WorldWatch:

[mikey]

MRSA superbug widespread in pigs
// 06 jun 2008

The antibiotic-resistant staph bacteria known as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is widespread among both pigs and pig farmers in Canada, Natural news has reported.


A study published in the journal "Veterinary Microbiology," suggests that the livestock industry is a possible source of the disease.

Tests
Researchers examined 258 pigs on 20 farms in Ontario, and also tested the workers on those farms. They found that 45 percent of farms, 25 percent of pigs and 20 percent of farmers were infected with MRSA, which is substantially higher than the rate of infection in the general North American population.

Among the MRSA strains found on the pig farms was one that has commonly infected humans in Canada and one that has been associated with serious skin, breast and heart infections in Europe.

Antibiotic resistance
The study has added weight to claims that antibiotic use in livestock farming may have led to the development of antibiotic resistance in human diseases. Consumer health advocate Mike Adams said that commercial raising of livestock for food is fraught with the potential for microbiological disaster.

"When we raise pigs, cows, chickens or other animals in artificial, enclosed, indoor environments, we are practically begging to be threatened by out-of-control superbugs that breed in such conditions," Adams said.

[mikey]

Monday, June 09, 2008Print This Page
Conclusion of the U.N. World Food Security Summit
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Bob Stallman (President, American Farm Bureau Federation) speaks regarding the U.N. World Food Security Summit held at Rome.



In a statement, Mr Stallman said:

“The American Farm Bureau Federation recognizes the challenges that faced this week’s United Nations’ High Level Conference in Rome. Now, continuing efforts are necessary to move forward and implement effective solutions for global food insecurities. We appreciate the active and effective role of the U.S. delegation in constructing a declaration that will hopefully help guide the international community in hunger-relief efforts.

“The current food security issues affecting countries around the world require comprehensive and specific actions aimed at feeding the hungry and support for measures to develop and enhance food security for all nations. Investments in physical infrastructure, research, production technology and trade facilitation will help countries overcome food insecurity.

“Renewable fuel production is a component of U.S. agricultural and energy policy and constitutes an important growing sector of agriculture domestically and globally. We believe that food security and alternative fuel production are both achievable goals.

“All nations must work together to help solve the continuing challenge to increase agricultural production, while providing necessary food aid for a growing world population. This is a time to move forward with solutions, not backpedal with excuses.”

[mikey]

An Insatiable Global Hunger for Grain
GLOBAL - Wheat is by far the most traded grain as it is so adaptable to many uses, but production for the world market has so far been the privilege of a handful of countries.



But the economic growth of emerging nations, coupled with their urbanisation, has profoundly changed people’s eating habits. They are eating more, particularly meat. The Chinese, for example, consumed five times more meat in 2005 than in 1980. Three kilogrammes of grain are needed to produce 1kg of poultry; more than double that is needed for 1kg of beef. Feed and oil-producing grain are part of livestock’s daily diet.

With a growing world population and a better quality of life in emerging nations, the demand for grain is growing inexorably. International wheat exports tripled between 1960 and the beginning of the millennium. Egypt , which used to supply the wheat for ancient Rome , has become the product’s leading importer. Increased cheap imports during the times of plenty strangled local agriculture in the Mediterranean region and sub-Saharan Africa . The food bill for these countries has reached exorbitant levels.

In a report by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in June 2007, the economist Adam Prakash concluded that food imports will cost 90% more on average than in 2000 for the least advanced countries (3). The UN experts drove the point home a few months later. At a press conference in Dakar on 9 November 2007 , Henri Josserand, head of the Global Information and Early Warning Service at the FAO, calculated that the food bill for African nations had grown by a third, or even 50% for the most dependent among them, between 2006 and 2007.

3rd World Human Hunger
African populations are suffering the consequences of rising grain prices, and there have been hunger riots and demonstrations against the cost of bread. Meanwhile, grain is breaking all records on the American markets.

