Brazil

Sharply higher prices for cheese, butter and sugar pushed up the FAO Food Price Index by 0.7 percent, continuing an unbroken rise from July. The index, which tracks prices for five groups of foods, has been on the rise throughout this year and is now 9 percent higher than one year ago.

Nearly 13 years ago, China shut its borders to U.S. beef in reaction to the first U.S. case of mad cow disease. Now, the government says it will end the ban, leaving U.S. officials and cattle producers asking for a timeline, says the Wall Street Journal.

Climate change could “cut the global area suitable for coffee production by as much as 50 percent by 2050,” largely because of drought and higher temperatures, says a report by the Climate Institute. Of the 25 million coffee farmers around the world, many are small landholders living in countries that are among the most vulnerable to climate change, including Vietnam, Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua. Major retailers like Starbucks have already warned that their customers could see supply shortages, according to the Climate Institute.

In two generations, Brazil, like many of its neighbors, has gotten fat, says The Nation, and experts such as Carlos Monteiro, a nutrition professor, sees it in a diet teeming with processed and consumer-ready food. "Instant noodles, soda and processed meats are edging out staples like beans and rice, cassava, and fresh produce," writes Bridget Huber in "Slow Food Nation," produced in partnership with FERN.

Global consumption of orange juice will drop by 2 percent this year, part of an overall 15 percent decline in four years, says USDA. The semiannual "Citrus: World Markets and Trade" report says U.S. consumption will drop by 7 percent, reflecting the impact of citrus greening disease on orange groves in Florida, the largest citrus state.

Brazil will harvest a smaller-than-expected 70 million tonnes of corn this marketing year, said USDA, lowering its forecast by 7.5 million tonnes in one month because of adverse weather. Brazil is the third-largest corn grower in the world, trailing the United States and China, and is a U.S. competitor for export sales.

Surging grain, sugar, meat and dairy prices worldwide drove up the FAO Food Price Index 4.2 percent, the steepest one-month increase in the index in four years. June was the fifth month in a row for an increase in the index, which tracks the average international price of a basket of food commodities, now at its highest reading since last July.

Global soybean production is down by a sharp 3 percent, with the latest reductions due to weather damage to the crop in Brazil, said the International Grains Council. The Brazil drop helped pull down inventories as the world heads into a new growing season. "Underpinned by demand for soybean products, consumption is seen expanding further, resulting in another season of tightening stocks," says the council's monthly Grain Market Report.

The agricultural giant of South America, Brazil, is altering the world corn market in ways that challenge the United States, the No. 1 grower and exporter, say USDA economists Ed Allen and Constanza Valdes. Brazil is now the second-largest corn exporter and its shipping season coincides with the U.S. harvest, which could mean lower market prices at the moment the U.S. crop cascades onto the market.

The new administration of President Michel Temer in Brazil plans to end the ban imposed in 2010 on foreign ownership of farmland, said Reuters. Brazil barred foreign ownership during a wave of concern that countries such as China would invest heavily in farmland but the rules boomeranged to an extent by making credit harder to obtain.

The third year in a row of steadily increasing global demand for sugar, forecast to reach a record 174 million tonnes in 2016/17, is eating through stockpiles that began to pile up in 2012, says USDA. "Consequently, stocks are approaching what appear to be historically low levels," said the semi-annual Sugar: World Markets and Trade report.

Farmer-turned-policitian Blairo Maggi, from the powerhouse agricultural state of Mato Grosso, is the new agriculture minister of Brazil under interim President Michel Temer. Maggi is expected to be a strong voice for the farm sector in one of the world's largest producers and exporters, said Reuters.

Vast swathes of coffee-growing territory in Central and South America may become too hot for the comfort of coffee trees in coming decades, thanks to global warming, says Eater, warning "coffee is under threat."

Traditional studies may be underestimating the impact of climate change on agriculture, because they don’t take into account “farmers’ reactions to climate shocks,” says a new study in Nature Climate Change.

Soybean production around the world "could match last season's record," helping to boost the global stockpile to a new record, said the International Grains Council in a monthly report. Soybean stocks would rise despite a sharp 3 percent climb in consumption that includes larger imports by China, the world's larger buyer.

U.S. corn exports are climbing for the third year in a row and will be the fourth largest on record this trade year, thanks to the mammoth crop now being harvested and falling market prices, said the Agriculture Department on Thursday. The 15.2 billion-bushel crop would be just a hair smaller than the record set last year.