Greenpeace has suggested that security forces in a palm oil concession linked to the supply of Wilmar International might have been complicit in the death of a member of the Sumatran indigenous community that has been fighting for the recognition of their...
The United Nations and its Food and Agriculture Organisation have appealed to governments to boost support to the world’s small-scale family farmers in order to win the fight against hunger.
Australia’s agriculture department has sent an advisory to India’s agri-export authority over repeated violation of laws governing processed food exports to the country.
With wheat consumption is on the rise in Indonesia, the country might soon be in a position to resolve its self-sufficiency target for rice, according to a new report by Rabobank.
Analysts have been predicting price rises and a slowing of economic growth in Southeast Asia as the drought that has gripped the region since the start of the year continues to disrupt water supplies, and Indonesian fires rage.
Last year, the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and its partners released 44 new and improved rice varieties, taking the number to around a thousand since it was launched in 1960.
An Indian conglomerate and a Saudi prince have teamed up with plans to make Dubai a regional hub for basmati rice—the leading food imports from the subcontinent to the Middle East.
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...
Dr Patrick Moore – Greenpeace founding member and GM defector – represents a fear that lurks in the heart of all ideologists: Am I on the right side of the fence? Am I the goodie or the baddie?
A healthy diet is for now out of reach for low-income Australians, with climate change affecting the ability of food systems to provide sufficient nutritious and affordable foods at all times new research has revealed.
Troubled SPC Ardmona has lashed out at claims by the Australian prime minister that the company is a “union shop”, and that the cause of its difficulties are because of “over generous” allowances and “extraordinary” staff conditions.
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.
India’s Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Assocham) has urged agricultural businesses and ministers to translate the country’s soaring production wealth into comparable exports.
Thousands of honey bees in Australia are being fitted with tiny sensors as part of a world-first research programme to monitor the insects and their environment using a technique known as “swarm sensing”.
University of Queensland scientists, in collaboration with the Australian sugar industry, have discovered a new species of bacterium that could potentially reduce the need for nitrogen fertiliser in cane farming while also improving yields of the crop.
One month after Typhoon Haiyan struck a devastating blow to the Philippines, farmers who lost essential crops and supplies are receiving the first wave of emergency seeds, restoring hope for a productive planting season and much-needed food for the coming...
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has filed separate proceedings in the Federal Court against two major egg producers for misleading “free range” claims.
Australian olive oil importers have taken the Australian Olive Association (AOA) to the competition watchdog over the industry body’s recent criticism towards olive oil imports.
Scientists in the Far East have discovered a rice gene that in preliminary testing increased production by 13-36% in modern long-grain indica rice varieties—the world’s most widely grown types of rice.
Inflation has been forcing households to cut down on their consumption of nutrient-rich foods by almost 40%, according to a new Indian chambers of industry survey.
Australia’s is suffering from a crippling and an ever-increasing shortfall of young people interested in producing the country’s food, putting at risk its grand plans for being Asia’s food bowl.
It was revolving doors today in the Australian food and beverage industry as GrainCorp announced the departure of its chief executive, closely followed by Coca-Cola Amatil broadcasting its own new appointment.
A health programme based on community intervention has been shown to achieve a significant reduction in sodium intake among rural residents in northern China.
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.
India’s largest soy processing company has teamed up with European marketeers and a standards agency to begin an initiative it says will promote the long-term sustainability of soy and increase India’s role in its export.
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...
A press release arrived last week from India with the headline “Chicken becomes cheaper than onions”. Needless to say, it raised a few eyebrows at the FoodNavigator head office in Montpellier, France.
While the scale of destruction in the wake of Typhoon Haiyan constitutes a major humanitarian crisis, its impact on rice production in the worst-affected Filipino provinces is yet to be fully understood.
The UN’s Food and Agriculture organisation has been mobilising support to the Philippines in the wake of Typhoon Haiyan, which tore through the country causing severe damage to the fisheries and agriculture sectors, as well as massive loss of life.
Transgenic rice tests conducted by China’s Agricultural University have brought no abnormalities after 90 days of test according to researchers involved in the programme.
Shinmei Co. Ltd is investing more than $10m in a rice processing facility in California to produce a gluten-free ‘Rice Bun’, an alternative to the burger bun, in the US.
China’s food safety authorities have really been ramping up their charm offensive in the last month. Not only have bodies like the China Food and Drug Administration been seen a flurry of activity in introducing new regulations and policing their patch,...
India’s food minister has acknowledge something that everyone with a passing knowledge of the country’s food network has been aware of for years: that India simply doesn’t have adequate storage to meet demand.
Over two-thirds of Singaporean consumers are taking food inflation on the chin, saying they can absorb rising prices in their household budgets without having to make spending cuts elsewhere, according to a report released by Nielsen.
India’s organic food market is expecting to see grow at a rate of around 19% over the next four years, according to a new report. And to fuel this demand – and that of overseas countries – producers should battle bureaucracy and convert from conventional...
Despite two decades of increased agricultural productivity across the world, there has not been a corresponding drop in malnutrition rates. And now, two new multidisciplinary projects at the University of Sydney hope to address this challenge.
New South Wales’ fair trading department has been asked to investigate potentially misleading free-range egg claims after consumer watchdog Choice found that consumers are paying double the price of cage eggs for what is says products that are unlikely...
By Rick Beckmann, senior foreign legal counsel, and Aldi Rakhmatillah, associate, of Susandarini & Partners, in association with Norton Rose Fulbright Australia
How should Indonesia and, more to the point, the local community, benefit from foreign investment in plantations?
By Rick Beckmann, senior foreign legal counsel and Aldi Rakhmatillah, associate, of Susandarini & Partners in association with Norton Rose Fulbright Australia
The Indonesian Government is planning to crack down on further expansion of groups in the powerful palm oil plantation industry and, indirectly, foreign conglomerates.
The Indonesian deputy trade minister has said that after successfully increasing domestic cocoa grinding capacity the country should lower cocoa bean import duties to prevent shortages in the future.