Best printers for Home

Best Mixer Grinder

Best wired Earphones

Best 43 Inch TV in India

Best Wi Fi Routers

Best Home Theatre in India

Smart Watch under 5000

Best Laptops for Education

Best Laptop for Students

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Valeria Kogan is the CEO of Fermata, a software-development company specializing in agriculture.</li><li>Her team develops AI tools to reduce crop loss that causes food waste and greenhouse gas emissions.</li></ul><p><em>This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Valeria Kogan, the founder and CEO of Fermata. The company develops software for monitoring plants and crops. The following has been edited for length and clarity.</em></p><p>When we think about food waste, we usually think on the scale of not finishing our lunch. In reality, agricultural waste is a much bigger problem. An estimated <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cabi.org/projects/global-burden-of-crop-loss/">20% to 40%</a> of crops are lost to pests and diseases, which affects our food systems and the planet; greenhouse-gas emissions from food that is never eaten account for <a target="_blank" href="https://ourworldindata.org/food-waste-emissions">6% of total emissions</a>.</p><p>I knew none of this about five years ago. I was working in bioinformatics, developing an AI-based platform that assists oncologists in diagnosing cancer, and I knew so little about agriculture that I couldn't even keep a houseplant alive.</p><p>But someone who ran a commercial greenhouse reached out to discuss how <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-iot-technology-make-wine-sustainable-vineyard-practices-2024-3">AI could solve those crop-loss challenges</a>. I quickly saw the opportunity to translate my work in caring for human health into caring for plant health, and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.fermata.tech/">Fermata</a> was born.</p><h2 id="f06a4c78-ade3-45c1-bad9-cba49e234347">Using AI and computer vision where humans fail</h2><p>Right now, many farmers try to detect pests and diseases early by sending workers into the fields daily to look at every leaf on every plant for early signs of issues. But people get tired, get distracted, and overlook the tiny changes that suggest an issue.</p><p>It reminded me of the specialists who review X-rays all day and miss early signs of cancer. We were using AI analysis of imagery to solve that problem, and I felt the same solution could apply here.</p><p>Initially, we thought about building a robot that would move through the fields but realized we didn't have the expertise to achieve that — and that a simpler solution existed.</p><p>We developed the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://croptimus.fermata.tech/">Croptimus platform</a>, which uses standard security cameras in greenhouses and fields to take pictures of every single plant several times a day.</p><p>Our artificial intelligence processes these images to detect any abnormalities. If it does, it notifies farmers via our app and suggests what it thinks the issue is. Using data science, we can also provide an overview of what's going on in a facility at large, whether problems are increasing or decreasing, and whether treatments are working.</p><p>With this technology, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/agtech-agriculture-industry-farming-methods-climate-change-labor-solutions-2023-9">farmers need less labor</a> and can identify issues sooner than they would with humans, meaning they can apply fewer pesticides. This saves a lot of money and helps produce more sustainable and healthy food.</p><div type="image" title="An interface shows Fermata software analyzing a leaf miner plant" height="785" width="1079" msid="113040962" hostid="261" sizebytes="54586"></div><h2 id="3d6dbcc8-bb64-4c3b-9ee3-7cb9fd45055b">Doing things manually while we build the dataset</h2><p>One of the biggest challenges we had to overcome was establishing ground truth to build a reliable dataset to train our models. Every agronomist, or crop scientist, has their own opinion and will make mistakes as well. We needed to not only compile a decent dataset from the ground up but also build machine-learning models that could adapt to mistakes.</p><p>We did a few things to help. First, we built a research lab, where we grow plants, infest them with different things, and record them on videos. We also hired an in-house team of agronomists to help us label these images.</p><p>Additionally, we launched our product to the public before it was automated, doing identifications manually and encouraging farmers on the app to give us feedback. This helps us better understand the problem and gives us a more robust dataset. Even as we've shifted to relying on AI for identification, this feedback loop helps us continually improve our models.</p><h2 id="3352e758-ad33-4e8b-830a-d008ed99432c">Building relationships to find future possibilities for the technology</h2><p>It's so important that any technologist trying to solve a problem in a new-to-them industry — especially more conservative fields like agriculture — stay humble and develop real relationships with the people they're hoping to help. If I marched in as a tech-industry outsider and told these farmers who have been doing this for decades that I could teach them how to operate and be more efficient, it wouldn't work.</p><p>Instead, I work on building relationships and trust within the industry. I approach it from the perspective of wanting to learn from my customers and understand how my tech knowledge can help them.</p><p>Ultimately, this has helped me see even more potential in what we're doing. I've learned that there's so much visual data in farming, from understanding whether bees are pollinating to seeing how employees are treating plants. The vision that Fermata has is to build a new visual-data layer in the agricultural industry that helps all stakeholders — from farmers to people who sell fertilizer to pesticide companies — be more efficient.</p>

Crop loss is a huge problem for sustainability and food security. I'm using AI and computer vision to help fix it. 