Food security is once again causing concern, even in industrialised nations. Observers such as Jean Ziegler (until recently UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food) raise the spectre of famine in west Africa. Even in the United Kingdom , where agriculture was long ago sacrificed in favour of industrial revolution (1), the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) raised concerns about the dangers facing food security in a study published in December 2006 (2).

Just over a year later there is real anger on the streets about the high cost of living – in the UK but also, and especially, in the South where people depend on imports to feed themselves but with incomes that are unimaginable for the British. Prices (milk, oil, rice and wheat) have exploded and the surge has been most spectacular on the grain markets.

Prices doubled during the summer of 2007 when farmers in the North were harvesting. The price of wheat rose from $200 to $400 per ton between May and September at the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, the benchmark for the international grain trade. The same occurred in Paris where milling wheat peaked at €300 ($477) per ton at the beginning of September. Prices rose again in mid-March when the United States had almost exhausted its export capabilities. One bushel (27kg) passed the symbolic $13 mark – a record. In one year the price of wheat increased by 130% on the American futures market. Millers and manufacturers of pasta and livestock feed in developed countries were taken by surprise and protested loudly.

But for several years there has been a noticeable difference between supply and demand. The final reserves (what is left in the silos of producer countries before the start of the harvest) have been shrinking while demand has been growing. The market is no longer regulated by the growth of supply but by the use of the accumulated reserves of the large exporter countries.

In 2007 this precarious balance collapsed for two reasons: increased demand generated by the boom in biofuels, and poor harvests due to the vagaries of the weather. These two phenomena came to a head as tension grew, caused by the growing demand of emerging nations such as China .

Biofuels absorb 10% of world corn production, but this is only partially responsible for the spectacular surge in grain prices because US companies, its main manufacturers, increased their corn production to meet this new demand. However, according to the Washington-based International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), the ethanol industry could increase the price of corn by at least a quarter, and possibly by as much as 72%, by 2020 (see “Ethanol: the new anti-depressant”).

Weather played a crucial role in 2007. Drought in Australia , lack of sun and too much rain in Europe , frost in Argentina ; all weakened production. No one is talking about a shortage at this point but, in the trading rooms where sales and purchasing decisions are based mainly on final reserves, such a substantial drop encouraged a surge in prices throughout the season.

First to benefit
The large exporter nations are the first to benefit from the situation. The leader of the pack, the US , registered record agricultural export revenue in 2007 – $85bn. According to estimates from the United States Department of Agriculture, the 2008 harvest looks even more promising. In France grain farmers have doubled their income. The large trading companies are also, discreetly, recording astronomical results.

Anger is brewing at the other end of the chain in the developing countries which are net importers. Riots have broken out in Mexico , Senegal , Morocco and Mauritania . Local agriculture cannot cover the population’s needs in these countries.

The increased cost of groceries may be bearable in developed economies where food represents only 14% of household expenses, but it becomes unmanageable in sub-Saharan African nations where 60% of income is taken up by food.

In the face of such food inflation, emerging nations which have traditionally been exporters have raised barriers to keep local prices at an affordable level. Argentina (4) and Russia have imposed taxes on exports as well as restricting the amount distributed. When these measures are reflected on the world market, the tension is pushed up a notch.

The most exposed countries, the net importers, have resorted to subsidies when their finances allow it. In Morocco last September the rise in bread prices set by the bakers union provoked violent demonstrations in several towns. Fearing that the anger in the streets would lead to riots, the government preferred to cancel the increase and suspend several taxes on importing wheat to support the millers. The Tunisian government even asked bakers to reduce the weight of bread to avoid increasing the price.

’Food aid vanishes’
According to the agronomist Marc Dufumier, an expert on comparative agriculture, famine can be triggered by the most insignificant climatic incident and will be even more difficult to deal with at a time when world food aid reserves are becoming dangerously low.

