India

Monsanto Co. has threatened to pull out of India if the government goes forward with a plan to cut royalty fees on Bt cotton seeds by 70 percent, says Reuters.

To offset two straight years of drought in India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the government will more than double its spending on crop insurance in three years, said Reuters. Two-thirds of the nation's citizens live in rural areas.

For the first time in three decades, India has "experienced back-to-back monsoon failures," says The Indian Express.

Farm subsidies in China, India, Brazil and Turkey cost U.S. wheat growers nearly $1 billion in revenue annually, says a study commissioned by two U.S. wheat groups.

The world population will grow by one-third, to 9.7 billion people, by mid-century, the United Nations estimates. And with the population surging in poor countries, it will be harder to assure enough food for everyone.

China is the heavyweight of the world cotton market. It is the largest importer and user of cotton on earth but it is forecast to lose its position as the world's largest grower to India this year.

In the 30-mile long Zanskar Valley in the Himalayas of northwestern India, the warming climate has lengthened the growing season, giving farmers in the village of Stongde a welcome additional month before the killing frost that heralds alpine winter.

Seed company Monsanto says it has competed a field trial of genetically engineered corn in India, and aims to submit data within a year to the government for use in deciding whether to approve the strain, according to Reuters.

Consumption of healthy foods such as fruits and vegetables improved worldwide over the two decades ending in 2010, but "intake of unhealthy foods including processed meat and sweetened drinks" rose more rapidly, according to a study published in the journal Lancet Global Health.

The International Federation of Organic Agricultural Movements claims that 2 million of the world's 1.5 billion farmers produce organic goods and 80 percent of them are in developing countries, according to a report in the Christian Science Monitor.

The world cotton surplus will top 21 million tonnes at the end of this marketing year, an 87 percent stocks-to-use ratio, says the International Cotton Advisory Council.

India plans to challenge a World Trade Organization ruling that it unfairly banned imports of U.S. poultry meat as a safeguard against avian influenza, says The Economic Times, of India.

Consumer Reports released consumption guidelines for consumer who want to reduce their exposure to inorganic arsenic in rice and again urged FDA to set standards for arsenic in rice-based foods.

The FDA program to phase out use of antibiotics as a growth promotant in food animals "may allow some injudicious uses to persist," says the Pew Trusts' Campaign on Human Health and Industrial Farming.

China, India and Pakistan are providing supports to cotton growers in the face of low market prices, said the International Cotton Advisory Council.

The World Trade Organization agreed with U.S. complaints and ruled that India's restrictions on imports of hogs, poultry meat and chicken eggs violate world trade rules.

With China scaling back on its imports of cotton, world prices "dipped below 70 cents in early October, a level not seen in five years," said USDA, forecasting a 6 percent cent increase in global cotton stocks this marketing year.

The U.S. International Trade Commission ruled, in a 4-0 vote, there was a reasonable indication that domestic herbicide manufacturers were hurt by dumping of imported 2,4-D weedkiller from China and India. The ITC vote allows the Commerce Department to continue its investigation of the imports.