The Turkish government has approved a tariff quota for imports of sunflower seed and crude sunflower oil. The measure introduces preferential import conditions to ensure adequate supplies of raw materials for the domestic crushing industry and to support a stable supply of vegetable oil to the local market.
Under the decision, a tariff quota will be in effect from January 11 to May 31, 2027, allowing imports of 1.25 mln tons of sunflower seed at a 0% import duty, or an equivalent volume of 500 thsd tons of crude sunflower oil, which will be subject to a 20% import duty.
The document also states that priority access to the quota will be granted to companies that purchase domestically produced sunflower seed between July 1 and November 30, 2026. The measure is designed to support Turkish farmers while ensuring processors have sufficient imported raw materials.
Companies importing products under the quota will be required to obtain an import license from the Turkish Ministry of Trade. The licenses will not be transferable to third parties, while the allocation procedure will be determined through separate ministerial regulations.
The new tariff quota is expected to support Turkey’s demand for imported sunflower seed, particularly from Black Sea suppliers. For Ukraine, one of the world’s leading sunflower seed producers and sunflower oil exporters, the decision could create additional opportunities to expand shipments to the Turkish market during the first half of 2027.
In June 2026, India reduced imports of vegetable oils by 16.6% compared to May to 1.1 million tons, in particular soybean oil by 23% to 381 thousand tons, sunflower oil by 17.5% to 244 thousand tons, and palm oil by 10.5% to a 14-month low of 492 thousand tons.
Traders attribute the reduction in imports to a decline in demand in the domestic market and a narrowing of the discount between palm and soybean oil prices.
Previously, palm oil had a significant price advantage, which stimulated its imports, but now the discount compared to the price of soybean oil has decreased to $50/t, so it has become unprofitable for processors to buy it.
Import volumes are being affected by restrained purchases by importers, who expect further price declines and buy volumes necessary to cover current needs. In addition, heat and the increase in the cost of gas used for cooking are also reducing oil consumption.
A decline in demand from India, the world's largest importer of vegetable oils, could lead to increased inventories in major palm oil producing countries Malaysia and Indonesia, forcing exporters to lower prices in the competition for buyers.
The Vegetable Oil Producers Association of India (SEA) will release official data on vegetable oil imports for June in mid-July. The market is closely watching these reports as confirmation of previous estimates will add pressure on palm oil prices and related vegetable oil markets.
The European Parliament has given its final approval to the regulation on plants obtained through new genomic techniques (NGTs).
Following the vote on 17 June, the regulation would now proceed to signature and publication in the European Union (EU) Official Journal, a statement on the Parliament’s official website said that day.
This would be followed by a two-year implementation period, during which the European Commission (EC) would develop the necessary secondary legislation and implementing acts.
Commenting on the vote, Rapporteur Jessica Polfjärd said: “European farmers have long been calling for access to these modern breeding tools, to help them develop crops that are more resilient and less dependent on pesticides.”
Provisionally agreed between Parliament and the European Council in December 2025, the amended NGT rules established two regulatory pathways based on a plant’s equivalence to varieties bred by conventional methods. The rules would apply to plants of European origin and also to imports.
Category 1 plants – deemed equivalent to conventionally bred varieties – would follow a simplified regulatory pathway, while Category 2 plants would remain subject to the existing genetically modified organism (GMO) framework.
The regulation was expected to provide greater regulatory predictability, promote innovation and open new market opportunities for NGT-derived crop varieties, bringing the EU in line with regulatory approaches adopted in other major agricultural markets, according to a US Department of Agriculture (USDA) report on 17 June.
Until the new rules became applicable, NGT plants would continue to be regulated under the existing GMO framework, the USDA said.
The three-day, high-level gathering brings together ministers, researchers, farmers and the private sector to scale up data-driven, farmer-centered agriculture
Rome – Smart farming is no longer a future ambition — it is becoming essential for helping farmers produce more with fewer resources while strengthening resilience, rural development and agrifood systems. That was the central message as FAO today opened its first Global Conference on Smart Farming, bringing together global leaders, ministers, researchers, farmers, innovators and the private sector to accelerate the adoption and scaling of smart farming systems.
The FAO Director-General opened the Global Conference, which was attended by agriculture ministers, policymakers, researchers, farmers’ organisations, private sector representatives, development partners, and women and youth leaders.
With farmers facing increasing pressures from climate variability, soil and water degradation, rising input costs, and labour constraints, smart farming is an urgent necessity and must be accessible to small-scale producers.
“FAO has made innovation and technology a central priority — and this conference reflects this commitment,” the Director-General said.
As the United Nations’ specialized agency for food and agriculture, FAO is uniquely placed to convene this conversation. Scaling smart farming requires technical expertise, policy guidance, investment and partnerships working together — which is why the Organization is bringing governments, researchers, farmers, the private sector and development partners to the same table.
The Conference will showcase what that looks like in practice. In Uzbekistan, low-cost greenhouse innovations have enabled vegetable farmers to triple their yields and earn higher incomes while using less water — a concrete example of how smart farming, applied at the right scale, changes farmers’ lives.
Smart farming systems combine data, digital technologies and scientific knowledge to support better decision-making across agricultural production. They help farmers use water, fertilizers, pesticides, energy and other inputs more efficiently while improving productivity, profitability and environmental sustainability.
From July 1, an open export program for rapeseed and soybeans will be launched in Ukraine, which will ensure transparent and predictable export conditions, the press service of the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine reports.