India's retail inflation is projected to surge to 6.15% in October, exceeding the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) tolerance threshold of 6%, according to a new report by Union Bank of India. The spike is attributed to persistent <keyword id="21013592" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="food-price-pressures" source="keywords">food price pressures</keyword> and the waning of favorable base effects from the previous year. <br /><br />Earlier this month, RBI governor Shaktikanta Das also echoed similar sentiments and noted that the inflation print for October 2024 could stay well above 5.5%. This is why, as Das highlighted, cutting interest rates as early as December would be very early and premature<br /><br />The <keyword id="19999655" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Consumer-Price-Index" source="keywords">Consumer Price Index</keyword> (CPI) data for October, which will be released at 4 pm on Tuesday, as opposed to the previous practice of releasing this data at 5:30 pm on the 12th of every month, follows September's inflation reading of 5.49%, up from 3.65% in August 2024. The last time inflation breached the RBI's upper limit was in August 2023.<br /><br />Despite the RBI's anticipation of an October inflation "hump," the Union Bank report suggests that the magnitude of the increase might raise concerns, particularly as November's figures are also tracking at elevated levels. The bank maintains its forecast of unchanged interest rates in December's monetary policy meeting, with a modest 50 basis points rate cut cycle predicted to begin in February 2025.<br /><br />Food inflation remains a key driver of price pressures, with vegetables and edible oils leading the recent surge. In September 2024, India's YoY food inflation rate hit 9.24%, up from 5.66% in the month prior. <br /><br />However, the report projects some easing of food inflation in the January-March quarter, citing typical winter price moderation and improving prospects for rabi crops. Despite this, potential risks from food supply disruptions, imported edible oil prices, and the impact of potential trade tariff hikes will exist. <br /><br />The RBI, which aims to maintain retail inflation at 4%, has held the repo rate steady at 6.5% for the tenth consecutive time in its last meeting as part of its inflation containment strategy. <br /><br />A recent SBI report also noted that expecting rate cuts in this quarter would be immature, and easing was possible only during the first half of 2025. "Given the current estimates of FY25 real GDP growth at 7.2% and CPI at 4.50%, the RBI would quite possibly keep policy rates stable over the coming quarter at least. Emerging trends in the growth outlook would possibly determine the timing and extent of any policy easing. With near-term CPI numbers likely to stay elevated, it’s premature to consider expectations of any easing in the December review. <br /><br />"However, high-frequency data do validate a softness in growth data on an incremental basis. Given the anticipated aligning of CPI closer to the target over H2, a shallow easing, if any can be a reasonable possibility over H1 of CY 25", it added. <br /><br />

Retail inflation expected to breach 6% mark in October, says UBI Report

<ul class="summary-list"><li>PepsiCo says it's two-thirds of the way done with an overhaul of its supply chain.</li><li>It has invested in AI and automation to make its production and distribution more profitable.</li></ul><p>Gregg Roden, PepsiCo's chief operating officer, has spent his entire 34-year professional career working at the snacking giant. He said that in the past three years alone he'd witnessed more change than in the 31 years before that.</p><p>Over the past couple of decades, as consumers bought more goods online, grocery sales remained reliably stuck in the store. But the pandemic shifted grocery-shopping patterns, and now people are increasingly likely to buy food and beverages online too.</p><p>"When I started 34 years ago, everything was bought from a store, and we had a pretty narrow portfolio of options for the consumer," Roden told Business Insider. "Now, literally anyone can buy anything, anywhere." PepsiCo has also expanded its product line, offering new flavors and sizes of its snacks and drinks.</p><p>These changes mean demand for more brands is coming from more directions. PepsiCo says it is investing in digitization and automation — including robotics and predictive artificial intelligence — so it can better plan for demand and more quickly and precisely produce and deliver its products. And it says its supply-chain transformation is two-thirds complete.</p><h2 id="edb5b524-83f3-4f66-928d-fc4bdede46a4"><strong>Supporting agriculture with AI predictive insights and satellite imagery</strong></h2><p>PepsiCo generated more than $91 billion in 2023 from the sales of more than 500 brands worldwide, including its namesake soda, Lay's, Doritos, Gatorade, and Mountain Dew. The company's earnings for the first two quarters of 2024 <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2024/07/11/pepsico-pep-earnings-q2-2024-earnings.html">exceeded Wall Street's expectations</a>, but volume in North America for the Frito-Lay and beverages businesses has been declining as consumers have pushed back against years of price hikes.</p><p>Athina Kanioura, PepsiCo's chief strategy and transformation officer, described investments in PepsiCo's seed-to-shelf supply chain as the "glue" in the company's future ability to deliver higher profits and revenue growth. And it all begins with the work done in the field.</p><p>The farmers PepsiCo works with own more than 4 million acres in North America alone, providing ingredients such as potatoes and corn for its chips and other snacks.</p><p>The thinking is that by using less water and fertilizer to produce those ingredients, the company can boost its profits in an industry that operates on thin margins. It says that it works with farmers to ensure they have the technology to harvest those ingredients efficiently and that it subsidizes some of the cost of that technology for smaller farms.</p><p>It also says it has partnered with companies including CropTrak, AgroScout, and Microsoft to monitor production, analyze crop health, track where crops go, and better understand where to plant crops so they can thrive.</p><h2 id="32588e1b-3851-4dba-89dd-e96f1f24974a"><strong>Distribution workers do fewer manual tasks</strong></h2><p>PepsiCo is also rethinking how it fulfills orders and distributes its products, which is changing the work of the company's many employees in manufacturing and distribution. With more automation, workers are doing fewer physical tasks, like driving a forklift, and far more oversight of the machines taking over those tasks.</p><p>Workers at manufacturing facilities and distribution centers and the unions that represent them often bristle at automation, which can lead to layoffs. Large food manufacturers that have announced closings and layoffs this year include PepsiCo, Tyson Foods, and Campbell Soup. Often those announcing layoffs don't directly attribute them to automation but to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/tyson-foods-close-iowa-pork-plant-with-1200-workers-2024-03-11/">soft sales</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.fooddive.com/news/campbell-soup-closing-inefficient-sites-415-job-losses/717224/">older facilities that can't keep up with demand</a>, or <a target="_blank" href="https://www.fooddive.com/news/pepsicos-quaker-plant-illinois-closing-layoffs/712954/">even product recalls</a>. PepsiCo declined to comment on the reason for its layoffs.</p><p>Food producers are also confronting a generational shift. Research from McKinsey suggests that while many Gen Zers express interest in working in manufacturing, not enough of them are taking jobs at factories to fill vacancies, and that they're <a target="_blank" href="https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/operations/our-insights/from-hire-to-inspire-getting-and-keeping-gen-z-in-manufacturing">more likely than older workers to leave those jobs</a>.</p><p>PepsiCo argues that it can't continue to have employees perform most tasks manually while cost-effectively churning out enough food and drinks to meet demand. So it trains workers to monitor autonomous machines and ensure they're working safely and efficiently. "You are taking an analog worker, and you are making them a digital worker," Kanioura said.</p><p>Its modernization efforts include how it puts together variety packs, such as those containing several small bags of Ruffles, Doritos, Cheetos, and Fritos: While workers used to assemble the packs, machines are increasingly taking over.</p><p>Even as it has invested in automation, PepsiCo's total workforce has swelled: It grew by 20%, to 318,000, over the five years that ended in 2023.</p><h2 id="49fb841a-5ce1-4f54-8631-44d495ffdaa5"><strong>Creating more intelligent warehouses</strong></h2><p>PepsiCo says it considers most of the company's warehouses "intelligent" facilities with tech that allows employees to track and control the movement of goods.</p><p>It uses sensors and AI to help with predictive maintenance checks and quality-control measures — for example, using patterns to identify a machine or vehicle that's likely to malfunction and cause problems later on. Rather than suffering a shutdown when a motor breaks on the tortilla-chip line, PepsiCo can preemptively replace the motor the next time the line is scheduled for downtime.</p><p>"Being able to turn that data into action is important," Roden said.</p>

