Food, in brief

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the US competition regulator, and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) opened a joint inquiry on Wednesday into how farm machinery is sold and repaired. [1][2]

They want to know whether machinery makers and their dealers use their size to squeeze farmers. [1]

They are asking farmers, independent mechanics and current or former dealership staff to describe what happened to them. [1]

The questions include strict dealer contracts, hidden money penalties, and punishment for anyone who tries to work around the official dealers. [1]

Shares in Deere, the maker of John Deere tractors, fell 5.0% during the day, and rivals CNH and AGCO fell 5.7% and 5.9%. [1]

By the close, Deere was down 3.8% and Caterpillar, which also makes heavy machines, was down 5.8%. [2]

The inquiry follows an earlier FTC settlement with Deere, backed by five US states, that let farmers repair their own equipment. [1]

The day before, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said the USDA was widening its agreement with the Justice Department to look into competition in seed. [3][4]

The Justice Department will look at seed pricing, seed licensing, seed relabelling and the barriers facing small independent seed companies. [3]

USDA data show the average price of crop seed rose more than 270% between 1990 and 2020, far faster than the prices farmers got for their crops. [3]

Rollins also launched a $180 million plan to read the genes of the 600,000 seed samples, from over 16,000 species, that the USDA keeps. [4]

About 10% of that collection has been read so far, and the USDA says it will license what it finds to companies, not to one firm alone. [3]

Why it matters. Watch what farmers, mechanics and dealer staff tell the inquiry over the coming months, because the two agencies say it will shape future court cases and rules. [1]

The Japan Fair Trade Commission, the country's competition regulator, searched the offices of Asahi, Kirin and Suntory Spirits on Wednesday. [5] It suspects they worked together to raise beer prices. [5] There are reports that Sapporo Breweries was searched too. [5] The inquiry centres on price rises in October 2022 and April last year, when all four firms blamed costlier raw materials, energy and transport. [5] Asahi, Kirin and Sapporo shares fell, and all three searched firms said they would cooperate. [5]

Why it matters. A search is the start of a case, not a finding, so nobody has yet shown the brewers agreed anything. It lands the same week US agencies opened their own price inquiries into seed and farm machinery.

WWF, the conservation charity, studied nearly 36,000 animal populations of more than 5,000 species for a new report. [6] On average those populations fell by 73% since 1970. [6] Freshwater animals fell most, by 85%, and Latin America and the Caribbean lost 95% on land and in rivers. [6] The report calls farming the single largest cause of lost habitat, and says expanding farmland drives almost 90% of deforestation. [6] It also counts recoveries, including wild tigers and bluefin tuna. [6]

Why it matters. The report names how food is grown as the change furthest from happening. Farmers clearing land for crops and cattle are where its numbers start.

France's agriculture ministry estimated on Wednesday that this year's wine harvest will be about 35 million hectolitres. [12] That is 2% below 2025 and 14% below the average for 2021 to 2025. [12] Last year France made the least wine since 1957, says the International Organisation of Vine and Wine, which keeps the world's wine figures. [12] Summer heatwaves cut the crop, and vineyards shrank by 1.9%. [12] Champagne's harvest halved, while Bordeaux rose 10% on last year. [12]

Why it matters. Two short harvests in a row leave French growers with less to sell. The gap between regions shows the heat did not fall evenly.

The UK's total cereal harvest this year was the lowest on record, official estimates show. [13] Wheat fell by about three million tonnes, or 11%, says the Agricultural and Horticultural Development Board (AHDB), the farm levy body. [13] In south-west England most cereal farmers lost at least 30%, and spring barley and beans more than half. [13] A Wiltshire dairy farm spent over 100,000 pounds feeding cattle winter silage early after its grass failed. [13] Pumpkins were smaller and ripened early. [14]

Why it matters. The drought came on top of high costs for fertiliser and fuel, so farms with the smallest harvests carry both at once. [13] One Darlington farm that planted bigger pumpkins after last year's drought still had a full patch. [14]

India got its lowest rainfall from June to September in more than a decade, the fourth lowest since 2001. [15] El Nino, a warming of the Pacific that shifts rain around the world, is the cause. [15] Reservoirs were 28% short of full at the end of September, putting winter crops at risk, the bank Nomura reported. [15] India's foreign minister warned that El Nino and fertiliser shortages from the wars will cause a major food crisis in the coming months. [15]

Why it matters. India is one of the world's biggest exporters of rice and sugar, and its farms support 46% of its workers. [15] A short winter crop would push up food prices inside India first.

