WASHINGTON -- US Department of Agriculture has paid out nearly $840 million to farmers to date as part of a promised $12 billion aid program rolled out by President Donald Trump last July to offset losses from the imposition of tariffs on American exports.

RICE planted by Filipino farmers in Papua New Guinea (PNG) will be ready for harvest in December, to be sold in that country and the excess exported to the Philippines, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said.

BEIJING -- China’s efforts to stem the spread of African swine fever were dealt a fresh blow on Friday when the agricultural ministry confirmed it had found the first case in a wild boar, deepening a three-month-old crisis for the world’s top pork producer.

NEW YORK -- A group representing biofuel companies asked a federal judge on Tuesday to force the US Environmental Protection Agency to stop exempting small refineries from renewable fuel laws until a lawsuit challenging the agency’s actions is resolved.

A CALIFORNIA JUDGE on Thursday granted an expedited trial in the case of a California couple suffering from cancer who sued Bayer AG’s Monsanto unit, alleging the company’s glyphosate-containing weed killer Roundup caused their disease.

LAGUNA -- The onset of 6.7% inflation in September disrupted many people’s lives, not least of them the poor, who now have to make do with less. Inflation’s effects are visible to anyone who fills up his car with fuel or puts together a household budget or buys groceries. For those who spend most of their time in the online world, inflation has even become meme-worthy, with the price of the humble sili scandalizing the population and urban legends cropping up about commuters offering to pay their way with chili peppers, once so common as to be given away free at restaurants, now worth their proverbial weight in bus fare.

THE Bureau of Fisheries and Agricultural Resources (BFAR) said that the Philippines has to develop markets for tilapia, a widely-cultivated fish, amid a consumer preference for galunggong, or round scad.

THE United States is projecting a 10% increase in foodexports to the Philippines to $2.83 billion in 2018.

NATIONAL SCIENTIST Romulo G. Davide will be the guest speaker at a scientific conference, “Couldn’t AGRI More: Harvesting S&T Knowledge” on Nov. 23 at the University of the Philippines Open University (UPOU) in Los Baños, Laguna.

DAVAO CITY -- The Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) said successful cooperatives, particularly those in the Davao Region, should consider mergers and venture into new operations such as food processing.

NEGROS OCCIDENTAL will become the first provincial government to invest in a seed production program focused on at most three rice varieties, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol said on Sunday.

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said on Friday it will lead a trade delegation of farm organizations and businesses to South Korea, in an apparent effort to boost opportunities for U.S. farmers in a key U.S. export market.