Philippine company Alliance Select Food International Inc. sealed a deal to acquire 100 percent of US company Spence & Co. Ltd., a Massachusetts-based salmon smoking and curing company who specializes in the production of smoked salmon and seafood, prepared in the Scottish tradition of its founder Alan Spence. The company caters to the high-end market [...]

The country temporarily bans chocolate milk products from Japan after the March 11 earthquake, although it was just a verbal order issued by Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) Director Efren Nuestro. Philippines joins other countries like Russia, Canada, Australia and Singapore, among the list of countries which banned Japanese food imports as radioactive steam wafted [...]

To meet the local coffee demand of 64,000 metric tons (MT), a Coffee Fund to finance production is being set up by the Land Bank of the Philippines and (LBP) and coffee grower Corporate Holdings Management Inc. (CHMI).
President Noel S. Gonzales of CHMI said, “Any business will not survive without funding from banks. We can’t [...]

Figaro Coffee Co., a 100-percent Filipino-owned company established in 1993 whose product lines include specialty roasted local coffee varieties and various coffee-related paraphernalia. Currently, the largest Filipino-owned coffee company, with 65 coffee shop outlets nationwide, 35 of which are franchise-owned, and 30 are company-owned.
For 2010, the company plans to increase its 65 outlets by 18 [...]

A healthier cupcake makes for a great alternative ‘baon’ is the product of the research project by a group of people from the Southern Philippines Agribusiness and Marine and Aquatic School of Technology (SPAMAST) in Digos City, Davao del Norte.
The cupcake made from seaweed and durian, which is just in time for the school opening, [...]

The Philippine government received offers from five companies to import sugar at a state auction held recently to complete the below 45,100 tons volume it required. The offers submitted totaled to about 33,400 tons, however the government may only award up to 22,400 tons for sugar imports from the auction due to the restrictions related [...]

The losses in the agricultural sector brought about by the El Niño have already reached P9.58 billion as of the end of March. Report shows 12 regions are experiencing dry spell conditions which affect production of rice, corn, fruits, flowers, high-value commercial crops and livestock.
But in spite of this, the government continues to downplay the [...]

The plight of the coffee growers in the Philippines is the main focus of the continuing project of Nestle Philippines, Inc.  in support of the coffee industry in the country. The company is extending its assistance to coffee farmers, particularly in the provinces of Aurora, Bohol and Mindoro, with the cooperation of the Department of [...]

To allow our farmers more access to bank credit, to further address their financing needs, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has further eased its documentary requirements and its application procedures. This would allow banks to provide micro-agri loans to farmers.
The micro-agri loans which amount to less P150,000 would be exempted from the requirement of [...]

Last September 28 and 29, Nestlé Philippines conducted a seminar at the Nestlé Experimental and Demonstration Farm (NEDF) in Tagum, Davao del Sur. Nestlé, who is the manufacturer of the coffee branch Nescafé, held the seminar as a part of the ongoing memorandum of agreement between the company and the Department of Agriculture (DA) which [...]

To help entrepreneurs, especially those who were affected by the recent typhoons, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said that they will be staging the trade fair called Impakabsat.
A yearly regional trade fair of the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), Impakabsat features products from Ifugao, Mountain Province, Abra, Kalinga, Apayao, Benguet and Baguio, where the [...]

There is a big demand for the macapuno or the “mutant nut” in the Philippines as well as in other countries. This offers a big opportunity for Filipino entrepreneurs as they can venture into the business of producing planting or the nut itself.
The Philippine Coconut Authority Albay Research Center scientists were able to develop the [...]

A protest caravan from Quezon City to Tarlac was held last Monday by militant groups to commemorate the 5th year anniversary of the Hacienda Luisita massacre. Vehicles of the protesters, who number almost a hundred, assembled at the Quezon City Memorial Circle Monday morning and went to the Central Azucarera de Tarlac (CAT), the site [...]

The Philippines is getting more investments from other countries. This time, Thailand’s Charoen Pokphand Foods Public Co. Limited is investing an additional $40 million in the Philippines for the expansion of an integrated feed and prawn hatchery and grow-out farms in Luzon.
Charoen Pokphand is Thailand’s leading agro-industrial and food conglomerate.

Two dairy organizations have joined forces to consolidate the efforts of their offices towards increasing dairy production nationwide. The Philippine Fruit and Vegetable Industries Inc. (PhilFruits), represented by its president Solomon D. Badoy, and Dairy Confederation of the Philippines (DairyCon), represented by national chairman Danilo V. Fausto, have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for [...]

Prices of milkfish (bangus) dropped to P30 a kilo from a previous P90 per kilo when floods triggered by Pepeng’s strong rains washed out Pangasinan’s fishponds and cages.
Fishpond owners, who were trapped on the roofs of their houses because of the 20-foot-high floodwaters, can only watched helplessly while their neighbors swam and scooped up the [...]

As an assistance for our countrymen who were affected by tropical storm Ondoy and typhoon Pepeng, the Rural Bankers’ Association of the Philippines (RBAP) is pushing its member-banks to ease the terms of the agricultural loans extended to farmers in affected areas.

The 2009 National Livelihood Trade Fair was recently held at the SM Megamall in Mandaluyong City under the auspices of the Philippine Chamber of Handicrafts, Inc. and the Congressional Spouses Foundation, Inc.

On Saturday, October 3, 2009, there would be a whole day seminar on mushroom production to be given by Teddy Laurie, an expert in producing spawns as well as growing the crop. He will conduct the seminar right at the AANI Urban Farm at Kingsville Court, Antipolo City where he has put a facility to [...]

Coffee farming industry in the Philippines is getting a big boost as Figaro Coffee Systems Inc., a Filipino-owned coffee chain, is encouraging the revival of coffee farming in the country’s mountain areas. Figaro Coffee said that more players in the coffee industry are now sourcing their coffee bean supply requirement from local coffee growers, many [...]