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☆ After Russia-Ukraine grain deal extended, global wheat prices fall
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Anna Cooban | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

London CNN —Global wheat prices fell Thursday after Ukraine and Russia agreed to extend a deal allowing grain to be exported from Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea. “These agreements matter for global food security,” António Guterres, secretary general of the United Nations, told journalists Wednesday. “Ukrainian and Russian products feed the world.”The grain deal, first signed in July, was due to expire on Thursday, but Turkish and Ukrainian officials said on Wednesday that it would be extended for another two months. Ukraine and Russia together account for nearly a third of global wheat exports, according to Gro Intelligence, an agricultural data firm. In the days after the invasion, global wheat prices skyrocketed, with the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization warning that as many as 47 million people could be pushed into “acute food insecurity” because of the war.

☆ Black Sea grain deal: A crucial pact aimed at averting a global food crisis has been extended
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Sophie Tanno | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

CNN —A crucial deal aimed at averting a global food crisis following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been extended for two months. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday an agreement has been reached with Russia and Ukraine to extend the Black Sea grain deal. Murat Kula/Anadolu Agency/Getty ImagesWhat is the Black Sea grain deal and why is it important? The Black Sea grain deal was first reached in July 2022. The Black Sea grain deal was an agreement made between Russia and Ukraine – however, it was not a direct agreement.

☆ World food prices rise for first time in a year, UN food agency says
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) price index, which tracks the most globally traded food commodities, averaged 127.2 points last month against 126.5 for March, the agency said on Friday. "As economies recover from significant slowdowns, demand will increase, exerting upward pressure on food prices," said FAO Chief Economist Maximo Torero. While the meat index rose 1.3% month-on-month, dairy prices dipped 1.7%, vegetable oil prices fell 1.3% and the cereal price index shed 1.7%, with a decline in world prices of all major grains outweighing an increase in rice prices. World cereal utilisation in the 2022/23 period was seen at 2.780 billion tonnes, FAO said, down 0.7% from 2021/22. World cereal stocks by the close of the 2022/2023 seasons are expected to ease by 0.2% from their opening levels to 855 million tonnes.

☆ Environmental hero’s mission to save the most over-fished sea in the world
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Nell Lewis | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Wiping out marine life has damaged the livelihoods of local fishers. Local fishing communities are benefiting from the marine protected area as fish stocks bounce back. He trained local fishers as marine rangers who could monitor the waters for illegal fishing and send alerts to the Turkish Coast Guard. “We became a fishmonger,” says Kizilkaya, adding that the AKD continues to sell “tasty, cheap” lionfish caught by local fishers to restaurants. Kizilkaya hopes that the Goldman Environmental Prize will add momentum to his mission.

☆ Ukraine’s corn and wheat exports are set to plummet. Here’s what that means for the world's food supply
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Lucy Handley | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Both Ukraine and Russia were among the world's top producers of commodities such as wheat and barley before the war broke out in February 2022. But the conflict saw the price of U.S. wheat and corn futures hit decade highs (with one benchmark wheat contract hitting an all-time high) and sparked volatility in global wheat prices throughout the year. 2023/24 Ukraine grains exports (corn + wheat) might be 27-30mmt, down 15-18mmt from 2021/22," he added. Global food tradeThe war in Ukraine has contributed to rising food prices, with inflation above 5% in more than 80% of low-income countries, according to World Bank figures. Climate change causing extreme weather is already damaging the food system, according to Alexander, a senior lecturer at Edinburgh University's Global Academy of Agriculture and Food Systems.

☆ How moving food from farm to table puts global supply chain logistics to extreme tests
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-17 | by ( Sponsor Post | Created Cargill With Insider Studios | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Regional conflicts like the invasion of Ukraine have had far-reaching global consequences, impacting global food supply and food security. Prior to the war, Ukraine could produce enough food to feed 400 million people per year. To keep food growing and moving in the region, operators like Cargill must rely on critical data, partnerships, and dedicated employees. Farmer livelihoods and the rebuilding of Ukraine's agriculture economy are also critical to ensure ongoing global food systems and security. Click here for more information about Cargill's efforts to address needs of the food supply chain in Ukraine and around the world.

