Food, in brief

Iowa farmers had harvested 14% of their corn in the latest weekly crop report from the USDA, the US farm department, against a five-year average of 34%. [1]

Iowa's soybean harvest was 31% done, against a usual pace of nearly 60%, after very heavy rain in September. [1]

Some Iowa ears sat completely under water. A crop specialist at Iowa State University says such ears count as adulterated and cannot be fed to animals, because floodwater can carry germs like E. coli. [1]

She also warns of rotting stalks and mycotoxins, poisons made by moulds, as the fields dry out. [1]

In northwest Missouri, farmer Ryan Meyerkorth says corn has sprouted at the base of the ears in every field, from 10% of ears in some to 20% in others. [2]

In South Dakota, crop consultant Jeff Kloucek is finding purple, black and green soybeans, partly from a leaf disease called cercospora that spread in the wet. [2]

So far these farmers report no major dockage, the cut a grain buyer makes for damaged grain, and no loads turned away. [2]

Justin Welch of Syngenta Seeds, a big seed company, says two or three photos can make a problem look like half the crop when it may be 1% or 2%. He hopes that is the case here. [3]

Garrett Riekhof's stained soybeans in west-central Missouri are still yielding 55 to 80 bushels an acre, with no grading problems at the elevator, the place where farmers sell and store grain. [4]

A University of Missouri agronomist says the colour seems to sit mostly in the seed coat, the bean's outer skin. [4]

Minnesota's harvest was 25% done against a usual 33%, and Kansas is behind its average on corn, soybeans, cotton and sorghum. [5][7]

Ohio, helped by warm, dry weather, rated 69% of its corn and 73% of its soybeans good or excellent. [8] Nebraska's soybean harvest jumped from 9% to 26% in a week. [6]

Why it matters. Watch whether drying fields let the harvest catch up in the next weekly crop reports, and whether elevators start cutting prices for sprouted or mouldy grain. [1][2]

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sets how much plant-based fuel must be blended into petrol and diesel. [10] On 13 October it proposed making up for exemptions it gave small oil refineries in August. [9][10] It granted 29 of them, and its plan would put back about 770 million credits' worth of biofuel blending. [9][11] One option spreads that over 2026 and 2027; the other puts it all into 2027. [9] The Trump administration finished its formal review of the plan on 9 October. [12]

Why it matters. The National Corn Growers Association praised it, because ethanol made from corn is a big market for US farmers. [10] The plan is open for public comment and is not yet final. [10]

Namibia found foot-and-mouth disease, a fast-spreading virus of cattle, sheep and goats, at Kalala Island in the northern Zambezi region on 7 October. [13][14] It is the second area hit, after a southern farm was confirmed on 23 September, though nothing published so far shows that one outbreak spread to the other. [13] Zambezi has stopped moving hoofed animals and halted auctions and local slaughter. [14] The EU suspended fresh beef, sheep and goat meat from Namibia's export zone on 5 October. [13]

Why it matters. In Windhoek, the capital, meat sellers say beef costs much more, and one supermarket butchery ran out of some cuts as shoppers panic-bought. [13] Meatco, Namibia's main meat company, has sent about 400 workers home for three weeks on full pay. [13]

US farmers and ranchers are forecast to owe a record $605.1 billion in 2026, up 4.6% on 2025, according to the USDA's Economic Research Service. [15] Their costs are forecast to rise 4.5%, to $492.8 billion, while net farm income falls 2.6%, to $158.4 billion. [15] Land makes up 83% of everything farms own, and its value is forecast to rise 3.4%. [15] But a rise in land value does not by itself give a farm the cash to pay this year's bills. [15]

Why it matters. The share of farm assets paid for with borrowed money is forecast to edge up, from 13.34% to 13.54%. [15] That leaves farms less cushion if crop prices or land values fall. [15]

