Food & Farming · Tuesday, 20 October 2026

01 Briefing what happened

The US will pay farmers $8 billion toward diesel and other costs, worked out from the acres they planted, while a diesel tax it put off still worries drivers

The US farm department will make one-time payments from a formula of acres, average costs and forecast prices, with rates for the main crops due in November. A separate order lets drivers skip a federal diesel tax, but many still pay it for fear of a bill later.

$8 billion

in one-time payments to US farmers for fuel and other costs

It comes from the same fund that paid an earlier $12 billion farm aid programme. [1]

$3.50 to $5.89

a gallon of diesel at a South Dakota farm co-operative, before and now

That is one truck driver's account of what he pays at the pump. [2]

24.4 cents

federal tax on each gallon of highway diesel, put off but not cancelled

Some drivers who fear a bill later keep paying it anyway. [2]

The lead story — what happened

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA), the US farm department, said on Monday it will pay farmers $8 billion to help with high prices for diesel and other farm supplies. [1]
The money comes from the Commodity Credit Corporation, the same farm fund that paid for an earlier $12 billion aid programme called Farmer Bridge Assistance. [1]
Each payment will come from a formula: the acres a farmer planted, the department's own estimates of what crops cost to grow, and its forecasts of yields and prices. [1]
It is a one-time payment for losses expected in the 2026 crop year, and farmers do not need crop insurance to qualify. [1]
Rates for the main crops the US farm law supports are due in November. Fruit and vegetable growers and fishermen were asked to send in their fuel costs, and their method comes later. [1]
Diesel is the reason. A truck driver filling up at a farm co-operative in South Dakota says he paid $3.50 a gallon before and pays $5.89 now. [2]
Earlier this month President Trump signed an order at a campaign rally in Nebraska letting drivers use red-dyed diesel on highways until the end of the year. [2]
Red diesel is the same fuel as ordinary diesel, but it skips the 24.4-cent federal road tax, so until now it was allowed only off the road, in machines such as tractors. [2]
The order only puts the tax off. Molly Nixon of the Cato Institute, a US research group, says a president cannot tell the US tax agency not to collect it. [2]
So some drivers still buy the taxed fuel. One driver's employer told him to, and South Dakota's truckers' association advised its members not to change. [2]
Last Wednesday the US tax agency said it will not inspect vehicles or fine anyone using red diesel on highways this year. [2]
Fertilizer prices are climbing too. Joseph Glauber, a former chief economist at the USDA, names them as one of the two biggest problems for farming worldwide in 2027. [4]
The payments come weeks before the US midterm elections in November. [3]

$3.50Diesel, before

$5.89Diesel, now

What one South Dakota truck driver says a gallon of diesel cost him before and costs him now: about two-thirds more.

Who is involved

The USDA and Brooke Rollins

the US farm department and the agriculture secretary who runs it; they announced the $8 billion
Gerald Otte

a truck driver at a farm co-operative in Salem, South Dakota; he still buys taxed diesel
Molly Nixon

a fellow at the Cato Institute, a US research group that studies government power; she says the order cannot cancel the tax
Larry Rhoden

South Dakota's governor; he told drivers not to fill highway vehicles with red diesel

How it unfolded

Early Oct Trump signs an order at a Nebraska rally letting drivers use untaxed red diesel on highways [2]
Wed 14 Oct the US tax agency says it will not inspect vehicles or fine red-diesel users this year [2]
Mon 19 Oct the USDA announces $8 billion in one-time payments for fuel and other costs [1]
November payment rates for the main crops are due [1]
Later a method for fruit and vegetable growers and fishermen [1]

Where this points

Watch the rates due in November: they will show how much each acre is worth, and whether farms that burn a lot of diesel get more than farms that burn little. [1]

What is pushing on the whole day

The bar and the word are our reading of how hard each one is pushing today. The arrow is where it is heading. The evidence is in the stories below.

