US - Smithfield buying grain directly from farmers

Smithfield Foods, the world’s largest pork processor, has bought two grain elevators in Ohio in a bid to buy more grain directly from US tillage farmers. Already buying 65% of its animal feed directly from farmers, Smithfield plans to ship more grain than ever from Ohio to its processing site in North Carolina.

New Zealand - milk output at lowest point since 2012

New Zealand milk production is back to its lowest level in four years. Sharp declines in the volume of milk collections for October and November, the two biggest months for milk output in New Zealand, were back a cumulative 10% year-on-year as the difficult spring weather hit milk output.

Argentina - biggest wheat harvest in six years

Argentina is on course to record its biggest wheat harvest since 2010. According to the country’s farm ministry, wheat production this season will reach just under 16m tonnes. Since export tariffs were abolished last year, Argentinian farmers have planted an additional 400,000ha in wheat this season, which has boosted production.

Spain - GM sowings reach record level

Although accounting for just a fraction of overall production, sowings of GM corn (maize) in the European Union hit record levels in 2016 with over 136,000ha planted. This compares with the 8.8m ha of total corn sowings across the EU. The increase is primarily down to Spain, which is the EU’s largest grower of GM corn.