PepsiCo is using robotics and AI-powered crop planning to transform its supply chain

<ul class="summary-list"><li>David Scott, 95, spends 45 minutes at the gym every other day of the week.</li><li>Since becoming a wrestling champion in college, he has been devoted to exercise.</li></ul><p><em>This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with David Scott, a grandfather of four and former aerospace worker from New Hampshire. It has been edited for length and clarity.</em></p><p>If I had a motto about exercise, it would be "Keep it up."</p><p>They are words to live by. At 95, I keep myself moving as much as I can. Health and fitness have always been my passion, and my attitude will never change.</p><p>I'm 5ft 10in tall and have stayed pretty much the same weight of 150 pounds since adolescence.</p><p>I believe it's because I've maintained activity throughout the decades. When I was younger, I enjoyed football, but <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/parenting-letting-kids-wrestle-get-dirty-rules-2024-7">mostly wrestling</a>.</p><p>It's an intelligent sport. To win on points — as opposed to pinning — you have to be able to demonstrate more endurance than your opponent. You must learn how to use your balance so that he moves his and your weight when he moves. And that saves your energy.</p><p>I wasn't the strongest, but I think my speed and balance made the difference. At one point, I became the New England champion in the welterweight category. My other big interests were <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/downhill-skiing-insane-photos-winter-olympics-2018-2">downhill skiing</a> in Colorado and Italy and climbing peaks like Mount Kenya.</p><p>The commitment it required stood me in good stead for the future. I didn't get out of the habit of exercising. Although I've slowed down over recent years, I ran nearly every morning and did 75 push-ups and 50 sit-ups daily long past middle age.</p><h2 id="0f2f1c25-dd38-4979-a556-80cf88b970af">I'm the oldest person at my gym</h2><p>Around a decade ago, I <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.planetfitness.com/">joined Planet Fitness</a>, my local gym. I go for around 45 minutes four times a week, more or less every other day. I walk on the treadmill for 15 minutes before using the weight-training equipment for half an hour.</p><p>They have a wonderful series of resistance machines for your arms, legs, and abdomen. I'll use around 10 machines to maintain muscle and do between 10 and 20 repetitions on each. My favorite is the arm press, where I raise the bar over my head.</p><p>I'm the oldest person in the gym, but I enjoy the company of younger people who encourage and inspire me.</p><div type="image" title="A young man strikes a wrestling pose in a black-and-white photograph." height="900" width="1200" msid="114325559" hostid="261" sizebytes="20640"></div><p>Getting enough sleep is another important factor as you age. If I don't get at least eight hours every night, I don't feel so good and it makes me lazy.</p><p>I go to bed around 8 p.m. and get up at 5 a.m. Old habits die hard. As a boy, I ran a newspaper route, pushing my bike through 3 feet of snow to get to people's houses.</p><h2 id="51d47b2b-aa47-41ca-ae3d-1f28583a09d9">We tend an orchard and a vegetable garden</h2><p>As for diet, my wife Lydia, 83, is an excellent cook. <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/easy-mediterranean-diet-meals-from-someone-whos-done-it-for-years-2022">We eat Mediterranean style</a> using lots of olive oil. A typical meal will be a dish such as chicken or fish — with the occasional serving of lean beef — served with vegetables and pasta or risotto. Dessert is simple fruit.</p><p>We were fortunate to find a house with a lot of land. So I planted an orchard, and Lydia planted a vegetable garden. We grow more than half the food we eat. It's fresh, all-natural and very tasty.</p><p>The crop includes salad, zucchini, green beans, cherries, raspberries, and red currants. We pick them ourselves, which brings joy and a sense of accomplishment.</p><p>I used to appreciate <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/worst-wines-to-order-sommelier-what-to-get-instead-2024-4">fine Italian wines</a> but stopped drinking about 10 years ago. I thought that maybe alcohol at an advanced age is not very good.</p><p>But I live life to the full and intend on doing so for many more years.</p><p><strong><em>Do you have an interesting story to share with Business Insider about longevity, fitness, and diet? Please send details to </em></strong><a target="_blank" href="mailto:jridley@insider.com"><strong><em>jridley@businessinsider.com</em></strong></a></p>