☆ How Timberland, Vans, VF Corp. are making sure their cotton isn't 'greenwashed'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-15 | by ( Kaitlin Balasaygun | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

In this article VFC Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNTSmallholder Farmers Alliance purchase of organic cotton from farmer member. But the focus quickly moved to regenerative agriculture, a practice more activist shareholders are pressing with big consumer companies. "Regenerative agriculture is really important to Timberland and VF because it's about restoring the soil," said Atlanta McIlwraith, Timberland's director of social impact and activation. watch nowVF Corp's efforts with regenerative cotton in Haiti come at a time of growing pressure from consumers for companies to adopt more sustainable practices. So, we tackle the problem from its roots, which is environmental degradation in the country," said Timote Georges, executive director and co-founder of Smallholder Farmers Alliance.

"China was initially in discussions to be part of the project," the official said, declining to be named as the information was deemed sensitive. China has since banned the sale and consumption for food of wildlife animals. China's public security organs have handled more than 70,000 criminal cases involving wild animals from 2020-2022, confiscating 1.37 million wild animals in the process, state news agency Xinhua has reported. SLOW STARTThe SAFE project surveys only began in October last year, when the project's assessors visited Khao Kheow zoo and a cafe in Thailand. The wet markets targeted are markets where wild animals are sold alongside fresh meat and vegetables.

☆ World food prices fall for 12th month running in March - FAO
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

ROME, April 7 (Reuters) - The United Nations food agency's world price index fell in March for a 12th consecutive month, and is now down 20.5% from a record high hit one year ago following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) price index, which tracks the most globally traded food commodities, averaged 126.9 points last month against 129.7 for February, the agency said on Friday. The FAO cereal price index fell 5.6% month-on-month in March, with wheat registering a 7.1% drop, maize a 4.6% decline and rice easing 3.2 percent. FAO also raised its forecast for world cereal production in 2022 to 2.777 billion tonnes, just 1.2% down from the previous year. World cereal utilisation in the 2022/23 period was seen at 2.779 billion tonnes, FAO said, down 0.7% from 2021/22.

☆ Gardener begins epic London-India bike ride to fight soil degradation
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/4] Rens Goede, gardener from Amsterdam, begins his 30,000 km (18,640 mile) bicycle trek from London to India in support of the "Save Soil" movement, in London, Britain March 22, 2023. Save Soil/Handout via REUTERSLONDON, March 22 (Reuters) - A gardener from Amsterdam begins a 30,000-km (18,640-mile) bicycle trek from London to India on Wednesday as part of a campaign to raise awareness about soil degradation. Rens Goede's roundabout journey to the city of Coimbatore in southern India, in support of the "Save Soil" movement, will see him travel across 30 countries and will last an estimated two years. Goede's mission mirrors that of Indian yogi Sadhguru, who last year carried out the same journey by motorbike, launching "Save Soil". The movement, backed by the likes of the World Food Programme, says it aims "to address the global soil degradation crisis and support governments in implementing concrete policy changes for soil health".

☆ Fact Check-Viral clip shows tree catkins, not ‘rain of worms’ in China - scientists
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

A viral clip online likely shows the catkins, or flower spikes, of poplar trees covering cars in northern China, not a “rain of worms” as social media posts and some news reports have claimed, experts told Reuters. One tweet saying: “China citizens told to find shelter after it looked like it started to rain worms” has been viewed more than 18 million times at the time of writing (here). There can be thousands of poplar catkins per tree, Claire Thomas Federici, a botanist and plant geneticist at the University of California, Riverside (here), said by email. China has a “distinctively rich” variety of trees in the poplar family, particularly in northern China, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (here), (here). Experts say the video from China likely shows catkins from poplar trees instead of a “rain” of worms or caterpillars.

☆ Women leaders sidelined at multilateral organizations, new study shows
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Andrea Shalal | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The study, to be released during this week's meeting of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, called for proportional representation of women at every level of multilateral organizations, from field offices to headquarters, as well as in secretariats and governing bodies. "But I also believe that women bring this combination of leadership, wisdom and empathy, and sometimes, an even greater understanding of what is happening in the world." Since 1945, the 33 institutions studied have had 382 leaders, but only 47 were women, the report showed. And despite recent progress, only one-third of the institutions are currently headed by women. GWL Voices said it would release a more extensive version of the report in September that would also look at the senior management teams and governing bodies of the 33 institutions.