Fuel and fertilizer bills High↑

A South Dakota truck driver says diesel went from $3.50 to $5.89 a gallon. [2] US corn and soybean farmers named high input costs their biggest worry in a September survey. [24] In Pakistan, one fish farm cut its energy bill by about half by pumping with solar power. [19]

Trade rules steering crops Building↑

US exporters announced soybean sales, some of them to China, for a fourth business day in a row. [5] India's 45% duty sent soybeans labelled from Niger to other Asian buyers instead. [12] Britain's sheep farmers want any new UK-EU deal to fit how their animals travel. [23]

Shoppers sticking to known foods Steady→

Mondelez's decades-old cookie brands are growing 4% while the wider cookie aisle is flat. [21] Insect protein firms have closed, and experts say many shoppers tried it once and did not come back. [20] About 80% of the seafood eaten in Britain is just five kinds of fish and shellfish. [26]

Germs found in seafood Building↑

Salmonella in oysters from a Virginia river has made 27 people ill in 12 US states. [17] Frozen smoked salmon from Latvia was recalled after a New York State test found Listeria. [18]

The rest of the day

19 more stories on this beat.

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

02
China keeps booking US soybeans

US exporters announced soybean sales for a fourth business day in a row on Monday, including 114,000 tonnes to China, and Brownfield, a US farm news service, put the running total at about 2.25 million tonnes. [5] State-owned trading firms made their first deals last week, the first since the September summit between President Trump and China's leader, Xi Jinping. [10] One report counted at least 20 cargoes, loading from December to March. [9] Soybeans leaving US ports almost doubled in the week to 15 October, to about 2 million tonnes, mostly bound for China and Mexico. [11]

Why it matters — China is the world's biggest soybean buyer, and it has bought more from Brazil in recent years. [11][9] Its orders matter for how much of this year's US harvest finds buyers abroad. [9] Only state firms are buying. Soybeans were left off a list of tariff cuts, so traders doubt private Chinese processors will return. [10]
03
Iowa's corn harvest falls further behind

The USDA's weekly crop report on Monday put the US corn harvest at 44% done, against 52% in an average year. [5] Iowa, the biggest corn state, was further back: 26% of its corn was in, against 50% in an average year, and 57% of its soybeans, against 74%. [6] Rain and hail have held up fields in Nebraska too, where one farmer said he had not cut any corn since mid-September. [8] In Illinois the harvest is ahead: 63% of its corn is in, five points more than usual. [7]

Iowa corn harvested26%
Iowa, usual by now50%
US corn harvested44%
US, usual by now52%
Share of the corn crop harvested by Sunday 18 October, against the five-year average for that date.

Why it matters — Farmers with corn still standing in wet fields expect some of it to sprout, as one Nebraska grower put it. [8] Winter wheat, which is sown in autumn, is also being planted later than in most recent years. [5]
04
Screwworm found near a cattle crossing

New Mexico confirmed New World screwworm in a calf and a horse in Grant County on 15 October, near the Columbus crossing on the Mexican border. [15] The screwworm is a fly whose maggots eat the living flesh of animals. [15] Columbus was expected to be the next crossing to reopen to Mexican cattle, after Douglas, Arizona, in August and Santa Teresa, New Mexico, in September. [15] The US has counted 56 infested animals since June, 52 of them in Texas. [15]

Texas52
New Mexico4
Animals found with screwworm in the US since June, by state.

Why it matters — Feedlots in the US Southwest rely on young cattle from Mexico, and the USDA has announced no date for Columbus. [15]
05
India turns away soybeans labelled from Niger

About 11,000 tonnes of soybeans declared as grown in Niger and bound for India were turned round at sea and sold in Vietnam, Indonesia and Bangladesh, four traders told Reuters last Thursday. [12] Indian customs suspect the beans came from Nigeria and were labelled Niger to avoid a 45% duty, because India lets goods from the poorest countries in free. [12] India's imports labelled from Niger went from zero to 404,429 tonnes in eight months, though Niger grows almost no soybeans. [12] The cargoes fetched $470 to $510 a tonne, against more than $650 agreed with Indian buyers. [12]

$650+Agreed with India
$470Sold in Vietnam
What a tonne of the same soybeans fetched before and after India's buyers refused them: the sellers lost $140 to $180 a tonne.