At 95, I'm a gym rat. I stopped drinking wine a decade ago and eat homegrown food.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>An ag-tech company has developed an army of resilient crops by growing them with salt water.</li><li>These crops are better at surviving salty soils, which is a growing problem in our warming world.</li></ul><p>Saltwater is <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/potato-farmers-destroy-potatoes-covid19-even-in-a-food-shortage-2020-6">bad news for most crops</a>, but not for a series of tomatoes, alfalfa, onions, and rice sprouting in a lab in Israel.</p><p>These crops are the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/things-that-wouldnt-exist-without-gmos-2015-8">non-GMO</a> brainchild of Ṛcā Godbole, a plant molecular biologist and co-founder of SaliCrop. And they don't just grow, they thrive on salt water.</p><p>Over the last four years, SaliCrop has been testing its <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-soil-health-fights-climate-change-2023-6">seed enhancement technology</a> on tomatoes in southern Spain, where devastating drought has triggered severe salinization, the process where soils become too salty for crops to grow efficiently.</p><div type="image" title="An aerial view of a harvesting truck loading tomatoes into a trailer." height="675" width="900" msid="108901209" hostid="261" sizebytes="209370"></div><p>With SaliCrop's seeds, however, participating tomato farmers have seen a 10% to 17% increase in crop yields, earning them an extra $1,600 per hectare, SaliCrop CEO Carmit Oron told Business Insider.</p><p>Spain is just one of many places worldwide with a serious salinization issue. A perfect storm of years-long irrigation, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/world-hottest-year-ever-history-climate-crisis-2024-1">warming global temperatures</a>, and sea level rise have made 20% to 50% of irrigated soils worldwide too salty to be fertile. This costs the global economy an estimated $27 billion per year in lost crops.</p><p>Meanwhile, the number of mouths to feed continues to grow with the global <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/graphics-showing-population-change-world-2019-7">human population</a> projected to reach nearly 10 billion by 2050, the UN estimates. "How do we grow more on lands that are becoming degraded? This was the main question and the motivation for establishing SaliCrop," Oron said.</p><p>Godbole founded SaliCrop with Sharon Devir, an agricultural engineer, with a grand mission: Help farmers who face the challenges of our rapidly changing world and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/crispr-genetic-modification-agriculture-food-2018-4">prevent starvation</a> for potentially billions of people.</p><p>"We believe this solution is a must," Devir told BI.</p><h2>SaliCrop's saltwater success</h2><p>Scientists at SaliCrop are developing an army of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wild-seeds-of-domesticated-crops-boost-food-security-2019-12">resilient crops</a> that can grow under the stresses of our changing world, like saltier soils and warmer temperatures.</p><p>Salt naturally occurs in soils everywhere, but too much of it can make it <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/woman-who-fed-people-during-housing-crisis-finds-garden-ruined-2023-4">harder for plants to absorb water</a> and nutrients, which stunts their growth, reduces crop yields, and ultimately threatens global food production.</p><div type="image" title="Rice seedlings planted in salty soil." height="1414" width="2121" msid="108901214" hostid="261" sizebytes="602392"></div><p>Across the globe, more than 1.5 billion people live with soils that have become too salty to grow crops efficiently. And it's predicted to only get worse.</p><p>In India, for example, 44% of the land is already saline, and researchers estimate that salinization will affect 50% of the country by 2050.</p><p>The problem farmers worldwide can't escape is <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/climate-change-global-warming-extreme-heat-inflation-global-economy-impact-2024-3">warmer average temperatures</a>, which speed up evaporation in the soil, concentrating the salt within that soil — especially in arid regions.</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sea-levl-rise-flooding-risk-higher-estimates-2019-10">Flooding from rising sea levels</a> also poses a threat, particularly to coastal farmlands, because it deposits more salt into the soil and groundwater. Poor irrigation practices, such as insufficient water application, using saline water, and not maintaining adequate drainage can also lead to salty soils.</p><div type="image" title="Irrigation machines watering a grassy farm field." height="1414" width="2121" msid="108901218" hostid="261" sizebytes="256520"></div><p>To help farmers combat all these factors, SaliCrop is working to bring its solution to eight different countries, and is already fielding calls from seed companies in Europe, India, and Africa that are seeking immediate solutions to improve their crop yield, Oron said.</p><p>"Plants have certain environmental stress-inducible genes that act as <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/plants-talk-to-each-other-scientists-record-for-first-time-2024-1">internal alarms</a>," Godbole explained in a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/salicrops-novel-seed-enhancement-tech-makes-deserts-bloom-302060421.html">press release</a>. "When there is too much salt, or too much heat, these alarms go off and the plant enters defense mode."</p><p>Godbole figured out a way to harness those alarm bells by exposing plants to stress early in their growth cycle. In this case, that means watering crops with salt water in their lab. That way, when they're planted in salty soil, the crops already have <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/plants-shriek-with-high-pitched-ultrasonic-clicks-when-stressed-study-2023-3">their defenses up</a>, which makes them less sensitive to salty conditions.</p><p>Based on their test data, this strategy cuts crop losses due to stress in half, and it only takes about a year to achieve that result, Devir said.</p><p>"We calibrate our technology to each crop, to each species, and even to each batch of species," Devir said. This allows them to precisely target the best resilience response and maximize yield for each type of crop.</p><h2><strong>Seeding the future with non-GMO crops</strong></h2><p>"We believe that it's a matter of one to two years until we will have a global footprint with our solution," Devir said. So far, SaliCrop has been working with farms 25 acres to 250 acres in size. Globally, over 3,700 acres — just over four times the size of NYC's Central Park — of farmland grow SaliCrop seeds.</p><div type="image" title="Aerial view of a tractor harvesting alfalfa." height="1409" width="2127" msid="108901219" hostid="261" sizebytes="299864"></div><p>But SaliCrop isn't the only company targeting a non-GMO solution. Red Sea Farms, for example, is a Saudi Arabian company that uses selective breeding to grow crops that can be irrigated with salt water. In Sweden, a company called OlsAro is growing salt-tolerant wheat by using AI to select traits that improve its resilience.</p><p>Worldwide, up to 783 million people <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/global-food-crisis-higher-prices-shortages-civil-unrest-2022-8">face chronic hunger</a>. The UN has set an ambitious goal to eradicate hunger by 2030, but it'll need innovative solutions to improve agricultural productivity in the face of climate change.</p><p>Non-GMO resilient crops are one possible answer. "SaliCrop is a good example of how you can bring to the world a cheap, reliable solution with no negative environmental effect, just to produce more food," Devir said. "We believe in it."</p>

