Farming stories in the headlines across the globe during 2015

Farming in 2015 has its ups and downs across the globe, from drought in Australia and floods in Egypt to earthquakes in Nepal.

Market forces also put pressure on growers in Spain who saw plummeting tomato prices, while in the US exceptionally high grain yields forced growers and traders to store cereals and soya bean crops outside and the southern States saw the lowest cotton acreage for more than 40 years.

As Swiss farmers embraced the consumer-focused Edelweiss campaign, the Italians began to replant decimated olive groves and the Chinese embarked on a 100,000-cow dairy unit to supply the Russian market with milk and cheese.

Here, we take a closer look at the farming stories that made the headlines this year.

Australia

Australia’s federal government set up a AUS$333m (£159m) aid package for drought-stricken farmers in May. More than 80% of Queensland and parts of New South Wales have not seen rainfall in three years.

The cost of crop losses alone has amounted to AUS$500m (£238m). The government support includes freight subsidies, water rebates and concessional loans.

South Africa

Cattle and chicken farmers in South Africa have found themselves at the centre of a bitter trade battle between their government and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).

The USDA has argued South Africa should no longer qualify for preferential treatment under the African Growth and Opportunity Act.

The Act cuts import levies and has allowed South African beef and poultry farmers to double exports to the lucrative US market since 2000. The farmers could now face losing that market, which was worth $176m (£116m) in 2014.

New Zealand

China’s antipodean land grab came to an abrupt halt in October when New Zealand government officials blocked the sale of a 14,000ha farm to a Chinese firm.

Pure 100 Farm, a subsidiary of China-based Shanghai Pengxin, applied to the Overseas Investment Office (OIO) to buy the 13,800ha cattle and sheep farm near Taupo for NZ$88m (£56m).

But minsters rejected the sale of Lochinver Farm in North Island, saying they were not convinced the deal was in New Zealand’s best interests.

Nepal

Almost one in three farmers in Nepal are still living in makeshift shelters after the country was hit by a huge earthquake in April.

The 7.8-magnitude quake killed 8,800 people on 25 April. Farms lost NPR10bn (£100m) worth of stored grain, standing crops and livestock in the disaster. In the worst-hit areas of central and western Nepal, landslides wiped out access tracks and terraced fields.

In many areas, maize and rice crops have been left unplanted because workers cannot reach the fields or are too afraid to go back under an ever-present threat of further tremors and landslides.

Egypt

While drought has crippled many nations across the globe, Egypt, perceived to be among the driest countries in the world, has been hit by floods. Thirty people died as heavy rainfall caused severe flooding on farms in the north of the country in early November.

The government made emergency payments to help farms in the worst-hit regions of Alexandria and neighbouring Beheira on the Mediterranean coast.

But farmers claimed the EGP2,000 (£166) payout was not enough and have taken legal action against the government in a bid to secure more aid.

Ethiopia

Ethiopia is a country in deep crisis. The United Nations has predicted 15 million Ethiopians will need food aid by January 2016. The country is now experiencing its worst drought since 1984, when its plight prompted the worldwide Band Aid effort.

Vital rains in May and September, which are needed to produce crops and grazing, did not materialise. Hundreds of thousands of cattle have been lost to starvation, with some farms reporting 98% loss rates and vast areas of sorghum- and wheat-growing land have yielded nothing at all.

Russia

Food prices in Russia have risen by more than 10% since the Kremlin’s ban on agricultural imports from EU member states. The ban was introduced in July 2014 in retaliation for the West’s sanctions on Russia and its involvement in the war in Ukraine.

Statistics show that, despite a fall in prices after a bumper Russian harvest, the cost of all food groups had risen. Fruit and vegetable prices were 23% higher this summer compared with 12 months earlier.

Bread and cereals prices were up 11.6%, while meat and poultry rose by 15%. In the dairy sector, fraudsters were quick to capitalise on the higher prices by switching from milk to cheaper palm oil to bulk up products. Up to 20% of Russian cheese contained the oil.

India

Officials in India fear the number of farmer suicides in 2015 will exceed the grim toll recorded last year. In 2014 more than 5,650 farmers took their own lives. But already this year some regions have reported a higher suicide rate.

Vidarbha had seen 1,256 suicides by October, almost 130 more than the whole of last year. In Marathwada 800 farmers have ended their lives, surpassing the figure at the same stage in 2014.

Farmer despair has been driven by severe drought, a white fly infestation that destroyed 60% of the cotton crop and proposed government land reforms which took away the rights of some of the country’s poorest farmers.

Italy

Italy is beginning work to re-establish olive groves that have been wiped out by a virulent bacterium. The Xylella fastidiosa organism has destroyed 1m trees since it was first detected in the southern region of Puglia in 2013.

Farmers planning to plant resistant varieties or those who are using experimental techniques will be allowed to apply for a share of a €7m (£5m) research fund released by Brussels to help beat the disease.

Switzerland

Swiss farmers have joined forces to produce a multimillion-pound promotional campaign. The consumer-facing Edelweiss campaign is aimed at bridging the divide between farming and urban people.

It highlights the environmental work carried out on farms that help support Switzerland’s tourist industry. The CHF6m (£3.9m) annual bill for the initiative is part funded through a CHF30 (£20) marketing levy on the 50,000 Swiss farmers.

