Rain leaves Iowa's corn harvest at 14% against a usual 34%, and sprouting ears and stained soybeans turn up across the US Midwest

The rest of the day

28 more stories on this beat.

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

1. 02

   EPA plans to restore lost biofuel demand

   The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sets how much plant-based fuel must be blended into petrol and diesel. [10] On 13 October it proposed making up for exemptions it gave small oil refineries in August. [9][10] It granted 29 of them, and its plan would put back about 770 million credits' worth of biofuel blending. [9][11] One option spreads that over 2026 and 2027; the other puts it all into 2027. [9] The Trump administration finished its formal review of the plan on 9 October. [12]

   Why it matters — The National Corn Growers Association praised it, because ethanol made from corn is a big market for US farmers. [10] The plan is open for public comment and is not yet final. [10]

2. 03

   Foot-and-mouth reaches a second Namibian region

   Namibia found foot-and-mouth disease, a fast-spreading virus of cattle, sheep and goats, at Kalala Island in the northern Zambezi region on 7 October. [13][14] It is the second area hit, after a southern farm was confirmed on 23 September, though nothing published so far shows that one outbreak spread to the other. [13] Zambezi has stopped moving hoofed animals and halted auctions and local slaughter. [14] The EU suspended fresh beef, sheep and goat meat from Namibia's export zone on 5 October. [13]

   Why it matters — In Windhoek, the capital, meat sellers say beef costs much more, and one supermarket butchery ran out of some cuts as shoppers panic-bought. [13] Meatco, Namibia's main meat company, has sent about 400 workers home for three weeks on full pay. [13]

3. 04

   US farm debt heads for a record $605bn

   US farmers and ranchers are forecast to owe a record $605.1 billion in 2026, up 4.6% on 2025, according to the USDA's Economic Research Service. [15] Their costs are forecast to rise 4.5%, to $492.8 billion, while net farm income falls 2.6%, to $158.4 billion. [15] Land makes up 83% of everything farms own, and its value is forecast to rise 3.4%. [15] But a rise in land value does not by itself give a farm the cash to pay this year's bills. [15]

   Why it matters — The share of farm assets paid for with borrowed money is forecast to edge up, from 13.34% to 13.54%. [15] That leaves farms less cushion if crop prices or land values fall. [15]

4. 05

   War costs squeeze the cheap banana

   The war in Iran has raised banana companies' costs for fuel, fertiliser, cardboard and plastic, The New York Times reports. [16] US diesel has risen about 70% since the war began seven months ago, and bananas travel thousands of miles in refrigerated ships and trucks. [16] Miguel Angel Morales, a small grower in Peru, says his costs rose 25% to 30% this year. [16] Yet US shops still charge about 65 cents a pound, little changed in a decade. [16]

   Why it matters — Shops price bananas cheaply to bring shoppers in, so growers have little power to raise prices. [16] Del Monte, one of the biggest banana companies, made a margin of just 2.3% on bananas in the second quarter, and some Central American farmers are switching to pineapples. [16]

5. 06

   A farmer tells MPs he avoids growing food

   Harry Metcalfe, an arable farmer in the Cotswolds, told the UK Parliament's Public Accounts Committee, which checks government spending, that he is "doing everything I can to not grow food". [17] He said the end of the Basic Payment Scheme, England's old per-acre farm subsidy, left farmers facing world prices alone. [17] Four of his five worst harvests have come since 2020, and he paid 34% more for fertiliser this year. [17] Officials from Defra, England's farm ministry, are due to give evidence on 15 October. [17]

   Why it matters — Scottish farmers, who still get area payments, were protected from this year's poor harvest, he said, while English farmers are on their own. [17] The British Retail Consortium, which speaks for shops, put new costs on the food system since the election at about £8bn a year. [17]

6. 07

   UK farmers wary of matching EU food rules

   Andy Burnham, the UK prime minister, told Parliament on 12 October that trade talks with the EU are back on track, with a summit set for 20 November. [18] The deal would include an SPS agreement, a pact on food, animal and plant safety rules. [18] Britain would follow EU standards in return for fewer checks at the border. [18] UK food exports to the EU fell 35% by volume from 2019 to 2026, and egg exports 74%, HMRC figures show. [18]

   All food and farm goods35%

   Beef24%

   Dairy10%

   Poultry meat41%

   Eggs74%

   Why it matters — The National Farmers' Union (NFU) wants exceptions so British farmers keep gene-edited crops and pesticides the EU does not allow. [18] CropLife UK, a pesticide industry group, says matching EU crop protection rules could cut farm incomes by up to £810m in the first year. [18]