Scientists are growing crops with salt water that could help save us from starvation 

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Natural catastrophes and bad weather have wreaked havoc on food crops across the world.</li><li>Orange juice futures, cacao beans, and rice have hit all-time highs of late – while Chinese pork has slumped.</li></ul><p>Natural disasters, adverse weather, and invasive diseases have all helped wreak havoc on the market for some of the world's most important foodstuffs.</p><p>A succession of hurricanes and deadly bacteria have ravaged American oranges, while heavy rainfall has rotted cacao beans in West Africa. As of Wednesday, Asian rice hit its highest price in almost 15 years; while in China, pork prices have slumped so far that they have dragged inflation into negative territory.</p><p>Here's a roundup of what's been happening in the world of soft commodities lately.</p><h2><strong>Orange juice</strong></h2><p>Orange juice futures hit an all-time high on July 28, as citrus crops all across the US have been hammered by a series of hurricanes and the spread of 'citrus greening', an incurable disease spread by insects.</p><p>The ICE US frozen orange futures index touched a record 317.5 (USc per lb) – a metric that reflects orange juice production in the US as the lowest in "over 100 years", Matthew Joyner, chief executive of Florida Citrus Mutual, told <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/ab06eadb-1de6-45e8-89c7-50531614d9a8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the Financial Times</a>. </p><p>The vast majority of oranges produced in the US come from Florida, which has been hobbled by hurricanes and a cold snap, massively hampering supply. Not only adverse weather conditions, but the resurgence of the pathogen,  has ravaged crops in both America and Brazil. </p><p>Such headwinds are responsible for the supply shortage in oranges, which has driven up prices that will eventually filter through to consumers.</p><h2><strong>Chinese pork </strong></h2><p><a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/commodities/china-pork-prices-have-fallen-dragging-country-into-deflation-2023-8">Chinese pork prices have fallen</a> by over a quarter since the previous July as an oversupply of meat has weighed heavily on consumer food prices, pushing the Asian state into a period of deflation.</p><p>Pork plays an important part in the makeup of China's Consumer Price Index basket, accounting for around 3% of it, per the Economist Intelligence Unit. "A rough rule of thumb is therefore that a 10% increase in the pork price will push up the CPI by 0.3%," <a href="https://country.eiu.com/article.aspx?articleid=636856447&amp;Country=China&amp;topic=Economy&amp;oid=1092669893&amp;flid=357283419" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the EIU</a> said in a research note, underscoring the animal's importance to the economy.</p><p>Data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed that pork prices have fallen 26% in July year-on-year, a significant fall for the world's largest producer and consumer of the meat. The decline in prices can be attributed to oversupply in the market, caused by a backlog after a bad outbreak of African swine fever. </p><h2><strong>Cocoa beans</strong></h2><p>Orange juice is not the only sweet to see its value jump recently – on Monday, cocoa bean futures surged to their highest levels since 2011, according to data by <a href="https://www.barchart.com/story/news/19234096/cocoa-prices-under-pressure-from-improved-weather-in-west-africa" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Barchart</a>. </p><p>The beans, used primarily in chocolate, are rallying amid a supply crunch caused by heavy rainfall and the spread of a black pod disease in West Africa, which has rotted cocoa pods. </p><p>The spread of the blight caused by the extreme wet weather could result in lower crop quality and production, pushing the global cocoa market into a third year of deficit for the 2023/24 season, according to Barchart. </p><h2><strong>Asian rice</strong></h2><p>Rice has not been this expensive in almost 15 years, as exceptionally dry weather in Thailand and India and the banning of its own exports foster a global shortage in the crop. </p><p>The price of Thai white rice 5% broken has hit $648 a ton – the highest since October 2008 – according to <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-08-09/rice-in-asia-soars-to-highest-level-since-2008-on-supply-risks" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bloomberg data</a> from the Thai Rice Exporters Association released Wednesday. </p><p>Amid the onset of El Niño, where water temperature in the Pacific rises, Thai farmers are being encouraged to switch to growing crops that require less water. While India, another key producer, last month extended its export ban to protect domestic supply – and this has increased fears of a supply shortage. </p><p>Rice is integral to the diets of billions of people around the globe, and a shortage may potentially spell catastrophe for households.</p>