Why it matters — India bought a record 1 million tonnes of soybeans this year after a poor harvest at home. [12] It takes only beans that are not genetically modified, which only a few countries can sell it. [12]
06
Groups sue over a weedkiller in water

Three environmental groups, led by the Center for Biological Diversity, sued the US Environmental Protection Agency in a federal court in California on 14 October. [16] They say it broke the US Clean Water Act by never finishing safe limits for atrazine in rivers and lakes, work it began in 1999. [16] Atrazine is a weedkiller used mostly on corn and sorghum, and the suit says about 70 million pounds of it are used in the US each year. [16] The suit does not ask for a ban, and nothing changes for farmers yet. [16]

Why it matters — Limits from the agency would guide how US states police weedkiller washing off farms into streams. [16] Corn growers who rely on atrazine could then face new rules or higher weed-control costs. [16]
07
Salmonella in oysters reaches 12 states

Salmonella linked to oysters from Virginia's Little Wicomico River has now been found in 27 people in 12 US states. [17] The Little Wicomico Oyster Company recalled oysters harvested from 18 September to 8 October and stopped harvesting there. [17] Virginia closed the river to shellfish harvesting on 9 October. [17] The oysters went to restaurants and shops in 16 states and Washington, D.C., and the US Food and Drug Administration says they may have gone further. [17]

Why it matters — The FDA has told restaurants and shops not to serve or sell the recalled oysters. [17] Older adults, children, pregnant women and people with weak immune systems are the most likely to fall badly ill. [17]
08
Solar pumps drain Pakistan's groundwater

Farmers in Pakistan's Punjab province are switching their water pumps from diesel to solar power, NPR reported on Monday. [19] At one fish farm, solar pumps run about 11 hours a day in summer and cut the energy bill by about half. [19] A study by the researcher Khalid Jamil found that in 77% of cases surveyed, farms with solar pumps took out more groundwater than farms paying for diesel. [19] Nobody checks how much is drawn, one fish farmer said. [19]

Why it matters — Pakistan already takes too much water out of the ground. [19] Bashir Ahmad, a director of Pakistan's farm research council, warns that solar pumping on land that is poor for farming could make that worse. [19]
09
Lindt's chief executive is pushed out

Lindt & Spruengli, the Swiss maker of Lindt truffles and Excellence chocolate bars, said on Monday that its chief executive, Adalbert Lechner, is leaving. [14] Its board said the company needs new leadership to return to consistent, strong growth. [14] Dieter Weisskopf, who ran Lindt until 2022, takes over for now, and a permanent chief is expected in the second quarter of 2027. [14] Trade reporters linked the exit to a recent slowdown in sales, at a time of high cocoa costs. [13]

Why it matters — Weisskopf says his first job is to make Lindt's European business grow again. [14] Its sales in North America and in Asian markets such as China and Japan are still gaining ground. [14]
10
US farmers split on how the year is going

A monthly survey of about 400 US farmers by Purdue University and CME Group, which runs futures markets, stood at 123 in September. [24] But the average hides a wide split. [24] Among corn and soybean growers, those below the average scored 48 and those above it 191, an analysis on farmdoc daily, a University of Illinois site, found. [24] About 12% gave the most negative answer to every question. [24] Both groups named high input costs as their biggest worry, and their comments pointed at fuel and fertilizer. [24]

Why it matters — Only 24% of the gloomier growers thought the US was heading in the right direction. [24] Among the more cheerful growers, 69% did. [24]
11
US cotton growers get more insurance choices

The USDA will let cotton growers combine several kinds of area-wide crop insurance from the 2027 crop, the agriculture secretary, Brooke Rollins, announced on a Texas farm on Friday. [25] The National Cotton Council, which speaks for US cotton growers, welcomed the change. [25] The department also said a new import-quota scheme starting in 2027 will reward some countries for buying US cotton. [25] Final details go to insurers by 30 November. [25]

