Food, in brief

Farm workers around Timau, a town in central Kenya, say pesticides from the farms made them sick. [1]

Now 87 of them want to join a court case against Kenya's government and 5 pesticide companies. [1]

The farms around Timau grow mostly for export, and they have given local families work for generations. [1]

Kenya's earnings from vegetable exports fell 68% from 2023 to 2025, largely because of EU pesticide rules. [1]

Pesticide regulators call a chemical's own power to harm its hazard. [1] Its risk is the chance of harm at the amount people meet. [1]

The EU bans pesticides by hazard, while Kenya's regulator judges by risk, campaigners say. [1] So a chemical banned in the EU can be sold in Kenya. [1]

Judging by risk counts on workers following the label. [1] Timau workers say they picked sprayed flowers within hours, without gloves. [1]

A hot pan only burns the hand that grabs it without an oven glove.

Bayer says its products are safe if used as the label instructs. [1] Syngenta says its products meet Kenya's rules. [1]

Kenya's pesticide regulator would not comment because the case is in court. [1] BASF and Twiga did not answer. [1]

France and Belgium already ban exporting pesticides that are banned in the EU. [1]

The court is expected to decide early next year whether the 87 can join the case. [1]

Some pesticides sold in Kenya are banned on EU farms, and Bayer says that reflects different rules, not different safety. [1]

Workers around Timau say they sprayed and picked without gloves, and 87 of them want a Kenyan court to hear their case. [1]

"Safe if used as the label says" sounds like a promise of safety, but it only holds when every worker follows every step.

They keep a market in Kenya for pesticides they cannot sell to farms in the EU. [1]

Margaret Mwanjaro says she has gone five days without money for her son's medicine. [1]

Whether pesticides caused the Timau workers' illnesses.

The urine tests were done by scientists the petitioners hired, and no court has weighed them. [1] Meru's cancer doctor says the question he asks is whether exposure is the cause. [1]

At least 17 people, mostly children, went to hospital in Akkar, northern Lebanon, over the weekend. [2]

Local officials said they had eaten tainted pastries, and some had also eaten meat. [2]

Lebanon's health ministry had warned of more suspected trichinosis, a roundworm disease spread in raw or undercooked meat. [2]

Diners fell ill after eating at Nadini, a restaurant in central Beirut, which was closed for a time. [2]

Tests ordered by Beirut's governor, Marwan Abboud, found the worm in a meat sample. [2]

Officials raided Rahamco, which supplied Nadini and other restaurants with meat. [2] It had no licence and has been shut. [2]

Early checks suggest it mixed fresh meat with thawed frozen meat. [2]

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam called an emergency meeting for Monday about the rise in illness. [2]

Some Lebanese dishes, such as kibbeh nayyeh, are made with raw meat. [2]

Why a warning label is the weakest way to protect a farm worker

A hazard is anything that can hurt someone, like a strong weedkiller

Best: elimination, taking the hazard away, such as banning the chemical

Next: substitution, swapping in a less harmful chemical

Then engineering: a barrier or distance between people and the hazard

Then rules and training, like waiting before entering a sprayed greenhouse

Last: protective kit like gloves, which works only if worn every time

A label keeps a worker safe only if every sprayer and picker follows it, every day. Taking the chemical away keeps them safe even on a day nobody does.

Of 141 pesticide ingredients registered in Kenya last year, a Greenpeace report classed 48 as highly hazardous.

Lebanon relied on licences and inspection, a rules-level control, and an unlicensed supplier mixing thawed and fresh meat was found only after people fell ill.

Keeping sheep away from the boggy ground where the snails live puts distance between the animal and the parasite, a step above treating sick sheep.

Asking each traveller to clean their boots and leave pork behind is a rules-level control, so it protects US pigs only if every traveller remembers.

The top controls are not always available: when no safer chemical works on a pest, a farm may be left with only rules and gloves.