Bad weather, natural disasters, and disease are hobbling crops right now. Here's how the food commodity markets are responding.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Tulare Lake used to be the largest lake west of the Mississippi River.</li><li>Farmers diverted the lake's water in the 1920s and replaced it with farmland.</li></ul><p>California's <a href="https://www.insider.com/california-weather-whiplash-floods-drought-getting-worse-atmospheric-rivers-2023-1">heavy rainfall this past winter</a> may have ended the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/take-a-look-at-lakes-that-dried-up-california-drought-2021-6">years-long drought</a>, but it also brought back the long-dormant Tulare Lake.</p><p>This phantom lake — which occasionally resurfaces during years of unusually high precipitation — is <a href="https://www.kcrw.com/culture/shows/good-food/diet-culture-parenting-sri-lankan-cuisine-farmland-water/tulare-lake-water-central-valley-california-mark-arax" target="_blank" rel="noopener">larger than it's been in 150 years</a>.</p><p>The basin began rapidly flooding around March 12-14, when <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/151107/precipitation-piles-on-in-california" target="_blank" rel="noopener">two major storms hit California</a>.</p><p>The flooding was so massive that NASA satellite <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/151284/tulare-lake-grows" target="_blank" rel="noopener">images captured it from space.</a> Here's what the lakebed looked like on February 1, before the flooding:</p><div type="image" title="Satellite image of Tulare Lake before it flooded in 2023." height="1572" width="1741" msid="101802097" hostid="261" sizebytes="277356"></div><p>And here's what it looked like on April 30:</p><div type="image" title="Satellite image of Tulare Lake flooded in 2023." height="1572" width="1741" msid="101802099" hostid="261" sizebytes="242150"></div><h2>Tulare lake flooding threatens California farms</h2><p>The Tulare lakebed, which is located in the southern San Joaquin Valley, happens to be set on the <a href="https://cawaterlibrary.net/hydrological-region/tulare-lake/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">largest agricultural region in the entire state</a> of California.</p><p>NASA said the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/photos-of-california-floods-show-damage-rescues-more-rain-coming-2023-1">devastating flooding</a> will likely <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/151284/tulare-lake-grows" target="_blank" rel="noopener">continue into 2024</a>. That means local farmers may not be able to plant new crops <a href="https://asmith.ucdavis.edu/news/most-tulare-lake-lies-inside-one-big-farm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">until 2025</a>.</p><p>That likely drop in supply has the potential to <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-65071268">drive up food prices</a>, particularly for produce.</p><div type="image" title="Four satellite images showing the rapid progression of flooding in Tulare Lake." height="350" width="720" msid="101802101" hostid="261" sizebytes="57142"></div><p>As of June, the flooded parts of Tulare Lake spanned about <a href="https://abc7news.com/tulare-lake-reaches-peak-california-2023/13356811" target="_blank" rel="noopener">178 square miles</a>, or 113,920 acres — almost the size of Lake Tahoe.</p><p>One acre-foot, the amount of water it takes to cover an acre of land to a depth of one foot, is equal to 325,851 gallons of water, United States Department of Agriculture meteorologist <a href="https://www.usda.gov/oce/weather-drought-monitor/staff" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Brad Rippey</a> told Insider in July.</p><p>While it's unclear how deep Tulare Lake is now, if it's similar to its former <a href="https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2023-03-24/as-tulare-lake-reappears-floodwaters-raise-tensions-in-san-joaquin-valley" target="_blank" rel="noopener">average depth of about 30 feet</a>, that would translate to more than one trillion gallons of water that have flooded the region so far this year, Rippey said. That's enough to fill over 1.5 million Olympic-sized swimming pools.</p><p>Many of the state's <a href="https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/Statistics/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">top agricultural commodities</a> are <a href="https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/Statistics/PDFs/2020_Ag_Stats_Review.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">grown in Tulare County</a>, which is the third largest agricultural producing-county in the state. In 2019, Tulare County churned out more than $7.5 billion worth of commodities, including dairy products, table grapes, navel oranges, and cattle.