-China trade balance slump to a record low last year.

The Food and Drug Administration lifted an import restriction that allowed AquaBounty, a biotech company with facilities in Canada and Panama, to start raising genetically engineered (GMO) salmon eggs in America, effectively clearing the way for the country’s first GMO seafood—and first commercially raised GMO animal—to come to market

Before the first harvest robot drives through the greenhouses, millions of cucumbers will still be manually picked. However, robots are already working in packing and sorting. Beltech is one of the companies focused on the development of a harvest robot, but the company has already delivered a packing robot as well.

Last year, a few days before Christmas, Gail Fuller drove me out to the middle of a wind-whipped field just north of Emporia, Kansas.

The debate on land reform has not translated well in the US and investors are looking for more transparency from the South African government that it will not hurt the economy, says US deputy secretary of state John Sullivan.

 Japan’s compound and mixed feed production is staying strong, reaching its highest level since 2012-13, as livestock levels hold steady.

TROPICAL FORESTS GLOBALLY are being lost at a rate of 61,000 square miles a year. And despite conservation efforts, the global rate of loss is accelerating. In 2016, it reached a 15-year high, with 114,000 square miles cleared.

 Massive flooding in the Midwestern U.S. is wreaking havoc on stored grain as well as storage structures, and its likely the area of damage will expand.

South Africa Farming and Agriculture-  May  2023

March 2019 World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) provided further evidence that the world will have fairly large maize, soybean, and rice supplies in the 2018/19 season. Meanwhile, wheat production could decline from levels seen in the 2017/18 season.

Coffee exporters in one of the world’s top producers are facing losses as they struggle to get their hands on beans, with weak prices dissuading farmers from selling.

US consumers would run out of avocados in three weeks if Donald Trump makes good on his threat to close down the US–Mexico border.

Trump said on Friday that there was a “very good likelihood” he would close the border this week if Mexico did not stop immigrants from reaching the United States.

'We're one community': border cities fear Trump's crackdown

But a complete shutdown would disrupt millions of legal border crossings in addition to asylum seekers, as well as billions of dollars in trade, about $137bn of which is in food imports.

From the avocados on avocado toast, to the limes and tequila in margaritas, the US is heavily reliant on Mexican imports of fruit, vegetables and alcohol to meet consumer demand.

Nearly half of all imported US vegetables and 40% of imported fruit are grown in Mexico, according to the latest data from the United States Department of Agriculture.

Avocados would run out in three weeks if imports from Mexico were stopped, said Steve Barnard, president and chief executive of Mission Produce, the largest distributor and grower of avocados in the world.

“You couldn’t pick a worse time of year because Mexico supplies virtually 100% of the avocados in the US right now. California is just starting and they have a very small crop, but they’re not relevant right now and won’t be for another month or so,” said Barnard.

Monica Ganley, principal at Quarterra, a consultancy specializing in Latin American agricultural issues and trade, said that a border closure would inevitably hit consumers.

“We’re absolutely going to see higher prices. This is a very real and very relevant concern for American consumers.”

The US and Mexico trade about $1.7bn in goods daily, according to the US Chamber of Commerce, which said closing the border would be “an unmitigated economic debacle” that would threaten 5m American jobs.

The effects of a shutdown would run both ways.

Mexico is the largest importer of US exports of refined fuels like diesel and gasoline, some of which moves by rail. It is unclear if rail terminals would be affected by closures.

Mexico's avocado army: how one city stood up to the drug cartels

As changing palates have increased demand for fresh produce, and a greater variety of it, the United States has increasingly come to depend on Mexico to meet that need.

Imports have nearly tripled since 1999. In that period, Mexico has gone from supplying less than a third of imported produce to 44% today.

In addition to avocados, the majority of imported tomatoes, cucumbers, blackberries and raspberries come from Mexico. While there are other producers of these goods globally, opening those trade channels would take time, said Ganley.

Every year in the United States alone, a serious and dangerous repeat offender in the world of food poisoning sickens 1,600 people and kills 260 more, often from just a handful of outbreaks. The culprit? Listeria.

All eyes in the kiwifruit sector are now on the southern hemisphere, which is now slowly taking over the world market. The first New Zealand kiwis are already at sea.

You probably didn’t know it, but we are experiencing a trucking boom. According to recent sales data, June 2018 was the biggest month for Class 8 big rig trucks sales… ever! And this is a good thing. Booming truck sales mean a very healthy economy and emission reductions. 

Weekly Updated Agri Trends of ABSA -Local prices this week were down on average for all commodities.

China may be exploring ending the anti-dumping investigation into US DDGS imports after the ministry of commerce responded to a request from the US Grains Council to review the current situation, market sources have told Agricensus Tuesday.

In the 1990s, some researchers observed that French people—despite eating lots of saturated fat—tended to have low rates of heart disease. Dubbing this phenomenon the “French paradox,” the researchers speculated that regular wine consumption may be protecting their hearts from disease.

he growing appetite for 'conservation holidays' has shone a light on the dark – and poorly regulated – industry of lion farming, where felines are destined not to be 'released into the wild' - but to be shot by trophy hunters and their bones exported to Asia for use in traditional medicine.