Agriculture, Food & Beverage

SHERIDAN – October 29, 2026 -- The global agrochemical market will reach US$387.7 billion by 2031, according to a new Wissen Research report. It attributes the growth to crop protection demand, shifting regulation and wider use of precision technologies such as agricultural drones.

Farmers are applying more product each year. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reported global agricultural pesticide use of 3.92 million tonnes of active ingredients in 2024. That is 5% above 2023 and 18% above the level a decade earlier. Repeated use of identical active ingredients also selects for resistant weeds, insects and pathogens, pushing growers toward alternative modes of action and rotation strategies.

United States – October 29, 2026 -- SupplyOne secured a request for proposal (RFP) covering multiple locations of a growing bird seed producer after engineering a corrugated box that met both the customer's requirements and a major national retailer's specifications.

SupplyOne develops boxes compatible with existing equipment

The producer needed corrugated packaging that satisfied its own operational requirements and the retailer's specifications. Lead-time challenges added pressure, and the boxes also had to run on the customer's existing equipment. SupplyOne worked with the customer to address all three constraints while supporting growth across several sites.

Successful solution expands the account across locations

The packaging solution helped SupplyOne win the multi-location RFP. According to the source, the award broadened SupplyOne's support across the customer's operation and improved packaging consistency between sites.

EWING, N.J. – October 29, 2026 -- GS1 US has launched Rapid Record, an SMS-based tool that lets produce growers log traceability data in the field without installing an app or relying on Wi-Fi. The tool is included with a GS1 US membership.

Text prompts guide growers through four event types

Growers record harvesting, cooling, initial packing and shipping events through guided text prompts. Completed digital records go to an email address designated by the grower's organization.

Before using the tool, growers identify products, locations, authorized users and a delivery email address. They then follow mobile phone prompts, review event details and submit the record. The multilingual tool uses GS1 Standards identifiers, including the Global Trade Item Number (GTIN) and Global Location Number (GLN). Records can be retained internally and shared with trading partners.

TAMPA, Fla. – October 29, 2026 -- Yara North America has made two biostimulant products commercially available in the U.S., reporting trial returns on investment of up to 15:1 in potatoes for one of them.

The products, YaraAmplix PROCOTE OPTIMIZE and YaraAmplix OPTITRAC, follow more than 10 years of research and development, multiyear global trials and four years of U.S. field trials across diverse growing conditions and crops.

PROCOTE OPTIMIZE returns 6:1 in corn and 7:1 in potatoes in U.S. trials

PROCOTE OPTIMIZE is a biostimulant fertilizer coating designed to protect applied phosphorus and unlock phosphorus tied up in the soil. Retailers apply it directly to fertilizer granules, using Yara's proprietary PROCOTE coating technology to ensure even distribution. U.S. trials across multiple crops produced returns of 6:1 in corn and 7:1 in potatoes.

RALEIGH – October 29, 2026 -- Syngenta awarded five college students $2,000 each, $10,000 in total, through the new Durastak Traits of Tomorrow Scholarship, a program aimed at building the talent pipeline for agriculture and STEM careers.

Five students from Midwest universities win the inaugural 2026 awards

The winners are Sophia Barnum (Michigan State University, Crop and Soil Sciences), Braydon Binger (University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Agronomy), Kaarina Dunn (University of Wisconsin-Madison, Environmental Sciences and Agroecology), Ethan Fisher (Kansas State University, Biological Systems Engineering) and Calvin Myers (Purdue University, Agribusiness Management).

SEOUL – October 29, 2026 -- Daesang Corporation's Jongga brand accounted for about 56% of South Korea's total kimchi exports by value in the first three quarters of this year, as the food and bio group marks its 70th anniversary.

Jongga reaches around 90 countries as kimchi anchors the food business

Daesang's global food business centers on four priority categories: kimchi, sauces, gim (Korean seaweed) and convenience foods. Jongga, its flagship kimchi brand, is sold in around 90 countries. The company's second global brand, Ofood, covers sauces and convenience foods, including gochujang and other traditional Korean fermented pastes.

Frankfurt – October 29, 2026 -- Landwirtschaftliche Rentenbank has opened a new round of its "Zuschuss Klimabilanz" grant, covering 90 percent of net consulting costs for a farm climate balance, capped at €1,000 per holding. Primary agricultural producers can register interest through the bank's funding portal from October 30, 2026 (12:00) to November 27, 2026 (12:00). The grant covers the climate balance and an accompanying catalogue of reduction measures.

Rentenbank has approved more than 1,500 applications worth over €1.5 million since mid-2025

The program launched in mid-2025. Demand is rising: the Rentenbank Agrarbarometer from spring 2026 shows 20 percent of surveyed farms already produce a climate balance, and another 10 percent plan to.

LITTLE ROCK – October 29, 2026 -- A Cambodian agricultural cooperative led by Set Hach has grown its capital from about US$2,275 to more than US$130,000, a track record behind her place on the UN Food and Agriculture Organization's list of 100 Women Heroes in Agrifood Systems for Rural Development, Heifer International said.

FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu presented the award in Rome on October 15

Hach chairs the Strey Phokphal Meanchey Agricultural Cooperative in Siem Reap Province. She received the award from FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu at FAO headquarters during the World Food Forum. The recognition was established in the spirit of the 2026 International Year of the Woman Farmer.

Cooperative membership rose from 82 to 540 across 30 villages

The cooperative was established in 2016 with 82 members, including 79 women. By 2025 it counted 540 members, including 451 women, across 30 villages. Member shares total 3,014.

Jersey City – October 29, 2026 -- Oishii, operator of what it calls the world's largest indoor vertical Smart Farm, will reach more than 500 U.S. retail locations across 25 states by the end of 2026, more than doubling its points of distribution, after adding Walmart, The Fresh Market and Giant Food as first-time retail partners.

Four chains add more than 220 stores in the Q4 rollout

Walmart will carry Oishii strawberries in 78 stores across New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The Fresh Market adds 84 stores across the Southeast, including first-time entry into North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. Giant Food brings 30 stores in Maryland and Virginia.

Existing partner Sprouts Farmers Market adds 34 stores in Florida and Georgia. Oishii has grown its Sprouts presence from 20 to 65 locations, a 225% increase, since its initial Northeast launch.

Berlin – October 28, 2026 -- The European Union has formally asked Norway for a transition period of at least six months after publication of its final plant health rules. The request follows industry warnings that the draft could have significantly hampered EU nursery stock exports, according to the German Nursery Association (BdB).

Soil and substrate requirements threaten field-grown stock trade

The European Nurserystock Association (ENA) and its member associations reviewed Norway's planned changes to its plant health law. The draft is broadly closer to the European plant health system. However, new requirements for soil and growing media on plants for planting would have affected large parts of the nursery trade.

Field-grown woody plants, which are typically traded with root balls, would have faced particular practical problems. Re-export of plants via other EU member states is also a central issue.