Satellite images from NASA show brown, dead fields around Lubbock in the Texas High Plains, America's biggest cotton region, in September. [16] One farmer said about 90% of her unwatered cotton died, the first year she had seen a whole crop die. [16] Farmers there abandoned 72% of that crop in 2022 and 66% in 2011. [16] The water table under Lubbock County has dropped 25 to 100 feet since 1950, and many of one farmer's irrigation wells stopped working in August. [16]

Why it matters. The aquifer, the water underground, was what farmers fell back on in dry years, and it is running out. [16] About seven inches of rain over three months would be needed to end this drought. [16]

California's Department of Water Resources is stockpiling flood-fighting supplies at 68 places as a strong El Nino builds. [46] Its inspectors are checking all 1,600 miles of levees, the earth banks that hold rivers back. [46] It is also helping farmers capture flood water and soak it into the ground for later, called groundwater recharge. [46] Governor Gavin Newsom has declared a state of emergency, and forecasters warn the winter could rival the state's worst. [46]

Why it matters. The same weather that dried India's monsoon could flood California's farm valleys. Water stored underground this winter is water farmers can pump in the next dry year.

British ammonium nitrate, a common nitrogen fertiliser, cost 484 pounds a tonne delivered at the end of September, the AHDB says. [19] That is 91 pounds more than a year earlier. [19] Two phosphate fertilisers rose more: triple super phosphate by 121 pounds to 641, and diammonium phosphate by 104 pounds to 795. [19] Fighting in the Gulf and the Black Sea, and smaller exports from Russia and China, keep supply short. [19]

Why it matters. A carbon border tax on imports comes into force on 1 January and could add 6 to 7% more. [19] British farmers are trying to get fertiliser delivered before then. [19]

The Iran war closed the Strait of Hormuz, the sea lane out of the Gulf, and fertiliser prices jumped worldwide this year. [20] In Zambia many farmers now make bokashi, a compost of leaves, dung and ash fermented with yeast and sugar. [20] Without a subsidy, a Zambian farmer pays about $400 for enough fertiliser for 2.5 acres of corn. [20] A 2024 trial by a Copperbelt University researcher found bokashi gave yields close to bought fertiliser. [20]

Why it matters. Zambia once imported nearly all its fertiliser, and began looking for other sources after world prices tripled following the pandemic and Russia's invasion of Ukraine. [20] A Chinese-Zambian group also plans a $1.5 billion fertiliser plant there. [20]

US road diesel averaged $6.20 a gallon on 5 October, the Energy Information Administration says. [17] That is 18 cents lower than a week earlier but nearly $2.50 above a year ago. [17] President Trump's order on Monday lets untaxed farm diesel be used on roads for now. [18] Independent oil refiners praised it and asked him to go further by easing the rule that makes fuel include crop-based biofuel. [18] Farm and biofuel groups reject the refiners' claim that the rule raises fuel prices. [18]

Why it matters. The diesel order has opened a fight between oil refiners and corn farmers, who sell much of their crop to make biofuel. [18] At harvest, combines, tractors and trucks run for hours at a time. [17]

California's governor Gavin Newsom signed a law last week setting a $19.75 hourly minimum for farmworkers on H-2A visas, the US permit for seasonal foreign workers. [21] It starts on 1 January 2027. [21] Last autumn the Trump administration changed a federal formula and cut their California wage from $19.97 to the state minimum of $16.50. [21] The United Farm Workers union backed the law. [21]

Why it matters. The workers get back most of what the federal change took. California citrus growers and Western Growers, a growers' group, say it adds a cost that farms in other states do not pay. [21]

In a survey for McCain Foods, the frozen chips maker, 87% of British farmers said rising costs had cut their profits sharply. [22] Some 27% said they made a loss or broke even last year. [22] Two in five are thinking of leaving farming for money reasons. [22] And 86% said uncertainty about government policy was hurting their farm. [22] Only 5% were hopeful about Britain's ability to feed itself in future. [22]

Why it matters. The survey comes in a year of a record-low grain harvest and high fertiliser bills. Trade policy was the farmers' top concern, named by 53%. [22]

A Devon vet practice tested about 800 rams before mating season and found about half infertile, against about 20% in a normal year. [23] Bluetongue is a virus spread by biting midges that harms sheep and cattle. [23] Britain has recorded 2,878 cases this season, against 348 in the whole of the last one. [23] Devon alone has 1,075 farms with the virus. [23] Vaccinated rams were far more fertile. [23]

Why it matters. A ram that cannot breed means fewer lambs next spring, even on farms where the sheep looked healthy. [23] The vet rejected claims that the vaccine caused the problem. [23]

Farmers in Northern Ireland start getting offers worth 15 million pounds on Thursday from the Sustainable Farming Investment Scheme. [24][25] The scheme will pay out 40 million pounds over three to four years. [24][25] It helps farms buy equipment, including machines that spread slurry, the liquid manure, with lower emissions. [24] Farmers have 28 days to accept, or the offer expires. [24] Agriculture minister Andrew Muir said demand showed how much investment farms need. [25]

Why it matters. The money arrives as British farmers report falling profits and high input costs. It pays for equipment, not for running costs.

