Dipping its left wing, a canary-yellow biplane makes a sharp turn and dives over a flooded field, showering rice on the shallow water fifteen feet below.
Boosted by high prices and good weather, the world's farmers will reap record wheat and rice crops this year, the U.S. government said on Friday, which should somewhat allay fears of scanty food supplies.
Five rice producing countries in the Mekong River Delta are setting up a price-fixing cartel amid skyrocketing rice prices and shortages in Asia described by the United Nations as a “real global crisis.” The cartel is expected to isolate the Philippines from its Asian rice suppliers.
Australia, the world's second-biggest wheat exporter before two years of drought ravaged crops, may almost double its harvest this year as higher prices and better weather encourage planting, National Australia Bank Ltd. said.
