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Poland's ruling party, the Justice Party, faces elections in 2024. The influx of grain from Ukraine has lowered prices for farmers in Poland, and this affects the largely rural base of the Justice Party. As a result the government has acted to stop Ukrainian grain from entering the country, and also bans the shipment of grain through Poland to other EU countries. The UN sponsored Black Sea ports agreement that allows Ukraine to ship from Odessa and other ports is also coming up for renewal.

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Food security for India comes with the achievements of agricultural scientist MS Swaminathan. Coming from Kumbakonam Tamilnadu, the eminent scientist's father was inspired by the movement of Gandhi for independence. Swaminathan took up the cause of farmers who were the vast part of the population of India in the 1920's when urbanization was just beginning. He studied at agricultural colleges in Coimbatore and New Delhi, and at Cambridge and U of Wisconsin, before heading the Agricultural Research Institute. By the late 1960's he was a leader in India's Green Revolution supported by the Kennedy and Johnson administrations in the US.

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It is Tuesday afternoon in Volant, Pennsylvania, population 126 residents and a Minnesotan Walz is talking to farmers in rural parts of the state, farmers trudging their way to see him. In this part of midwestern America there is anxiety about the cost of living, about immigration, and about a way forward. It is here in Beaver County that Biden campaigned in 2008 and in 2020, and Walz is back in 2024 in the closing days to get his message across that America can be tough on immigration, and also invest in renewal by investing in the future, and controlling the cost of living, fighting monopolies and corporations that don't pay their fair share of taxes that can fund America's  rural infrastructure that has been neglected for three decades by both parties till the Biden legislation funding rural infrastructure renewal. This means getting the message out and fighting every step of the way in rural America that needs and deserves respect, says Katie Glueck.

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Italian immigrants like Mr. Bonato on his 4200 acre farm in Brazil's central savannah are trying to change the way Brazil looks at wheat. Once a wheat importer from Argentina, Brazil is trying to change this by growing tropical wheat. Italian immigrants in the cooler southern states such as Rio Grande do Sul were wheat producers. Now Brazil's agricultural agencies are getting these farmers to produce wheat in the more tropical central region of Brazil. Higher wheat prices are changing the way farmers look at wheat. Rotating wheat and beans is a good agricultural practice and the Brazilian agricultural agency is encouraging this. Brazil's agricultural agency Embrapa launched the wheat variety BRS 264 as a highly successful one for tropical wheat growing. In 2021 Brazil imported 40% of 12 million tons consumed mostly from Argentina. The idea is that with central Brazil meeting Brazil's wheat needs this would free up wheat from the cooler southern part of Brazil to replace the lost production from Eastern Europe. Mr. Bonato says his work is helping feed more people, and his interest in his work comes from holding wheat growing on the ground as a child on the family farm. After all he says, what is more important than bread?   ...

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This report in the NYT shows how climate change is changing the way farmers grow grow farm fruits, vegetables and grain, from chickpeas in Montana to raspberries in New York state, cherries in Michigan, blueberries in Maine.

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The U.S. Agriculture Department cuts its estimate of corn crop yield per acre in the U.S. by 15.5%, as a result of the severe drought in 2012. Agriculture Secretary Vilsack, says the situation for farmers is better this time than during the last drought in 1988. Now 85% of farmers have crop insurance compared to 25% in 1988. The Agriculture Department estimate is for a 3-4% increase in prices in 2013. Capital Economics says the impact on GDP in the U.S. will be about 0.1%. Because 40% of the corn crop goes into ethanol production there is renewed debate about the 2005/2007 Renewable Fuel Standard, which requires 13.2 billion gallons of corn based biofuel be made in 2012. Worldwide the bad weather conditions in Brazil, India and Russia are worsening the outlook for food supplies. The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization says global food prices increased by 6% in July 2012, with corn prices up 23%.

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Paul Krugman points out the problems in rural America that need attention. Integrating rural America faced with problems of joblessness and a sense of being ignored are part of the effort to pull the nation together. Krugman points to economic forces that have pushed the other way. Yet it is the role of government to support farming communities and farmers in what was till the 1950's and 1960's a nation that was both rural and urban. With the rise of tech companies in the last 2 decades problems of rural communities were pushed into the background. 