A rose picked near Timau hours after spraying may end up in a shop in Europe.

They must keep food cold on a power supply that is unsteady and expensive. [2]

Which dishes made people sick in Lebanon.

The National reports it is still unclear which dishes were to blame. [2]

The USDA, the US farm ministry, confirmed bird flu in dairy cattle in Indiana, the state's first case. [3]

Bird flu, the H5N1 virus, has been a national health concern in the US since 2024. [4]

Dairy cattle can pass the virus to the people who work with them. [4]

"We are heartbroken to lose a member in our farm working community," Washington's farm department said. [3]

How bird flu reached dairy cattle in Indiana.

The first report gives no herd, no county and no route for the virus. [3]

Defra, the UK farm ministry, confirmed Shamonda virus in cattle on 2 dairy farms on Monday. [5]

One farm is in Powys, Wales, and the other in Shropshire, England. [5]

The virus is believed to be spread by tiny biting flies called midges. [5]

It mainly affects cattle, causing fever, diarrhoea and less milk. [5] Infected cows have also lost calves. [5]

It was found in Jersey's cattle in August and in Ireland last month. [5]

Defra asks livestock keepers to watch their cattle for signs and call a vet early. [5]

Defra calls the finds not unexpected and says no extra controls are needed for now. [5] Farmers do not have to report it. [5]

How far Shamonda has spread among British herds.

Defra found it through its own checks and says it will review its response as more evidence comes in. [5]

Bluetongue is a livestock virus that struck sheep hardest this summer. [6] Vets think cases in cattle went under-reported. [6]

A Devon vet, Rebecca Cavill, says a third to half of the beef cows she scans are not in calf. [6]

When a cow catches it 80 to 125 days into pregnancy, 25-35% of calves are born with brain damage. [6]

Most such calves die or are put down within 24 to 72 hours of birth. [6]

Another Devon vet, Jonathan Hobbs, says over 50% of rams tested this year were less fertile. [6] Normally 9-13% are. [6]

Spring-calving herds may not know how many calves they lost until the cows give birth. [6]

Vets say bluetongue damages sperm production for a while, so an infected ram is less fertile. [6]

Sperm takes 100-150 days to recover, so rams infected in July or August may miss early lambing. [6]

A sprained ankle heals, but not always in time for next week's match.

Vaccinated herds suffered fewer losses and fewer fertility problems this summer, Cavill says. [6]

How many calves bluetongue has already killed in the womb.

Vets say spring-calving herds will not know until the cows give birth. [6]

At one Devon vet practice, 75% of the rams tested in recent weeks passed their fertility checks, against 75% failing six to eight weeks earlier.

Gaza's olive harvest this season is no more than 3,300 tonnes, its agriculture ministry says. [7]

That is about 8% of the nearly 40,000 tonnes a year it grew before the war. [7]

Gaza's agriculture ministry says 40,000 of 45,000 dunams of olive groves were damaged. [7] A dunam is a tenth of a hectare. [7]

It estimates more than 1 million olive trees have been destroyed. [7]

Much of farmer Saed Abu Baraka's land lies beyond the yellow line, the edge of an Israeli-held area. [7]

His family's olive press near Deir al-Balah was destroyed, so he waited 2 days to press olives in Nuseirat. [7]

A litre of olive oil now costs up to 120 shekels, against 30 before the war, a Gaza buyer says. [7]

One buyer who once stored about 75kg of olives could only find and afford a fraction this season. [7]

In a poll by Agri-Pulse, a US farm news service, 62% said US farming is headed the wrong way. [8]

Only 14% said the right way, and 24% were unsure. [8]

Farmers gave President Trump's handling of farming an average of 3.7 out of 10. [8]

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins scored 4.7. [8] About half rated Trump's order to import more South American beef very negative. [8]

45% expect to be worse off in a year, and only 10% better off. [8]

The midterm vote is today, and farmers' most common worries were high costs, low prices and high interest rates. [8]

