The U.S. Department of Agriculture is awarding $2.1 million in specialty crop block grant program funding in Idaho, the department announced in a press release issued Wednesday. The grant program will provide funding for 16 projects in Idaho that relate to enhancing the competitiveness of specialty crops and creating new marketing opportunities for the producers of specialty crops. Projects announced to receive funding relate to bees and pollination, seed quality and health, sustainability and disease management.

A stay in long-running litigation over the Snake River dams has been extended for 60 days to allow federal mediation to continue, but ag and electrical utility stakeholders say they’re losing faith in the process. A coalition of environmental and fishing groups, led by the Earthjustice law firm, in 2020 sued over the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Bureau of Reclamation and Bonneville Power Administration dam operations plan. The White House Council on Environmental Quality and Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service are continuing mediation during a stay of the litigation. The stay was scheduled to end Aug. 31, but will now end Oct. 31.

The Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR) is awarding a $835,888 Seeding Solutions grant to Washington State University (WSU) to develop a faster, cheaper and more accurate alpha-amylase test for use on farms and in elevators to prevent mixing of low and high falling number wheat. High levels of alpha-amylase protein in wheat can lead to a low falling number score, a factor that determines the quality and price of wheat. Because alpha-amylase digests starch, wheat with a low falling number score produces flour with lower gelling capacity, causing cakes that fall or sticky bread and noodles, and significantly lowers the price growers receive.

The key US Department of Agriculture August Crop Production report brought forecasts of more US winter wheat and less spring wheat, with corn and soybean production forecasts lowered from July but still historically large. Market reactions were muted across the board when domestic crop production and data from the USDA’s World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates were received on Aug. 11. After a challenging spring, US weather has turned mostly benign for fall row crops, and the war in Ukraine has contributed to volatility, but the impact has diminished with time.

The European Union's crop monitoring service has reduced its forecast for this year's average EU soft wheat, maize and rapeseed yields for a third consecutive month, and warned of a significant fall in wheat quality after summer rains. Almost daily precipitation since mid-July in the large grain regions of north-western France, the Benelux and south-western Germany seriously hampered the harvesting of the remaining winter crops, particularly wheat and rapeseed, while creating optimal conditions for fungal diseases, it said in a report.

While the Philippines’ economy experienced one of the highest growth rates in emerging economies in 2022, the nation’s agriculture sector is struggling, impacting food security and poverty rates...Total wheat imports for 2023-24 are estimated at 6.5 million tonnes, according to the FAS, with consumption flat for milling use and down for feed use. Hard wheat imports are used to produce pandesal, Pinoy Tasty and other bread while soft wheat is used in cakes, pastries, noodles and crackers, according to the FAS.

China is the world’s leading wheat producer, but poor weather in the spring as the growing season neared its end impacted quality and came as a painful reminder of the unpredictability of food production. The Chinese government is moving to ensure food security with a new law designed to ensure self-sufficiency in major agricultural commodities.