Indigenous peoples, local communities and private smallholders should actively form producer organisations, according to two new reports promoted by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation.
With foreign investment in Australian agriculture being among the most heated political issues in the country at the moment, new figures released by the Australia Bureau of Statistics might come as a surprise to many.
The international livestock sector needs to engage and collaborate if it is to reduce its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from its current high levels of 14.5% of total human emissions.
Governments need to stop confusing self sufficiency with food security if they want to ensure there is enough food to feed the growing global population, the global meat industry was told.
New Indian prime minister Narendra Modi has vowed to control food inflation in the country by improving agriculture productivity through modern farm techniques and collaborations between academia and farms.
The unique history of Australia’s wild rice means it could play a key role in tackling global food security as part of future breeding programmes, according to a leading plant geneticist at the University of Queensland.
Growing interest in the potential for insects as a source of healthy and sustainable protein was demonstrated again at Vitafoods Europe, where 4ento CEO Ana Day told us that insect consumption needs to become 'sexy'.
Six traditional farming systems in China, Iran and South Korea known for their unique characteristics and approaches to sustainability have been designated Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) by the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture...
China has announced ambitious plans to expand sheep and cattle breeding in the country’s sparsely populated north-westerly regions in order to meet the country’s growing demand for meat. But adding more cattle numbers in the provinces of Inner Mongolia,...
China will continue to maintain a high rate of self-sufficiency in major grain output in order to achieve its food security target over the next decade, according to an official government-backed report.
Syria may be facing increasing food security threats as drought threatens this year's harvests, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has said.
Few may go hungry but vitamin and mineral deficiencies and health problems like growth stunting in children are widespread among the 53 countries of Europe and central Asia, according to the FAO.
Date palms are under significant threat from climate change and growing numbers of pests and pestilence, researchers have warned at an Abu Dhabi conference.
Along with the camel and the world’s highest tower, the humble date is one of the most enduring icons of the UAE, and soon it will be recognised for its importance to international agriculture.
The contribution of agriculture to Saudi Arabia’s gross domestic product was last measured at 2.49% in 2010, according to the World Bank. Moreover, it is set to drop even lower once the country’s cultivation of wheat is phased out by 2016.
If government and industry are to overcome unfounded opposition to genetic modification (GM) technologies, they should clearly communicate the challenges facing sustainable food production, the Prime Minister’s scientific advisers have claimed.
China’s ability to feed a growing population will depend on how it can drive the development of its hybrid model while ultimately relying on the development of its agricultural system, says Rabobank.
Australia could increase its food security role in Asia, with food consumption modelled under specific scenarios to more than double by 2030, according to new research from the Economist Intelligence Unit.
While agriculture in China has grown quickly over the last 35 years, a new report suggests the flurry of government policies since new government leadership assumed office in 2012 will prompt the industry to boom even faster in the coming decade.
India is expecting to post its highest ever level of foodgrain production this year, according to the country’s agriculture minister, who is hopeful that a bumper yield will cool down the fast-rising food prices that have been a feature of the last six...
Coconut farmers in the Philippines are in urgent need of assistance to recover their livelihoods nearly three months after Typhoon Haiyan tore through the country, the FAO has warned.
Saudi Arabia is overhauling its agricultural sector to reduce water consumption and improve efficiency, according to the chairman of the country's Agriculture Development Fund (ADF).
More than two-thirds of the total value of Australian crop production comes as the result of protection products, meaning that some of the country’s harvests would be commercially unviable without them.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation’s emergency chief expects that crops in areas of the Philippines that were worst hit by this month’s Typhoon Haiyan have been “severely compromised”, and has warned that action must be taken quickly...
Deforestation, loss of habitats, social upheaval and vast swathes of smoke: there’s no doubt the palm oil industry is guilty of continuing atrocities against both planet and humanity.
A deluge of early monsoon rains is expected to help produce a bumper Asian rice crop this season, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation has predicted.
By Darrel Webber, secretary general of Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil
Increasing global consumption of palm oil poses serious sustainability challenges and raises questions about leading consumer nations’ responsibility in managing the footprint of its global supply chain.
A technical expert committee set up by India’s Supreme Court, has this week recommended an indefinite moratorium on the field trials of genetically modified crops until the government tables suitable mechanisms for regulation and safety.
China faces some key policy crossroads in the coming decade which will ultimately decide the scale of its meat production and imports, according to a leading agronomist in Beijing.
Seven Australian suppliers of bottled water will remove “organic” claims from their labelling and marketing material after they reached an agreement with the country’s consumer watchdog. An eighth supplier has withdrawn its product from sale.
Asian agri giant and Kellogg’s joint venture partner Wilmar International has defended its palm oil operations and insisted it remains undaunted by the challenge of ensuring a sustainable supply chain.
China’s rice production is proving to be a conundrum for analysts and food organisations the world over. The simple fact is, nobody knows with any degree of certainty what’s happening there, and what little that can be divined is nothing short of puzzling.
The Food Corporation of India could potentially earn over Rs25,000 crore (US$4.5bn) by exporting wheat lying in open warehouses, according to an Assocham study.
A book released this week by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation’s forestry department attempts to persuade Westerners that they should see insects as a potential key food source for the future. This will no doubt please Australian “science communicator”...
Troubled Goulburn Valley cannery and Australian household name SPC Ardmona has urged the federal government to impose an emergency tax on imports of cheap tinned fruits and tomatoes.
New Zealand’s Ministry for Primary Industries is working with the kiwifruit industry and the supplier of a range of organically-certified citrus-based products following the unexpected discovery of very low residues of a chemical in some organic kiwifruit...
With over 30 years in the food industry, with a third of it spent providing and promoting food safety certification with Cert ID Europe, Richard Werran knows a fair bit about genetically modified crops in sustainable agriculture.
India’s government is working hard to reach a consensus among scientists, politicians, farmers and consumers to reach a solution on the vexed issue of genetically modified crops, according to the country’s science and technology minister.
Unilever and Nestlé say Oxfam missed an opportunity for a wider and more comprehensive debate about food ethics after the NGO published a damning report on the supply chains of the world’s biggest food firms this week.
Heatwave conditions from early January and below average rainfall across Australia’s major agricultural regions have resulted in a less than favourable summer cropping season, according to the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and...
While New Zealand fights to stem the fallout from the damaging Fonterra DCD crisis, a new report by Rabobank has revealed that the country’s strong trade links to countries with importing markets will be central to the performance of its agricultural...
Over 150 Indian scientists have united to call public attention to the Ministry of Agriculture, which they believe has been making a political case for genetically modified crops to counter concerns of food security.
India's agriculture sector must be reformed if it is to double food production over the next five years, India’s president has told a conference in Delhi.