“Food aid vanishes when the price of wheat rises,” he says. “Countries in the northern hemisphere are generous when they have a surplus. Aid reduces reserves and contributes to supporting prices at home. But as soon as prices take off, they sell to anyone who has a solvent demand.”

Figures published by the International Grains Council (5) confirm this. During 2005-06 8.3m tons of grain were exported as food aid; only 7.4m tons were exported in 2006/2007. Aid is expected to fall to 6m tons for the season which is now coming to an end.

The hunger riots show no signs of burning themselves out. While supply does not satisfy demand, prices will continue to rise. To reverse this trend, governments could ask their populations to eat less couscous, bread and particularly meat, but this suggestion is hardly likely to be favourably received in countries where food standards are just starting to improve – not to mention those who have not even seen such improvement thus far.

In China , for example, the health minister is encouraging women to consume dairy products to absorb more calcium. Milk requires livestock, and grain to feed them. Demand will almost certainly grow in the years to come.

Investors seduced
There is the speculative trend too. In the autumn of 2007 Financeagri, a French firm specialising in raw agricultural materials, encouraged its subsidiaries in an email to “play a part in the volatility of agricultural markets. Don’t just be a spectator. Find out more.” Their commercial offer illustrates the current revolution taking place on the agricultural futures markets. Initially created to cover the risk of price variation, they have become a hunting ground for all kinds of speculators, be they regular (investors and negotiators) or occasional (farmers). The arrival of regular investors has had a sharp effect on listings by feeding price volatility.

Agricultural indexes, which reflect the current evolution, are popular with investment funds. According to Barcap (a Barclays subsidiary specialising in investment), between the end of the first and fourth quarters of 2007 – when the grain markets really took off – the volume of capital managed by listed investment funds (ETFs in finance jargon) on European agricultural products grew fivefold from $156m to $911m (6). The same source has indicated that the amount of capital placed on the American agricultural markets jumped even further, increasing sevenfold between the first and last quarters of 2007.

The convergence of the prices for energy products and grain for the biofuels industry has also seduced investors. An increasingly voracious (and carnivorous) population, and undervalued agricultural products compared to other raw materials, could create a long-term surge in agricultural products. The metal and energy markets have been bubbling away nicely for five years. Now it’s the turn of agricultural products.

In such a euphoric atmosphere producers are also seeking to maximise profits. According to an analyst with a large trading company, “high prices have strengthened the position of operators”. In France many contracts have not been honoured, particularly as regards the delivery of milling wheat and brewing barley. Producers believed that more profit could be generated from direct sales to manufacturers and have had to reimburse the injured cooperatives.

’Land is an investment in the future’
For Philippe Mangin, president of Coop de France, this attitude is entirely understandable. “Small farmers have never faced such volatility,” he says. “Prices have tripled in 15 months. It’s enough to make your head spin, especially after three lean years.”

However, he deplores this development. Faced with the concentration of industrial demand and the disengagement of the public sector, the solidarity of producers, underwritten by the cooperative movement, would be particularly helpful.

According to the International Grains Council’s assessments, farmers are starting to react. Wheat fields should increase by 4% in 2008, comparable to the progress observed the last time the grain market was so active in 1995-96.

But when all grains are taken together, few countries have the necessary technical means or, more importantly, the available land. “Land is an investment in the future,” maintains British investor Jim Slater. He made his fortune in the metal market and is now turning his attention to agriculture, focusing on investments in irrigation programmes.

Russia , particularly the vast steppes in East Siberia , and Ukraine , thanks to its famous black earth, could develop farming. But the continental climate makes this a risky enterprise as frost can cause returns to fall drastically from one year to the next. Argentina and Brazil , on the other hand, can convert pampas and forests into farmland.

According to Dufumier, “there are still unexpected productivity gains to be had”. Not in Europe , though, where the return per hectare is the highest in the world. The future of export agriculture is probably to be found in these new countries where production costs are low and returns still weak.