7. 08

   Judge keeps USDA office moves frozen

   US District Judge Vince Chhabria ordered the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to keep its reorganisation and office moves on hold. [19] He said the US Congress almost certainly did not mean its 2026 farm spending law to pay for closing offices or moving staff. [19] The stay lasts until at least 11 December, when the current stopgap funding law runs out. [19] Unions for USDA staff, including the Forest Service, brought the case. [19]

   Why it matters — The plan affects thousands of USDA employees, from forest workers to the staff who run farm and food-aid programmes. [19] The judge called most of the harm USDA claimed "self-inflicted". [19]

8. 09

   Salmonella from Italian cherry tomatoes returns

   More than 160 people in ten European countries, including Germany, France and Sweden, have fallen ill in a Salmonella outbreak, mostly between July and September. [20] Several had been to Italy, and patients in Germany, Luxembourg and Italy reported eating cherry tomatoes. [20] Italy's Puglia region stopped serving raw tomatoes in schools, hospitals and care homes. [20] Cases of this outbreak strain have peaked every July to September, with more than 800 confirmed since January 2023. [20]

   Why it matters — The ECDC, the EU's disease agency, says outbreaks will keep returning each season until the source of the contamination is found. [20] In November 2024 inspectors found the strain in well water used to irrigate a farm in Italy. [20]

9. 10

   FDA lets salt substitutes into 139 foods

   The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published a final rule on 13 October letting makers use salt substitutes in 139 foods that have a standard of identity. [21] A standard of identity is a legal recipe: it fixes what a food sold under a name, such as bread or canned tuna, must contain. [21] Most of those recipes required salt and did not allow substitutes. [21] A substitute must still do salt's jobs, such as flavour and keeping food safe. [21]

   Why it matters — The FDA wants Americans to eat about 20% less salt, around 2,750 milligrams a day. [21] Cheese, bread, canned vegetables and mayonnaise are among the foods the rule covers. [21]

10. 11

    Britain warns against swapping bluetongue jabs

    The Veterinary Medicines Directorate, the UK agency for animal medicines, warned farmers on 13 October not to buy, sell or swap leftover bluetongue vaccines on social media. [22][23] Bluetongue is a virus of sheep and cattle carried in the blood and spread by biting midges. [22] The vaccines are prescription-only, and a dose stored or moved badly may not work. [23] Great Britain has confirmed 3,338 cases this season, against 348 in the whole of last season. [22]

    Why it matters — The National Sheep Association says vaccinations have passed their peak ahead of next year's midge season. [22] It also warns that tired farmers may be under-reporting cases. [22]

11. 12

    Deforestation law breaches could mean prison

    From 30 December, the EU's Deforestation Regulation requires cocoa, coffee, palm oil, soy, rubber, wood and cattle sold in the EU to be traced to the land they came from. [24] Under an EU law on environmental crime, most EU countries must set the longest prison term for knowingly breaking it at five years or more. [24] Germany's draft law allows up to ten years where the damage is very serious. [24] A lawyer at the firm Squire Patton Boggs says current trends suggest courts will not actually jail anyone. [24]

    Why it matters — Company directors and managers could be held personally responsible. [24] Ireland, which is not bound by the crime law, has drafted prison terms of up to three years anyway. [24]

12. 13

    Missouri cotton beats its average

    In Pemiscot County, in Missouri's Bootheel, cotton buyer Barry Bean says one finished farm picked 1,200 pounds an acre, 100 pounds above its five-year average. [25] He credits small, regular rains in August that kept the crop out of drought stress. [25] Missouri's cotton harvest was 20% done, Arkansas's 45% and Tennessee's 35%. [25] Bean expects the rain forecast this week will not hurt the cotton if sun follows to dry and whiten it. [25]

    Why it matters — His customers report yields from average to 125 pounds above average. [25] A drier week let the cotton harvest in the US South move fast while Iowa's corn waited. [25][1]

13. 14

    Irish dairy co-op pays more for milk

    Lakeland Dairies, a farmer-owned dairy company in Ireland, will pay 39.7 cents a litre for September milk in the Republic of Ireland, up 0.6 cents. [26] That price is for milk with 3.6% butterfat and 3.3% protein. [26] In Northern Ireland it will pay 31.9 pence a litre, up 0.5 pence. [26] Ornua, which sells Irish dairy products abroad, raised its own price index for September the week before. [26]

    Why it matters — Lakeland says the world's milk supply is still growing but more slowly, while demand is solid. [26] It names oil, energy prices and interest rates as the biggest risks. [26]