Flour millers in Karachi, Pakistan's biggest city, raised flour prices by an average of 14 rupees a kilo over three days. [26] Fine flour now costs 170 rupees a kilo. [26] Open-market wheat rose from 125-130 rupees to 138. [26] Retailers say millers stopped deliveries for days before the rise. [26] Bakers raised the price of naan by 5 rupees. [26] The new wheat crop arrives from March to May, and imported wheat this month or next. [26]

Why it matters. Millers cut prices by 3 rupees in late September, but shoppers got no relief because retailers kept their prices the same. [26] Branded bread makers have raised their prices too. [26]

Israeli settlers fired on Palestinian olive harvesters in Burqa, a village in the occupied West Bank, on Wednesday, Palestinian officials said. [27] A Palestinian security officer who went to help was killed and 16 people were wounded. [27] The olive harvest began this month. [27] Palestinian officials say five Palestinians have been killed and more than 100 hurt in similar attacks this week. [27] Israel's military said it responded to a report of rocks thrown at an Israeli. [27]

Why it matters. Israelis have damaged thousands of olive trees, costing farmers hundreds of thousands of dollars, Palestinian officials say. [27] Arrests do not usually follow settler violence, AP reported. [27]

The FAO, the UN's food agency, says more than 45 million people across the Near East and North Africa face crisis-level hunger or worse. [44] Its deputy head Beth Bechdol visited Lebanon to press governments and donors for money. [44] The FAO says war, displacement and climate are destroying farms and markets. [44] It wants emergency farm aid so families can keep growing food, but says funding is short. [44]

Why it matters. Funding shortfalls are limiting the help that keeps farms producing, the FAO says. [44] In Lebanon, farmers it visited share a solar-powered pump to water their greenhouses. [44]

A Salmonella outbreak tied to broccoli sprouts has reached 32 people in six US states, three of them in hospital. [28] The FDA, the US food regulator, has not named the supplier of the contaminated seed lot. [28] It has started inspections in an E. coli outbreak from raw-milk cheese that has made 13 people ill in nine states. [29] Another 38 E. coli cases came from chicken wraps whose brand has not been named. [29]

Why it matters. A shopper cannot check a fridge for a product nobody has named. A Listeria outbreak with 11 patients is also being traced, and the FDA has not said what food it is tracing. [29]

Two people in Valais, in southern Switzerland, are in hospital with botulism, a rare poisoning that can stop breathing. [30] Switzerland's food safety office recalled a pork shank terrine made by Eddy Gaspoz and sold at markets in Sierre and Martigny. [30] About 20 jars were made on 3 September. [30] Twelve were returned or eaten without illness, and three sold jars are still out. [30]

Why it matters. Symptoms usually start 18 to 36 hours after eating, beginning with tiredness and weakness. [30] Anyone with a jar is told not to open it. [30]

The Beltsville Agricultural Research Center near Washington, DC, the USDA's oldest and largest lab at over 110 years old, is set to close. [31] It had about 400 staff last summer, studying food poisoning germs, plant disease and crop yields. [31] The USDA is moving its scientists to labs around the country to save money, but most declined to move. [31] A union lawsuit and a court order could still delay the closure. [31]

Why it matters. Its scientists worked on Cyclospora and the New World screwworm fly, both of which hit US food this year. [31] One scientist who left for a private job called ending that work highly wasteful. [31]

This summer's heatwaves measurably lowered the solids in European milk, the protein, fat and minerals that make cheese and butter, says the European Dairy Association. [32] Its secretary general Alexander Anton called the effect on the industry rather small because it was brief. [32] Milk from heat-stressed cows often has less protein and fat, the FAO and the World Meteorological Organization say. [32] Hens in heat can lay thinner shells. [32]

Why it matters. Over the years milk solids have been rising in Europe and the US, the association says. [32] The heatwaves did not change how much milk people bought. [32]

A review of 22 studies from Europe, Canada and the US found that trans fats found naturally in milk, butter and cheese did not raise the risk of heart disease or type 2 diabetes. [33] Industrial trans fats, made when oils are hardened in factories, are strongly linked to heart disease. [33] The review was published in the journal Nutrition Research and led by researchers including Professor Ian Givens of the University of Reading. [33]

Why it matters. The authors say labels that lump both kinds together confuse shoppers, and their finding could make labels clearer. [33] It is one review, not the final word.