The poll ran through October and had 170 replies, from readers who chose to answer during harvest. [8] Agri-Pulse calls it a small sample. [8]

US lean hog futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange set contract lows on Monday. [3]

December hog futures, prices for hogs to be delivered in December, ended at 58.175 cents a pound. [3]

They touched 57.775 cents, the lowest since that contract began trading. [3]

Prices have tumbled since July as farm hog prices and wholesale pork prices stayed weak. [3]

Live cattle futures also fell, to their lowest since October 5. [3]

China, the world's biggest pork eater, has too many hogs of its own, which hurts US pork exports. [3]

"It's hard for them to import pork from the US," said Joe Schuele of the US Meat Export Federation. [3]

Weak cash prices for hogs mean farmers get less for each animal they sell. [3]

When US hog prices will recover.

Analysts say futures are oversold but cannot say when prices will turn. [3]

Mondelez, which owns Cadbury and Toblerone, is in two fights with small vegan chocolate brands. [10]

It filed a High Court case on 15 October against Catherine's Originals, a British chocolate maker. [9]

It says Catherine's vegan O'bar copies the shape Toblerone has used since 1929. [9]

Its founder, Catherine Dodd, said: "We stand firmly behind the product and identity we've created." [9]

Mondelez also wrote to Moo Free, a Devon firm, asking it to stop selling White Choccy Snowballs. [10]

Cadbury registered Snowball as a trademark for chocolate in 2001. [10]

Moo Free says it was told to take them off sale just before Christmas, its busy season. [10]

Trademark law protects a name or shape that shoppers link to one maker. [9] Mondelez argues the O'bar could make shoppers think the brands are linked. [9]

A new cafe painted in a famous chain's colours could make people think it is the same shop.

Neither claim has been tested in court. [9] Mondelez says it has taken no legal action against Moo Free, only written to it. [10]

Its 2001 Snowball trademark lets it ask a small rival to stop selling a Christmas product at its busiest time. [10]

Oatly, a Swedish maker of oat drinks, will raise its prices in the US in 2027. [11]

It may raise prices in Europe too, said Daniel Ordonez, its president. [11]

Oatly's boss said US diesel prices have risen about 70% since the Middle East war began in February. [11]

Oatly cut its profit forecast for the year, and its shares fell 34% in a week. [11]

New US cartons will hold 48 ounces instead of 64. [11]

In January it launches oat drinks with added fibre in North America; they are already sold in Europe. [12]

US buyers face higher prices and smaller cartons from 2027. [11]

Oatly says it absorbed rising costs until US fuel and trucking costs outgrew what it could offset. [11]

Oatly calls the change an innovation-led price reframing, because new products arrive with the higher prices. [11]

From 1 January 2027, the UK will add a carbon charge to imported fertiliser. [13]

The charge is meant to match the carbon costs that UK makers already pay. [13]

It will hit most nitrogen fertiliser on UK farms, because the UK no longer makes its own ammonia. [13]

A tax office example puts it at about 3.77 pounds a tonne of ammonium nitrate, a common fertiliser. [13]

Some estimates had said 50 to 70 pounds a tonne from the start. [13]

Edward Downing of Frontier says fertiliser buying is behind normal, and deliveries could get stretched. [13]

In 2027 a free allowance covers 97.5% of the carbon cost. [13] So the rate starts at 1.45 pounds a tonne of carbon dioxide. [13]

A new bus fare that starts with a big discount costs riders little at first.

What the UK carbon charge on fertiliser will really be.