Why it matters — Both steps are part of a plan launched in May to make more use of US-grown cotton and protect the farmers who grow it. [25]
12
Food banks ask the US to buy rice

Feeding America, a network of more than 250 US food banks, asked the USDA to buy at least $21 million of US-grown long-grain rice. [25] It wants the money to come from Section 32, a fund built from import duties that also pays for child nutrition programmes. [25] The rice would reach families through a federal programme that hands food to food banks. [25] It would add to about $730 million of food the department bought from US farmers in 2026. [25]

Why it matters — Rice farmers would gain a buyer. [25] Families who use food banks would get the rice. [25]
13
Frozen smoked salmon recalled for Listeria

Krasnyi Oktyabr, a wholesale food distributor in Brooklyn, New York, recalled frozen cold-smoked salmon sold under the Starfish Seafood name. [18] A test by New York State's agriculture department found Listeria, a germ that can cause serious and sometimes deadly infections. [18] The fish came from Latvia and was sold on in six US states. [18] No one has been reported ill, but the packs are marked best before November 2027, so some may still be in home freezers. [18]

Why it matters — The distributor did not make the fish. [18] A state test of the product on sale is what found the germ. [18]
14
Sheep farmers ask for workable travel rules

The National Sheep Association, which speaks for UK sheep farmers, wants any new UK-EU deal to fit how British sheep are moved. [23] The UK and the EU are negotiating a reset of their ties, and a farm arrangement is expected in 2027. [23] That could make it easier to trade live animals across the border. [23] But the association worries about EU rules on journey times, temperature and trailer height. [23] The group says sheep often travel far because there are few slaughterhouses. [23]

Why it matters — Its chief executive, Phil Stocker, says the deal works only if the rules are read in a way that fits how the trade moves animals. [23]
15
Why insect protein firms closed

Several insect protein businesses, including Ynsect, an insect-farming company, and Yum Bug, a London restaurant, have closed, FoodNavigator, a food trade site, reported on Monday. [20] Experts told it that factories were built before enough buyers existed. [20] Many shoppers tried an insect snack once and did not buy it again. [20] The EU has approved four insects as food, including the house cricket and the yellow mealworm, but rules on what farmed insects may eat kept the cheapest feed off limits. [20]

Why it matters — Analysts now expect any growth to come from animal feed, pet food and fish farming rather than food for people. [20] One research firm forecasts 34% growth a year to 2036, which is a projection, not a result. [20]
16
Mondelez's old cookie brands sell more

Mondelez, the US maker of Oreo, says sales of its smaller, decades-old cookie brands rose 4% this year to 12 September, while the wider cookie market is flat. [21] These brands, which include Nutter Butter, Nilla Wafers and Honey Maid, sell more than $1 billion a year and had two years of falling sales before this one. [21] Nilla has about five versions on sale, while Oreo has about 120 in the US. [21] Mondelez links the rise to nostalgia and to America's 250th birthday. [21]

Why it matters — Brands with almost no new flavours are now growing faster than Oreo's core range, which depends on a dozen new flavours a year. [21]
17
Britain's fish recipes narrowed to five

A study of 1,192 fish recipes in Good Housekeeping, a British home magazine, from 1923 to 2025 found that recipes once spread across many kinds of fish and now lean on a few. [26] Recipes in the 1920s called for sole, oysters, halibut and herring, and almost a third suggested another fish to swap in. [26] Since the 1970s, cod, haddock, salmon, tuna and prawns have led. [26] Today about 80% of the seafood eaten in Britain comes from those five groups, and most of it is imported. [26]
- Cod, haddock, salmon, tuna and prawns80%
- Every other fish and shellfish20%
Share of the seafood eaten in Britain that comes from five kinds of fish and shellfish.
Why it matters — The researcher, Ruth Thurstan of the University of Exeter, says much of what British boats land is sold abroad. [26] She argues that habits shaped by trade and shops could change again. [26]
18
A US water bottler opens a new plant

