Cargill is investing its own digital engineering resources to develop Hyperledger Grid, a project which aims to streamline supply chains by using blockchain and other digital solutions.

French and German farmers have been forced to dig up thousands of hectares of rapeseed after authorities found an illegal genetically modified (GM) strain mixed in with seeds they purchased from Bayer-Monsanto, RT reported on 8 February.

Local press in Argentina reported that the upcoming concerts of singers Ed Sheeran and Paul McCartney would be powered by biodiesel produced from used cooking oil, Biofuels Digest wrote on 5 February.

Indonesian state-owned energy company PT Pertamina said in a statement on 31 January that it has signed an agreement with Italian oil company ENI SpA to develop a green refinery in Indonesia and to process a palm oil-based fuel mixture in Italy, Reuters reports.

The Turkish government has been accused of stealing olives from Syria and pressing them into oil to pass off as its own produce to EU countries, Fox News reported.

Indonesia has allocated 72M litres of palm oil fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) to run a comprehensive trial for its planned B30 biodiesel programme.

US 2019 biodiesel production is forecast to reach some 9bn litres (128,000 barrels/day), a 77% utilisation of reported nameplate capacity, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).

Malaysia’s Sime Darby Oils (SDO) and Abu Dhabi Vegetable Oil Company (ADVOC) have announced a partnership to market oils and fats products in the Middle East North Africa (MENA) region.

Chinese agricultural scientists have created a soyabean variety via gene editing which may be better suited in warm climates such as southern China or countries near the equator.

Agribusiness giant Cargill Inc and the broader food industry will fail to meet a goal of eliminating deforestation by 2020, the company said on 13 June.

The Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences has selected its first oil palm species for mass planting in China, Xinhuanet reported on 14 April.

Russia is committed to substantially increasing its purchase of Malaysian palm oil as part of defence offset deals, the Asia Palm Oil Magazine reported in its April-June issue.

Bolivia has authorised farmers to plant a GM soyabean as part of a project to produce biodiesel, Spanish news agency EFE reported on 20 March.