It will involve rolling out genetically modified organisms (GMOs) which are already omnipresent in Argentina , across the board – and will lead to a series of harmful consequences for the environment, such as deforestation in Brazil .

The countries most affected by the grain explosion will be saved by the renaissance of their own agricultural industry. Mali strengthened its own productivity and has therefore been relatively spared, thanks to investments made in rice cultivation in the Niger delta and the common sense of its cotton farmers.

Disappointed by the ever-lower prices offered by cotton companies for a kilo of seed cotton, they used the materials allocated for this crop for sorghum and corn seedbeds. In neighbouring Burkina Faso , soya fields have advantageously replaced the cotton trees.

Faced with a lack of generosity by the donor countries on which it depends, the World Food Programme is trying to support internal production by intensifying local purchases. In West Africa their share increased from 13% in 2005 to 30% in 2007.

The explosion in grain prices again raises the question of what role agriculture should play in development. It should be at the heart of Europe ’s Common Agricultural Policy and the Doha negotiations. The World Bank, which contributed to weakening agriculture in some countries by imposing economic liberalisation, has now put this sector at the heart of its efforts to fight poverty in its 2008 report on development.

[mikey]

Clearwater": An eco-friendly feed barley
// 06 jun 2008

A new barley that benefits the environment as well as farm animals has been developed by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists and their colleagues.


"Clearwater" hulless barley is rich in the kinds of phosphorus--an essential nutrient--that pigs, fish and other single-stomached, or "monogastric," animals can use. That's unlike grain from conventional barleys, which contains more of the phytate type of phosphorus, the kind that monogastric animals find difficult to digest. Indigestible phosphorus, leached from manure, can sometimes end up polluting groundwater or streams.

Clearwater builds upon decades of research by plant geneticists Victor Raboy, Phil Bregitzer and others at the ARS Small Grains and Potato Germplasm Research Unit at Aberdeen, Idaho.

Raboy uses conventional plant-breeding procedures to chemically tweak seeds' phosphorus makeup. The work has paved the way for low-phytate barleys, such as Clearwater and a hulled type called "Herald," as well as low-phytate rice, corn and soybeans.

Bregitzer, Raboy and ARS plant geneticist Don Obert collaborated in the Clearwater research with Idaho Agricultural Experiment Station co-researchers Juliet Windes and James Whitmore. A recent article in the Journal of Plant Registrations contains more details.

Clearwater yields are about the same as those of other niche-market barleys, according to Bregitzer. One such market--aquaculture feeds--is already being explored. Approximately 46,000 pounds of Clearwater were shipped to Vietnam earlier this year by the U.S. Grains Council of Washington, D.C., and the Idaho Barley Commission to test Clearwater as a feed ingredient for farm-raised fish. ARS researchers at Hagerman, Idaho, and Bozeman, Mont., will begin similar investigations with farm-raised rainbow trout this month.

The Idaho Agricultural Experiment Station's Foundation Seed Program at Kimberly has offered Clearwater seed for sale since late 2007. Researchers and plant breeders can contact Bregitzer to obtain, at no charge, small supplies of Clearwater or any of several other feed, food and malting barleys that have resulted from ARS and Experiment Station barley breeding research.

[mikey]

Thursday, June 26, 2008Print This Page
GM Food Benefits? Consumers Wont Swallow it
UK - Food industry leaders, alongside politicians, have begun to lobby for GM acceptance in Europe, which may help dying livestock industries thrive once more. However, there is a long way to go yet in changing consumer perceptions.



According to the Dairy Reporter, Peter Brabeck, chairman for Nestle, has called loudly for Europe to reassess its GM policy to help combat the dwindling food supplies and soaring commodity prices.

And he is not the only food industry big-wig to take this stance. Ian Ferguson, chairman for Tate & Lyle and president of the UK's Food and Drink Federation has long been a GM advocate, hoping to foster fair debate on the rapidly progressing technology.