The war in Iran has raised banana companies' costs for fuel, fertiliser, cardboard and plastic, The New York Times reports. [16] US diesel has risen about 70% since the war began seven months ago, and bananas travel thousands of miles in refrigerated ships and trucks. [16] Miguel Angel Morales, a small grower in Peru, says his costs rose 25% to 30% this year. [16] Yet US shops still charge about 65 cents a pound, little changed in a decade. [16]

Why it matters. Shops price bananas cheaply to bring shoppers in, so growers have little power to raise prices. [16] Del Monte, one of the biggest banana companies, made a margin of just 2.3% on bananas in the second quarter, and some Central American farmers are switching to pineapples. [16]

Harry Metcalfe, an arable farmer in the Cotswolds, told the UK Parliament's Public Accounts Committee, which checks government spending, that he is "doing everything I can to not grow food". [17] He said the end of the Basic Payment Scheme, England's old per-acre farm subsidy, left farmers facing world prices alone. [17] Four of his five worst harvests have come since 2020, and he paid 34% more for fertiliser this year. [17] Officials from Defra, England's farm ministry, are due to give evidence on 15 October. [17]

Why it matters. Scottish farmers, who still get area payments, were protected from this year's poor harvest, he said, while English farmers are on their own. [17] The British Retail Consortium, which speaks for shops, put new costs on the food system since the election at about £8bn a year. [17]

Andy Burnham, the UK prime minister, told Parliament on 12 October that trade talks with the EU are back on track, with a summit set for 20 November. [18] The deal would include an SPS agreement, a pact on food, animal and plant safety rules. [18] Britain would follow EU standards in return for fewer checks at the border. [18] UK food exports to the EU fell 35% by volume from 2019 to 2026, and egg exports 74%, HMRC figures show. [18]

Why it matters. The National Farmers' Union (NFU) wants exceptions so British farmers keep gene-edited crops and pesticides the EU does not allow. [18] CropLife UK, a pesticide industry group, says matching EU crop protection rules could cut farm incomes by up to £810m in the first year. [18]

US District Judge Vince Chhabria ordered the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to keep its reorganisation and office moves on hold. [19] He said the US Congress almost certainly did not mean its 2026 farm spending law to pay for closing offices or moving staff. [19] The stay lasts until at least 11 December, when the current stopgap funding law runs out. [19] Unions for USDA staff, including the Forest Service, brought the case. [19]

Why it matters. The plan affects thousands of USDA employees, from forest workers to the staff who run farm and food-aid programmes. [19] The judge called most of the harm USDA claimed "self-inflicted". [19]

More than 160 people in ten European countries, including Germany, France and Sweden, have fallen ill in a Salmonella outbreak, mostly between July and September. [20] Several had been to Italy, and patients in Germany, Luxembourg and Italy reported eating cherry tomatoes. [20] Italy's Puglia region stopped serving raw tomatoes in schools, hospitals and care homes. [20] Cases of this outbreak strain have peaked every July to September, with more than 800 confirmed since January 2023. [20]

Why it matters. The ECDC, the EU's disease agency, says outbreaks will keep returning each season until the source of the contamination is found. [20] In November 2024 inspectors found the strain in well water used to irrigate a farm in Italy. [20]

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published a final rule on 13 October letting makers use salt substitutes in 139 foods that have a standard of identity. [21] A standard of identity is a legal recipe: it fixes what a food sold under a name, such as bread or canned tuna, must contain. [21] Most of those recipes required salt and did not allow substitutes. [21] A substitute must still do salt's jobs, such as flavour and keeping food safe. [21]

Why it matters. The FDA wants Americans to eat about 20% less salt, around 2,750 milligrams a day. [21] Cheese, bread, canned vegetables and mayonnaise are among the foods the rule covers. [21]

The Veterinary Medicines Directorate, the UK agency for animal medicines, warned farmers on 13 October not to buy, sell or swap leftover bluetongue vaccines on social media. [22][23] Bluetongue is a virus of sheep and cattle carried in the blood and spread by biting midges. [22] The vaccines are prescription-only, and a dose stored or moved badly may not work. [23] Great Britain has confirmed 3,338 cases this season, against 348 in the whole of last season. [22]

