Food, in brief

The US agriculture department, the USDA, said on Friday that American farmers will harvest 4.56 billion bushels of soybeans this year, the biggest crop on record. [1][2]

A bushel is the unit US grain is sold in. This soybean crop is 7% bigger than in 2025, and the yield of 53.1 bushels an acre is also a record. [1][2]

Corn, the biggest US crop, is forecast at 16.03 billion bushels. That is the second largest ever, and 5% below last year's record. [2]

The USDA now expects 181.2 bushels of corn an acre. Analysts had guessed 177.7 on average, said Karen Braun of the farm broker Zaner Ag Hedge. [1]

Corn futures, contracts to buy corn later at a price fixed now, fell nearly 6% in Chicago by midday. Soybean futures fell 1%. [1]

The USDA now expects 1.849 billion bushels of corn to be left unsold when the season ends, 282 million more than it said in September. [3] It cut its average corn price for farmers to $4.70 a bushel, from $4.80. [3]

Soybeans held up better. The USDA kept its average soybean price at $12 a bushel, and expects only 5 million more bushels left unsold than a month ago. [3]

China had booked 11.1 million tonnes of US soybeans by 1 October, against none a year earlier. [4] Without China, US soybean sales would be smaller than last year, said Susan Stroud of the advisers No Bull Ag. [4]

The US wheat crop, 1.534 billion bushels, is the smallest since 1970. [1] The USDA cut wheat exports by 25 million bushels to 750 million, because American hard red wheat costs more than other countries' wheat. [1]

Drought and weak demand cut the sorghum crop, a grain grown for animal feed and ethanol, to 291 million bushels, a third less than in 2025. [5] Rice is forecast 49 million hundredweight, or 100-pound units, below last year because less was planted. [6]

In Minnesota, soybean grower Ryan Mackenthun says his beans are yielding from the mid-60s to nearly 80 bushels an acre, record yields for his area. [7]

The fall in grain prices comes as American farmers pay record prices for diesel. [1] Corn growers expect $5 billion in government safety-net payments this month, their national group's president said. [4]

Why it matters. The next test is the USDA's 10 November report, with the harvest still under way and the agency 90% sure final corn lands between 15.5 and 16.6 billion bushels. [1][2]

Ukraine's harvest is strong, but Russian attacks have made ships on the Black Sea impossible to insure, so grain stays in silos. [8] About 90% of Ukraine's main farm exports usually go that way, and August grain exports were 58% below a year earlier. [8] Oleksandr Chumak, who farms near Odesa, says about 80% of his grain cannot be sold at a profit, and he will skip corn and barley next year. [8] PrivatBank, Ukraine's biggest lender, lent farm businesses 1.53 billion hryvnia from June to August, against 718 million a year earlier. [8]

Why it matters. If Ukraine plants less, the world loses part of one of its biggest grain suppliers in 2027. [8] An analyst at the research firm Expana says reopened ports would quickly push grain prices down elsewhere, by a few dozen dollars. [8]

US officials confirmed on 8 October that two dairy herds in Washington state have bird flu. [9] They are the state's first cases in farm animals since the outbreak in US cattle began in March 2024, and Washington is the 19th state to find it in dairy cows. [9] Both herds had tested negative before under the national programme that checks milk for the virus. [9] Officials are now working out how the virus reached them. [9]

Why it matters. Cases had slowed a lot in 2026, so two sick herds in a new state show the virus is still reaching farms. [9] Milk from sick cows is kept out of shops, and the FDA, the US food regulator, says pasteurising milk kills the virus. [9]

Houthi fighters, the armed group that holds Yemen's capital, took the town of al-Turbah by 4 October. [10] That cut the last main road between Taiz, a big city in south-west Yemen, and the rest of the area held by Yemen's government. [10] A second crossing, which brought in much of the city's food, has also closed. [10] Vegetable and fruit prices have doubled, and black-market petrol went from about $19 to $58 for 20 litres. [10]

Why it matters. About 2.8 million people live in the part of Taiz province held by Yemen's government, plus 200,000 who recently fled fighting. [10] Taiz officials have written to the UN asking for safe roads, and are still waiting for an answer. [10]