The first official rates come before the end of 2026, and each importer's bill depends on how its fertiliser was made. [13]

David Wheatley, a farmer in Cambridgeshire, England, has stopped growing sugar beet after 30 years. [14]

He says unstable sugar markets and rising fertiliser and diesel prices make it too risky. [14]

Growers sign contracts 12 months ahead, before they know the weather or their costs. [14]

For the 2027-28 crop, one contract pays 28.50 pounds a tonne for up to half a grower's tonnage. [14]

He used to grow 35-40 hectares of beet and now sells crops straight to customers. [14]

Growers who drop beet must find another crop to take its place in their rotation. [14]

A fixed contract price settles what beet earns per tonne. [14] It cannot fix the tonnes: wet years cut the sugar, dry years cut the yield. [14]

A fixed rate for picking apples does not help if a storm knocks them down first.

They fix a price a year ahead, then carry the weather, pests and fuel costs themselves. [14]

Farmers in England are still waiting for a promised 15 million pound grant to build reservoirs. [15]

Defra, the UK farm ministry, has not set a date for applications to open. [15]

Prime Minister Andy Burnham told MPs last week it would open "very shortly". [15]

Earlier rounds paid up to 40% of costs, and up to 500,000 pounds a farm. [15]

Defra says the money could fund about 100 farms. [15]

Farmers fear missing the winter refill after a summer drought hit crop yields. [15]

The NFU, the main farmers' union in England, fears the money will be used up at once. [15]

Tom Bradshaw, president of the NFU, said slow planning decisions are holding back new poultry sheds. [16]

Farms need more shed space because the industry chose to keep fewer birds in each shed. [16]

Egg imports rose 25% in 2025, mainly from Poland and Ukraine. [16]

Bradshaw blamed a campaign group, the Campaign Against Factory Farming, for slowing applications for chicken sheds. [16]

The UK farming minister, Stephen Morgan, spoke at the conference but left without taking questions. [16]

Without new sheds, Bradshaw says, more chicken will come from countries with lower standards. [16]

When British farms cannot build new sheds, the NFU says, the extra demand is met with imports. [16]

A report has traced the money behind the American Meat Producers Association, a group running attack ads in US races. [17]

The group backs California's Proposition 12, which sets housing rules for pigs and poultry sold there. [17]

The report is by RealClearInvestigations, a conservative US news site, using public filings. [17]

On 2 October the group's political committee got 3 million dollars from its own non-profit arm. [17]

That was more than 97% of the money the committee raised. [17]

The filings list only one donor who is a farmer, who gave 1,000 dollars. [17]

The fight is over the Save Our Bacon Act. [17] It would stop states like California setting rules for meat from elsewhere. [17]

The group's non-profit arm does not have to name its donors. [17] A news release from the National Pork Producers Council, a pig farmers' lobby, spread the findings. [17]

University of Illinois economists compared costs on 9 typical soybean farms in the US and Brazil. [18]

Brazil grows 42% of the world's soybeans and the US 27%. [18]

Brazilian farms spent more on fertiliser, 85 dollars an acre against 57 in the US. [18]

They also spent more on pesticides, 81 dollars an acre against 56. [18]

US farms spent more on seed, 66 dollars an acre against 43. [18]

Brazil's big saving is land and other overheads: 97 dollars an acre against 251 in the US. [18]

In a September survey, 80% of US farmers said they worried about competing with Brazil. [18]

Farm economists split costs into direct costs, like seed and fertiliser, and overheads, mainly land. [18]

Brazil buys most of its fertiliser abroad, priced in dollars. [18] So when the real, Brazil's currency, weakens, its farmers pay more. [18]

A family with a cheap flat can spend more on food and still have money left over.

Cheaper land keeps their total cost per acre below US farms in most years, even with dearer fertiliser. [18]

The Adaptation Fund Board approved nearly 35 million dollars for climate projects in Rwanda and the Horn of Africa. [19]

Rwanda gets 4.97 million dollars for smallholder farmers in Kayonza, Gatsibo and Nyagatare districts. [19]

The other 30 million dollars goes to herders in parts of Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia. [19]

In 2025, dry spells in Kayonza ruined crops, and 97,951 people needed food relief. [19]

The UN Development Programme will run the Rwanda project with Rwanda's farm ministry. [19]