Why it matters. The National Sheep Association says vaccinations have passed their peak ahead of next year's midge season. [22] It also warns that tired farmers may be under-reporting cases. [22]

From 30 December, the EU's Deforestation Regulation requires cocoa, coffee, palm oil, soy, rubber, wood and cattle sold in the EU to be traced to the land they came from. [24] Under an EU law on environmental crime, most EU countries must set the longest prison term for knowingly breaking it at five years or more. [24] Germany's draft law allows up to ten years where the damage is very serious. [24] A lawyer at the firm Squire Patton Boggs says current trends suggest courts will not actually jail anyone. [24]

Why it matters. Company directors and managers could be held personally responsible. [24] Ireland, which is not bound by the crime law, has drafted prison terms of up to three years anyway. [24]

In Pemiscot County, in Missouri's Bootheel, cotton buyer Barry Bean says one finished farm picked 1,200 pounds an acre, 100 pounds above its five-year average. [25] He credits small, regular rains in August that kept the crop out of drought stress. [25] Missouri's cotton harvest was 20% done, Arkansas's 45% and Tennessee's 35%. [25] Bean expects the rain forecast this week will not hurt the cotton if sun follows to dry and whiten it. [25]

Why it matters. His customers report yields from average to 125 pounds above average. [25] A drier week let the cotton harvest in the US South move fast while Iowa's corn waited. [25][1]

Lakeland Dairies, a farmer-owned dairy company in Ireland, will pay 39.7 cents a litre for September milk in the Republic of Ireland, up 0.6 cents. [26] That price is for milk with 3.6% butterfat and 3.3% protein. [26] In Northern Ireland it will pay 31.9 pence a litre, up 0.5 pence. [26] Ornua, which sells Irish dairy products abroad, raised its own price index for September the week before. [26]

Why it matters. Lakeland says the world's milk supply is still growing but more slowly, while demand is solid. [26] It names oil, energy prices and interest rates as the biggest risks. [26]

Tongaat Hulett, a big South African sugar company, says its shares will be removed from the stock exchange on 3 November, and shareholders get nothing. [27] It has been in business rescue, a court-supervised process for firms that cannot pay their debts, since October 2022. [27] A R2.5 billion loan from the state-owned Industrial Development Corporation paid costs such as salaries. [27] It reached its end date on 30 September, and no extension has been announced. [27]

Why it matters. About 5,800 Tongaat workers struck for almost four weeks from 17 August and won a 6% pay rise. [27] The company says a restructuring, a sale or closing down are all still possible. [27]

Malawi's Tobacco Commission has extended its grower registration from 3 October to 17 October, after more farmers came than expected. [28] Its Know Your Grower system records who grows each crop, to meet buyers' rules abroad. [28] Of an estimated 191,000 growers, 49,229 had registered by 12 October. [28] Some farmers report delays from staff shortages. [28]

Why it matters. The commission's chair, Daniel Gunya, says leaf quality is the most important thing deciding its price on world markets. [28] He told growers to start preparing their fields early. [28]

Bayer Crop Science, the farm arm of the German company Bayer, has agreed to work with Switch Bioworks, a California start-up. [29] Switch engineers soil microbes that settle on plant roots first and switch on making ammonia, a nitrogen fertiliser, only weeks later. [29] In grow rooms this made five times more nitrogen than microbes that are always on, the company says. [29] It has run field trials on corn across the Midwest. [29]

Why it matters. If it works in fields, farmers could use less factory-made fertiliser. [29] The results so far are the company's own, from grow rooms and early trials. [29]

ClimateCrop, an Israeli start-up, says it has found the signal that tells plants to slow down making starch as daylight fades. [30] Starch is the energy store plants draw on at night and during drought. [30] Switching it off made plants store 10% to 15% more starch a day, the company says, and it saw a similar effect in potato, tomato, canola and sorghum. [30] The method came from the Weizmann Institute of Science and is patented. [30]

