Global food companies and livestock feeders hoping for an abundance of low-price US grain may be in for a disappointment as it looks like American farmers may opt to delay additional sales of corn and soybeans.

Inspectors in the US Department of Agriculture are trying to determine how a strain of GM wheat ended up in a non-GM crop in Oregon almost a decade after Monsanto abandoned plans to sell the herbicide-resistant wheat variety.

Japan has suspended some imports of grain from the US after the discovery in an Oregon field of gene-altered crops developed by Monsanto that never won approval for consumption.

Wheat snapped a four-day rally after a survey showed reserves in the US, the biggest exporter, may be larger than a government forecast.

Rapeseed output in the EU, the world’s largest producer of the oilseed used in cooking and biofuels, may increase to a four-year high after German farmers planted more crops.

Global food prices that jumped in July may extend gains if an El Nino weather pattern develops or if importers begin hoarding supplies, the World Bank said.

Dry weather in Kazakhstan, the second-largest wheat exporter in the former Soviet Union, may persist and threaten planting after a record crop.

GLOBAL corn and soybean stocks remain low, leaving both commodities vulnerable to the threat posed by the La Nina weather phenomenon to production in Argentina and southern Brazil, US Department of Agriculture chief economist Joseph Glauber said yesterday.

EUROPEAN policymakers should heed global political uncertainty and reaffirm food security within the EU, according to IFA president John Bryan.

THE only good thing about the “wheat bubble” is that financial institutions which have been undermining the euro currency have now diverted attention to charging us more for bread.

THE US maize boom could be over, with prices having dropped sharply, falling close to the cost of production.

AUSTRALIA’S driest May on record has revived memories of the country’s recent droughts, which helped trigger global food shortages.

Actress Drew Barrymore said today she was donating a million dollars (€657,653) to help fight hunger worldwide.

CONTRACT prices for this year’s grain reached new highs in Europe recently as concerns grew over crop prospects due to unusually warm and dry spring weather.

Model and actress Caprice is to marry her 21-year-old lover Alex Davis, her agent said today.