…also takes little or no effort to cultivate. Plantains grow as rosettes, meaning a cluster of leaves in a circle pattern around a shared center (like a rose.) The rosettes…
Global Food Prices Slightly Lower in November
…Cereal prices were unchanged for the month, but up eight percent since a year ago. The Vegetable Oil Price Index rose 1.2 percent in November, while sugar prices increased 4.5…
Trade Tops China, Canada Meeting Agenda
…the U.S. and Mexico. China was Canada’s second-largest trade partner behind the U.S. last year, with nearly $70 billion in total trade. Merchandise shipments to China rose four percent to…
Some Corn Belt Farmland Values are Stabilizing
Although it’s not region-wide, there are some signs that farmland values in the Corn Belt have begun to stabilize. A Top Producer report says Iowa farmland values rose two percent…
Perdue: U.S. Farm Exports Hit 3rd Highest Level on Record
…up 11 percent from FY 2016, while their value rose 16 percent to $51.4 billion. The surge was led by soybean exports, which reached a record 60 million metric tons,…
Tour Shows Ornamental Pumpkin Big Business
…the size of a Volkswagon Beetle. The patch became a sanctioned weigh-in site for The Great Pumpkin Commonwealth. In 2013, Aiello said they weighed the world record pumpkin at over…
Avocado Industry Gets Pest Update at Recent Meeting
…to develop a strategy to avoid developing resistance to those products. Research Program Director at the California Avocado Commission Tim Spann gave a presentation on Redbay Ambrosia Beetle and Laurel…
Ag Economy Expectations Sliding
…compared to August. However, the barometer’s two sub-indices, the Index of Current Conditions and Index of Future Expectations, did shift in opposite directions. The Current Conditions Index rose to 135,…
Higher Supplies Keeping Consumer Meat Prices Lower
…2018. Meanwhile, prices for poultry rose 0.2 percent from July to August and are one percent higher than last year. Despite high broiler production, many broilers have low weights, which…
Tulare County ACP Suppression Continues
…mid October. This is a time that many of you are already treating for fuller rose beetle. Many growers in these PMAs have been notified but please contact a Central…
California Dairy Production Increases from Last Year
…year. Alternatively, U.S. production of American cheese rose 0.2 percent from the month prior and fell 0.4 percent from 2016. Mozzarella cheese production was the only variety to see an…
Farm Machinery Stocks Drop After USDA Reports
…All crop yields except corn have collectively increased since 2016, according to the USDA report Thursday. While corn production dropped seven percent from 2016, soybean production rose two percent, cotton…
Laurel Wilt Experts Caution California Avocado Industry
…yet, but it’s spreading west from the deep southeast across the Southern United States. The fungus is introduced by ambrosia beetles, primarily the redbay beetle, but the disease can also…
Bees Are Buzzing Back from Colony Collapse
…of commercial U.S. honey bee colonies rose three percent to 2.89 million as of April 1st, 2017 compared with a year earlier. The number of hives lost to Colony Collapse…