Primo Brands, which sells Poland Spring and Pure Life bottled water, opened a 200,000-square-foot factory in Hot Springs, Arkansas. [22] It is the company's first new plant since its 2024 merger with BlueTriton, the water business Nestle sold in 2021 for $4.3 billion. [22] The plant will make more Mountain Valley, a spring and sparkling water the company says is in strong demand. [22] Water is the biggest packaged drink in the US by volume. [22]

Why it matters — Primo's sales rose 3.8% to about $1.8 billion in its last reported quarter, helped by its dearer waters. [22]
19
UN food agency warns the EU over aid cuts

Carl Skau, acting head of the World Food Programme, the UN agency that hands out food in emergencies, warned the European Union against cutting its aid budget, in an interview published on Monday. [27] A compromise put forward by Ireland, which is chairing talks between EU governments, would cut 38 billion euros, about 17%, from the EU fund for development and foreign aid. [27] The agency's funding has fallen 40% in two years, after the US halved its money in 2025. [27] It projects that up to 363 million people could face severe hunger this year. [27]

Why it matters — Skau says the cuts already mean ending food for women and children in South Sudan, Afghanistan and Somalia. [27] He hands the agency to Luke Lindberg at the end of October. [27]
20
Fish becomes a luxury in Congo-Brazzaville

In Pointe-Noire, the business capital of the Republic of Congo, farmers are raising catfish in tanks and ponds inside the city, Africanews reported on Monday. [28] Many of the area's rivers are too polluted to fish, and overfishing has left both sea and river fish in short supply. [28] A giant catfish can cost more than 7,000 CFA francs, in a country where the minimum wage is 50,000. [28] The FAO, the UN's food agency, puts the country's farmed fish at about 1,500 tonnes a year. [28]

Why it matters — Feed makes up about three-quarters of a fish farm's costs, so farmers want more fish feed made in Congo. [28] People there eat about 25 kilograms of fish each a year, the FAO says. [28]

02 Lesson why it matters

Why help with a fuel bill is not the same as cheaper fuel

The US will pay farmers by acres and average costs, so a farm gets the same sum however much diesel it burns, and it still pays in full for every extra gallon.

The twist

The $8 billion pays part of a farm's fuel bill, but each extra gallon still costs the full pump price, so a farmer still has a reason to save it. In Pakistan, solar panels made each extra hour of pumping free, and most farms with them pumped more water.

The picture

77 of 100

cases where solar-pump farms took out more groundwater than diesel farms

In a study in Pakistan's Punjab, 77 of every 100 cases surveyed with solar pumps drew more groundwater than farms that paid for diesel.

How it works

Each extra gallon of fuel or hour of pumping costs money
A farmer weighs that price before using more
A payment worked out from acres arrives whatever the farm burns next
So it pays part of the bill, while each extra gallon still costs what the pump charges
Make the extra gallon or hour cheap or free, and people use more of it

The same force, elsewhere today

Where this chain is also running, in today's other stories.

Solar pumps in Pakistan

Once the panels are paid for, an extra hour of pumping costs nothing, and in 77% of cases studied the solar farms drew more groundwater than diesel farms.
India turning away Niger-labelled soybeans

India's 45% duty is charged on every tonne, so buyers who feared paying it refused the cargoes, and the beans went to Vietnam for up to $180 a tonne less.

Where you've seen this

All-you-can-eat buffets

once the price is paid at the door, the next plate costs nothing, so people fill more plates

Unlimited phone data

the next video costs nothing extra, so people stream more than on a plan that charges by the gigabyte

Water meters at home

a home charged for each litre has a reason to fix a dripping tap; a home on a flat fee does not

The catch

A lump sum can still change choices more slowly: a farm with cash in hand may keep going where it would have cut back, and the formula decides which farms get that cash.

And the whole of it

A farmer in Iowa, a truck driver in South Dakota and a fish farmer in Punjab each decide how much to use one gallon or one hour at a time. Each sees what his own next gallon or hour will cost him. None of them can see the whole aquifer under Punjab, or how the $8 billion will split between big farms and small ones.

