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July 16, 2024
 

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AGRICULTURE

Li Genyuan stands by his wheat fields, which form part of an experiment to turn salty land into arable land, in Nanliuhe village, Shandong province, China, in May. Having returned to farming after working for a decade in construction and textiles, he now manages about 67 hectares of fields where corn and soybeans are also grown.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 12, 2024
Xi’s campaign to feed China is turning wasteland into farms
The Chinese president has placed increased emphasis on self-reliance as ties with the West fray and climate change disrupts harvests.
Tea garden workers pluck tea leaves inside Durgabari Tea Estate on the outskirts of Agartala, India, in 2017.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jul 9, 2024
India's tea prices soar as extreme weather slashes output
The price rise could support the beleaguered Indian tea industry, which has been struggling with rising production costs.
A bull statue stands outside the Shenzhen Stock Exchange building in Shenzhen in September 2019.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jul 9, 2024
China’s plenum promises cues for commodity bulls and bears
China is the world’s biggest importer of commodities and its dominant supplier of clean energy, so decisions taken in Beijing ripple across the world.
Several examples of rare and expensive fruits at Melissa’s Produce in Los Angeles on May 22.
BUSINESS
Jul 3, 2024
The world of luxury fruit: Does a $156 melon taste sweeter?
The United States is developing an appetite for luxury fruits long known in countries like Japan and South Korea.
An employee works on a laptop next to a drone at SD Guthrie's Sungai Linau estate in Selangor, Malaysia, on June 6.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jun 29, 2024
Robots are stepping into one of Asia’s dirtiest farm jobs
With global stockpiles of palm oil set for the first back-to-back decline in more than 40 years, Malaysia is pushing for automation to boost production.
A potato field in summer in Hokkaido. The prefecture is a significant source of food and produced 81% of Japan's potatoes in 2022.
JAPAN / Science & Health / Regional Voices: Hokkaido
Jun 24, 2024
Hokkaido's farmers look for a silver lining to climate change disruption
As the prefecture becomes warmer, it could produce more apples and sweet potatoes, agricultural cooperative officials say.
A Malawian subsistence farmer surveys her maize fields in Dowa near the capital Lilongwe.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jun 15, 2024
The AI revolution comes for farmers growing a third of our food
In Malawi, subsistence farmers are using an AI app to get tips on how to diagnose crop and farm animal diseases.
Water tanks used to cultivate seaweed on land by Three Lines in Uwajima, Ehime Prefecture
JAPAN / Science & Health / Regional Voices: Kyushu
Jun 3, 2024
Poor seaweed harvest prompts Kyushu University team to look toward land
The team has found some success with on-land farming, although increasing production yields for commercialization remains a challenge.
Farm minister Tetsushi Sakamoto stands as an amendment on Japan's farm policies clears parliament on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 30, 2024
Japan enacts revised 'constitution' for farm policies
The revised law newly underscores the necessity of ensuring food security at a time when supply chains are being destabilized.
A worker shovels soil next to irrigation channels and recently planted shoots of Xinjiang poplar at the Yangguan state-backed forest farm, on the edge of the Gobi desert on the outskirts of Dunhuang, China's Gansu province, in 2021.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 23, 2024
China's food security dream faces land, soil and water woes
With limited land and water, China will have to sharply increase farming productivity.
Coffee trees in the Izumi district of Motobu, Okinawa Prefecture
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Okinawa
May 20, 2024
New study finds Japan’s coffee cultivation has roots in Okinawa
Farmers in Okinawa hope the discovery will serve as a catalyst for boosting coffee production in the prefecture.
A plant set up at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Bureau of Sewerage's Sunamachi Water Reclamation Center in Koto Ward to recover phosphorus from sewage sludge
JAPAN / Society
May 17, 2024
Tokyo to recycle phosphorus from sewage sludge for farm fertilizer
Phosphorus, along with nitrogen and potassium, is a crucial component of fertilizers.
George Guttridge-Smith brews tea at Kyoto Obubu Tea Farm in Wazuka, Kyoto Prefecture, where he serves as head of international development.
LIFE / Food & Drink
May 13, 2024
Is black the new green for Japan’s flagging tea farmers?
With coffee and bottled tea cutting into their potential profits, harvesters in Japan are dabbling in the less-regulated production of black tea.
The H5N1 bird flu virus, which has been found in cattle, is a pathogen that has loomed large in the minds of infectious disease experts for its potential to cause a deadly human pandemic.