14. 15

    South African sugar giant leaves the stock market

    Tongaat Hulett, a big South African sugar company, says its shares will be removed from the stock exchange on 3 November, and shareholders get nothing. [27] It has been in business rescue, a court-supervised process for firms that cannot pay their debts, since October 2022. [27] A R2.5 billion loan from the state-owned Industrial Development Corporation paid costs such as salaries. [27] It reached its end date on 30 September, and no extension has been announced. [27]

    Why it matters — About 5,800 Tongaat workers struck for almost four weeks from 17 August and won a 6% pay rise. [27] The company says a restructuring, a sale or closing down are all still possible. [27]

15. 16

    Malawi gives tobacco growers more time to register

    Malawi's Tobacco Commission has extended its grower registration from 3 October to 17 October, after more farmers came than expected. [28] Its Know Your Grower system records who grows each crop, to meet buyers' rules abroad. [28] Of an estimated 191,000 growers, 49,229 had registered by 12 October. [28] Some farmers report delays from staff shortages. [28]

    • Registered by 12 October49,229 · 26%
    • Not yet registered141,771 · 74%

    Why it matters — The commission's chair, Daniel Gunya, says leaf quality is the most important thing deciding its price on world markets. [28] He told growers to start preparing their fields early. [28]

16. 17

    Bayer teams up on a microbe that feeds corn

    Bayer Crop Science, the farm arm of the German company Bayer, has agreed to work with Switch Bioworks, a California start-up. [29] Switch engineers soil microbes that settle on plant roots first and switch on making ammonia, a nitrogen fertiliser, only weeks later. [29] In grow rooms this made five times more nitrogen than microbes that are always on, the company says. [29] It has run field trials on corn across the Midwest. [29]

    Why it matters — If it works in fields, farmers could use less factory-made fertiliser. [29] The results so far are the company's own, from grow rooms and early trials. [29]

17. 18

    A start-up edits plants to store more starch

    ClimateCrop, an Israeli start-up, says it has found the signal that tells plants to slow down making starch as daylight fades. [30] Starch is the energy store plants draw on at night and during drought. [30] Switching it off made plants store 10% to 15% more starch a day, the company says, and it saw a similar effect in potato, tomato, canola and sorghum. [30] The method came from the Weizmann Institute of Science and is patented. [30]

    Why it matters — The firm is licensing it to seed companies for field trials. [30] Its chief executive says any gain in harvests will differ from season to season and place to place. [30]

18. 19

    Canada uses AI against a soybean mould

    Scientists at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, the country's farm ministry, are using genetics and machine learning to find soybean genes that resist white mould. [31] The fungus thrives in cool, wet weather at flowering and leaves fluffy white growth on stems. [31] The team has found at least ten new parts of the soybean's DNA linked to resistance. [31] No fully resistant soybean variety exists yet. [31]

    Why it matters — White mould is one of the leading causes of lost soybean harvests in North America. [31] Resistant varieties would mean fewer fungicide sprays, but breeding them will take years. [31]

19. 20

    Polluted air hides flowers from bees

    James Ryalls and colleagues pooled 22 experiments, mostly in Europe, on how ozone and nitrogen oxides affect pollinating insects such as bees. [32] Both pollutants come largely from burning fossil fuels, and they break down the scents flowers use to attract insects. [32] On average ozone cut pollinators' performance by 42% and nitrogen oxides by 46%. [32] Together, the average drop was 68%. [32]

    Ozone42%

    Nitrogen oxides46%

    Both together68%

    Why it matters — Almonds, apples, oilseed rape and strawberries all need insects to pollinate them. [32] The authors say ground-level ozone may keep rising until about 2050, even as diesel pollution falls. [32]

20. 21

    Northern Ireland tests every cow's genes

    Northern Ireland's farm department is running a £16.6m scheme to genetically test every cow. [33] Testing is free until the end of 2027, and more than 6,000 farmers have signed up. [33] Samples come from the plastic ear tags every calf already wears. [33] Farmers use the results to choose which cows to breed from, instead of judging mostly by milk volume and butterfat. [33]

    Why it matters — A vet in County Fermanagh says resistance to bovine TB, a lung disease of cattle, is up to 11% inherited, so breeding could help fight it. [33] Healthier herds could also mean fewer antibiotics on farms. [33]

21. 22

    Asian dairy brands top a value ranking

    Brand Finance, a consultancy that puts a price on brands, ranked China's Yili the world's most valuable dairy brand, at $14.5bn, up 29%. [34] France's Danone came second at $8.2bn, ahead of China's Mengniu at $6bn. [34] India's Amul, a farmers' cooperative, was fourth at $5bn but scored highest of all on brand strength. [34] The Middle East's Almarai was fifth at $4.1bn. [34]

