Food, in brief

Bird flu has been found in 27 dairy herds in Washington state, up from nine late last week. [1]

The count comes from the online dashboard of the Washington State Department of Agriculture, the state's farm department. [1]

Washington had no confirmed cases in cattle until 8 October, when two herds in Yakima County tested positive. [1] Over the two years before that, more than 7,000 tests had come back negative. [1]

On 26 October the virus was confirmed in a herd in Benton County, the second county hit. [1] Routine testing found it there before any cow looked sick. [1]

Washington has about 400 dairy farms, so 27 herds would be roughly 7% of them, if each find is on a separate farm. [1]

On 15 October local health officials said a dairy worker had caught the virus from infected cattle. [1] The worker had sore eyes and nose and throat symptoms, and did not need hospital care. [1]

US health officials still rate the risk to the public as low, and no spread from one person to another has been found. [1]

The state says the virus passes between farms on infected cows, milk, equipment, vehicles, clothes, boots and people. [1] Wild birds are not thought to be the main source this time. [1]

Most sick cows recover with care, but a whole herd takes four to six weeks. [1] The state advises keeping milk from sick cows out of the farm's milk tank. [1]

The state now puts out a news release only when the virus reaches a new county. [1] New herds in counties already hit appear only on its dashboard, and the jump had not yet reached the US farm department's national count. [1]

This bird flu, called H5N1, was first found in US dairy cows in March 2024 and has since reached cattle in 19 states. [1] Texas found four infected herds and Kansas one in the 30 days before. [1]

Why it matters. The next signs are the state's herd count on its dashboard and whether it issues a news release for a third county, which it now does only when the virus reaches a new one. [1]

Brazil's farm ministry has confirmed a second outbreak of Newcastle disease, a fast-spreading virus of chickens and other birds, at a farm in Coronel Freitas, in Santa Catarina state. [3] The farm lies inside the area restricted after the first case, found at a turkey farm on 18 October. [3] Four towns are under a 60-day animal health emergency, and the birds on the new farm are being killed. [3] Mexico and Malaysia stopped buying chicken from all of Brazil last week, while China, Chile and Saudi Arabia stopped buying from Santa Catarina only. [3]

Why it matters. Brazil sells more than 37% of the world's chicken exports, so bans on it touch a large share of the world's chicken trade. [3] Brazil's farm ministry says the new farm needed only a small change to the restricted area, because it is close to the first one. [3]

Cattle from Chihuahua, Mexico, crossed into the US at Columbus, New Mexico, on Monday for the first time in nearly two years. [4] The US farm department shut the crossing in November 2024 against the New World screwworm, a fly whose young feed on the living flesh of animals. [4] Columbus is the third border crossing to reopen, and Nogales, Arizona, is planned for 30 November. [4] On 24 October US labs confirmed four more cases: two cattle in Texas, and a cow and a ram in New Mexico. [4]

Why it matters. Before the bans, about one million Mexican cattle a year went to US ranches and feedlots, the yards that fatten cattle for beef. [4] Cattle are now checked by vets in Mexico and dipped against ticks at the border, and the US says screwworm is not a food safety risk. [4][30]

US immigration officers arrested 104 people in south-west Kansas during one week in September, Civil Eats, a food news site, reports. [14] Officers waited near beef plant car parks, said Martin Rosas, head of the local meatpacking union. [14] The area's plants, run by National Beef, Tyson and Cargill, help Kansas process about a fifth of US cattle. [14] In California's Central Valley, which grows a quarter of US food, officers stopped a van of farmworkers on 7 October and arrested everyone in it, a local organiser says. [14]

Why it matters. A community organiser in Kern County, California, says many farmworkers stopped coming to the fields for fear of officers on farm roads. [14] If the arrests keep spreading to food-producing areas, Civil Eats warns, food supply and prices could feel it. [14]

Soybean prices for later delivery fell in Chicago on Monday after Brazil's President Lula da Silva won re-election. [9] Brazil's currency, the real, dropped sharply against the US dollar, which makes Brazilian soybeans cheaper for buyers abroad. [9] Arlan Suderman of StoneX, a commodity trading firm, expected Brazilian farmers to sell faster and US exporters to lose sales to Brazil. [9] The same day, US soybeans inspected for export reached 91 million bushels, the most in a week for two years, as China bought more. [9]