The founders of the U.S. and the Continental Congress that drafted the U.S. Constitution did this had rural communities in mind in what was then in 1790's a largely rural country. Rural states have the same representation as larger more populous urban states under the U.S. Constitution making it impossible to ignore the rural areas and farmers without damaging the public interest.

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Indian finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman answers questions about India's 20 lakh crore or $280 billion aid package in this interview in the Hindustan Times. She says Mr. Modi's foresight in setting up the various people aid schemes including bank accounts for all citizens have helped the government send direct help to farmers and workers. She sees a multiplier effect of the aid package.

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As the Nation looks to take care of it's farmers, a look at two farms in Wisconsin dairy country. One is a milk farm Norm Lane in Chili Wisconsin which supplies 200,000 pounds of milk to a cheesemaker Nasonville Dairy in Marshfield, Wisconsin. Shown in this story in NYT are the Master Cheesemaker Ken Heimann who runs the Nasonville Dairy which produces Colby, Cheddar and other cheeses. Also shown are Josh Meissner whose grandparents started the mil dairy Norm Lane in 1946.  The economics of dairy farms are such that they depend on the government to set the price and with all the competition the margins on milk are quite thin. This is true for cheese also where there is the West Coast production of cheese that has larger output and greater mechanization than Wisconsin's cheesemakers. What keeps the dairy industry going these days is the production of whey protein a byproduct of the cheese making process. This has much higher margins with prices up from $3 a pound of whey protein to $10 a pound. On a typical day the Nasonville Dairy can turn out 150,000 pounds of cheese, and 150,000 pounds of liquid whey protein. ...

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US Congress cuts to Corporation for Public Broadcasting (NPR and PBS) of $1.1 billion for 2 years. It passes Senate 51-48. $7.9 billion in cuts to foreign aid programs were passed in the Senate bill. Native American and tribal radio stations in 9 states are protected.

Note that no cuts to HIV $400 million which is protected, and also for maternal care and malaria, and tuberculosis. These programs will be protected with new language. Also protected, by Senator Moran of Kansas, are food aid programs used by farmers- Food for Peace, Food for Education and child nutrition.

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China imports from the US only $143 billion and much of this is soyabeans (US farmers), petroleum oil products (buyers in Europe and Asia), aircraft (Boeing). Farmers were compensated from the tariff revenues in the first term, oil products would be shipped to Asia and LNG to Europe to make up for loss of supplies from Russia. India will take up the Boeing production as it's economy expands to levels China, Japan had earlier. The action is a last resort as 490,000 lives were lost in 12 years from the fentanyl shipped raw materials from China and drug trafficking gangs in Mexico processing it in labs to ship across the long US border or Canadian border into the US. China and Mexico have not stopped the flow of fentanyl into the US. How much is 490,000 American lives worth? That is 5 times the lives lost in the Vietnam War and the Korean War combined of 100,000 lives lost in both wars. China exported $436 billion to the US in 2023 increasing by about 6% from prior year. Integrated Circuits alone were more than all US exports combined to China at $154 billion. Electric batteries another $80 billion. Computers and office machine parts were $54 billion. Where will China ship all these products. It is brave but it is easier to stop fentanyl flows out of China, and cut all the trade barriers, reverse state policy to dominate key industrial sectors in State Planning. The problem in the stock market response is that this is a trade war which it is NOT. It is about National Security if this is allowed to continue as Clinton, Bush, Obama have allowed to happen US is in real danger of becoming a second rate power in the world, at which point the world will become a dangerous place with India, China, Russia, Germany and other states having no constraints to create future wars without US to set some basic principles of world peace. UN itself would not exist without Cordell Hull and FDR. The world we know will be GONE. US Navy will not be able to build the ships it needs in USA if this deindustrialization is allowed to continue.    ...

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Following an Indian proposal 2023 has been declared as the 'International Year of Millets.' Millet will be an integral part of G-20 meetings in India. There are about 6000 varieties of Millets cereal crops with varying colors and textures around the world. They are more nutritious than rice or wheat. For farmers it requires less water as millets do well on dry land, and require less fertilizer or pesticide.