03 Truth what's really going on

What is really going on

The US farm department will hand farmers $8 billion by a formula built on the acres they planted, so farms with more acres will get more money, and it is announced weeks before the US midterm elections in November. [1][3] The diesel-tax order signed at a Nebraska rally was meant to make fuel cheaper, but the tax was only put off, so some drivers are still paying it. [2]

Why it works on us — One large round number, $8 billion, is easy to repeat and sounds generous, while the number that matters to each farmer, the rate for each acre, will not be published until November.

Who gains

US farms with the most planted acres — The payment is worked out from acres planted, so a bigger farm gets a bigger share of the $8 billion. [1]
US soybean farmers and exporters — Exporters announced soybean sales four business days in a row, and shipments, mostly to China and Mexico, almost doubled in a week. [5][11]
Soybean buyers in Vietnam, Indonesia and Bangladesh — They bought cargoes India refused for $470 to $510 a tonne, against more than $650 agreed by Indian buyers. [12]
Fish farmers in Pakistan with solar pumps — One farm's pumps run about 11 hours a day in summer at about half the old energy bill. [19]
Mondelez — Its old cookie brands are growing 4% with almost no new flavours, while the wider cookie market is flat. [21]

Who pays

Truck drivers who keep buying taxed diesel — They still pay the 24.4-cent federal tax that the order lets them skip, because they fear a bill later. [2]
Fruit and vegetable growers and fishermen in the US — Their payment method will come later than the main crops' rates, and they are asked to send in their own fuel costs first. [1]
Sellers of the Niger-labelled soybeans — They took $140 to $180 a tonne less after Indian buyers refused the cargoes. [12]
Everyone in Pakistan who relies on groundwater — In 77% of cases surveyed, farms with solar pumps drew more water out of the ground than diesel farms. [19]
Cattle feedlots in the US Southwest — They rely on young cattle from Mexico, and the next crossing's reopening is now in doubt. [15]
People who ate the Virginia oysters — 27 of them in 12 states have been made ill by Salmonella. [17]

What nobody knows yet

Open questions from across today’s stories — ours included.

01

How much each acre will get.

The USDA gave no formula details for any crop. Rates for the main crops come in November, and the method for other farms comes later. [1]
02

Whether farms that burn the most diesel get the most help.

The formula uses the department's average cost estimates and planted acres, not each farm's own fuel bills. [1]
03

Whether drivers who use red diesel now will be sent a tax bill later.

The order only puts the tax off. The US tax agency says it will offer further guidance and explore ways to remove the charge, and a Cato Institute fellow says that may need a law. [2]
04

Whether China keeps buying US soybeans after this burst.

The reports of 20 cargoes came from people familiar with the deals and were not yet in official export data. [9] Soybeans were left off a list of tariff cuts, so traders doubt private Chinese processors will return. [10]
05

When the Columbus crossing reopens to Mexican cattle.

Traders had expected late October, but the USDA never set a date, and two new screwworm cases were found nearby on 15 October. [15]
06

Where the soybeans labelled from Niger really came from.

Indian customs suspect Nigeria and are asking importers for more papers. Neither Indian customs nor Niger's chamber of commerce answered Reuters. [12]
07

How many people the oysters made ill.

27 cases are counted, but the oysters went to 16 states and Washington, D.C., and the FDA says they may have gone further. [17]
08

Who will run Lindt.

The board has only started looking, and it does not expect to name a new chief before the second quarter of 2027. [14]
09

Whether the EPA will set safe limits for atrazine in water after more than 25 years.

The lawsuit was filed on 14 October, and no court has ruled. [16]

04 Hope carry this

In central Illinois, 63% of the corn was harvested by Sunday, five points ahead of the usual pace, and one farmer's soybeans yielded in the mid-70s to the 80s of bushels an acre.

Also true today

Soybeans leaving US ports almost doubled in one week, to about 2 million tonnes, most of them bound for China and Mexico.
A New York State test found Listeria in frozen smoked salmon, and it was recalled before anyone was reported ill.