Last week it was the turn of the politicians, reported the Dairy Reporter. UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Britain should step up its GM acceptance, encouraging the end to the zero tolerance on feed shipments, which currently sees entire batches containing traces of GM material sent back.

On a European level, opinion is divided among member states, leading to inconsistencies and slow approval processes. While some hail GM as the answer, current decisions on certain GM materials are not upheld by some countries.

Since the first approval of GM maize 10 years ago, there are still countries refusing to grow it, and it remains the only crop cultivated in Europe.

[mikey]

Thursday, June 26, 2008Print This Page
Report: Climate Changes, Farming Changes
AUSTRALIA - CSIRO today released a national overview of climate change impacts and adaptation options for Australian agriculture.



Bringing together the latest science from research groups around Australia, the report includes chapters on each of Australia’s major agricultural sectors, with a focus on steps that can be taken to adjust to the ongoing changes in our climate.

Speaking to the Farm Writers Association of NSW in Sydney today, co-editor of the report, CSIRO scientist Dr Mark Howden, said it was time for agriculture to start focussing on proactive solutions.

“Adapting to climate change will involve everything from changes in crop varieties, through to improved seasonal forecasting, up to revised national policies and programs,” he said.

“For many agricultural businesses incremental changes may be enough, but some regions and industries will need to be open to more transformative changes.”


The report uses agro-climatic zones to identify the different types of impacts and adaptation issues facing agriculture.
Graph courtesy of: Hutchinson & McIntyre 2005
Prepared for Land and Water Australia (LWA) the report - ‘An overview of climate change adaptation in the Australian agricultural sector – impacts, options and priorities’ - updates and expands the previous national synthesis done by CSIRO in 2003.

“We’ve applied the latest climate change projections to build a picture of the challenges that will affect all types of agriculture in all corners of the nation,” Dr Howden said.

The report also emphasises the importance of building adaptive capacity among farm managers, agri-businesses and industry groups.

“The past climate is no longer a good guide to the future climate, so having the skills and resources to respond flexibly will be essential,” Dr Howden said.

The report is being released as part of a series of talks being presented by the Australian Council of Agricultural Journalists and CSIRO’s Climate Adaptation Flagship in Brisbane, Sydney, Adelaide and Perth today and tomorrow, with support from the Agricultural Research WA, Climate Adaptation Program.

[mikey]

Thursday, June 26, 2008Print This Page
Vicious Cycle of High Prices and Global Food Shortage
GLOBE - Soaring food prices could reverse the significant growth in agricultural production recorded by some of the poorest countries in Europe and Central Asia over the past 10 years, said FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf today at the opening of the 26th FAO Regional Conference for Europe.

 

Moreover, government response to higher prices has not always been supportive of the farm investment needed to raise production and productivity, favouring instead measures such as export restrictions, which have resulted in cancelled export contracts and lower prices received by farmers, he noted.

Positive trends
“As in most parts of the world affected by food insecurity, hunger in Europe and Central Asia derives from rural poverty and from natural and man-made disasters, rather than from a total lack of food at macroeconomic level,” Dr Diouf said.

“In the past ten years, some of the poorest countries have posted the largest gains in per capita national income, notably the countries of the Transcaucasus and Central Asia, while growth has been slower in the countries of Western and Eastern Europe,” he said, noting that per capita agricultural production had also grown fastest in those countries.

But this positive ten-year trend might be coming to a halt without bold policy steps to contain price increases, he said, echoing the conclusions of a conference organized in March 2008 by FAO and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

Untapped potential


Supportive policies and investment in infrastructure could boost production significantly.
Photo: CSIRO“There is strong agricultural potential in Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine,” the FAO Director-General said. “With a supportive policy environment and investment in infrastructure, at least 13 million hectares could be returned to production, without major cost to the environment.

”He noted that crop yields in those three countries are three times lower than in Central, Eastern and Western Europe, where modern inputs are employed and contract farming is used to reduce market risks.