    Yili (China)$14.50bn

    Danone (France)$8.20bn

    Mengniu (China)$6bn

    Amul (India)$5bn

    Almarai (Middle East)$4.10bn

    Why it matters — Brand Finance says Amul's strength rests on decades of trust and wide distribution. [34] Danone is the only Western company in the top five. [34]

22. 23

    Dutch pension money buys gentler forestry

    APG, a Dutch pension investor, has put 150 million euros ($167m) into a fund run by SLM Partners, on behalf of the pension fund ABP. [35] The fund buys forests and manages them by continuous cover, felling only part of a forest at a time so trees always stand. [35] Clear-felling, cutting a whole forest at once, is the industry's usual method. [35] SLM's first fund bought 2,000 hectares in Ireland. [35]

    Why it matters — SLM says regular thinning gives steadier income than one big harvest and saves replanting costs. [35] The new fund will start in Ireland before expanding to other European countries. [35]

23. 24

    England's new Western Forest offers farm grants

    Up to £500,000 is available to landowners in the Western Forest, a new 1,400-square-mile area of woods across Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and the West of England. [36] It is the first national forest created in England in a generation. [36] The Better Off With Trees programme offers free help with plans, approvals and planting. [36] Making an enquiry does not commit anyone to planting a tree. [36]

    Why it matters — One Wiltshire farm that has grown trees among its fields for two decades says its overall production rose about 35%. [36] The trees also give shade to livestock and woodchip for bedding. [36]

24. 25

    A French electric tractor built from scratch

    Seederal, a French company, has unveiled a 160-horsepower tractor designed around electricity from the start, after four years of work. [37] Other electric tractors are built on bodies first made for diesel. [37] Seederal says it runs eight to 12 hours on a charge and takes eight to ten hours to recharge. [37] It first tested an electric version of an existing JCB tractor for over 600 hours with more than 100 farmers. [37]

    Why it matters — Its founder wants farms that make their own electricity to run their machines on it instead of diesel. [37] Diesel farm machinery is among the biggest sources of nitrogen oxides, the pollutants in the bee study above. [32]

25. 26

    Scotland tests crops for a warmer climate

    A farm near Forfar in Scotland grows tea in a walled garden, and sells its most expensive packet for about £40. [38] The James Hutton Institute, a Scottish crop research centre, is growing fava beans in a simulator that copies the weather expected in 75 years. [38] Climate models show Scotland getting hotter, drier summers and milder, wetter winters by the end of the century. [38] Scientists want crops bred to cope with many kinds of stress. [38]

    Why it matters — Pete Ritchie of Nourish Scotland, a campaign group, says cheap wind power could one day heat glasshouses for tomatoes and melons. [38] The tea grower doubts tea will ever be a major Scottish crop. [38]

26. 27

    Barn owl chicks ringed on Dorset farms

    Fifteen barn owl chicks and one adult have been fitted with leg rings on three farms in Purbeck, Dorset, for the first time. [39] The National Trust and two bird groups want to see whether wildlife-friendly farming there is working. [39] The Trust's tenant farmers leave longer grass, hedgerows and scrub, which feed the voles barn owls eat. [39] The ringing will be repeated every year. [39]

    Why it matters — Barn owl numbers fell sharply over the past century, and the Trust sees signs of a local recovery. [39] Rings let scientists tell one bird from another as they move between nest boxes. [39]

27. 28

    Police patrol farms against hare coursing

    Police in Lincolnshire and Hampshire are stepping up patrols of farmland as the hare coursing season begins. [40] Hare coursing is setting dogs to chase and kill hares, usually after trespassing on farmland, often with bets on the result. [40] Lincolnshire's operation uses drones and unmarked cars. [40] Last week a court fined John Doran £1,160 and banned him for five years from owning lurchers or sighthounds, the dogs used. [40]

    Why it matters — A 2022 law lets police seize the dogs and vehicles involved. [40] Police say the gangs damage farmland and intimidate rural communities. [40]

28. 29

    Pop stars join a protein soda

    Proda, a US soda with 10 grams of whey protein in every 12-ounce serving, has made singer Justin Timberlake and actor Jessica Biel co-founders. [41] It is sold at Sprouts Farmers Market and on Amazon, and wants to reach big grocery chains. [41] Nearly half of US adults, 48%, say they are trying to eat more protein, up 7 points in a year, a Circana survey found. [41] Food makers are now adding protein to many products. [41]

    Why it matters — Studies show shoppers are more willing to try something unfamiliar when a celebrity backs it, Food Dive notes. [41]