Why it matters. A stronger dollar makes US farm goods dearer for buyers who pay in other currencies. [9] So US soybean farmers can lose sales to Brazil even in a week of strong Chinese buying. [9]

Wheat for later delivery fell 6.5% in a week in Chicago and maize, which Americans call corn, fell 3.9%, Britain's farm levy board, the AHDB, said. [10] Paris milling wheat dropped 4.0%, and UK feed wheat for November closed at 193.75 pounds a tonne on 23 October, down 11.25 pounds. [10] Dry weather has let US farmers bring in maize and plant winter wheat quickly. [10] A grain exchange in Rosario, Argentina, raised its estimate of Argentina's wheat harvest to 23.8 million tonnes. [10]

Why it matters. That would be Argentina's second-largest wheat crop on record, with harvest starting in November. [10] Big crops coming to market push prices down, while trouble in the Black Sea region and firm oil prices hold them up. [10]

Kelly Garrett, who farms and owns two fuel stations near Denison, Iowa, says petrol and diesel have run short in several areas. [8] He says the pipeline depot in Omaha, Nebraska, that supplies one of his stations has been empty a few times. [8] He has heard that some shops in Denison ran out of fuel and covered their pumps with bags. [8] He blames supply shocks from the Iran war, which he says are worse than during the pandemic. [8]

Why it matters. Farmers need diesel right now to run combines and haul maize from the fields. [8] Garrett says he is thinking about adding fuel storage on his own farm in case shortages spread. [8]

US Senator Chuck Grassley, a Republican from Iowa, says a second round of Farmer Bridge Assistance would come on top of the new Harvest Fuel Relief payments. [7] He says the $8 billion President Trump announced in Kansas is separate from the bridge money. [7] The bridge money would come from an extra spending bill of about $65 billion to refill military funds used in the Iran war. [7] A US farm department official says farmers who qualified for bridge aid will likely qualify for fuel relief too. [7]

Why it matters. So whether farmers see a second round of bridge aid depends on that war funding bill. [7]

US Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins says the US has a deal 'in concept' with Mexico to sell it more ethanol, a fuel made from crops such as maize. [6] She spoke on Monday after visiting a plant run by ADM, a big US crop processor, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. [6] Rollins says the deal could lift US ethanol exports by more than 30% and bring the industry an extra $1.5 billion. [6] She would not give details, because the deal is still being finished. [6]

Why it matters. Rollins says more sales to Mexico would help farmers as well as plants like ADM's that turn crops into fuel. [6] Until the deal is written down, the $1.5 billion is her estimate, not a contract. [6]

The US farm department plans to give $57.4 million to independent meat and poultry plants in 40 states, in 147 provisional awards. [5] US Vice President JD Vance and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced it on Monday. [5] The awards still depend on money from the US Congress. [5] In many regions a few large plants do most of the slaughtering, so small ranchers have few places to take their animals. [5]

Why it matters. More local plants can cut ranchers' transport costs and let them sell meat straight to shoppers. [5] The grants are separate from a $500 million US programme announced earlier this year for independent beef slaughterhouses. [5]

The Minnesota Turkey Growers, a farmers' group, wants the US to draw up a plan for vaccinating poultry against bird flu. [2] Vaccines exist, but none is approved for US poultry, its director Ashley Kohls says. [2] The US fights the disease by killing infected flocks, and allowing vaccines would bring limits on US exports. [2] China, Mexico and France already vaccinate poultry against bird flu. [2]

Why it matters. Members met lawmakers and US farm officials this autumn and asked where a plan would start, such as with breeding birds. [2] Any change would mean weighing flocks saved against export sales lost. [2]

Britain's farming minister, Stephen Morgan, told MPs on Tuesday that his department knew the money for a farm scheme would not meet demand. [11] The Sustainable Farming Incentive pays English farmers for work that helps nature. [11] Its second round opened at 10am on 22 September without notice and closed in under six hours, once 253 million pounds was claimed. [11] About 12,200 applications got in, and officials think more than 10,000 more farmers wanted to apply. [11]

