LEAF Education is delivering meaningful learning opportunities to British children in a bid to help them better understand the UK agri-food industry, a new report finds. read more

Plants are able to adapt to extreme circumstances by copying or deleting pieces of DNA. Plant researchers call this copy number variation: the variation in the number of DNA copies is a genome. Sometimes it consists of tiny pieces of DNA of only fifty base pairs.
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Producers in Germany, Netherlands, and Switzerland have put their faith in Bloss, a dark-red apple that they believe offers an authentic, tastier eating experience for consumers and a more sustainable product for growers. read more

According to the German government, 300,000 vehicles will be affected by the reduction in the mandatory toll limit from 7.5 tzGm to > 3.5 tzGm, which will come into effect on 1 July 2024, 100,000 of which will be eligible for the situational exemption for tradespeople. In addition to craft businesses, other
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Although the rise in the cost of living in Germany slowed slightly overall last year, the further increase was from an already high level. In contrast to the previous year, fresh food also included fruit and vegetables for the
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Zespri has released its final forecast for the 2023/24 season, with record per-tray returns forecast for green, organic green, SunGold and RubyRed kiwifruit. read more

The landscape, known as the páramo, combines different climatic and ecosystem conditions. It is also home to the Frailejón (Espeletia sp), a high mountain palm, the Roble (Quercus humboldtii) and the Pino Colombiano (Retrophyllum rospigliosii), all of which are protected tree species. read more

In addition to QA-specific topics and interesting technical presentations, another focus was on active dialogue during the breaks scheduled for this purpose, which were used intensively by the participants. read more

Fruit exports saw the sharpest decline in volume at -7% and 6.2 million tonnes, while the value increased by 1% to 8.972 billion euros. After citrus fruits, exports of soft fruits also fell: strawberries -11% (246,208 tonnes), blueberries -15% (73,508 tonnes) and raspberries -17
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During its annual general meeting (AGM) in February, the World Apple and Pear Association (WAPA) elected Jeff Correa as chairman of the association.   read more

Woolworths Group has announced its managing director and group chief executive, Brad Banducci, will retire after 13 years with the company, and eight-and-a-half years as group chief executive.   read more

The product of a decade’s research from Morocco’s Les Domaines Agricoles, the brand-new SweetCott mandarin was launched at this month’s Fruit Logistica in Berlin, marketed as the “birth of a new legend” in the category. read more

In our cultivated landscape, only a few meadows and fields are completely dark at night. In addition to street lights, passing vehicles also bring light pollution into these ecosystems at night. While many other animals sleep, earthworms wriggle out of their burrows at night to wait for
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The UK will launch a new annual Food Security Index to monitor the nation’s self-sufficiency in food production, the Prime Minister has announced. read more

UK-based Jones Food Company (JFC) has opened its second vertical farm, JFC2, located near Lydney in Gloucestershire. read more

Spain’s Semillas Fitó chose Fruit Logistica 2024 as the backdrop for the official launch of its ambitious 2023-26 Sustainability Plan. The plan sets out the positive contribution the seed company can make to improving nutrition worldwide, in terms of food security – by breeding more
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Aldi is to create 5,500 new roles across the UK this year, the retailer announced today (21 February). read more

By 2022, 697 farms in Flanders, or 3% of all farms, were growing vegetables under glass. The number of greenhouse vegetable farms had declined slightly since 2012, but had increased again in the past three years. In contrast, the area under greenhouse vegetables has
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Greenyard has reported on a third-quarter (Q3) year-to-date sales increase of 12.2 per cent versus the same period of 2022/23. read more

As political parties gear up for a general election, the NFU is asking which party will back British farming and deliver the right plan for British food. read more