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Dissatisfaction with what they get at local supermarkets leads young people to try farming in the US using tech, new approaches and experimenting on a small scale. There is a new awareness during the pandemic of the importance of getting fresh locally produced vegetables and fruits to improve immunity and health. Many do not have a family background in farming and are open to trying new methods and software. Here one of these young farmers says that if you are frustrated by what you find in the local supermarket you have the chance to change that, which is so cool.

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India food supply distribution network involves farmers selling to wholesalers who sell to retailers with about 12.8 million small retailers with shops reaching consumers. Millions of farmers with small plots need workers to harvest their crops. Mechanization of farms is not as widespread as needed, and labour is used instead of forklift trucks in handling of agricultural produce to be loaded onto trucks. And millions of these retailers need workers to pickup the food supplies (wheat, rice, pulse and vegetables). The virus has scared off a lot of laborers needed for this supply system to work from farms to shops. The government is maintaining the basic supplies of wheat, rice and pulses at this time. It has given free rice and wheat where needed and distributed wheat and rice at minimal cost to the public. Yet the system is facing bottlenecks of labor and more needs to be done to maintain smooth flow of supplies. The mechanization of agriculture and distribution is sorely lacking at this time.     ...

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As the USA and Europe move into a deep and prolonged recession China loses some of its biggest export markets and faces a significant slowing down of its economy. China's leaders are pondering how to respond to the crisis which will affect China, and meet the challenges of lower living standards of a neglected rural countryside and farmers compared to the urban coastal areas. This is still where some 800 million of the Chinese people live by official count, so something needs to be done to improve prospects and help generate higher incomes and opportunities for people in the farming countryside. Making land use rights of farmers able to be bought or sold for the first time would generate additional income for farmers, and help consolidate farmland into larger plots, which can use technology and improvements for better yields to keep China self sufficient in agricultural production. Keeping the situation the way it has remained for the last two decades, where local party officials and local leaders controlled the land and where farmers rights were ignored leading to suppression of farmer's protests for illegal land seizures and corruption, may have made it easier for plants to be setup across China and attracted foreign investors. But it has not been good for China's farmers. Chinese party officials at the local level who realized the advantages to them by controlling land and making it easier to set up manufacturing plants with foreign investors may have steered state policy in this direction from the early days after Deng's opening to capitalism and trade. Now with a success in the urban coastal areas and in building infrastructure Chinese leaders in the central government must be faced with a difficult issue of how to move on from here with the loss of China's export markets for its heavily export dependent economy. The need to generate a domestic consumer driven economy must not be lost on the Chinese leadership in Beijing. Something that will keep China's economy moving in the new situation. This is the context in which land use rights may be extended from 30 to 70 years and able to be bought and sold to improve farm incomes and generate internal momentum in the rural areas where most of China's people live. It also offers a contrast to the situation India faces where even the Nano plant of Tata Motors had to be moved from W. Bengal state to Gujarat state over farmers rights to land which in that case was also used as an issue for political agitation. The move by China accelerated industrialization and setting up manufacturing plants as land was taken over by local officials for use with foreign investors but also ended up neglecting the countryside, and created too big a dependence on exports....

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Years of low prices for soybeans and corn with competition from Russia and Brazil, combined with tariff war with China roiling agricultural markets, are leading to the highest bankruptcies in a decade for farmers in the U.S. in 2019. Dairy farmers are hit too with low milk prices.

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People in China are drinking more milk and cream desserts, and eating more cheese with a shift in eating habits. Traditionally this was not a big part of Chinese food. Wholesale prices of skim milk powder have surged by 26%-47% in the U.S. and Europe with this increased Chinese demand. Earlier China imported more milk powder for baby infant formula after tainted product was discovered in domestically produced baby milk powder. In 2019 China imported about 33% more skim milk powder and 23% whole milk powder than 2018. 

Parents encourage milk drinking habit. Even the higher lactose intolerance in people from East Asia is not a problem in this increase in dairy consumption. Beneficiaries of this increase in demand are farmers in America, Europe and New Zealand after several years of difficult conditions. Dry conditions in Australia and northern Europe, higher feed costs, hurt dairy farmers.

