Food, in brief

Britain has recorded 2,201 cases of bluetongue since its season began on 1 July, Defra, the UK government's farm department, says. [1]

Half of them, 1,103, came in September alone. [1]

Three months in, this season already has more cases than the last three seasons together. [1]

Bluetongue is a virus of sheep and cattle carried by biting midges, not passed from animal to animal. [3]

It often kills sheep, and in cattle it can cut milk and cause failed pregnancies and birth defects. [3] It does not affect people or food safety. [1]

Defra counts a whole farm as one case, so more animals are sick than the number shows. [1] Nearly 1,200 more possible cases were still being checked in late September. [3]

This strain was first found in England in 2023. [1] This summer it reached Scotland for the first time and has been found as far north as Aberdeenshire. [1]

From today the whole of Scotland is one restricted zone, so farmers no longer need a licence to move sheep and cattle inside it. [2]

Scotland has found the virus on 40 farms since early September, and four of them were outside the old zone, found by tracing animal moves. [2]

New cases were confirmed in Oxfordshire and on the Isle of Wight in late September, and Dorset has 50. [3]

Robyn Munt of the National Farmers' Union says the vaccine has been really hard for farmers to get. [1] A vet in Dorset says many animals were never vaccinated. [4]

Immunity takes time to build: one Dorset farmer vaccinated his flock and still had three cases in the 10 days before it took hold. [3]

Why it matters. Watch whether cases slow as autumn cools: the virus can only grow inside midges while it stays warm, and much of the UK is still warm enough. [1]

The FAO, the UN's food agency, said on Friday that its world food price index averaged 136.0 points in September, up from 134.0 in August. [5] That is its highest level since November 2022. [5] The index follows the world prices of cereals, vegetable oils, meat, dairy and sugar, and all five went up. [5] The Guardian reported that farmers were hit by hot weather and by trouble moving food. [5] In the FAO report as the Guardian quoted it, wheat rose because Black Sea grain shipping kept being disrupted. [5]

Why it matters. Sugar rose on fears of weak world supply next season, partly because of El Nino, a warming of the Pacific that shifts the world's rain. [5] Heat in Europe also slowed how fast pigs grow, so fewer were ready and pig meat prices rose. [5]

The average price of diesel in Britain rose above 2 pounds a litre for the first time on Friday, reaching 200.01p, the RAC motoring group said. [7] Filling an average family diesel car now costs about 110 pounds, almost 32 pounds more than when the US-Iran war began. [7] More than half the diesel Britain uses is imported, and about 17% of all its supply comes from the US. [7] Mark Means, who has farmed in Norfolk for over 50 years, spent 50,000 pounds on new diesel tanks to be sure of enough fuel to harvest and plant. [7]

Why it matters. Tractors, combine harvesters and delivery lorries all run on diesel. [7] So people who never drive a diesel car still pay through the cost of producing and delivering food. [7]

The G7, a group of seven rich democracies, agreed on Friday to release 100 million barrels of oil and diesel from reserves over four months. [6] A large share of the diesel is due in the first 20 days. [6] It came after President Trump threatened to stop US diesel exports unless Europe put more of its own stocks on the market. [6] The members also agreed not to restrict energy exports to each other. [6] US diesel averaged $6.37 a gallon on Friday, after a record $6.52 on 22 September, the motoring club AAA says. [9]

Why it matters. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent argued that farmers, truckers and businesses should not be the ones left paying. [6] Independent truckers who haul food now pay more than $1,000 to fill a tank, and some have parked their trucks. [8]

Australia's central bank raised its main interest rate to 4.6% this week, the highest since 2011. [10] Justin Everitt, who grows wheat, canola and barley and raises cattle and sheep in southern New South Wales, says soaring fuel costs already make his work harder. [10] A long-running national survey, called Hilda, found the share of Australians who often cannot afford enough food rose from 13.7% in 2020 to 17.9% in 2024. [10] Those figures were collected before this year's rate and fuel rises. [10] Australia also buys diesel from China, which stopped most fuel exports this month. [11]

Why it matters. Higher interest rates make loans dearer for farmers and families in the same months that fuel goes up. [10] Australia's government said on Friday that its stocks of petrol and jet fuel are within normal levels. [11]

The US Department of Agriculture said on 29 September that it will raise its Regenerative Pilot Program from $700 million to $1 billion for the 2027 budget year. [12] The program pays farmers to plan their whole farm around healthier soil and cleaner water, through a single application. [12] Last year its conservation service signed more than 5,100 contracts worth more than $851 million under it. [12] It is also making it easier to qualify for one of the schemes behind the program. [12]

Why it matters. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins tied the money to Make America Healthy Again, the health campaign of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. [12] Kennedy said it would help farmers rely less on costly farm chemicals. [12]

Two dozen members of the US House of Representatives, led by Alma Adams of North Carolina, wrote to the US Department of Agriculture on 28 September. [13] Congress set aside $7 million in the 2025 budget year and $5 million in 2026 for grants to farmers in cities and suburbs. [13] None of that money has been made available. [13] Since the grants began under the 2018 farm law, they have paid for urban farm training, school and community gardens and composting. [13]

Why it matters. The lawmakers want the full $12 million offered before the end of 2026, with 60 days to apply. [13] The department did not answer questions about the delay from the news site Civil Eats. [13]

