Food, in brief

EU dairy farms were paid 19.7% less for their milk in August than a year earlier. [1]

The average farm price was 42.8 euro cents a kilo, European Commission figures show. [1]

Yet the farms delivered 3% more milk from January to August than a year before. [1]

More dairy was shipped abroad without earning more, the Commission's figures indicate. [1]

In every EU country but Cyprus, farms now earn less for each kilo of milk. [1]

Farms in Hungary, Czechia and Lithuania carry the deepest cuts, of 26% to 29%. [1]

Buyers abroad got more EU dairy while paying less for it in total. [1]

The figures stop at September, so nobody can yet say whether the fall has ended. [1]

Europe's dairy farms are making more milk and being paid about a fifth less for it, while EU dairies ship more abroad and earn less for it. [1]

They made 9% more of it in the first eight months, and its price is 54.6% higher than a year ago. [1]

Why EU farms delivered 3% more milk in a year when the price fell by a fifth.

The Commission's figures show both numbers but give no reason for the rise. [1]

Telangana, a state in southern India, has advised farmers not to plant paddy rice. [3]

Its farm minister, Tummala Nageswara Rao, said water for irrigation is running short. [3]

Irrigation schemes and groundwater are short after El Nino, a warm-ocean pattern that brings drought. [3]

Officials are counting crop losses in 365 drought-hit areas called mandals. [3]

He accused opposition parties of spreading word of a 'crop holiday', a season left unplanted. [3]

On Saturday he said Telangana's government has not announced a crop holiday. [3]

The state is supplying farmers with seed for other crops on subsidy. [3]

That includes 28,460 quintals of groundnut and 26,847 quintals of bengal gram, a chickpea. [3]

Switching now aims to stop crops running short of water before harvest, the minister said. [3]

Agronomists class paddy as a water-intensive crop; the state wants 'irrigated dry crops' instead. [3]

Officials are still surveying the losses, so their size is not yet known. [3]

With irrigation water short after El Nino, they are advised to give up paddy rice for crops they did not plan. [3]

Pork prices sit below 2025 levels in most markets, says Rabobank, a farm-lending bank. [2]

Its quarterly pork report blames demand that was weaker than expected. [2]

In North America, rising prices and tighter budgets are hurting restaurant sales. [2]

In Europe, big home supplies and export troubles keep pork prices low. [2]

Brazil exported a record 1.2 million tonnes of pork in September, up 6.5%. [2]

Rabobank expects poor returns to make pig farmers rethink plans to grow herds in 2027. [2]

It also expects more governments to use tariffs and quotas to protect their own farmers. [2]

Pig farmers get prices too low to pay for growth, while feed and fuel costs swing. [2]

Economists call it trading down: short of money, shoppers pick cheaper cuts and eat at home. [2]

Rabobank expects a harder fight for buyers abroad, while Brazil ships record amounts. [2]

Why a dairy farm keeps milking when the milk price falls

A dairy farm has two kinds of costs

Fixed costs: cows, sheds, machines and loans, paid even if it stops

Running costs: feed, fuel and labour, paid only to make milk

In the short run it keeps milking while the price covers running costs

Only if low prices last does it stop adding cows, or leave farming

A lower milk price does not stop a dairy farm at once.

The two cost bars are made-up numbers for one imaginary farm. At 42.8 cents it loses money overall, but still earns more than its running costs, so it keeps milking.

Rabobank expects pig farmers to shelve plans to grow herds in 2027 rather than stop producing now: the long-run step comes after a spell of poor returns.

The rule explains why milk does not dry up as soon as the price falls.

The farmer, the dairy, the buyer abroad and the shopper buying cheese are all touched by the same milk price, and each sees only their own part of it.

They shipped a record 1.2 million tonnes in September, up 6.5%, while pork prices elsewhere sat below 2025 levels. [2]

Rabobank expects Europe's pig production to shrink gradually in 2027 as sow herds get smaller. [2]

Whether pig farmers will really cut back in 2027.

Rabobank says poor returns may force a rethink of growth plans, but that is a bank's expectation, not a decision any farmer has announced. [2]

On 26 October, US Justice Department lawyers said the FDA may loosen a key secrecy rule. [4]

The FDA, the US food and drug safety agency, rarely names firms behind outbreaks. [4]

It has said a US trade-secrets law ties its hands. [4]

The lawyers said a new FDA rule could let it name firms in an outbreak. [4]

Bill Marler, a lawyer who sues food firms for the sick, is filing two petitions. [4]

One asks the FDA to name firms its own investigation proves were the source. [4]

The other asks it to list shops that got a dangerous recalled food. [4]

In a 2024 romaine lettuce outbreak, 89 people fell ill and 1 died. [4]

The FDA knew the grower; the public learned it over a year later. [4]

Marler says a named firm lets families check fridges and doctors link patients to a food. [4]

Lawyers call a firm's private business facts confidential commercial information, which US law protects. [4]

The opinion says such a rule would likely not allow naming after an outbreak ends. [4]

Marler says openly that he represents people suing over the recent chicken-wrap outbreak. [4]

In the US, government lawyers have opened the way for the FDA to name the firms behind food outbreaks, and farm money is pouring into Tuesday's election. [4][7]

In the 2024 romaine outbreak, 89 fell ill and one died, and the public learned the grower's name only more than a year later. [4]

Whether the FDA will actually write a rule to name outbreak firms.

