Crops
Turmeric: a spice with thirty varieties and a very large set of claims
About 30 varieties of turmeric are used in the cooking of Asia, Africa and South America, and sales of turmeric supplements in Western markets are rising fast.
Categories
World
Crops
Pairwise licenses CRISPR tools to 25 companies as editing spreads beyond corn and soy
Gene-editing company Pairwise says licensing of its Fulcrum CRISPR platform has jumped in the past 12 to 18 months, with 25 licensees working across more than 30 species from cassava, cacao and yam to insects, microbes and livestock.
Crops
Tanzania sets out to double its improved-seed area by 2030
Fewer than a third of Tanzania's smallholders use improved seed. A new national strategy, co-designed with CGIAR and USAID, aims to take the area under improved seed from three million to six million hectares and the agro-dealer network from 3,000 to 12,000.
Agribusiness
Rebuilding Syria's farms is peace infrastructure, Alliance researchers argue
With wheat output at roughly a third of pre-conflict levels and livestock herds halved, the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT sets out six priorities for Syria's agricultural recovery, from cereal and seed systems to rangelands and cooperatives.
Fisheries
Lake Victoria fishing communities in Tanzania draw up their own climate adaptation plan
Twenty-five fishers, processors and officials from Muleba and Bukoba districts worked with WorldFish, EMEDO and Tanzania's Department of Fisheries in May 2026 to map erratic rain, warming water and shifting lake levels into a locally led adaptation plan.
Crops
Only 3 percent of Gaza's cropland is both reachable and undamaged
A joint FAO-UNOSAT satellite assessment finds 448 hectares of Gaza's cropland usable, down from 601 hectares in October 2025, with loss of access rather than new damage driving the fall.
AgribusinessNew American farmers start on smaller land and lower income
Fifty-eight percent of farms run entirely by beginning operators worked 49 acres or fewer in 2022, against 38 percent of established farms.
Environment
Five years of Kisumu rainfall show why a 'normal' May can still ruin a maize crop
An Alliance analysis of 2018-2022 CHIRPS rainfall data for Kisumu finds May rainfall swinging from under 50 mm to over 350 mm, and points to mid-May 2021, when rain collapsed as maize was at its most water-sensitive stage.
AgribusinessUS opens $7.5m for cold storage so food banks can take fresh farm produce
Grants of up to $200,000 per project will pay for refrigeration in the middle of the food assistance supply chain, letting emergency food networks handle meat, dairy and fresh produce.
Vegetables
Why Country After Country Is Turning Away From India's Farm Produce
Japan's halt on Indian mangoes, China's action on rice and tighter spice checks elsewhere have exposed weaknesses in India's testing and traceability systems.
CropsUSDA asks American growers to help build county crop estimates
NASS has begun its County Agricultural Production Survey, the questionnaire behind the only official yearly crop estimates the United States publishes at county level.
CropsUSDA leans on existing farm records for its August crop forecast
NASS has closed the Agricultural Yield Survey behind the August Crop Production report, and says it made greater use of acreage already filed with the Farm Service Agency to cut what it asks of growers.
LivestockUSDA and Homeland Security sign pact on screwworm and cattle smuggling
A memorandum of understanding announced at Moore Air Base in Texas aligns USDA's animal health work with DHS border and inspection powers, targeting an estimated 800,000 cattle smuggled into Mexico each year.