Greggs plans to shut four UK factories and cut up to 740 jobs, while its sales grow 7.7%

The rest of the day

21 more stories on this beat.

Each with its own sources. None of these is a link to the story above.

1. 02

   US presses Europe over diesel

   The Trump administration has told Germany and France to release some of their emergency diesel, or face a possible US ban on diesel exports, three people close to the talks told Reuters. [4] The US sells abroad between 1.2 and 1.5 million barrels of diesel a day. [6] Diesel runs tractors, farm machines and the lorries that carry food, so a higher price often pushes up freight costs and food prices in shops. [5] Britain, the European Commission, Germany, France, Italy and Ireland held a call on Thursday about releasing stocks. [4][7]

   Why it matters — In Britain, diesel hit a record 199.72p a litre on Wednesday, and about a third of the diesel Britain imported last year came from the US. [7] Farm machines, food lorries and fishing boats all run on it. [5][8]

2. 03

   Ukraine's grain piles up at home

   Ukraine's largest farm union, UAC, warned on Wednesday against a plan to give oilseeds first use of Ukraine's scarce export routes. [9] With its seaports effectively blocked by the war with Russia, Ukraine can export little more than half of what it could. [9] Grain exports fell by more than 60% so far in September. [9] The price paid to farmers for milling wheat fell nearly 30% in two months, Ukraine's agriculture ministry says. [9]

   1 Sep 202514.6 m tonnes

   1 Sep 202624.6 m tonnes

   Why it matters — Oilseeds are worth more per tonne, so they can cover the high cost of trains and river ports. For grain, transport is a much bigger share of the price, the union says, so grain farmers would be left with full stores. [9]

3. 04

   Food groups pay influencers to answer Maha

   Big US food and farm groups are paying social media influencers to push back against Make America Healthy Again, or Maha, the Guardian and Documented reported. [11] Maha is the movement around US health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr. [11] It is run by the Center for Food Integrity, a non-profit paid for by farm, food and restaurant groups, including the American Farm Bureau Federation. [11] At least six influencers have signed on, reaching more than 2.6 million viewers. [11] Paid posts explained seed oils and showed farmers talking about pesticides. [11]

   Why it matters — A May poll found 64% of US adults think pesticides are not regulated enough, and 75% think the same of food additives. [11] The centre's director said that without a joint response, Maha's claims risk fuelling new regulations. [11]

4. 05

   US says meat-plant pay deals are too weak

   The US Justice Department asked a federal judge in Colorado not to approve more than $202 million in settlements with big red-meat companies. [12] Workers at 140 plants say JBS, Tyson Foods and other meat firms shared pay data for years to keep wages low. [12] Tyson and JBS, the world's largest beef producer, agreed to pay $127.2 million together, while denying wrongdoing. [12] The department wants enforceable rules that stop it happening again, not only money. [12]

   Why it matters — Tens of thousands of meat-plant workers are in the case, and a fairness hearing is set for 13 November. [12] Hormel, which agreed this week to buy a chicken company, is one of the firms settling. [12][13]

5. 06

   Hormel pays $1bn for a chicken firm

   Hormel Foods, the US company behind Skippy peanut butter, said on Wednesday it will buy Brakebush Brothers, a family-owned chicken company, in a deal valued at $1.06 billion. [13] Hormel wants to sell more chicken products. [13] Shoppers increasingly want meals rich in protein, and demand for chicken is growing, Reuters reports. [13]

   Why it matters — Hormel is also one of the meat companies in this week's dispute over wage-fixing settlements. [12] Arla, the dairy company, is spending to make more high-protein food too. [16]

6. 07

   Corteva and Inari settle a seed fight

   Corteva, a giant US seed and farm-chemicals company, settled its lawsuit against Inari, a start-up that gene-edits seeds, days into a trial in Delaware that began on 23 September. [14] Corteva had accused Inari of illegally obtaining and copying its patented corn and soybean seeds. Inari denied it and said the patents were invalid. [14] Inari will destroy Corteva material it took from seed depositories, where samples of patented seed are kept, and hand Corteva the rights to its edited versions. [15]

   Why it matters — The two will now negotiate licences, and the money terms are secret. [14][15] Corteva says the rulings in the case strengthen the rights of companies that deposit seed. [15]

7. 08

   Russia's grain ports could mostly reopen

   Russia could quickly restart up to 80% of its grain terminals on the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov if a ceasefire halts Russian and Ukrainian attacks, a Reuters analysis found on 25 September. [10] Three of the nine big terminals are heavily damaged and could take months to repair. [10] Before the attacks, these ports handled up to 70% of Russia's grain exports. [10] Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan is leading an effort by grain-buying countries to restore the trade. [10]