Only agricultural producers - both legal entities and individual entrepreneurs - who submit applications through the State Agrarian Register (DAR) will be able to use the program.
The export limits for program participants are:
rapeseed – up to 5 tons per 1 hectare of agricultural
land,
soybeans – up to 3.5 tons per 1 hectare.
Moreover, during the application period, the producer will only be able to adjust the data on the planned/actual yield of soybeans and/or rapeseed once.
The deadlines for accepting applications for the current marketing year are:
- for rapeseed – from July 1 of the current calendar year to April 1 of the next calendar year;
- for soybeans – from September 1 of the current calendar year to June 1 of the next calendar year.
The launch of the new program will be another step in the digitalization of the process, which will help ensure its transparency and create clear rules, as well as avoid unnecessary bureaucratic procedures, in particular, obtaining conclusions from the Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Producers will be able to quickly submit applications through DAR, and the state will receive an effective tool for administering exports, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy notes.
About 10% of the soybean fields in Precision Conservation Management (PCM) raise varieties that do not contain Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO). From 2020 to 2025, yields from non-GMO fields averaged the same as from GMO fields. Non-GMO fields typically have about $15 per acre in higher costs than GMO fields. With $1–2 per-bushel premiums for non-GMO soybeans, non-GMO fields will be more profitable than GMO fields, ignoring additional cleaning, segregation, and storage costs associated with non-GMO soybeans. Premiums would likely decline if more farmers begin raising non-GMO soybeans.
We summarize data from Precision Conservation Management (PCM), a farmer service program led by the Illinois Corn Growers Association, in partnership with over 30 entities, including other commodity associations, conservation groups, private foundations, supply chain providers, the Soil and Water Conservation Districts, and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). PCM was started in 2015 to address the goals of the Illinois Nutrient Loss Reduction Strategy. PCM’s mission is to help farmers make financially responsible decisions about adopting on-farm conservation practices. PCM regional specialists work one-on-one with over 500 farmers in Illinois, Kentucky, and Nebraska (PCM).
We summarize soybean fields enrolled in PCM located in central Illinois for the last six crop years from 2020–2025. We divide the fields that grow soybeans into two groups: those using genetically modified seed varieties (GMOs) and those that don’t, hereafter referred to as non-GMO.
We further divide those fields into high- and low-Soil Productivity Rating (SPR) categories. SPRs are calculated for the fields using data from Bulletin 811, Optimum Crop Productivity Ratings for Illinois Soils. Fields in the high-productivity category have SPRs above 130 and generally have higher average yields. Low productivity fields have SPRs below 130. Comparison across SPRs will help determine whether profitability varies with soil productivity.
On average, there are slightly over 1,358 fields per year in the analysis, with a slight upward trend over time. More of the fields are in the High SPR range: a 926 average for High SPR and a 432 average for Low SPR. On average, 10% of the fields are...
German chemical giant Bayer is hoping to speed up a plan to promote biofuel feedstock production in North America, according to a Reuters report.
The US-Iran Iraq war had prompted a surge in fuel prices and, in turn, had driven renewed interest in biofuels as a means to improve energy security and potentially cut energy costs, the 10 June report said.
“We are targeting a couple of million acres of camelina production in North America, and [are] in the process of evaluating expansion in other geographies,” Bayer’s global head of cereals, cotton and canola Peter Muller told Reuters on 10 June during the International Grains Council (IGC) conference in London.
The move followed Bayer’s announcement in May that it had formed an alliance with energy major bp to commercialise camelina for production of biodiesel, renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).
The strategic alliance between the two companies followed Bayer’s acquisition of camelina assets from Smart Earth Camelina Corp announced at the end of January 2025.
Although the company had initially planned to reach its targeted camelina planted area by the mid-2030s, Muller said it was now hoping to meet this target earlier given renewed interest in sustainable fuels amid the Iran war.
“Those decisions were taken in a different context... now it’s about ramping things up,” he said.
At the time of the report, Bayer was about to close a deal with a firm that would crush North American camelina, providing farmers with confidence there would be a buyer for their crop, Muller added.
About half of farmers and ranchers regularly use artificial intelligence (AI) tools, such as Chat GPT or Gemini, to support their operations, according to a report from the agricultural marketing firm MorganMyers and Ag Access, an agricultural market researcher.
While farmers split almost evenly on AI usage — 48% of survey respondents said they used the tools weekly or more frequently — just 24% said they fully or somewhat trust the recommendations AI models make regarding their farming businesses.
Nearly half of farmers — 45% — said they were “uncomfortable” with allowing AI to influence real decisions on their operations.
According to the survey, which sampled 166 producers, farmers were mostly concerned with the accuracy of AI model recommendations. Other top concerns surrounded data ownership and privacy, biases in the models, and a fear that AI would replace human experience.
A majority of those surveyed, 62%, said “real-world farm results” would boost their trust of AI. Just under a third (30%) said the ability to override AI suggestions would boost trust, and 27% said they wanted transparent data sources.
Greg Ehm, senior vice president of agriculture at MorganMyers, said farmers are weighing AI recommendations against “years of personal experience and practical knowledge.”
“Farmers and ranchers aren’t resistant to AI,” Ehm said in a news release. “Our survey confirms they’re trying it out and can already see areas where it delivers value and could help them become even better operators in the future.”
The survey also concluded that dairies, large-scale operations and farmers under the age of 35 had higher AI-adoption rates. While 64% of dairy producers were classified as “active users” of AI models, 55% of row crop farmers surveyed reported low or no use.