Food, in brief

The US and China agreed a $30 billion arrangement to cut tariffs, the taxes each charges on goods from the other, China's state news agency Xinhua reported on Saturday. [3]

Jamieson Greer, the US official who negotiates trade deals, said the US would publish the details on Monday. [4]

Before the summit, Greer named US farm goods, energy and medical devices as goods whose tariffs could be cut. [8] Reuters reported that cutting its taxes on US farm goods was China's easiest way to do its part. [5]

China still charges a 10% tax on US soybeans and other farm goods, and soybeans from Brazil do not pay it. [1]

So China's state-owned grain buyers, COFCO and Sinograin, bought US soybeans this summer, while private Chinese companies that crush soybeans stayed away. [1]

By 10 September, China had bought nearly 10 million tonnes of US soybeans from this year's crop. [1] Traders say it is on pace for the 25 million tonnes a year it promised. [1]

China also promised to buy at least $17 billion a year of other US farm goods, such as grain and meat. [1][2] It bought $3.9 billion of them in the first seven months of 2026. [2]

That was only slightly more than in the same months of 2025, when these sales were at a six-year low. [2]

Greer said the two sides agreed to leave some goods, including US farm goods, out of any future fight over tariffs. [4]

The truce that paused their trade war was due to end on 10 November, and now runs to 10 January. [5]

In South Dakota, about 30% of the soybeans grown were sold to China, until China stopped buying them last year. [6]

Why it matters. Watch the US list of goods due on Monday: if China's 10% tax on soybeans goes, a US exporter says US beans would cost the same as Brazil's at US ports on the Pacific. [1][4]

Somalia's government and the UN said on 23 September that 5.4 million people face crisis-level hunger or worse from October to December. [11][12] The count comes from the IPC, the scale aid agencies use to rank how bad hunger is. [11] It finds a risk of famine among people forced from their homes in Baidoa, in Bay region. [11] El Nino, a warm spell in the Pacific, is expected to bring floods from October. [11] Somalia's disaster agency says 2.5 to 3.5 million people could be hit, and about 1 million forced off land they farm and graze. [11]

Why it matters. The UN and Somalia's government want food and medicine moved into flood areas before the roads are cut in October. [11] FAO, the UN's food agency, says funding cuts are holding back the flood work its warnings called for. [12]

People in Mekelle, the capital of Tigray in northern Ethiopia, are buying food and taking out cash, fearing a return to full war. [13] In Adigrat, a town near Eritrea, a resident described panic-buying and empty shelves. [13] Fighting broke out on Wednesday, and Ethiopian Airlines cancelled all flights after Tigrayan forces seized three airports. [15] The state phone company's services were then cut, and many people pay with mobile money that needs those networks. [15]

Why it matters. In the 2020-22 war Tigray was cut off, and hundreds of thousands of people were pushed into famine-like conditions. [13][15] A businessman in Mekelle expects the cut transport links to push up the price of basic goods. [14]

Yemen's civil war has returned, as Houthi rebels backed by Iran advance against the forces of Yemen's government, which Saudi Arabia backs. [16] The Houthis have seized the Red Sea coast, including key ports for aid, and more than 130,000 people have fled their homes. [16] In Aden, a city held by Yemen's government, a feeding centre for malnourished children is struggling with a rise in patients, its director, Dr Arwa Atef, said. [16] One boy, aged 7, reached it in acute crisis after being carried from Mokha, a city 270km away. [16]

Why it matters. Many Yemenis were already hungry before this fighting, in the Arab world's poorest country. [16] Some health centres now turn away pregnant women and other patients to treat the wounded. [16]

Sempio Food Services, of Cerritos, California, recalled about 4,596 pounds of ready-to-eat Korean chicken stew on 25 September. [17] The stew was made in South Korea and entered the US without being inspected again on import, said the US Food Safety and Inspection Service, which checks meat. [17] It went to shops and distributors in eight states, including Florida, New York and Virginia. [17] The same day, Fontanini Foods of McCook, Illinois, recalled about 2,320 pounds of pork sausage links that may contain hard plastic. [18]

Why it matters. No one has reported falling ill from the stew. [17] The two recalls followed a far bigger one earlier that week, of more than 167,000 pounds of meat sold with a false inspection mark. [19]

Colombia's law of June 2026 makes ranchers fit cattle with ear tags or GPS chips, so beef can be traced to farms that did not clear forest, Reuters reported on 23 September. [20] Cattle ranching causes an estimated 80% of the Amazon's lost rainforest. [20] Colombia's slaughterhouses, cattle auctions and traders have two years to start checking. [20] In Brazil, home to 88% of the Amazon's cattle, the state of Para has put off its own tagging plan to the end of 2030, after ranchers complained. [20]

Why it matters. Marfrig, a Brazilian meat company, says it has blocked 15% to 20% of its suppliers for breaking its rules. [20] A plan for Brazil's banks to check where meat companies buy cattle has slipped to 2027. [20]

A report from Lumina Intelligence, a market research firm, finds that 54% of food and drink business leaders call being ready for climate damage important or very important. [21] Only 6% have fully built it into their company's plans, FoodNavigator, a food-industry news site, reported. [21] FoodNavigator points to crops destroyed by natural disasters, supply chains broken and sudden jumps in the price of ingredients. [21]

Why it matters. So most of these companies have no full plan for a flood or a drought, like the floods expected in Somalia and the drought in England. [11][21][24]

Eclipse Ingredients, an Australian start-up, plans to start selling human lactoferrin next year, its chief executive, Siobhan Coster, told AgFunderNews, a news site on farm and food technology. [22] Lactoferrin is a protein found in breast milk; the cow form is already sold, and the human form is not yet on the market. [22] Eclipse will sell first to cosmetics makers, then for adult nutrition, and later for baby formula, which takes longer to approve. [22] It has signed early agreements with five distributors. [22]

Why it matters. Coster says the company's own tests show the human form works better on human cells than the cow form; that is Eclipse's claim, not an outside test. [22] AgFunder, which owns AgFunderNews, has invested in Eclipse. [22]

Scientists published maps of how every farm field in Germany was used each year from 1990 to 2023, in the journal Scientific Data on 26 September. [23] They taught a computer program to read satellite pictures, using farmers' own records of what they grew. [23] The maps sort land into 13 crops and grassland, and were right 85% to 93% of the time from 2010 to 2022. [23] Big crops such as maize, rapeseed and sugar beet were picked out best, and fallow land was among the hardest. [23]

Why it matters. Germany's official farm counts have gaps in some years. [23] The authors say the maps can fill those gaps and break the counts down to smaller areas. [23]

Parts of England could stay in drought until next year, the BBC's science correspondent wrote, even after wetter September days turned grass green again. [24] The UK had five widespread heatwaves this summer, and some areas had no measurable rain for more than two months. [24] Farmers told the BBC that a "brutal" few months had left them feeling the financial pressure. [24] At the National Giant Vegetables Championship, growers had worked through hosepipe bans, and still set seven world records, pending checks. [24]

Why it matters. It lands on farmers already squeezed by the UK's hottest summer on record, and on growers facing hosepipe bans. [24]