Why it matters. Morgan promised to drop first come, first served for next year's round. [11] An MP warned that farmers left out may plough land back into crops or farm it harder. [11]

The Wildlife Trusts, a group of British nature charities, say England needs at least 3.8 billion pounds a year to pay farmers for nature-friendly work. [12] That is more than double the 1.65 billion pounds these schemes got last year. [12] About 2 billion pounds of it would go on restoring peat bogs, planting hedgerows and trees, and making new wildlife habitat. [12] The charity published the figures on Tuesday, the day before the UK Budget. [12]

Why it matters. It says the budget for these schemes has been frozen for years, while floods, fires and lost soil cost billions this year. [12] The Budget on 28 October is the next test of whether any money is added. [12]

Britain will scrap import taxes on more than 100 products, including some fertilisers, from 26 November, Chancellor John Healey announced on Monday. [13] Those fertilisers paid taxes of 2% to 6.5%. [13] The NFU, the main farmers' union in England and Wales, says much imported fertiliser already comes in tax-free, so farm costs will barely fall. [13] It wants a new charge on carbon-heavy imports, due in January, kept from raising fertiliser prices. [13]

Why it matters. The package is meant to ease costs linked to the Middle East conflict for farmers and households. [13] The NFU also wants the 5p a litre cut in diesel tax kept beyond the end of the year. [13]

Health officials in San Luis Obispo County, California, have confirmed five cases of a toxin-making kind of E. coli and are looking at a link to Brookshire Farms' pumpkin patch. [18] The farm has closed while they investigate visits between 16 and 26 October. [18] In Illinois, four of five children who fell ill after visiting Bengtson's Pumpkin Farm in Homer Glen have been in hospital. [18] Bengtson's shut its petting zoo on 23 October, and test results on animal samples are due around 5 November. [18]

Why it matters. Children under ten face the highest risk of complications. [18] A kidney illness linked to this germ can start a week or more after the diarrhoea begins. [18]

The US Food and Drug Administration warned buyers about two batches of Darwin's raw chicken cat food that tested positive for Salmonella, a food-poisoning germ. [20] Two cats fell ill, and one needed hospital care. [20] The FDA asked the maker, Arrow Reliance of Washington state, to recall the food, and it has refused. [20] In August the US Justice Department went to court to stop the firm making raw pet food. [20]

Why it matters. Raw pet food can make people ill too: the US government says a 4-year-old boy got kidney failure, and germs in his family's unopened Darwin's food matched his. [20] The FDA has had 49 complaints about sick pets fed the brand since 2016, and nine of those pets died. [20]

Taylor Farms of Dallas is recalling H-E-B Backyard BBQ Chop Salad kits, because they may contain soy and almonds not listed on the label. [19] The kits were sold in H-E-B, a Texas supermarket chain, and are marked best by 30 October. [19] No one has reported a reaction so far. [19]

Why it matters. For people allergic to soy or almonds, an ingredient missing from the label can cause a serious reaction or even death. [19]

The FDA has drafted guidance on when seafood may be labelled 'US-Caught' or 'US Farm-Raised', as part of the Trump administration's new seafood strategy. [16] The guidance would be advice, not a legal rule, and comments are open until 13 December. [16] The Southern Shrimp Alliance, a group of US shrimp fishers, backs the strategy. [16] But it says the plan does not settle whether seafood caught in the US and processed in China, India, Vietnam or Mexico could carry the label. [16]

Why it matters. The alliance says US seafood catches fell from 4.2 million tonnes a year in 2011-2019 to 3.9 million in 2021. [16] The value of the US catch fell 25% from 2021 to 2024, to $4.9 billion. [16]

The EU agreed earlier this year to ban 31 meat words, such as 'chicken', 'bacon' and 'steak', on foods that contain no meat. [15] The European Snacks Association, which speaks for crisp makers, says flavours like roast chicken or smoky bacon could be caught by mistake. [15] Four centre-right members of the European Parliament have proposed exempting snacks, sauces and seasonings. [15] Separate proposals to add 'burger' and 'sausage' to the ban are not yet agreed. [15]

