Strikes in Chilean ports broke-out again after a temporary stop.
An unexpected cold snap in the Middle East caused havoc to the region’s herb cultivation, with many suppliers reporting severe shortages of popular herbs.
The USDA, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) issued a Federal Order implementing new entry requirements for the importation of fresh blueberry fruit from Chile into the United States in January.
APHIS took this action in response to multiple detections of European Grapevine Moth (EGVM), Lobesia botrana, in Chilean blueberry orchards.
Less water and diseases forced Californian farmers to reduce lettuce production by nearly 50%.
While it was predicted that Thailand's exports to China likely to grow in 2014. Spain looked back on a year of losses and lack of quality, Juan José Alepuz, president of Cohoca, said it has been terrible. "Since the month of March/April, vegetables have taken a hit, peaches are smaller, and the temperatures and lack of rain have also reduced the orange calibers," confirmed Alepuz. "The situation with kakis is not as bad, but it is also worse than last year."
The UK was battling with some of the worst flooding in years, also in Italy 2,000 hectares flooded in Emilia-Romagna. While one farmer bred Chilli peppers so hot he needed two pairs of rubber gloves to pick them.
Scientists warned that in more than half of European countries, there were not enough honeybees to pollinate crops, according to new research. Scientists said that a boom in biofuels had sparked a massive increase in the need for pollination.In the first of the years acquisitions, Empire World Trade was acquired by UNIVEG. In January there was major uncertainty at the Greenery as major re-organisation was taking place, few days later it was announced that the number of locations will be reduced over three years from eight to three.
Del Monte chose Dunkerque port, January saw the company unload their shipments of bananas from Cameroon at the Port of Dunkerque, calling on the shipping service PC Hebdo of CMA CGM which delivers to Europe from the West coast of Africa.
Lastly a Dutch researcher said that farming is possible on Mars.