Deep Science Ventures, an investment firm, says decades of breeding crops for yield have left them with fewer minerals per bite. [34] Its model says that if 15% of UK adults take weight-loss drugs and crops lose another 15% of their nutrients, about five million working-age adults could fall short of selenium, potassium and iron. [34] Higher carbon dioxide could cut wheat protein by up to 12.7% by 2050. [34]

Why it matters. People eating less food need more from each mouthful, the firm argues. [34] This is a model from an investment firm, not a measured result. [34]

A small pilot study followed 39 people for four months after they stopped weight-loss drugs like Ozempic. [35] People given meals designed by dietitians regained about 3.58% of their body weight. [35] People using a wellness phone app regained 3.6%. [35] People given no help regained 10.75%. [35] The study was published in the journal Obesity Science and Practice. [35]

Why it matters. Regaining weight after stopping is one of the biggest problems with these drugs, and food companies such as Nestle are building products for it. [35] Four months and 39 people cannot show what happens over a year. [35]

Tyler Clarkson, the USDA's chief lawyer, warned that the US government is leaning on voluntary deals and announcements instead of formal rules. [36] Examples include an agreement with food companies to drop some artificial colours. [36] He said such steps can still shape state laws and lawsuits against companies. [36] The US government's first proposed definition of ultraprocessed food has gone to the White House office that reviews rules, with no thresholds made public. [37]

Why it matters. A formal rule can take years, but it is legally binding. [36] California has already set its own label for foods that are not ultraprocessed, starting in 2029. [37]

US corn stocks on 1 September were nearly 2.1 billion bushels, almost 200 million more than analysts expected, the USDA reported last week. [38] Researchers at farmdoc daily, a University of Illinois project, compared that with storage space in the Corn Belt, the US farm states that grow most corn. [38] The country has enough space overall, they found. [38] But in most Corn Belt states, old grain plus the new crop is more than the bins hold. [38]

Why it matters. When local bins are full, grain must move fast or wait in piles, and local buyers pay farmers less for it. [38] Storage is spread unevenly, so some places can run short even when the national total is fine. [38]

The average rent for an acre of Illinois cropland fell slightly for the second year in a row in 2026, new USDA figures show. [39] It is now $261 an acre, the fourth highest in the US after California at $331, Hawaii at $280 and Iowa at $271. [39] The American Farm Bureau Federation, a farmers' group, says rents remain near record highs. [39] Fuel and fertiliser costs rose with the Iran war. [39]

Why it matters. Cash rent is what a farmer pays a landowner to use the land, so a small fall barely offsets higher fuel and fertiliser costs. [39] University of Illinois researchers expect rents to stay about where they are. [39]

Louisiana opened its first, trial hunting season on the black-bellied whistling duck, running from 3 to 11 October with four birds a day. [40] The duck has spread across southern Louisiana over 25 years, growing about 5% a year. [40] Flocks gather in freshly planted rice fields and damage young plants, rice farmers told the Louisiana Farm Bureau. [40] Officials set a low limit because nobody knows the exact population. [40]

Why it matters. Rice farmers lose part of their crop at planting. Hunters must report every bird they shoot, so the state learns how many there are. [40]

The USDA is giving Louisiana State University another $500,000 to study the pasture mealybug, a small insect new to Louisiana sugarcane. [41] It was first confirmed in 2025 in two parishes and has since spread to more sugar areas. [41] Affected fields turn yellow and yield less. [41] The USDA also named it a priority pest, and its pest programme grew from $75 million to $90 million. [41]

Why it matters. Researchers still do not know how much sugarcane the insect can destroy. [41] LSU will also test which insecticides work against it. [41]

Long fishing lines in the southern oceans catch at least 30,000 seabirds a year, a new study estimates. [45] It was led by the commission that manages southern bluefin tuna, with help from the FAO. [45] It analysed about 10 billion baited hooks and nearly 10,000 recorded seabird catches. [45] The worst areas are parts of the Tasman Sea, the southern Indian Ocean and the south-east Atlantic. [45]

Why it matters. The study also ranks which seabirds are most at risk, from their numbers and how easily they are caught. [45] The FAO's fisheries director said it lets managers aim their measures where birds die most. [45]

Twiga Foods, a Kenyan company that linked farmers to small street shops, has gone into administration, run by an administrator after failing to pay its debts. [47] It started in 2013 selling bananas to Nairobi vendors and raised about $185 million from investors including Goldman Sachs. [47] It cut hundreds of jobs from 2022 and got a $35 million lifeline in late 2023. [47]

Why it matters. Investors treated a business of trucks and warehouses like software, and some say it has made them wary of all African food firms. [47] Its planned next funding round never happened when investors pulled back. [47]