</p><div type="image" title="Flooded farm crops in Tulare Lake in California." height="683" width="1024" msid="101802103" hostid="261" sizebytes="37784"></div><p><a href="https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/billions/events" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration</a> estimated the damage from flooding across central California between December 2022 and March 2023 will cost roughly $4.6 billion.</p><p>Rippey said crops in the vineyards and orchards, like nuts and berries, will likely sustain more damage than row crops since entire trees and vines will need to be replanted.</p><p><a href="https://www.tacfarming.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">TAC Farm</a> sits right at the southeast shoreline of the lakebed. Fortunately for owner Dennis Hutson, the water hasn't flooded his farmland yet.</p><p>Hutson said he witnessed the flooding of Tulare Lake in 1983 and 1997. This time around, he noticed one key difference: the <a href="https://kmph.com/news/local/hwy-43-closed-south-of-corcoran-due-to-flooding-lake-success-porterville-sierra-nevada-tule-river-tulare-county-kings-county-california-atmospheric-river" target="_blank" rel="noopener">flooding of Highway 43</a> along the southern San Joaquin Valley. </p><p>"You saw water on both sides of it, but I don't recall the actual roads flooding at that time," he told Insider, adding that this unusual flooding may be due to local farmers possibly <a href="https://sjvwater.org/flooding-out-other-farmers-was-premeditated-by-the-powerful-j-g-boswell-company-one-farmer-asserts/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">vandalizing the levies</a> in order to drain the water from their land and redirect it elsewhere.</p><div type="image" title="Road with water covering it by flooding of Tulare Lake." height="683" width="1024" msid="101802105" hostid="261" sizebytes="51470"></div><h2>Rainfall and a melting snowpack: the perfect storm</h2><p>Tulare Lake was once the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi River — until the 1920s when local farmers began diverting the water from the rivers feeding the lake.</p><p>As for why the lake returned with a vengeance this spring, blame it on the <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/03/29/californias-snow-rain-totals-explained/11525451002/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">78 trillion gallons of water</a> and counting that have fallen on California between October 1, 2022 and March 20 of this year.</p><p>By the end of February 2023, Tulare County had its <a href="https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/monitoring/climate-at-a-glance/county/mapping/4/pcp/202302/8/rank" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fourth wettest season on record</a>.</p><p>Nicholas Pinter, professor of applied geosciences and associate director of the <a href="https://watershed.ucdavis.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Center for Watershed Sciences</a> at the University of California Davis, described Tulare Lake to Insider as "a bathtub without a drain."</p><p>"Statewide, most flooding was concentrated in low spots in the topography, like Tulare Lake," he said during his May 23 testimony at the California Committee on Agriculture Assembly, which he shared with Insider. "After weeks of rain, the water had basically nowhere else to go."</p><p>Meanwhile, the Southern Sierra Nevada snowpack <a href="https://water.ca.gov/News/News-Releases/2023/April-23/Snow-Survey-April-2023" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reached about 300% of the typical season peak in early April</a> — a record high.</p><p>Here's what the snowpack looked like in March 2022:</p><div type="image" title="Satellite image of San Joaquin Valley showing snow amount in light blue on March 16, 2022." height="2191" width="3507" msid="101802107" hostid="261" sizebytes="696266"></div><p>Compared to March 2023:</p><div type="image" title="Satellite image of San Joaquin Valley on March 16, 2023 showing significantly larger light blue region of snow." height="2191" width="3507" msid="101802109" hostid="261" sizebytes="960076"></div><p>Tulare Lake began to reappear this March, before <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/california-storms-boost-snowpack-epic-skiing-conditions-amid-drought-2023-1">the Sierra Nevada snowpack</a> started meltin. But as temperatures rise into summer and the snowpack begins to melt, that water flows into the Southern Central Valley, Rippey said.</p><p>"If the snow melts too quickly, then the valley cannot drain it and Tulare Lake fills," he told Insider. "That's what is happening now. The lake has been sustained — and even further enlarged — during the snow-melt season."</p><p>It's hard to predict how long the lake will remain, but given the <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/temperatures-seen-surging-el-nino-weather-pattern-returns-wmo-2023-07-04/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recent development of El Niño</a>, Rippey said climatological odds are tilted toward another wet winter — which could sustain Tulare Lake into 2024 or beyond.</p>