“The Commonwealth of Independent States and the countries of Southeast Europe are far more rural and agricultural than those of Western Europe,” Dr Diouf said. ”Yet agriculture remains vulnerable and provides relatively low income because of insufficient crop yields.

”He said that FAO's main concern in this region is rural poverty which, in some countries and especially in Central Asia, is accompanied by food insecurity, despite the fact that there is no lack of qualified specialists in technical fields such as veterinary medicine, fisheries, forestry and agronomy in these countries.

“What is lacking for agricultural and rural growth are development policies that favour commercial agriculture and institutions of governance and support for the development of family farms and the private sector,” he said.

“New EU member countries have succeeded to reduce rural poverty, ensure sustainable agricultural growth and to become high-income countries by adapting their policies and institutions,” Dr Diouf said. “Those countries have invaluable information and expertise to facilitate the process of agricultural transition.

”Dr Diouf highlighted FAO’s efforts to raise awareness among policy-makers and the public about actions needed to address these issues, including FAO’s Initiative on Soaring Food Prices, and stressed that FAO was ready to provide its assistance in a number of areas to ensure food security for all.

Other constraints
Other constraints to agricultural production and food security in the region over the past two years have been pests, diseases and emergencies, the Director-General said.

He highlighted FAO projects to supply pesticides and regional consultations to address the transboundary migration of locusts and diseases, such as avian influenza, foot-and-mouth disease and African swine fever, which have affected the countries of the Transcaucasus.

In response to emergencies in the Russian Federation, Tajikistan and Moldova, FAO has helped poor rural households rebuild their livelihoods through livestock and with high-value agricultural products and has provided seed and animal feed to poor farmers affected by snowfall and drought.

Participants at the two-day conference, which include representatives of 44 Member Nations from the region, will discuss these activities, as well as progress in attaining the World Food Summit and Millennium Development Goals. Other items on the agenda are FAO and adaptation to climate change in the region, and the promotion of traditional regional agricultural products and food.

[mikey]

Thanksgiving turkey becomes expensive
// 26 jun 2008

Thanksgiving turkeys and Christmas hams could become extremely expensive this year now floods have destroyed an estimated 2 million or more acres (800,000 ha) of corn and soybean fields in Iowa, Indiana, Illinois and other key growing states, sending world grain prices skyhigh on fears of a substantially smaller corn crop.


"We're in survival mode now," said Paul Hill, chairman of West Liberty Foods, a turkey processor based in West Liberty, Iowa. He estimated US turkey producers will reduce their flocks by 10 to 15% nationwide, a cutback that will send consumer prices dramatically higher.

Due to the high feed prices pig farmers have to cut back on the number of animals that they raise. "The cost of Thanksgiving and Christmas turkeys will go up this year, and maybe even more next year," said Hill, who is also the chairman of the National Turkey Federation.

If corn were to rise to $10 a bushel, Richard Lobb, spokesman for the National Chicken Council, said recouping costs through higher retail prices may not be possible. 

"Can you possibly charge enough for the chicken to recoup that investment?" he said. "That's a question no one can answer yet because it's never been done." Rod Brenneman, president and chief executive of Seaboard Foods, a pork supplier in Sawnee Mission, Kansas, that produces 4 million pigs a year, said this will cause meat prices to rise later this year and into 2009.

Pig feed costs up $30
Brenneman's cost for feeding a single pig has shot up $30 in the past year because of record-high prices for corn and soybeans, the main ingredients in US pig diets. Passing that increase on to consumers would tack an extra 33 cents per kg onto a pork chop. In the beef sector it is the same story. US beef producers now spend 60-70% of their production costs on animal feed and are seeing that number rise daily as corn prices hover near an unprecedented $8 a bushel, up from about $4 a year ago.

Before the floods, corn farmers were enjoying record profits selling the grain to feed animals and for use in cereals and as a sweetener in soda and candy. But a sharply smaller corn crop could wipe out those gains.