   Why it matters — Russia is the world's largest wheat exporter, and the stalled shipments have pushed up world grain prices. [10] Ukraine's president said India and Egypt are also part of the effort. [10]

8. 09

   Idaho's dairies fear immigration raids

   Farms in Idaho, a top-five US milk state, have mostly escaped the Trump administration's immigration crackdown so far, NPR reported. [18] Rick Naerebout, who heads the Idaho Dairymen's Association, estimates that some 90% of workers at the state's roughly 350 dairies may lack legal status. [18] A US immigration deportation plane lands twice a week at the airport in Twin Falls, in a farming area. [18] One farm worker's family has moved to Mexico rather than risk arrest. [18]

   Why it matters — Naerebout says a push to enforce the rules on farms could badly harm the US's ability to feed itself. [18] Many farms could not find enough workers even before the raids began. [18]

9. 10

   Arla spends €63m on skyr and cottage cheese

   Arla, a Danish-Swedish dairy company owned by its farmers, will invest €63 million in two plants to make more high-protein dairy food. [16] Of that, €35 million goes to skyr at Upahl in Germany, and €28.3 million to cottage cheese at Falkenberg in Sweden. [16] Arla says its skyr volumes grew more than 33% in its European markets and cottage cheese 25%. [16] The work will be finished in 2028. [16]

   Sweden13%

   Denmark and UK37%

   Netherlands38%

   Why it matters — Arla has also recently bought Brancourts, an Australian cottage cheese maker. [16] Its boss says shoppers want food with more protein that is quick to eat. [16]

10. 11

    Weight-loss drugs spread to slimmer people

    A study of medical records from more than 300 million people looked at US adults with no approved reason to take a GLP-1 weight-loss drug, the kind sold as Wegovy and Mounjaro. [17] It found 1.13 million of them had been prescribed one. [17] Of those, 35.1% had a normal weight for their height. [17] Such prescriptions rose from 0.11% to 1.5% of these adults between 2021 and 2025, a 13.6-fold rise. [17] They were more common among better-off people with private insurance. [17]

    20210.11%

    20251.5%

    Why it matters — The study's authors say the balance of risk and benefit for these users is not known. [17] The spread of these drugs has made food companies pay more attention to protein and fibre. [27]

11. 12

    Cornish fishing crews ask for help with fuel

    Fishing crews in south-west England say they will go out of business unless Britain's government helps pay for their fuel, the BBC reported. [8] Steve Moseley, who skippers a trawler from Newlyn in Cornwall, says his fuel costs £3,000 a day. [8] The fishermen point out that the EU pays its fleets a subsidy of 20p a litre. [8] Britain's government says it gives fishing tax relief on fuel and £360m through a growth fund. [8]

    Why it matters — Some skippers say they will stop going to sea if fuel rises much more. [8] Losing US diesel would push Britain's pump prices up sharply, because Britain does not refine enough of its own. [7]

12. 13

    A US town's only grocer loses its Canadian shoppers

    Point Roberts, a US town of about 1,200 people in Washington state, can be reached by land only through Canada. [19] Its only grocery store, the International Marketplace, has lost almost half its business, owner Ali Hayton says. [19] Canadians made 10 million fewer trips to the US in 2025 than in 2024, a fall of 25%, a Bank of Canada survey shows. [19] In July, US President Donald Trump raised tariffs on Canadian goods including beer, wine, honey, fruit and dairy. [19]

    Why it matters — The store is the only place in town that sells fresh fruit and vegetables. [19] Hayton warned that a closure would leave the town without a grocery store at all. [19]

13. 14

    Scallops return after a dredging ban

    Ten years after scallop dredging was banned in a 600 square km protected zone around Scotland's Summer Isles, local divers and fishers say sea life has revived. [20] One pass of a dredger's heavy towed gear can crush or bury up to 70% of maerl, a 9,000-year-old pink seaweed that shelters young scallops and fish. [20] A report by marine biologist Jason Hall-Spencer says the ban has protected the maerl. [20] A creel boat, which catches shellfish in pots, now fishes there almost all year. [20]

    Why it matters — A creel boat that once had to travel to Skye and the Western Isles now fishes around the Summer Isles instead. [20] A scallop diver who helped lead the campaign says his own business stands to gain from the ban. [20]