The US Justice Department's lawyers only said the FDA may; Marler's two petitions are being filed and the FDA has not answered. [4]

The FDA proposed new nutrient limits for baby formula, to be published on 2 November. [5]

It would raise the lowest allowed level of iodine and lower the highest. [5]

Vitamin A limits would both come down, and vitamin D limits would both go up. [5]

It would lower the minimum for manganese and set a maximum for the first time. [5]

Once final, every baby formula sold in the US would have to meet the new limits. [5]

US rules set a minimum and a maximum level for each nutrient in formula. [5]

How much the proposed baby formula limits will change before they become final.

The FDA has only proposed them, in a rule due to be published on 2 November. [5]

A farmers' group is helping fund 3 million dollars of attack ads in US midterm races. [6]

The group is the American Meat Producers Association, founded in 2025. [6]

It speaks for farmers who back higher animal-welfare standards. [6]

Its ads target four Republicans who back the Save Our Bacon Act. [6]

The bill would overturn animal-welfare laws in California and Massachusetts. [6]

California's law sets how much space some farm animals must have. [7]

The group has spent 2.9 million dollars on ads so far, federal filings show. [6]

About 2.5 million dollars went against Ashley Hinson, an Iowa Republican running for the US Senate. [6]

It also spent 100,000 dollars backing two Republicans who oppose the bill. [6]

The group has one listed employee and does not name its donors. [6]

US farmers face record diesel prices, dearer fertiliser and fewer sales to China this year. [6]

Rural approval of Trump fell to 45% in October, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found. [6]

OpenSecrets, which tracks political money, counts super PACs and party committees as outside groups. [7]

Her campaign says 'Iowa farmers strongly support Ashley Hinson'; Iowa's Farm Bureau endorsed her. [6]

An attack ad puts one angry farmer on screen, so a 2.9 million dollar campaign whose donors are unnamed sounds like a neighbour talking. [6]

Who is paying for the American Meat Producers Association's attack ads.

The group does not disclose its donors or members, and its president declined to name the major donors. [6]

Food and farm businesses have given 75.8 million dollars to US candidates this election cycle. [7]

That is more than twice as much to Republicans as to Democrats, OpenSecrets data show. [7]

Only 22% of the sector's political money went to candidates themselves. [7]

It spent 76.6 million dollars on outside groups, 74.6 million to conservative ones. [7]

Reyes Holdings, a food and drink distributor, gave the most: 21.2 million dollars. [7]

American Crystal Sugar, a farmers' sugar beet co-op, gave Democrats most and Republicans 1.2 million dollars. [7]

The 3 November vote is likely to reshape both farm committees of the US Congress. [7]

The House farm committee's top Democrat, Angie Craig, is leaving the House. [7]

Political scientists call this seeking access; the cotton council says it backs allies in both parties. [7]

Most money went to outside groups, which grew after a 2010 US Supreme Court ruling. [7]

She has received thousands of dollars each from Tyson Foods, JBS, Syngenta, Dairy Farmers of America and other farm groups. [7]

Who will lead the US Congress's farm committees after Tuesday.

The House committee's top Democrat is leaving, the US Senate committee's top Democrat is running for governor, and the vote decides which party holds each chair. [7]

Farmers Weekly, a British farm paper, mapped where Chinese firms now sit in British farming. [8]

Cofco International, part of China's state grain trader, trades British grain and has Ipswich port facilities. [8]

Merchants buying straight from British farms fell from over 2,000 in 1977 to 80-100. [8]

A firm linked to China's state-owned Bright Food owns 50% of meat processor Silver Fern Farms. [8]

Chinese firm XAG's crop-spraying drones are now flying on British farms. [8]

Their crash records upload to Chinese servers when the drone gets a connection. [8]

Syngenta, owned by China's state-owned Sinochem, runs its biggest research site in Berkshire. [8]

The paper could not find out what data FJDynamics' tractor-steering kits send to China. [8]

British farmers gain cheaper kit, but a few firms hold more knowledge of the market. [8]

Economists call this market concentration: fewer buyers, each seeing more of the market. [8]

Cofco did not answer the paper's questions about its British business. [8]

Its British distributor spent about 1.5 million pounds over four years building the rules that let crop drones fly, which may hand XAG a head start over rivals. [8]

Keele University will lead a project on crop diseases carried by insects called planthoppers. [9]

It starts in November and is one of 18 projects sharing over 54 million pounds. [9]

On the European mainland one such disease can cut sugar beet root yields by 30%. [9]

The reed planthopper already lives in Britain, but the disease is not believed established. [9]

Two planthopper species can pass five bacterial diseases between crops and wild plants. [9]

The diseases threaten potatoes, sugar beet and carrots. [9]

Young planthoppers spend the winter underground in wheat fields. [9]

Preparing now could let farmers act before the disease takes hold in Britain. [9]

Plant scientists call the planthopper a vector: an insect carrying disease from plant to plant. [9]

Few British farmers know about planthoppers yet, the project's lead, James Bell, says. [9]

Where the planthopper disease has struck, sugar beet root yields can fall by 30% and sugar by 5%. [9]

Whether the planthopper diseases ruining sugar beet on the European mainland will settle in Britain.