In Iowa, the No. 1 US corn grower, floods inundated about 9% of corn crops, representing about 1.2 million acres (485,000 ha)  — almost 1.5% of the country's anticipated harvest. In Indiana, another 9% of corn and soybean crops were flooded, potentially costing farmers up to $840 million in lost earnings, according to Indiana Agriculture.

Floodwaters also tossed farm equipment, sprayed cornfields with debris and silt and sucked away large chunks of topsoil. For livestock owners and meat producers, the damage may be felt long after the corn grows back.

Dairy prices will rise
Higher feed prices will eventually filter through to the cost of dairy products too, since 65 to 75% of a dairy farmers' production costs are for feed.

With the cost of animal feed only going higher, many poultry and dairy farmers are starting to look for cheaper alternatives. Farmers buy some of the byproducts of cereal or flour production, but they're not nearly as productive compared to corn.

[mikey]

By Felicito C. Payumo
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 06:58pm (Mla time) 06/29/2008

DURING the last 50 years, thanks to research and advances in
technology, farmers and ranchers were able to increase the world
food supply faster than the growth of human population.

But in the next 50 years, Norman E. Borlaug, an agricultural
scientist and Nobel Peace Prize awardee, believes that future gains
in food production will be harder to come by than in the past.

Many of the cultivated lands, such as those in western countries,
are already producing close to their theoretical potential. Global
consumers are likely to require double the level of today's
agricultural production--from 5.5 billion to 11 billion gross metric
tons. And we will continue to rely on irrigated lands to contribute
a disproportionate share of world food supplies.

Zoom in on the Philippines, now referred to by some analysts as
ground zero of the global food crisis.

The country is, no doubt, in a worse fix. Domestic rice production
has been 12 percent below domestic consumption over the last 6
years, with importation at 1.2 million metric tons a year.

But this year, we are importing 2.1 million tons. The last time we
were self-sufficient was in 1971 under the Masagana 99 program. Our
farmers do not get price support--the National Food Authority (NFA)
could only buy less than 1 percent of production in the last few
years compared with 5 percent absorption rate in the 1980s and 10
percent in the 1970s. So the farmers are forced to sell to their
creditors who haul their produce straight from the field at very
disadvantageous prices. As for input subsidies to farmers ... well,
the Joc Joc Bolante tale tells the whole story.

The future is even bleaker. Not only is our population increasing,
per capita consumption of our 87 million people has been growing at
2.6 percent a year. And the price of imported rice at $1,100 per ton
is up three-fold since a year ago.

Since rice is thinly traded--only 27.5 million tons or 6.4 percent
was traded--a reduction in exports by the supplier countries to
assure supply to their citizens can lead to further spike in prices.
And certainly, their decision to form an Organization of Rice
Exporting Countries (Orec) does not bode well for us.

What to do?
It is time we abandon our dependence on trade over production for
self-sufficiency. I am afraid that a UNDP report that there would be
an uptick in production in the rice paddies of Asia next year might
lull us back to complacency.

Occasional blips do not alter a trend. Unless some big
technological, political and social breakthroughs happen, the future
shall be a mere extrapolation of the stark realities of the present.
The course of history, while not always linear, needs a radical
alteration to change its trajectory.

Irrigation: A vital need
Everyone knows our farmers have many needs--from access to credit to
input subsidies, post-harvest facilities, etc. But the most vital
has been the most neglected: Irrigation facilities. Borlaug states
that we would have to depend mainly on irrigated lands.

Former Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Escudero agrees, as he decries
the unfair comparison of Filipino farmers' abilities with their
Asian counterparts. Our farmers are just as productive, but are
lacking in government support, particularly in irrigation facilities
(Thailand, on the other hand, has a much larger area of irrigated
lands).