Heavy rain since mid-September has flooded parts of 50 of Thailand's provinces, affecting more than 4 million people and killing dozens, the Red Cross says. [11] Thai government agencies estimate that about 270,000 hectares of farmland, including rice fields and fruit orchards, have been damaged. [11] NASA satellite pictures from 2 October show fields and fish ponds under water in Prachin Buri province. [11] Bangkok had nearly 300mm of rain in 48 hours, close to a whole normal September. [11]

Why it matters. Thailand is one of the world's biggest rice sellers. The damage lands on its rice fields in the middle of the monsoon season. [11]

Palm oil futures in Kuala Lumpur fell 1.48% on Friday, to 4,592 ringgit or about $1,125 a tonne. [12] Traders had expected Malaysia's budget to drop the tax on palm oil sold abroad, which would help it compete with Indonesia. [12] The budget offered only help for small farmers to replant their trees. [12] A survey shows Malaysia's palm oil stocks reaching an all-time high in September, after record output and weak sales abroad. [12]

Why it matters. Palm oil competes with soybean and other cooking oils for the same buyers, so its price moves with theirs. [12] Official stock figures are due on Monday. [12]

In the same Friday report, the USDA cut its 2026 beef forecast by 75 million pounds, to 24.802 billion, because cattle are lighter and fewer are being slaughtered. [13] It cut pork by 150 million pounds. [13] It raised chicken by 100 million pounds and eggs by 20 million dozen, because more hens are laying. [13] It now expects eggs to average $1.035 a dozen, 3.1 cents less than in September. [13]

Why it matters. Beef supply is shrinking while chicken and egg supply grows. [13] The USDA puts the average price of a young beef steer at $237.56 per 100 pounds, slightly higher than a month ago. [13]

Rothamsted Research, a British farm-science institute, found that 95% of UK samples of a fungus behind phoma, a serious oilseed rape disease, survive a main group of fungicides. [14] In samples from Poland, only 6% did. [14] In lab tests the sprays worked up to 500 times less well against some UK samples. [14] It is the first report anywhere of this fungus resisting these sprays. [14]

Why it matters. Oilseed rape is crushed for cooking oil and animal feed, and phoma can cut its yields badly. [14] The resistant fungi showed little sign of being weaker, so they may stay in fields. [14]

Ireland, which chairs EU meetings until December, has proposed a 2028-2034 EU budget of 1,622 billion euros, 8% less than the European Commission wanted. [15] Money for farming, fisheries and poorer regions, the biggest part, would fall 3% to 914 billion euros, the smallest cut. [15] Research and defence money would fall 13%. [15] Sweden's EU minister called the plan unreasonable, and EU leaders meet on 15 and 16 October. [15]

Why it matters. Italy leads 17 southern and eastern countries that put farm and regional money first. [15] Germany leads six countries that want the total cut by hundreds of billions of euros. [15]

Britain's licence for glyphosate, a widely used weedkiller, runs out on 15 December, and the safety regulator has not opened its 60-day public consultation. [16] A campaigner at the Pesticide Action Network says officials are weighing a one-year extension while Britain agrees a food and farming deal with the EU. [16] Under that deal Britain would follow EU pesticide rules, and the EU bans spraying glyphosate to dry crops before harvest. [16][17] British oilseed rape growers use that spray, and they already lost neonicotinoid seed coatings, a beetle defence, from 2013. [17]

Why it matters. Flea beetles were already surviving the older sprays when the coatings went, and their grubs now turn up in 98% of crops a year, against 32% before. [17] UK rapeseed output fell to 824,000 tonnes in 2024, the lowest in over 40 years. [17]

Scientists at the University of Reading and the UK's Animal and Plant Health Agency shone violet-blue light on Campylobacter, the commonest bacterial cause of food poisoning worldwide. [18][19] It killed all 64 strains they tested, taken from UK poultry, including strains that antibiotics cannot kill. [18] One strain showed no sign of getting tougher after 15 rounds of light. [18] The germ is found on about three quarters of raw chicken sold in the UK. [18]

