US - An Iowa grain co-op said it was hit with a cyberattack that security researchers are linking to newly launched ransomware group BlackMatter, which the researchers said demanded $5.9 million to unlock the organization’s data. https://www.wsj.com/articles/iowa-grain-cooperative-hit-by-cyberattack-linked-to-ransomware-group-11632172945

Hungary - On the day of the first round of the opposition primaries, meant to choose one joint candidate for every electoral unit in next year’s election, the pre-election was halted early afternoon by the overload of the IT system that fed the voting, Organisers later cited a targeted cyber attack. https://www.euractiv.com/section/politics/short_news/hungarian-opposition-primaries-suspended-after-cyberattack/

Brazil's coffee crop is expected to drop 25.7% this year compared with the record 2020 season, when 63 million bags were produced https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/brazilian-coffee-crop-seen-25.7-lower-in-2021-conab-2021-09-21

Indian mills are holding off on signing new sugar export contracts for the upcoming season as a rally in domestic prices to a 4-year high widened the gap between local and global rates. "Mills are not signing export contracts, as they are getting far higher prices in the local market. https://www.reuters.com/world/india/indian-mills-hold-off-signing-new-sugar-export-deals-local-prices-jump-2021-09-20/

Britain is considering offering state loans to energy companies that take on customers from firms which go bust due to soaring wholesale natural gas prices https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uk-may-give-state-loans-energy-companies-after-gas-price-rise-2021-09-21/

Evergrande sold Chinese retail investors around $6 billion in risky wealth management products. At a meeting with angry investors demanding their money back, executives acknowledged the WMPs were likely too risky for many retail clients. "Many people . . . might be arrested for financial fraud if investors don't get paid off," an Evergrande executive told the FT. https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/evergrande-scrambled-to-sell-retail-investors-risky-wealth-management-products-amid-a-liquidity-crisis-and-fears-of-arrests-report-says/ar-AAOFrBh

Russia's Central Bank Governor, Elvira Nabiullina noted that international business is gradually switching to other currencies, while Russia has changed the structure of its National Wealth Fund to cut out the dollar, “taking into account not only economic, financial considerations but also geopolitical, including sanctions risks.” https://www.rt.com/russia/535133-nabiullina-dollar-role-will-decline/

The British government is racing to avert shortages of meat, poultry and packaged foods amid a crisis in the food processing industry triggered by soaring energy costs. https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/uk-hopes-restore-c02-supply-food-industry-days-80141608

“Ideally, a single plant would produce enough mRNA to vaccinate a single person,” adding the experiment is being done on spinach and lettuce with both “long-term goals of people growing it in their own gardens” and mass industrial production. https://www.visiontimes.com/2021/09/21/ucr-engineers-mrna-vaccines-lettuce-spinach.html?utm_medium=visiontimes&utm_source=telegram

TUVs can be created from any Smart Phone or Pre-Smart Mobile Phone, and then used for transfers, payments or other transactions worldwide between Members on the WM System. Their value can also be converted to and among any of the world’s Reserve Currencies. http://koreabizwire.com/globally-valid-multicurrency-cbdc-released-for-all-countries/199885

Ida disrupted grain and soybean shipments from the Gulf Coast, which accounts for about 60% of U.S. exports, at a time global crop supplies are tight and demand from China is strong. Now, the storm's ripple effects are hampering production and movement of some fertilizers and crop chemicals ahead of U.S. harvest. This is straining an agricultural and food supply chain already battered by trade and logistics delays during the pandemic. Rising input costs threaten the incomes of farmers who had banked on booming profits this year, as crop prices soared to the highest in nearly a decade, after years of stagnating around break-even levels. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/us-farmers-face-supply-shortages-higher-costs-after-hurricane-ida/ar-AAOHaGm

Green Energy is a small-sized energy retailer with 250,000 customers. Blas said the company folded Wednesday and is the sixth one to do so. There was no mention on which larger firm would acquire Green Energy's customer base. There's a growing risk that a bankruptcy wave of power providers is nearing as several small firms stopped accepting new customers Tuesday amid a worsening energy crisis. https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/uk-power-suppliers-halt-adding-new-customers-energy-crisis-worsens

UK -Oil company BP plans to restrict deliveries of petrol and diesel to its network of British service stations to ensure continuity of supply in the face of a driver shortage. https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/bp-to-restrict-uk-petrol-station-deliveries-due-to-driver-shortage-itv/ar-AAOJUDp

The port complex of Los Angeles and Long Beach, which moves 40 percent of containers in the US, currently has 62 cargo ships waiting to enter the port. The backup was brought on by a combination of it being peak shipping period and a pandemic-induced buying boom and labor shortage. The ports serve as the entry point for a third of imports to the US, and are the main import point for goods coming from China https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10021705/Massive-backlog-62-container-ships-LA-port-Americans-buying-strength.html

Beef, pork, and chicken in US cold storage warehouses have yet to recover from pandemic lows and could continue to support higher prices. New United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) data shows beef reserves dropped 7.7% from a year ago in August, poultry supplies fell 20%, and pork plunged 44% to their lowest levels since 2017, https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/us-meat-prices-remain-elevated-amid-depleted-reserves

Another European fertilizer producer, Borealis AG, is reducing output and more are expected to follow as surging natural gas prices squeeze profit margins in an industry already facing tight supply. Ammonia is used to make nitrogen fertilizers, and prices are spiking as manufacturers grapple with dramatically higher costs for their main feedstock. That means added pressure on farmers. https://www.bloombergquint.com/onweb/europe-s-fertilizer-crisis-spreads-as-another-firm-cuts-output

More than 81 countries are exploring CBDCs according to The Atlantic Council, a Washington-based think tank, tracks the progress of various CBDC projects throughout the world. At least 5 Caribbean nations have already launched a digital currency, and 14 others are in the pilot phase with the central bank of Bhutan announcing most recently that they will partner with the cryptocurrency Ripple (XRP). https://www.aol.com/finance/chinas-crypto-ban-puts-spotlight-110054513.html

UK - Turkey farmers are reporting a surge in orders as families scramble to save Christmas dinner amid fears of a poultry shortage. There have been unprecedented numbers of orders for turkey, with most high-end farms reporting soaring demand compared to this time last year. https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/turkey-farmers-see-250-25-surge-in-orders-amid-christmas-dinner-panic/ar-AAOQ10f?pfr=1

UK - A chilled food distributor used by Asda and Sainsbury's has gone bust threatening 400 jobs.. EVCL Chill, which delivers chilled food to the supermarket giants, has been put into administration amid a shortage of truck drivers. https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/asda-sainsburys-food-distributor-goes-25074478

Canada's two largest railways may run out of grain to move and face revenue challenges in the coming year as the domestic grain crop is expected to decrease 37 per cent due to drought conditions across the Prairies despite a slight improvement in August. https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/weather/canadian-railways-could-run-out-of-grain-to-transport-due-to-drought-analyst/ar-AAOMAMt

China once again warned of the impact of skyrocketing energy prices on fertilizer supplies and signaled concern that food security could be affected. The global fertilizer market is on a tear due to extreme weather, plant shutdowns and government sanctions, hitting farmers already buckling under the strain of rising costs and stoking fears that food inflation could worsen. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/china-warns-food-security-energy-035319350.html