COMMENTARY / World
May 9, 2024
The bird flu outbreak brings more questions than answers
This is a pathogen that has loomed large in the minds of infectious disease experts for its potential to cause a deadly human pandemic.
Rice is responsible for about 10% of global methane emissions, due to the way it’s grown.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
May 9, 2024
Rice has a methane problem that a startup is promising to fix
Rice is responsible for about 10% of global methane emissions, due to the way it’s grown.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will use a policy speech in Sao Paulo to set out his vision for ties between Japan and South America, almost 10 years after former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe advocated for stronger ties between the two in the same city.
JAPAN / Politics
May 1, 2024
Kishida sets sights on energy and climate in South America trip
Widespread use of biomass as car fuel makes Brazil an ideal import partner for Japan.
Researcher Mercury Wong holds a rice plant on April 1.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Apr 30, 2024
Hong Kong team plants seeds to safeguard legacy grains
Scientists and farmers in Hong Kong are tending to local varieties of grain they say could be an important food source in the face of climate change.
A human tooth discovered at Taforalt Cave in Morocco. Isotopic analysis has uncovered unexpected dietary habits among preagricultural communities in the country.
WORLD / Science & Health
Apr 30, 2024
New study offers insight into what people ate before agriculture
Chemical markers in the bones and teeth from the remains of seven individuals were analyzed, along with several isolated teeth, dating back 15,000 years.
A farmer plants seedlings in Satsumasendai, Kagoshima Prefecture. Japan’s self sufficiency rate for rice is nearly 100%, compared with 38% for food overall, on a calorie basis.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change / OUR PLANET
Apr 28, 2024
Climate change, chalky grains and the risks for Japan’s rice farmers
As Japan’s rice farmers prepare for a new planting season, many will be hoping that this summer brings a reprieve from 2023’s brutal weather conditions.
Solar panels on Dave Duttlinger's farmland that he leased to Dunns Bridge Solar in Wheatfield, Indiana
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Apr 27, 2024
As solar capacity grows, some of America's most productive farmland is at risk
The solar industry is pushing into the U.S. Midwest, drawn by cheaper land rents and wide-open fields.
Who needs AI when you have Hatsune Miku?
Over the first six months of 2024, a handful of songs using Vocaloid singer Hatsune Miku’s voice have enjoyed widespread attention, underlining a global interest in the character and the technology she represents.
Bloodied Trump survives assassination attempt at political rally
Former U.S. President Donald Trump is surrounded and evacuated by Secret Service agents at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday. Trump was rushed off stage at the rally after shots rang out.
Shooter came within inches of killing Trump, but left few clues as to why
An aerial view shows the stage where Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump had been standing during an assassination attempt the day before, and the roof of a nearby building where a gunman was shot dead by law enforcement, in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Sunday.
Yen’s woes seem too big for even a BOJ hike this month to solve
The Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo
How to beat Japan’s summer heat in ways better for the planet
Tenugui towels hang up to dry at a dyeing company in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, on May 8. The durable and versatile tenugui, which many people have in their homes, can be used in many ways to cool one’s body.
How to beat Japan’s summer heat in ways better for the planet
Tenugui towels hang up to dry at a dyeing company in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, on May 8. The durable and versatile tenugui, which many people have in their homes, can be used in many ways to cool one’s body.
After Trump shooting, U.S. presidential race might take a violent turn
United States Secret Service Counter Snipers stand guard on a rooftop during a campaign rally for U.S. President Donald Trump in Avoca, Pennsylvania, in 2020.
No AC this summer? No problem (for me).
Think air conditioning is a requirement for a Tokyo summer? Think again.
She’s paying ¥1 million to help behind the scenes at the Paris Olympics
Mai Tarumi, who previously volunteered at the postponed Tokyo Olympics in 2021, has a travel budget of ¥1 million for her trip to volunteer at the Paris Games.
How to tweak your diet when temperatures spike
Most people think of hydration as a strictly liquid-based concept, but eating foods with high water content is an essential part of making it through a Japanese summer unscathed.

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