One company is injecting liquid clay into California desert to trap moisture and help fruit to grow, while another in Malaysia boosts soil with droppings from fly larvae. Biochar, liquid clay and fly larvae droppings are all in limited commercial production. Some, like liquid clay and biochar add nutrients while also improving the ground's ability to retain water, and require fewer applications than fertilizer. Norway-based Desert Control has spent 18 years and $25 million developing liquid clay to boost soil. In Malaysia, Nutrition Technologies produces "soil conditioner" from frass - the waste and skin of Black Soldier Fly larvae.

But to reach its ultimate destination - supermarket shelves - cultivated meat faces big obstacles, five executives told Reuters. California-based cultivated meat company GOOD Meat already has an application pending with the FDA, which has not been previously reported. Regulatory approval is just the first hurdle for making cultivated meat accessible to a broad swath of consumers, executives at UPSIDE, Mosa Meat, Believer Meats, and GOOD Meat told Reuters. But it will take hundreds of millions of dollars for GOOD Meat, for example, to build bioreactors of the size needed to make its meat at scale, Tetrick said. But cultivated meat companies have the advantage that they can claim their product is real meat, Tetrick said.

☆ Russia’s war in Ukraine sparked a historic food crisis. It’s not over
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-15 | by ( Julia Horowitz | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

“All the major causes of the food crisis are still with us — conflict, Covid, climate change, high fuel prices,” Cary Fowler, the US special envoy for global food security, told CNN. But high food prices mean that funding can’t go as far, and Russia’s war continues to generate volatility. “The Ukraine crisis has had this ongoing negative impact on world food prices and [added] even more volatility,” said Abby Maxman, CEO of Oxfam America. Russia “is not assisting in alleviating the food crisis in slowing down the grain inspections,” Fowler said. Oxfam’s Maxman, who traveled there in September, said disruptions to food supplies were obvious in markets.

☆ War and drought drove global food prices to record high in 2022
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-07 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

The FAO Food Price Index, which tracks monthly changes in the international prices of commonly traded food commodities, dipped by 1.9% in December from a month earlier, the Rome-based organization said Friday. “Calmer food commodity prices are welcome after two very volatile years,” FAO chief economist Maximo Torero said in a prepared statement. With critical Black Sea supplies disrupted, food prices rose to record highs, increasing inflation, poverty and food insecurity in developing nations that rely on imports. The organization’s Vegetable Oil Price Index hit an all-time high last year, even as it tumbled in December to its lowest level since February 2021. For all of 2022, the FAO Dairy Price Index and Meat Price Index also were the highest since 1990.

☆ World food prices hit record high in 2022
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Sybille De La Hamaide | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) food price index, which tracks international prices of the most globally traded food commodities, averaged 143.7 points in 2022, up 14.3% from 2021, and the highest since records started in 1990, the agency said on Friday. Food prices surged after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February last year on fears of disruptions to Black Sea trade. "Calmer food commodity prices are welcome after two very volatile years," FAO Chief Economist Maximo Torero said. Still over the whole of 2022, four of the FAO's five food sub-indexes - cereals, meat, dairy and vegetable oils - had reached record highs, while the fifth one, sugar, was at a 10-year high. The FAO Cereal Price Index index rose 17.9% in 2022 due to factors including significant market disruptions, higher energy and input costs, adverse weather and continued strong global food demand, the FAO said.

☆ Why an Abu Dhabi startup wants to send quinoa seeds into space
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Nell Lewis | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Abu Dhabi-based startup StarLab Oasis, a spin-off from Texan company Nanoracks, wants to grow seeds in outer space in order to develop plant varieties that can survive on a less hospitable Earth. In 2023, StarLab Oasis expects to send its first seeds into orbit. From soybeans to quinoa, seeds grow differently in space than on land. Sending seeds to space will help “sustainability, climate change, and food security on Earth,” StarLab Oasis’ co-founder Allen Herbert tells CNN Business. It plans to work with companies, space agencies, universities and non-profits, to send seeds to space either for research or commercial purposes.