Why it matters. Without the exemption, crisp makers across the EU may have to rename familiar flavours. [15] A further proposal would limit meat names to foods made only of meat, which would catch products that mix meat and plants. [15]

Bel Group, a French cheese company, now ranks first among 23 dairy and coffee firms for action on methane, a planet-warming gas from cattle. [17] The ranking is by the Changing Markets Foundation, a campaign group. [17] Danone slipped to second, and Nestle, which left a dairy methane alliance in October 2025, fell to ninth. [17] Only Danone and Bel have targets in line with a global pledge to cut methane 30% from 2020 levels. [17]

Why it matters. Members of the alliance now score 61.4% on average, against 22.3% for firms outside it. [17] None of 20 big supermarket chains assessed has a methane target. [17]

The National Grocers Association, which speaks for independent US grocers, says shops should not use customers' personal data to charge them higher prices, including through AI. [9] It defends loyalty cards, store apps and coupons as ways to pass on savings. [9] It says electronic shelf labels should update prices quickly, not change them 'based on who is in the aisle'. [9]

Why it matters. It also says loyalty schemes should always be voluntary and easy for shoppers to leave. [9]

Japan and Singapore have a new memorandum, a written promise to cooperate, on new ways of producing food. [31] Yoshihiro Kuraya, an assistant minister in Japan's farm ministry, pointed to poorer rice in hotter weather and smaller salmon catches as sea temperatures change. [31] Japan already sells gene-edited red sea bream and flounder that grow faster. [31] Under the deal, Japan's ARK and the National University of Singapore will work on fish farms that clean and reuse their water. [31]

Why it matters. Japan had 808 land-based fish farms registered in January 2026. [31] The deal builds on a 2023 agreement, as the two countries mark 60 years of diplomatic ties. [31]

A Pakistani government sub-committee set a 120-day deadline on Tuesday to draw up a plan to expand shrimp farming and exports. [27] Maritime Affairs Minister Junaid Anwar Chaudhry chaired the meeting, with fisheries officials from every province. [27] Sindh province is studying a 3,500-acre shrimp farm. [27] Punjab officials want to farm shrimp on land whose underground water is too salty for crops. [27]

Why it matters. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has made growth through exports his government's top aim. [27] The 120 days are part of a wider 24-month plan. [27]

The partners who run the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, Norway's government, NordGen and the Crop Trust, will give their 50,000-euro Princess of Asturias Award prize to an emergency fund for threatened genebanks. [28] The vault, on an Arctic island, keeps backup copies of more than 1.4 million seed samples from 134 depositors. [28] The fund has helped in 12 countries, including moving Ukraine's national seed collection away from Kharkiv. [28] Sudan and Ukraine, both at war, have deposited seeds there, Africanews reports. [29]

Why it matters. A genebank keeps seeds of local crop varieties, which breeders can use to grow food in hotter or drier conditions. [29] The FAO treaty office says demand for emergency help is greater than the money available. [28]

Just 2.5% of public money for climate action goes to farming and land use, though the sector causes about a third of greenhouse gas emissions, AgFunderNews reports. [26] The next UN climate summit, COP31, starts on 9 November in Antalya, Turkey. [26] Ismahane Elouafi of CGIAR, a global network of farm research centres, said farming's share of the money should rise to match. [26]

Why it matters. Small farmers in poorer countries are among the most exposed to climate shocks, CGIAR researchers say. [26] A forecast of drought helps them only if they have the means to act on it. [26]

US farmers must choose by 11 December between two federal programmes that pay them when crop prices or income fall. [25] PLC pays when a crop's average price falls below a set level, and ARC-CO pays when a county's crop income falls. [25] At current forecasts, maize at $4.70 a bushel would trigger no PLC payment, because its trigger is $4.42, says farmdoc daily at the University of Illinois. [25] Any 2026 payments would not reach farmers until October 2027. [25]

Why it matters. The deadline is later than the usual March one, so farmers can see more of this year's harvest before they choose. [25] A US crop report on 10 November will update the price forecasts. [25]