Spring in Global Agricultural News

by Lily Zaballos
agricultural news

As we move into spring and pass the one-year benchmark of the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, world economies are springing back into action, and with them, global agricultural industries. Though developments in vertical agriculture in the Middle East, locust swarms in East Africa, and farmer protests in India may seem distant from from the urban New York City food system, in an increasingly globalized world, weather patterns, droughts, and agricultural policies and initiatives across the globe can have ripple effects for far flung countries.  

To get you up to speed on the latest happenings in global agricultural news, the Hunter College NYC Food Policy Center has compiled a round-up of recent articles highlighting significant events in agricultural policy and development across the world. 

Africa:

  • As Locusts Swarmed East Africa, This Tech Helped Squash Them, New York Times
  • Poor Rains Bring Optimism African Locust Outbreak Will Fade, Washington Post
  • Fall Armyworm ‘Worsens Hunger Among Smallholders’, SciDev.Net
  • Kenya’s Supply Chain Opportunities with Britain After Brexit, Business Daily Africa
  • Sunflowers Are Empowering Female Farmers in Tanzania, Farm Africa

Asia:

European Union:

  • Fighting the Mafia on Its Own Turf: An Agricultural Movement in Italy Grows on Land Confiscated from Organized Crime, New York Times 
  • Women Farmers ‘Essential’ for Future, Says French Agriculture Minister, Euractiv France
  • Organic Farming Must Grow to Reach Green Goals, EU says, Reuters 
  • Pesticides in Food: Latest Figures Published, European Food Safety Authority 
  • Coronavirus Costs Climb as Europe’s Farmers Seek Seasonal Workers, Reuters 

Global:

  • U.N. Food Systems Champions on the Importance of Public Sector Finance and Fiscal Policy, Food Tank
  • Is a Choked Up Suez Canal Just a Taste of the Future?, Fortune
  • Climate Change Slowed Growth in Agricultural Productivity, Successful Farmer
  • 64% of Global Agricultural Land at Risk of Pesticide Pollution, Science Daily

Great Britain:

  • Trees May Replace Sheep Farms Due to Brexit, Says Study, Farming UK
  • We’re Dismayed at Post-Brexit Barriers to Agriculture and Food, Say Members of Lords EU Environment Sub-committee, Yorkshire Post
  • Green Brexit Didn’t Happen, Says Environmental Coalition, BBC News
  • ‘Now Is the Decade for British Agriculture’ – NFU’s Hopes for Farming Future, The Northern Echo

Latin America: 

  • New UN report Details the Best Ways to Prevent Deforestation in Latin America. What’s That Got to Do with U.S. Food Needs?, The Counter
  • Latin American Exports of Fruits Prove Resilient, The American Journal of Transportation
  • Record-Large Brazilian Corn Crop Expectations Face Yield-Cutting Dryness, Successful Farmers
  • Herbert Bartz, No-Till Pioneer in Latin America, Passes, No-Till Farmer
  • Mexican Officials Urged to Address Violations of Mayan Sovereign Rights Caused by Construction of Industrial Pig Farms in Yucatán Peninsula, Center for Biological Diversity

Middle East/North Africa:

  • Vertical Farming is the Future of Agriculture in the Water-Scarce Middle East, The National News
  • UAE to Grow More Food in the Desert as Pandemic Disrupts Imports, Bloomberg
  • Middle East Weighs Agri-tech Solutions as Pandemic Underscores Urgency of Food Security, Arab New
  • Egypt Plans ‘New Delta’ to Boost Food Security, Al-Monitor
  • Moroccan Government Plans a New Generation of Agricultural Co-Ops, Co-Op News

Oceania:

  • Australian Agricultural Bosses Can’t Find Workers. Maybe They Should Try Paying More, Jacobin
  • The Risks Rising Temperatures Pose to the Australian Agriculture Industry, Food and Beverage Industry News
  • The Pandemic Disrupts Australia’s Agriculture Industry, Exposing Its Shaky Labor Foundation, New York Times
  • What New Zealand is Really Doing on Climate – and the Issues with Carving Out Farming from Net Zero Emissions, The Guardian 

US/Canada:

  • Indigenous Food Sovereignty Movements Are Taking Back Ancestral Land, Civil Eats
  • Biden Administration Ramps Up Debt Relief Program to Help Black Farmers, New York Times
  • Dirty Dozen: Which Fruits, Vegetables Contain the Most Pesticides?, Fox40
  • How The Westside Is Restoring The Coconut Tree As A Food Source In Hawaii, Honolulu Civil Beat
  • Canada is a Global Powerhouse in Agriculture and Food — It’s Time Politicians Acted Like It, Real Agriculture
  • Advocates Call for Accessible COVID-19 Vaccine Plan for Migrant Farm Workers in Ontario, Global News Canada

A few older articles of note on global agricultural news:

  • “Green Gold”: Sustainable Avocado Farming in Mexico, Borgen Magazine
  • Young Farmers and Mental Health: ‘We feel so isolated’, BBC 
  • Climate Change Will Cause a Shift in Earth’s Tropical Rain Belt — Threatening Water and Food Supply for Billions, Study Says, CNBC
  • What’s in the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 for Agriculture?, Wisconsin State Farmer

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