☆ World food prices ease further in November, says FAO
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) price index, which tracks the most globally traded food commodities, averaged 135.7 points last month, down from 135.9 for October, the agency said on Friday. Lower readings for cereals, meat and dairy products in November offset higher prices for vegetable oils and sugar, the FAO said. The slight decrease in November meant that the FAO food index is now only 0.3% above its level a year earlier, the agency said. The FAO warned last month that expected record food import costs in 2022 would lead the poorest countries to cut back on shipped volumes. In separate cereal supply and demand estimates, the FAO lowered its forecast for global cereal production in 2022 to 2.756 billion tonnes from 2.764 billion estimated last month.

☆ Trapview: Can an AI-powered insect trap solve a $220 billion pest problem?
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-24 | by ( Tom Page | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

London CNN Business —Pests destroy up to 40% of the world’s crops each year, causing $220 billion in economic losses, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Trapview is harnessing the power of AI to help tackle the problem. Targeted interventionsThe automated devices have been used to monitor grapes, tomatoes, olives, tree fruits, and, pictured here, brassicas. Štefančič says that Trapview can significantly reduce the use of chemical sprays and the need for farmers to visit their fields. Trapview says it has sold over 7,500 devices in more than 50 countries since it launched in 2012.

☆ Mario Gabelli likes this under-the-radar industrial into 2023
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( Alex Harring | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Gabelli Asset Management's Mario Gabelli said he's interested in CNH Industrial N.V. , a maker of agricultural and heavy construction that is under under new management. When choosing between CNH and competitor Deere & Co .'s John Deere, he said the valuation and market cap was better for the former. The company said net sales in industrial activities for 2022 would be 16% to 18% higher than the prior year. Likes energy stocks still Gabelli also said energy stocks would benefit from what he called a crisis as America has leaned on its oil reserves during the Russia-Ukraine war. He pointed to Halliburton and Dril-Quip as examples of stocks that he likes during this tumultuous period.

Rising salinity in the Delta has multiple causes, experts and farmers say, including overextraction of groundwater and excessive use of fertilizers and pesticides. "With time, with the sea level higher, that line of salinity will go down into the Delta. EVAPORATIONSea water intrusion and salinity also threaten the Mekong Delta in Vietnam and the Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta in Bangladesh. "You have to do much better job in a place like the Nile Delta because the water just evaporates quickly," she said. Rice cultivation helps wash the soil, but the government has imposed restrictions on the crop in parts of the Delta to conserve scarce water.

A UN study last year found "negligible" correlation between household food waste and gross domestic product, indicating most countries "have room to improve." "We do have a long way to make the goal," said Jean Buzby, the food waste liaison at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The USDA, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration agreed in 2018 to tackle America's food waste together. A spokesman for New Zealand's environment ministry said the country is finalizing its baseline food waste estimate so it can establish a target. SLOWEST GAZELLEIn California, which has America's most ambitious climate policies, officials are trying to ensure food waste goes to composting, not landfills.

For more than 70 days this summer, a marine heatwave cooked the waters of the western Mediterranean. "We've been witnessing marine heatwaves during the last 20 years," said Garrabou, who's also coordinator of the T-MEDNet marine monitoring network. A 2016 marine heatwave along Chile's southern coast caused huge algae blooms that wiped out fish farms and cost the aquaculture industry some $800 million, said scientist Kathryn Smith with the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. As the world warms, marine heatwaves are expected to become more frequent, according to the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Though economists have yet to account fully for the impacts of marine heatwaves, recent experience has many concerned.

Farmers in both are fighting a losing battle to save the soil that produces our food. By contrast, there's not enough water in the vast Yangtze basin, which produces a third of China's crops. Soil erosion could lead to a 10% loss in global crop production by 2050, according to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Similarly, other measures such as digging thousands of new wells and encouraging farmers to switch crops to boost yields have limited impact. Options include not tilling soil to reduce erosion, and planting off-season cover crops to prevent erosion and nutrient loss.

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