14. 15

    A fabric cover triples a strawberry harvest

    Researchers at North Carolina State University covered strawberry plants with a new fabric called Plant Armor in tunnel field trials. [21] Covered plants gave up to 3.56 times as much fruit as uncovered ones. [21] The fabric keeps insects off but lets sunlight, rain and air through. It also kept the plants warmer, so they fruited earlier. [21] It grew out of research on mosquito-proof military uniforms. [21]

    Uncovered plants1 time the fruit

    Under Plant Armor3.56 times the fruit

    Why it matters — The researchers say it could cut the use of pesticides and water on strawberry farms. [21] The yields were measured in tunnel trials over three growing seasons. [21]

15. 16

    A study explains a herring collapse in the 1570s

    A study published on 28 September in Nature Sustainability looked at 450 years of herring catches in the western Baltic Sea. [22] For nearly 300 years, the Sound, the strait between Denmark and Sweden, was Europe's main source of salted herring. [22] Catches averaged about 55,000 tonnes a year from 1524 to 1570, then the fishery collapsed in the 1570s. [22] The authors blame a changing climate, overfishing and economic causes together, and note there were no real limits on catches. [22]

    Around 130023,000 tonnes a year

    1524-1570 average55,000 tonnes a year

    Why it matters — The collapse disrupted trade across Europe, with major social and political effects. [22] The authors say it closely resembles the state of the western Baltic's herring fishery today. [22]

16. 17

    Robots fight strawberry mildew with light

    Antobot, a British start-up, plans to have 300 robots working in strawberry crops next year. [23] Instead of spraying fungicide, the robots shine ultraviolet light on the plants, which damages the DNA of mildew and other fungi so they cannot spread. [23] The company works in the UK, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Canada and parts of Asia. [23] It is moving customers from renting the robots to buying them. [23]

    Why it matters — Worry among UK shops and shoppers about pesticide left on fruit is a big reason growers buy it, the company says. [23] Small Canadian growers on two or three hectares cannot justify big sprayers. [23]

17. 18

    Meatly scales up lab-grown pet food

    Meatly, a British company that grows meat from animal cells for pet food, is moving into a new site with a 20,000-litre vessel. [24] Its boss, Owen Ensor, says the site cost £3-4 million to build, against the $30-40 million or even $300-400 million some earlier firms spent. [24] Meatly raised £10.4 million in April. [24] Ensor wants to prove within about two years that the meat can be made at a price that pays. [24]

    Why it matters — Ensor says investors have pulled back from lab-grown meat as money flows to AI. [24] If one 20,000-litre vessel works, he says, Meatly can run many side by side. [24]

18. 19

    Revo Foods aims to make a profit in 2027

    Revo Foods, an Austrian company that 3D-prints plant-based copies of salmon and chicken, aims to make a profit by the third quarter of 2027. [25] It expects sales to grow 80-90% this year, to about €1.5 million. [25] Germany and Austria bring in about 80% of its sales. [25] It is raising €2 million, and half of it is already promised. [25]

    Why it matters — Its boss says venture investors now want very large wins, so firms like his turn to family offices and private backers. [25] He says the products must taste as good as meat, carry as much protein and cost about the same. [25]

19. 20

    Scientists plan a cyber watch for farms

    Cyberattacks on farming and food are rising, says a paper published on 1 October in Nature Food. [26] Food and farming is one of 16 sectors the US Department of Homeland Security treats as critical to the country. [26] After workshops with more than 150 people from the sector, the authors propose a group led by US farming universities with skills in AI and cybersecurity. [26]

    Why it matters — They call for a farm security operations centre, test sites, more training and AI tools that spot unusual activity. [26]

20. 21

    US dietitians push nutrition into doctors' training

    The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, the US body for dietitians, and the council that accredits dietitian courses have launched a framework to teach medical students more about nutrition. [27] It follows the US health department's push last year for nutrition in medical training. [27] Dietitians would help train future doctors on when and how food should be part of patient care. [27] Nearly nine in ten doctors (87%) say they are not trained well enough to guide patients on nutrition, the article reports. [27]

    Why it matters — Critics warn that more training and advice could add to doctors' heavy workloads. [27] Doctors are among the most trusted sources of food advice, so what they learn could shape what patients buy. [27]

21. 22

    A chocolate maker moves in beside Magnum

    Barry Callebaut, a large chocolate supplier, has set up a base at Gastronomica, a food research centre at Colworth Science Park in Bedford, England. [28] Unilever and the property firm Pioneer set the centre up last year. [28] It houses The Magnum Ice Cream Company, which Unilever recently spun off. [28] The two firms have worked together for more than a decade, including on Magnum's cracking chocolate coating. [28]

    Why it matters — Barry Callebaut says working side by side will speed up their work on new chocolate textures and flavours. [28]