The rest is supplied by other agricultural industry bodies, lobby groups and companies.

China

China began work on the construction of a 100,000-cow dairy unit to supply the Russian market with milk and cheese.

The site in Mudanjiang City, north-east China, is the world’s largest and marks a CNY1bn (£103m) collaboration between Russian and Chinese investors. China’s Zhongding Dairy Farming and Russia’s Severny Bur are behind the project.

Feed and forage stocks needed to supply the year-round housed animals will be grown on 100,000ha of land, most of which is in Russia. A further 200,000ha of farmland has been earmarked to supply feed once the project is on stream.

Spain

Spanish farmers coined the phrase “Noviembre Negro” or Black November to describe one of the worst slumps in tomato prices for many years. Prices fell from €1.17/kg (88p/kg) in October to €0.35/kg (25p/kg) during November, the lowest recorded since 2009.

The drop has been blamed on overproduction. Spain produces more than 4m tonnes of tomatoes each year, but 2015 has seen that figure rise by 13%. The rise has been mirrored in other important growing areas around the Mediterranean.

Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska

Exceptionally high grain yields forced growers and traders to store cereals and soya bean crops outside in some American states during October. Warehouses in Minnesota, Nebraska and Iowa piled up crops out in the open or rejected spot deliveries altogether.

The high yield was due to near-perfect growing conditions, but the glut saw prices dip to $3.25/bushel. The USDA predicted incomes for growers in 2015 would be down 36% on last year.

Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas and Alabama

American farmers planted the lowest cotton acreage for more than 40 years, according to USDA figures.

In the cotton heartlands of Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama and Arkansas, growers will pick the smallest crop since the US Civil War ended.

The decline is due to low prices and the removal of a subsidy programme that was successfully challenged by the Brazilian government.

Alaska

Climate change has had such a dramatic effect in Alaska that farmers have begun planting field-scale fruit and vegetables in soil that used to be frozen solid.

Farms in the arctic zones have been able to plant potatoes, cabbages, kale and even strawberries in areas that have traditionally not thawed until June.

Climatologists say last year was the warmest ever in the region, with a recorded average 3.3C above the normal mean temperature. Although that annual average was still only 1.7C, it was enough of an uplift to allow planting.

California

Hundreds of thousands of hectares in California have been left fallow as the worst drought in living memory continues to take its toll.

Across the state, farmers have spent $1.4bn (£925m) – twice the normal figure – pumping water from deep aquifers as the drought enters its fourth year.

In total, state officials say 542,000 acres (220,000ha) has been left fallow because of a lack of water.

Some farms have decided it is more cost effective not to grow anything. Thousands of workers have been laid off and the number of bankruptcies is soaring.

Greenland

Farmers in Greenland are at loggerheads over potential land sales to mining companies that want to exploit the country’s huge reserves of valuable minerals.

The land is rich in uranium, pink sapphires, rubies, gold, nickel and zinc, as well as having the second largest deposit of the so-called rare-earth element used in smartphones and other gadgets.

But although many of Greenland’s sheep farmers would benefit financially, at least half of the farming population is opposed to mining plans.

Canada

Canada’s dairy and poultry producers’ incomes will be protected for 15 years after the agreement of a huge trade deal.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) was signed in October and aims to free up worldwide trade. The Canadian government has set out a compensation package worth $4.3bn (€2.07bn) in total, including $2.4bn (€1.16bn) to protect farm incomes in affected sectors for 10 years from the day TPP comes into force.

Income support will continue on a tapered basis for five years after this.

Georgia and Alabama

The American government is considering a $2bn (£1.3bn) bailout for peanut growers after a glut in supply caused prices to plummet. Yields rose 20% to record the US’ second-highest crop ever of 2.8m tonnes.

The boost in yield was due to farmers making the decision to grow peanuts instead of cotton production, where prices have been in long-term decline.

The USDA is now paying farmers the difference between a reference price of $535/ton (£388/t) and market prices, now below $400/ton (£290/t).

Mexico

Violent struggles have erupted in Mexico as competition for groundwater intensifies in drought conditions.

One of the worst-hit areas is Chihuahua, where officials predict water supplies will run out in less than 20 years. Much of the violence in the region has been directed at German-speaking Mennonite families that colonised the area in the 1920s.

The families converted the land to modern agricultural production, but their crop systems have put pressure on the aquifers. Many are now being driven from their homes to start new colonies in Argentina.

Paraguay

Thousands of Paraguayan farmers brought the country’s capital Asuncion to a standstill in protest over unsustainable agricultural policies. Much of the land in Paraguay is farmed under vast estates which are owned by foreign investors.

The National Farmers’ Federation said this leads to a policy heavy on exports and leaves manual workers exposed to disease and poverty. Instead, they propose the creation of a “patriotic junta” to rule the country and protect farmers’ rights. 

Brazil

Thousands of hectares of farmland have been lost in what has been described as the worst environmental disaster in Brazil’s history

On 5 November two dams containing 60m cu m of mining waste burst, spilling a toxic torrent 300 miles downstream. Eleven people were killed and many more are still missing. Environmental experts believe the pollution will take 30 years to clean up.