Space photos show over 1 trillion gallons of water flooding crop fields in California, and it could mean higher food prices

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Tim Winkler, 26, bought a one-way ticket out of Germany to travel before he started a full-time job.</li><li>During his gap year he looked out for volunteer projects that could also help reduce costs.</li></ul><p><em>This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Tim Winkler, a recent graduate from Germany taking a gap year to travel. The following has been edited for length and clarity.</em></p><p>Two days after submitting my master's thesis in April, I <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/left-hometown-seeking-job-opportunities-au-pair-travel-europe-backpacking-2024-2">bought a one-way ticket</a> for a gap year. I knew I would never have the chance to do something like this again.</p><p>I had completed a master's degree in teaching at the University of Hamburg in Germany.</p><p>I set a budget of $10,800 <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/millennial-couple-gap-year-burn-out-quit-jobs-travel-world-2024-7">to travel for the entire year</a>, intending to find volunteering projects on sites like <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.workaway.info/">Workaway</a> to keep costs down and explore countries in a new way.</p><p>Other than a short trip to Bangkok, I had never been to Asia. I was curious about its cities and had friends who <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tips-travel-south-korea-seoul-mistakes-tourists-make-guide-2023-10">lived in South Korea</a>. So, after spending a month in Japan, I decided to fly to Seoul.</p><p>Initially, I had difficulty finding a host as few projects were available. But eight days before I headed to South Korea, a host texted me, asking, "Hey, are you still free?"</p><p>He needed volunteers for his chestnut farm on the outskirts of Cheongyang, a village two hours from <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/surprising-differences-between-us-south-korea-expat-2023-12">Seoul</a>. He was also able to host me for two months.</p><p>I replied: "Yes, I am. Very much so."</p><h2 id="ef9371ea-816d-4e44-83d8-f7996b3a11e6">I didn't know what to expect on the farm</h2><div type="image" title="A man takes a selfie with two other people, who are sleeping." height="1200" width="1600" msid="112275157" hostid="261" sizebytes="111202"></div><p>It was a nice working atmosphere and there was no pressure to finish tasks by a certain time. We went out to do some weeding between the chestnut trees.</p><p>I was fortunate to form a strong relationship with my host and his family. It wasn't like he'd just give orders; we were really living together.</p><p>I lived in his house, and the accommodation was basic. It consisted of a room with a bunk bed and another room with two air mattresses for two other volunteers to stay in.</p><p><a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/dementia-care-farm-impulssenter-social-life-job-2024-7">On the farm</a>, we had rice for every meal, every day. At first, I was worried that after a week, I'd think, "I've had enough rice. I can't see rice anymore." But that wasn't the case, and I enjoyed every meal.</p><h2 id="cc06a76a-cad7-4106-898a-4a19be65018f">There was no set schedule on the farm</h2><div type="image" title="A man working on the field in the farm." height="1200" width="1600" msid="112275158" hostid="261" sizebytes="305788"></div><p>The crops and animals don't care that it's a weekend. So you're there every day of the week.</p><p>There was no set schedule. Every two or three days, we would leave the house very early, around<strong> </strong>5:30 a.m., sometimes even earlier, to start picking a crop called gosari, a type of fern commonly used in Korean side dishes. This would take<strong> </strong>four or five pickers<strong> </strong>around four hours.</p><p>Every other task was dictated by daily occurrences on the farm. For example, we would go to the farm and see that the goats took down a fence. So, on that day, we would rebuild part of a fence. On another, we'd decide to spread some fertilizer because of the amount of rain.</p><p>We worked seven days a week most of the time. But whenever we had a trip in mind, such as going to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-spicy-stew-dakbokkeumtang-cooked-south-korea-big-batches-2022">Seoul</a> for two or three days, we'd ask the host for time off.</p><p>Our host always arranged the trips for us and even offered to cover the costs of our meals and tickets to events or museums.</p><h2 id="64470ba8-9895-4f83-87b6-f68ed4c015f3"><strong>Meeting people in my age group was hard</strong></h2><div type="image" title="A man holds a baby goat" height="1600" width="1200" msid="112275161" hostid="261" sizebytes="353376"></div><p>The village I lived in was very small, with less than 100 villagers, most of whom were in their 60s. I wasn't able to make any local friends my age.</p><p>However, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/volunteer-sustainable-travel-wwoofing-organic-farm-in-switzerland-2023-5">I enjoyed working outdoors</a> and having variety in my tasks. Also, working with animals was fun.</p><p>I appreciate that I got to know the locals much better by <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/family-save-money-farm-stays-instead-of-hotels-europe-travel-2023-10">living with them</a>. I experienced their day-to-day life, which was much more valuable to me than just visiting a country as a tourist.</p><p>As I continue on my yearlong trip to places like Spain and Scandinavia, I intend to find projects that will also help me to save costs.</p><h2 id="d7503f3b-5d89-405f-972b-d4c43096bf0e">I saved at least $2,100 by working on the farm</h2><p>That amount was about the same as how much I had spent during my month in <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tokyo-lesser-known-day-trips-not-mount-fuji-hikes-japan-2024-7">Japan</a>.</p><p>After my trip ends in April next year, I'll return to Germany and become a full-time teacher.</p><p><a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/teachers-feel-guilty-for-not-working-summer-2024-7">As a teacher</a>, I plan to<strong> </strong>prepare my students for life in this increasingly globalized world. I hope to transfer the knowledge gained from my experiences in other countries to my future students.</p>

You Searched For "food crops" and got 8 results

Crop loss is a huge problem for sustainability and food security. I'm using AI and computer vision to help fix it.

Erin Greenawald

Retail inflation expected to breach 6% mark in October, says UBI Report

BI India Bureau

PepsiCo is using robotics and AI-powered crop planning to transform its supply chain

John Kell

At 95, I'm a gym rat. I stopped drinking wine a decade ago and eat homegrown food.

Jane Ridley

Scientists are growing crops with salt water that could help save us from starvation

Ellyn Lapointe

Bad weather, natural disasters, and disease are hobbling crops right now. Here's how the food commodity markets are responding.

Joseph Wilkins

Space photos show over 1 trillion gallons of water flooding crop fields in California, and it could mean higher food prices

Rebecca Strong

I spent two months working on a farm in South Korea for free lodging and food. It was hard work, but I saved at least $2,000.

Erin Liam

Popular Keywords

Buying Guides