Why it matters. The light uses no chemicals and does not touch the food, so it could work on carcasses in processing plants. [18] It has only been tested in a lab, and trials on real contaminated meat come next. [18][19]

US agriculture secretary Brooke Rollins announced $180 million for seed research in Iowa this week. [20] It will pay to read the genes of crops held in the National Plant Germplasm System, a public library of 600,000 seeds and plant samples. [20] That library usually gets about $38 million a year, and the USDA's research service lost over 30% of its staff in 2025. [20] The money comes from the Commodity Credit Corporation, the USDA's internal bank. [20]

Why it matters. The USDA says it will license the genetic material to companies without exclusive rights. [20] Aaron Johnson of RAFI, a farmers' advocacy group, asks who will benefit, since four companies sell 70% of US soybean seed and 80% of corn seed. [20]

Gardeners Basics of Spanish Fork, Utah, is recalling one-pound bags of broccoli sprouting seeds sold across the US on Amazon, Walmart, TikTok Shop and other sites. [21] The seeds are linked to a Salmonella outbreak that has made 32 people ill in six states, three of them in hospital. [21] Two other sellers, EAK Distribution and Eden Brothers, recalled seeds from the same supplier lot on 2 and 7 October. [21] The FDA has tested the supplier's seeds and matched them to the outbreak. [21]

Why it matters. The FDA has still not named the seed supplier, even though several sellers have now recalled its seeds. [21] A separate outbreak tied to alfalfa sprouts is still being investigated. [21]

The United Arab Emirates began flying food parcels to Gaza on Friday, aiming to supply more than 10 million meals. [22] Six flights carry 450 tonnes, and a ship carries 4,000 tonnes more. [22] The effort is named after Sheikh Ahmed bin Rashid, brother of Dubai's ruler, who died on 21 September. [22] The UAE says it has given more than $4 billion in aid to Gaza since November 2023. [22]

Why it matters. The one ship carries about nine times as much food as the six flights together. [22]

Water companies in the UK made more than 340 million pounds last year by taking wastewater from factories and businesses into sewage works, a Guardian investigation found. [23] Its database of 26,000 permits counts up to 608 billion litres a year, from sites such as food factories, abattoirs and hospitals. [23] Most works treat sewage with bacteria, which do not remove chemicals such as Pfas, the so-called forever chemicals. [23] What the works catch ends up in sewage sludge, which is spread on farmland as fertiliser. [23]

Why it matters. The investigation says the water companies issue and enforce these permits themselves. [23] England's environment department says it is reforming how wastewater is disposed of. [23]

The California Farm Bureau asked Governor Gavin Newsom to let road vehicles use red-dyed diesel, the untaxed fuel kept for tractors. [24] President Trump has told the US tax agency to stop fining people for doing that until the end of the year, but California's own rules still forbid it. [24] The farmers also want the state's 48-cent-a-gallon diesel tax paused, which they say would save about 73 cents a gallon. [24] Newsom's office called Trump's order "more distraction and desperation". [24]

Why it matters. Diesel in California averaged $8.36 a gallon on Thursday, more than $2 above the US average. [24] Illinois, Georgia and Tennessee are the latest states to loosen their own penalties. [24]

Sales of new crop-spraying drones in the US fell from 8,950 in 2024 to 3,711 in 2025, says the American Spray Drone Coalition, a trade group. [25] US customs kept blocking shipments from DJI, the Chinese firm that made most of them, so farmers could not buy as many as they wanted. [25] The FCC, the US communications regulator, banned sales of new foreign-made drone models ten months ago. [25] In July it proposed rules that DJI says would cover every farm drone that sprays. [25]

Why it matters. The area sprayed by drones still rose 58.7% in 2025, to 16.4 million acres. [25] US-made parts cost far more, and 49% of operators in the coalition's survey will not pay extra for American hardware. [25]

England limits adverts and shop promotions for unhealthy food using a scoring system written in 2004-05. [26] The Obesity Health Alliance, a coalition of health groups, checked foods against an updated 2018 system that has never been put into force. [26] Six of seven foods advertised during the Britain's Got Talent final would count as less healthy under it. [26] So would 45 of 68 foods on end-of-aisle promotions. [26]

