A man walks in an empty Ein al-Fejeh spring basin, in Damascus countryside, Syria, May 12, 2025. Photo: Reuters/Yamam Alshaar

Barren fields, dry wells: after war, drought ravages Syrian farms

Digging wells adds costs as harvests fail; many farmers have heavy debts, want assistance

Syrian farmers hoped for some reprieve after Islamist rebels ended Assad' 24 years of autocratic rule in December, but a devastating drought and continued water theft mean their crops are still dying, their pears and plums withering on the branch.

A Panama-flagged bulk carrier, Ikaria Angel, leaves Ukraine’s port of Chornomorsk with wheat for Ethiopia on Sept. 17, 2022. (File photo: Reuters/Serhii Smolientsev)

Ukraine to set up mechanism to supply food to Syria, Zelenskiy says

Leader of Russia's Chechnya says he is ready to ensure wheat supplies to Syria if necessary

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday he had instructed his government to set up supply mechanisms to deliver together with international organizations and partners food to Syria in the aftermath of the fall of President Bashar al-Assad.



File photo of a small boat flying the Lebanese flag at a marina in Tripoli as a cargo vessel sails in the distance. (Joel Carillet/iStock/Getty Images)

Ukraine asks Lebanon to bar Syrian ship carrying ‘stolen’ corn

Corn taken from multiple storage units, Ukraine alleges

Beirut | Reuters — Ukrainian officials on Thursday asked Lebanon to bar a Syrian state-owned cargo ship carrying allegedly stolen Ukrainian grain from docking in Lebanon’s Tripoli port, according to the Ukrainian embassy and a diplomatic note seen by Reuters. The Ukrainian mission said in comments to Reuters that the Finikia was transporting 6,000 metric


An ammonia and nitrogen fertilizer plant in Russia. (Saoirse_2010/iStock/Getty Images)

Russia, U.S. bicker at UN over donating fertilizer to Syria

U.S. calls for Russia to distribute via UN

United Nations | Reuters — Russia and the United States bickered on Tuesday over whether Russian fertilizer could be donated to Syria as Moscow heightens complaints about obstacles to its fertilizer shipments before the renewal of a deal allowing Ukraine Black Sea grain exports. Some 260,000 tonnes of Russian fertilizer has been stuck in several

Humanitarian aid provided by Palestinian Arabs is distributed at northwestern Syria’s Deir Ballut and Muhammadiyah camps near the Turkish border on Feb. 13, 2022. (Photo: Rami Alsayed/NurPhoto via Reuters)

Pulse weekly outlook: Earthquake to have little effect on pulse markets

Such disasters don't often blow back on agrifood commodity costs

MarketsFarm — The earthquake that devastated parts of Turkey and Syria on Monday last week, taking the lives of more than 40,000 people, may not have a major effect on pulse markets, according to one analyst. Jon Driedger from Leftfield Commodity Research in Winnipeg said that while natural disasters like an earthquake can take on


Poor Syrian wheat outlook adds to food worries 

Poor Syrian wheat outlook adds to food worries 

Reuters – Between poor rainfall, fuel shortages and soaring fertilizer prices, it’s been a bad year for wheat farmers in northeastern Syria.  The northeast is vital to Syria’s grain production, but the Kurdish-led authorities that control the area do not expect this year’s harvest to meet the needs of their region, let alone allow for




(Scott Bauer photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

U.S. grains: Soybeans rebound from 10-year low

Chicago | Reuters — U.S. soybean futures rose roughly two per cent on Wednesday, rebounding a day after the most active contract fell to a 10-year low as the harvest of a likely record-large U.S. crop got under way, analysts said. U.S. wheat futures climbed on technical buying and tightening global supplies, while corn futures