Why it matters. The firm is licensing it to seed companies for field trials. [30] Its chief executive says any gain in harvests will differ from season to season and place to place. [30]

Scientists at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, the country's farm ministry, are using genetics and machine learning to find soybean genes that resist white mould. [31] The fungus thrives in cool, wet weather at flowering and leaves fluffy white growth on stems. [31] The team has found at least ten new parts of the soybean's DNA linked to resistance. [31] No fully resistant soybean variety exists yet. [31]

Why it matters. White mould is one of the leading causes of lost soybean harvests in North America. [31] Resistant varieties would mean fewer fungicide sprays, but breeding them will take years. [31]

James Ryalls and colleagues pooled 22 experiments, mostly in Europe, on how ozone and nitrogen oxides affect pollinating insects such as bees. [32] Both pollutants come largely from burning fossil fuels, and they break down the scents flowers use to attract insects. [32] On average ozone cut pollinators' performance by 42% and nitrogen oxides by 46%. [32] Together, the average drop was 68%. [32]

Why it matters. Almonds, apples, oilseed rape and strawberries all need insects to pollinate them. [32] The authors say ground-level ozone may keep rising until about 2050, even as diesel pollution falls. [32]

Northern Ireland's farm department is running a £16.6m scheme to genetically test every cow. [33] Testing is free until the end of 2027, and more than 6,000 farmers have signed up. [33] Samples come from the plastic ear tags every calf already wears. [33] Farmers use the results to choose which cows to breed from, instead of judging mostly by milk volume and butterfat. [33]

Why it matters. A vet in County Fermanagh says resistance to bovine TB, a lung disease of cattle, is up to 11% inherited, so breeding could help fight it. [33] Healthier herds could also mean fewer antibiotics on farms. [33]

Brand Finance, a consultancy that puts a price on brands, ranked China's Yili the world's most valuable dairy brand, at $14.5bn, up 29%. [34] France's Danone came second at $8.2bn, ahead of China's Mengniu at $6bn. [34] India's Amul, a farmers' cooperative, was fourth at $5bn but scored highest of all on brand strength. [34] The Middle East's Almarai was fifth at $4.1bn. [34]

Why it matters. Brand Finance says Amul's strength rests on decades of trust and wide distribution. [34] Danone is the only Western company in the top five. [34]

APG, a Dutch pension investor, has put 150 million euros ($167m) into a fund run by SLM Partners, on behalf of the pension fund ABP. [35] The fund buys forests and manages them by continuous cover, felling only part of a forest at a time so trees always stand. [35] Clear-felling, cutting a whole forest at once, is the industry's usual method. [35] SLM's first fund bought 2,000 hectares in Ireland. [35]

Why it matters. SLM says regular thinning gives steadier income than one big harvest and saves replanting costs. [35] The new fund will start in Ireland before expanding to other European countries. [35]

Up to £500,000 is available to landowners in the Western Forest, a new 1,400-square-mile area of woods across Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and the West of England. [36] It is the first national forest created in England in a generation. [36] The Better Off With Trees programme offers free help with plans, approvals and planting. [36] Making an enquiry does not commit anyone to planting a tree. [36]

Why it matters. One Wiltshire farm that has grown trees among its fields for two decades says its overall production rose about 35%. [36] The trees also give shade to livestock and woodchip for bedding. [36]

Seederal, a French company, has unveiled a 160-horsepower tractor designed around electricity from the start, after four years of work. [37] Other electric tractors are built on bodies first made for diesel. [37] Seederal says it runs eight to 12 hours on a charge and takes eight to ten hours to recharge. [37] It first tested an electric version of an existing JCB tractor for over 600 hours with more than 100 farmers. [37]

Why it matters. Its founder wants farms that make their own electricity to run their machines on it instead of diesel. [37] Diesel farm machinery is among the biggest sources of nitrogen oxides, the pollutants in the bee study above. [32]