The US Department of Agriculture published a final rule on 2 October changing its Rural Energy for America Program, which helps farms and rural businesses pay for energy projects. [14] Solar panels and wind turbines on cropland will now be discouraged. [14] A project must be fully built and running before it can apply, and projects spread across several sites can no longer apply at all. [14] Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said many past applicants chose unreliable energy and did not deliver what they promised. [14]

Why it matters. A farm must now pay for the whole project before it knows whether a grant will follow. [14] Under Secretary Glen Smith said the rule keeps good farmland in food production. [14]

China's private soybean mills have bought most of what they need until the Lunar New Year in early February, from Brazil, Argentina and state stocks, traders told Reuters. [15] Soybeans were left off China's list of US farm goods getting a lower tariff, so US beans still pay an extra 10%. [15] Chinese state companies have bought about 13.7 million tonnes of US soybeans since a trade deal in May. [15] Private mills have taken only South American beans, because weak demand for animal feed means pressing soybeans now loses money. [15]

Why it matters. US farmers are harvesting soybeans now, with few Chinese buyers left this winter. [15] Chicago soybean futures fell 1.5% in the week, and traders expect more falls as the harvest peaks. [15]

General Mills, the US maker of Cheerios, Nature Valley and Old El Paso, named Dana McNabb as its next chief executive on Wednesday. [16] She takes over on 1 January 2027 from Jeff Harmening, who has run the company since 2017 and will become its chair. [16] McNabb has worked at General Mills for 27 years and became its chief operating officer only in May. [16] The company is cutting $3 billion of costs over four years to return to growth. [16]

Why it matters. McNabb said in September that the savings will pay for new products. [16] She named stretched shoppers, changing food habits and weight-loss drugs among the pressures on big food brands. [16]

A group of senior UK food industry leaders wrote to investors, in a letter shared by a non-profit group, warning that their companies are failing to plan for risks to supply. [17] They say climate change, the loss of wildlife and worn-out soils are already cutting harvests and food quality. [17] The letter says boards answer with quick fixes, because chief executives want good news and pay is tied to short-term targets. [17] A Lumina Intelligence survey found more than half of food firms call climate resilience very important, but just 6% have built it into their plans. [17]

Why it matters. The leaders say long-term work that helps the whole industry loses out to competition between companies. [17] They warn that shoppers will otherwise see higher prices and less choice. [17]

Scientists, farmers and officials met in Brussels on Thursday and Friday at the European Commission's AgRI 2040 conference. [18] The question was how to turn EU farm research into working businesses while public money is tight. [18] EU farm commissioner Christophe Hansen said entrepreneurs tell him a new product takes about 10 years to reach the market in Europe, against one or two years in the US. [18] A proposed 234 billion euro competitiveness fund and the 175 billion euro Horizon research programme could together put 409 billion euros into innovation, farming included. [18]

Why it matters. Iulia Blagu, who runs a 920-hectare family farm in Romania, said new solutions reach her farm too late and too expensive. [18] Hansen wants research money linked to the EU's main farm subsidy budget for 2028 to 2034, which is still being negotiated. [18]

Chocolate makers are taking cocoa-free alternatives seriously after two years of cocoa shortages and record price swings, the trade site FoodNavigator reports. [19] Mark Golder, chief executive of Win-Win, a company that makes chocolate without cocoa, says demand keeps rising while cocoa harvests struggle to keep up. [19] Cocoa prices have eased from their 2025 highs, but makers want a second source that does not depend on the same farms and weather. [19] Some brands are testing hybrid bars that mix cocoa with an alternative. [19]

Why it matters. Millions of farmers live from growing cocoa. [19] Golder says the alternatives should sit beside cocoa rather than replace it. [19]

A study in the journal Nature tracked 9,419 meals eaten by 173 hospital patients having a stem-cell transplant, a treatment for blood cancers. [20] In the 158 patients with repeated gut samples, eating sweets and sugars while on antibiotics predicted worse damage to their gut bacteria. [20] The variety of bacteria shrank, and Enterococcus, a gut bacterium that can turn harmful, spread further. [20] In mice, adding table sugar made that spread bigger and longer. [20]

Why it matters. The authors suggest that a diet low in simple sugars during antibiotics may limit the damage. [20] They say other groups of patients must be studied before the finding can be applied more widely. [20]

Food companies are developing products for people who stop taking weight-loss drugs like Ozempic and then put weight back on, FoodNavigator reports. [21] Between 36% and 65% of users stop within a year, says James Watson of the consultancy Argon & Co, more often those without diabetes. [21] Nestle, the world's biggest food company, has developed ingredient mixes meant to curb appetite for people coming off the drugs. [21] New pill versions of the drugs may keep more people on them for good. [21]

Why it matters. If pills make long-term use easier, fewer people would need the food products built for life after the drugs. [21]

Hershey, the US chocolate maker, named Amanda Almond its international president from 12 October. [22] Almond, who is British, has more than 30 years of experience at PepsiCo, Bacardi and the drinks company Vinarchy. [22] She replaces Rohit Grover, who has led Hershey's business outside the US since 2019. [22]

Why it matters. Hershey's chief executive Kirk Tanner says she is there to speed up its growth outside the US. [22]