In 2022 alone, the State Office for Agriculture, Food Safety and Fisheries (LALLF) examined almost 600,000 samples of various kinds, including about 38,600 samples from the plant protection service and almost 15,000 samples from food and feed monitoring. This goes
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New Zealand-based apple brand Rockit Global has championed the first memorandum of understanding (MOU) in its category, signing a 12-month deal with Lulu Hypermarkets across the Middle East. read more

AC Goatham & Son has signed a new £30m deal to supply the UK’s fourth largest supermarket Aldi. Founded in 1947, and run by Clive Goatham and his son Ross, the Kent-based company has supplied Aldi with a variety of apples and pears since 2016, including Royal Gala apples, Braeburn apples
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Logistics giant Maersk has announced that it is expanding its use of Microsoft Azure as its cloud platform, as it aims to digitise its processes further on the path to decarbonisation. read more

Summer favourites including spinach and watermelon are among 200 products having their prices cut by Waitrose in a £100m investment by the retailer. read more

At the Freshfel Europe Annual Event, Salvo Laudani, President of Freshfel Europe, called on the sector to join forces in reinforcing the role of the sector as essential and address the misperception on health, prices, and environmental and safety aspects around fresh produce. Fresh produce is
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South Africa saw a slight fall in its volumes of apples, pears and grapes in 2022/23, due mainly to stagnated production area and a return to normal yields following record production for all three crops. A USDA report highlights that apple and pear producing regions experienced hailstorms in
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Is it possible to produce fruit and berries without the aid of the plant? It sounds utopian, but it is the experiment of researcher Lucas Van Der Zee from the Dutch University of Wageningen, who, after writing his dissertation on the subject of growing fruit without the plant, is now
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The weighted average orange prices in the EU in May 2023 came in at €106 per 100 kgs. This is €26 above the 5-year average and about €30 above the number from last year. read more

There are those who have seen their animals die due to the impossibility of getting fodder to their isolated farm, those who have lost their bees and hives due to a landslide, and those who have had their orchards suffocated by water and mud: these are some of the stories of farmers in Romagna
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The range of creative preparation options is as diverse as the spectrum of seasonally available salad varieties. Whether iceberg lettuce, lollo rosso or bionda, endive, head lettuce or frisée - leaf lettuce is not only a tempting eye-opener, but also a full-value one,
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Lebanese organic apple growers and exporters are gearing up for this year's campaign. According to Rudolph Elias, CEO of Agreen Organics, the campaign is shaping up to be satisfactory, and both quality and demand will be on the rendezvous. read more

Summer has arrived in Belgium. Temperatures are soaring, and the days are getting sunnier—the perfect time for strawberries. And according to Guy De Meyer of Demargro, it shows because summer strawberry sales are going very well. "Prices are high, but still, there are currently many local
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OGS Südbaden was able to offer the first cherries grown in Baden at the start of week 23, managing director Lorenz Boll tells us. "Usually we receive the first delivery around May 25. However, due to weather conditions, the vegetation has been delayed by about ten days compared to normal
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Antonio Luengo, Minister of Water, Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, and David Samper, President of the Organic Agriculture Council of the Region of Murcia (Caerm), have presented the data of the annual balance of 2022 of organic agriculture in the Region of Murcia, which already exceeds 117,000
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Agricola Lusia presented its first sustainability report prepared in accordance with the Gri (Global Reporting Initiative) guidelines. "We describe our goals and our commitment on the path towards sustainable development that is combined with the growth of our business,
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Floods and weather damage in large parts of Italy have certainly affected the Swiss market, an important outlet for the Italian export industry. "The extreme weather is known to have left deep scars, particularly in Emilia-Romagna, where kiwifruit and stone fruit, in particular, are grown.
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The past two years were particularly difficult for the plum sector, which was severely impacted by the frost. For the 2023 season, however, the harvest seems to be back to normal levels. “In 2021 and 2022, half the production froze, and the harvest also started a couple of weeks early,”
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A string of General Rate Increases (GRI) starting in March-April hasn't helped the container spot rates. The Shanghai Composite Index which had a momentary upside to US$1,028 slipped back to,979 even as its longer-term counterpart in the Chinese Containerized Freight Index (CCFI) fell further to
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In recent weeks we have talked about the resurgence of certain plant diseases caused by the 'anomalous' climate that has put Italy under water; incessant rain and humidity have created the ideal habitat for fungal attacks. Like Downy mildew (read more in the article), also
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