Saudi Arabia saw its agricultural gross domestic product grow by 38 per cent in 2022, on the back of a boost in investment and multiple efforts to promote sustainable development, according to a report from Arab News. read more

The former group CEO and current chairman of G’s Fresh, John Shropshire, has called for more continuity in the seasonal worker scheme to give fresh produce businesses the confidence they need to invest. read more

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has today (5 July) released data for May 2023 global air cargo markets showing weak market conditions. read more

For over a decade, British strawberries and cream have cost £2.50 for visitors to the Wimbledon annual tennis championships, which got underway this week (3 July). The number of strawberries –10 per punnet – has also remained unchanged, reports The Telegraph. read more

Dyson Farming has partnered with glasshouse engineering specialist CambridgeHOK to build the second phase of its strawberry glasshouse in Lincolnshire. read more

Sainsbury’s boss Simon Roberts says his supermarket is “absolutely focused on food first” when it comes to keeping its prices down, reports The Telegraph. read more

Chilean stonefruit exports fell 11 per cent in volume but increased 19 per cent in value to in 2022/23. Asoex said 242,000 tonnes of stonefruit worth US$409m was shipped, making it one of the best campaigns in recent memory. read more

Syngenta Vegetable Seeds has announced that it has completed the acquisition of Feltrin Sementes, a Brazilian vegetable seed company serving smallholder growers and home gardeners in over 40 countries. read more

SanLucar has introduced papayas grown in the Canary Islands to its expanding range of fresh produce. Consumers in Germany and Austria can now buy tree-ripened Sweet Sense papayas, characterised by their natural sweetness, juicy and firm orange flesh and distinctive aromatic flavour,
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A series of pumpkin, courgette and winter squash variety trials will be held this summer, the Outdoor Cucurbit Growers Group (OCGG) has confirmed.  read more

The Australian table grape season has concluded on a positive note with domestic and export sales for 2023 making a marked recovery on the previous two years. read more

Leading Australian fresh produce company Costa Group has received a buyout proposal from private equity firm Paine Schwartz Partners (PSP). read more

Training fruit pickers using virtual reality equipment, employing robots to move fruit containers and wearing exoskeletons to support physical labour are all possibilities being considered by Australian berry growers as part of new research trying to boost labour efficiency. read more

The UK’s leading citrus brand Jaffa has become the ’official fruit partner’ of professional rugby union club the Leicester Tigers from the 2023 onwards. read more

Aurea Imaging, a Netherlands-based crop intelligence provider for fruit growers, last week (29 June) announced the launch of TMS TreeScout – the world’s first fully integrated tractor-mounted sensor (TMS) for precision orchard management. read more

The UK’s leading citrus brand Jaffa has become the ’official fruit partner’ of professional rugby union club the Leicester Tigers from the 2023 onwards. read more

Lineage Logistics has teamed up with a group of waste prevention non-profits, food companies, public institutions and other logistics providers to launch a hackathon to help tackle food waste and reduce the environmental footprint of the food supply chain in Europe. read more

The International Bremia Evaluation Board for the EU (IBEB-EU) has announced three new Bremia races, Bl:38EU, Bl:39EU, and Bl:40EU, and said that tests by Enza Zaden have found a significant portion of its lettuce portfolio showed high or intermediate resistance to these races. read more

Small and medium-sized farming businesses will soon be able to apply for a share of £5 million in grant funding to scale up innovation in the agriculture sector to increase sustainable food production, drive progress to net zero, improve farm resilience and support nature recovery. read more

Freshippo’s expansion across China has continued with 12 new stores opened across China while its budget brand, Freshippo Outlets, has added five stores. read more