The insect already lives there, but the diseases are not believed established, and the research only starts in November. [9]

A study in npj Sustainable Agriculture projects heat on northern Australia's cattle stations. [10]

By late century, heat-tolerant cattle on the Barkly Tableland could face 105.6 too-hot days a year. [10]

Historically they faced 15.2 such days a year. [10]

Less heat-tolerant cattle could face over 300 such days in parts of the dry interior. [10]

Days too hot for safe outdoor work could rise by 31-60%. [10]

Good shade offsets almost all the extra heat at five of six site and breed pairs. [10]

The biggest numbers come from the study's high-emissions path for late this century. [10]

Cattle under heat grow slower, so they take longer to reach export or slaughter weight. [10]

Animal scientists measure heat load: the heat a cow builds up faster than it can shed. [10]

Station workers share the risk; the authors say work hours will likely need to change too. [10]

Good shade cancels almost all of the extra heat that cattle in northern Australia are projected to face, at five of the six sites and breeds a new study looked at.

Paris rapeseed for May 2027 fell 1.7% in a week, to about 461.50 pounds a tonne. [11]

Rapeseed, called oilseed rape in Britain, is bought by oil crushers and biodiesel makers. [11]

Investment funds have halved their record bet on rising rapeseed prices in three to four weeks. [11]

Low water on the Rhine, a big European river, has made moving rapeseed dearer. [11]

Big US soybean and Canadian canola harvests add to the world's supply. [11]

EU rapeseed imports are about 11% below last year, which keeps Europe's own supply tight. [11]

Dry weather in central and south-east Europe worries growers about next year's crop. [11]

Big harvests abroad cap the price even while Europe's own supply stays tight. [11]

Traders call a big bet on rising prices a long position; funds halved theirs. [11]

Worries over the Strait of Hormuz and Black Sea still hold prices up, a trader says. [11]

Scientists tracked viruses in beef calves' noses and throats from birth to weaning. [12]

They published the study in Nature Communications on 28 October. [12]

Viruses that infect animals showed up after the calves' first week of life. [12]

Two viruses they rebuilt, a coronavirus and an adenovirus, sit between cattle and human types. [12]

Cattle are major food animals and live in close contact with people. [12]

Scientists study animal and human health together under the name One Health. [12]

The study finds shared genetic features; it does not report these viruses infecting people. [12]

A study in Nature put Africa's yearly water demand at 347 cubic kilometres. [13]

Irrigation, water brought to crops, takes 225 of them: 65%. [13]

Towns need 17%, electricity 10%, factories 4%, livestock 3% and mining 1%. [13]

Demand rose by 26% between 2010 and 2020. [13]

In parts of northern and southern Africa demand is greater than the water available. [13]

Elsewhere there is enough water, yet many people lack piped drinking water. [13]

Hydrologists define water demand as the volume each use needs, not what it gets. [13]

The authors say their numbers are estimates, and local figures need care. [13]

Google DeepMind, Google's AI lab, set out its farm work at a Singapore food summit. [14]

'We're using it to create more disease-resistant crops,' said its director, Ramine Tinati. [14]

That work is with the Sainsbury Laboratory, a plant research centre in Britain. [14]

Another tool maps sorghum varieties that may cope better with harsh conditions. [14]

The sorghum map is open to all researchers, free. [14]

A project helping smallholders in India decide what to plant is spreading to 11 countries. [14]

Tinati says small farmers could then know what to sow, and when to harvest. [14]

AlphaFold predicts a protein's 3D shape, and the shape decides what the protein does. [14]

DeepMind gave no figures for how much its tools have raised yields on farms. [14]

Google DeepMind is making its map of sorghum varieties that may cope better with harsh conditions free for any researcher to use.

USDA, the US farm department, will lend 24.6 million dollars for a beef plant in Texas. [5]

26 cattle producers from the Texas panhandle started the project, in the town of Dimmitt. [5]

The plant will handle 400 cattle a day and is expected to create 220 jobs. [5]

The ranchers want an alternative to the big national meat companies. [5]

A new buyer nearby gives ranchers another place to sell their cattle. [5]

Economists call it buyer power when a few firms buy from many sellers. [5]

A 24.6 million dollar US loan lets them build their own plant instead of selling only to the big national meatpackers. [5]

Twenty-six cattle producers in the Texas panhandle won a 24.6 million dollar US government loan to build their own beef plant.