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Milk sales have increased by 7% during the coronavirus period in grocery stores in the U.S., reversing 10 years of decline. Yet dairy farmers expect to struggle as sales to restaurants and hotels that use about a third of dairy products were lost during the pandemic..

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President Trump announces a $ 16 billion farm aid program to help American farmers hurt by Chinese tariffs on American agricultural products. The money goes directly in payments to farmers. Mr. Trump sees the tariffs on Chinese products as paying for the program.

The Trump administration has blacklisted China's Huawei  and president Trump says that he considers it to be a threat to national security. He also sees it as a bargaining chip in future trade negotiations with the Chinese. China's president Xi sees his country's national sovereignty in how it sets its own economic policy and manages its economy as an issue. Both sides are far apart. Xi even cited the Long March led by Communist leader Mao to Yenan in the 1930's as an example of the fortitude needed by China in dealing with the American challenge.

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The snap elections called by Macron after National Rally party of Marine Le Pen wins 32 percent of the vote to Macron En Marche at 15% in the EU elections. Marine Le Pen has put Jordan Bardella, 28 years, of St Dennis suburb in Paris as the candidate for prime minister if NR wins the National Assembly election. Macron earlier made Gabriel Attal, 35 years, the En Marche candidate. This is the youngest in a major country for prime minister. This report in WSJ shows how Macron by reducing diesel subsidies for farmers has alienated rural voters at a time when farmers are protesting difficult conditions. Macron also faced union opposition over pension age changes, and before his reelection protests from Yellow Vest protesters on cost of living issues. Macron has survived each challenge, the last in reelection by getting support of voters on the left and right choosing stability over changes that National Rally might bring. The snap election was also intended to take Le Pen and NR by surprise. This has created new uncertainty with elections on June 30, 2024, soon after Biden and Macron met in Normandy for D- Day anniversary, and the upcoming G7 meeting in Italy June 13-15. ...

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The reasoning behind the decision on abortions of the US Supreme Court is shown here in the NYT using the majority opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito Jr. He uses the guiding principle that the right to abortion cannot be found in the Constitution of the United States. He uses a legal approach of looking for the original intent of the framers of the Constitution.  This involves scrutinizing the original document to look for wording of intent.

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This report in The Guardian looks at regenerative agriculture practices in the south of Spain for growing olives and for producing wine. It is good for farmers from both an economic and soil regeneration perspective. By growing in conditions that promote biodiversity olive farmers get higher prices for their product. This report looks at farms with 70 million olive trees in the province of Jaen in southern Spain.

Under EU's Life programme 20 olive farms in Spain were selected for the regenerative agriculture model. This allows grass and wildflowers to grow between the olive trees, and insect and wildlife to revive. The Olivares Vivos project is making good progress in Spain to revive agricultural land. Not ploughing between the trees helps for better water retention, less erosion and run-offs after heavy rain.

Such practices can be applied in other countries in Asia and Latin America.

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Eastern Oregon that lies on the other side of the Cascade mountains from Portland and western Oregon is mostly rural and feels a world away from Portland. Here farmers have organized a secessionist movement to join the neighboring state of Idaho which is closer to them on cultural issues. The NYT's Across the Country series of articles looks at ways in which America has become different in different states and regions across the country and how local people see what impacts their lives.

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Friedman describes the development of a tablet computer by a team led by Prof. Kalra and two professors of electrical engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, Jodhpur, which costs less than $50 to produce. The new price point is needed to reach over 200 millon students in India who need such a device to escape poverty and poor teaching. The new tablet computer enables them to reach out to knowledge in language, sciences and math, and the humanities in the world outside them. This is an I-Pad like, internet enabled, wirlessly connected tablet. The average Indian family in rural areas saves $2.50 a month, and government support for its educational benefit could subsidize a portion of the cost. The tablet would bring distance learning, teach English, to students and help track commodity prices for farmers. The invented device uses the Android 2.2 operating system, a 7 inch touch screen, 3 hours battery life, and can download YouTube videos, PDFs and educational software. The governmment is expected to subsidize wireless connections to students. The name of the tablet is Aakash, Hindi for sky....