Why it matters. One child in five leaves primary school with obesity, and almost 30% in the poorest areas. [26] The Food and Drink Federation, which speaks for food makers, says reworking a recipe can cost up to 5 million pounds. [26]

The NFU, the farmers' union for England and Wales, is asking members by 21 October how England's next Sustainable Farming Incentive round should share out money. [27] The scheme pays farmers for nature work such as hedges and wildflower margins. [27] In September its 233 million pound round ran out in under six hours, first come first served. [27] The union says expiring nature agreements are worth over 520 million pounds, against 310 million offered across this year's two rounds. [27]

Why it matters. Cambridgeshire farmer Peter Hatley hit computer errors on opening day and missed out on 150,000 pounds over three years. [27] The NFU wants Defra, England's farm ministry, to open the next round early in 2027. [27]

Tiffany Cianci, a former campaign adviser to US health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, published a scorecard on the Make America Healthy Again movement's goals. [4] She counts 37 of 42 promises by Trump officials as not kept, and five as partly kept. [4] Her examples include an order to boost glyphosate production and backing the chemical maker Bayer in a Supreme Court case on pesticide injuries. [4] She also lists ending a programme that bought local food for schools. [4]

Why it matters. The criticism comes from inside the movement, with less than four weeks to go before the US midterm elections. [4][28]

The Cook Political Report, a US election forecaster, moved two Iowa House races from toss-up to leaning Democrat on Friday. [28] In Iowa's 1st district, Democratic adverts attack Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks for backing tariffs. [28] Cook analyst Erin Covey says those tariffs have "uniquely harmed" Iowa's farm-heavy economy. [28] In the 3rd district, Republican Zach Nunn has introduced a bill to block beef imports. [28]

Why it matters. Cook now expects Democrats to gain nine to 19 House seats in November, enough to control the House. [28] Iowa's 2nd district also moved, from leaning Republican to toss-up. [28]

The National Hemp Association has drafted a bill to replace a US ban on hemp that the US Congress has passed but that has not yet started. [4] It would let hemp plants hold up to 1% THC, the chemical that makes cannabis intoxicating, against 0.3% now. [4] It would cap intoxicating hemp at 3 milligrams a serving and sell it only to people aged 21 or over. [4] It would also ban packaging that appeals to children. [4]

Why it matters. The 0.3% limit has caught farmers who bought hemp seed before the ban was passed. [4] The US Congress takes up hemp when it returns from its October break. [4]

Scotland's June farm census counted 1.67 million cattle, 0.7% more than a year earlier and the first rise since 2021. [29] Pig numbers rose 4.9% to 327,700. [29] Sheep fell 0.5% to 6.5 million, and poultry fell 4.4%. [29] The area growing soft fruit such as strawberries fell to 1,800 hectares, the smallest since 2015. [29]

Why it matters. Quality Meat Scotland, the meat industry body, calls it cautious but genuine grounds for optimism, though Scotland still has 40,000 fewer cows than in 2021. [29] It warns that heavy sow slaughter this summer points to fewer pigs next year. [29]

The British Cattle Veterinary Association, which speaks for 1,500 farm vets, has for the first time named wild deer as a growing concern for bovine TB, a disease of cattle. [30] It wants Defra, the UK farm ministry, to start deer-testing pilots by 2027. [30] Britain has about two million wild deer, but only a few TB cases are found in them each year. [30] Deer usually catch TB from cattle or badgers rather than keeping it going themselves. [30]

Why it matters. Where deer are crowded and mix with cattle, as in parts of south-west England, they can keep the disease going locally. [30]

A company called Abu Dhabi National Investment and Development is building Qitaf City, a farming community twice the size of Monaco. [31] It will mix homes with farms and farm-technology projects, aimed at students and people who want to farm. [31] It sits about 40 minutes from Abu Dhabi, Al Ain and Dubai, with access to Etihad Rail for moving produce. [31] The closing of the Strait of Hormuz, a sea lane, showed how much of its food the UAE imports. [31]

Why it matters. Its chief executive, Shamsa Alfahim, says the aim is for the UAE to be resilient and self-sufficient. [31]