Hybrid seeds and fertilizer are ineffectual without proper
irrigation. Therefore, the need to rehabilitate non-functioning
systems and adding more irrigated areas is a no-brainer.

Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap conceded to Senator Mar Roxas that
we need an additional 3 million tons to feed ourselves, but has to
count on 2.5 million hectares of land, including rain-fed areas that
give less than optimal yield.

I recall having co-authored a law (Republic Act No. 6978) that
mandated the National Irrigation Administration to undertake a 10-
year program to construct irrigation facilities in the remaining
1,500,000 hectares of unirrigated lands.

It was approved on Jan. 24, 1991, during the 8th Congress. That
means we should have irrigated these lands in 2001 if the government
had done its job. But some figures show that only 43 percent of
lands have functioning irrigation systems, with the balance either
completely unirrigated or with systems that are silted or in various
state of disrepair.

I can attest to this. The silted Tangilad River irrigation project
in Samal, Bataan, built at a cost of P100 million, has not been able
to irrigate its entire service area. Despite complaints from
farmers, the NIA has not done anything about it.

But what about the areas that cannot be irrigated, mainly those in
the uplands, those that depend solely on precipitation because they
are outside the service area or lie on elevation higher than
existing creek and river impounding systems?

Going by Yap's statement, we have at least an additional 1 to 2
million hectares of lands that cannot be irrigated. Shall we just
let talahib or cogon grass cover them?

Shovelling for their supper
I thought we could learn from the villagers of Ajit Pura in the arid
state of Rajasthan, India. The Economist published an account "of 42
women and men scraping earth into panniers, and hoisting them to
their heads, walk the contents up to a low embankment rising on the
edge of the work-site."

It is designed to slow run-off of monsoon flood-water, encouraging
more of the precious liquid to infiltrate Ajit Pura's dusty soil.
This helps irrigate a few peasant plots for a year or two, before
the embankment is washed away.

They call them micro-water catchments. We call them small water
impounding systems.

The program to build them under India's National Rural Employment
Guarantee (NREG) scheme provides 100 days of work to poor Indian
folk who are deemed to be self-selecting because only the genuinely
needy would agree to work under the sun for an equivalent of $1.50 a
day.

Should we not do the same by dotting our countryside with such
catchments or small water impounding projects (SWIP) using, mainly,
manual labor? After all, the precursor of India's NREG was the
Emergency Employment Administration (EEA) of President Diosdado
Macapagal.

We don't have the Mekongs, the Yangtzes, the Niles or the Ganges
that meander across continents over thousands of miles, irrigating
and fertilizing alluvial plains and deltas. Being an archipelago,
monsoon rains that pour on our island mountaintops cascade down
within hours through the plains and reach the sea.

But we can build hundreds of thousands of SWIPs, small catchments
that can reduce the volume and force of runoffs as they hold and
store water for irrigation during the dry season.

The other beneficial effects are manifold: As the aquifer is
replenished, ground water table rises; erosion and siltation are
minimized; flooding is controlled; and trees are easily propagated
when planted along embankments. The increase in farm income may
double after two years.

But the more lasting benefit is institutional strengthening, as the
community learn improved fertility and soil management.

We have few SWIPs in the Philippines, such as the project in
Talugtog, Nueva Ecija, prominently mentioned in Google. The
challenge is in replicating it into hundreds of thousands of SWIPs
distributed among 40,000 rural barangays to irrigate our otherwise
unirrigable lands.

At a minimum of three SWIPs per barangay, we would have 120,000
projects employing manual labor in the countryside. Since the
projects can be inspected for proper completion, ghost workers would
be prevented.

This beats the dole-outs that the government is doing; since money
is given away free, no one knows how much gets stuck in the hands of
the giver.

If the government has money to throw away at the rate of P500 per
poor family, plus P300 per child (up to a maximum of three) or
P1,400 to 300,000 up to 3 million poor households, or to distribute
food coupons to the poorest families in urban villages which the
DSWD is still finding hard to locate, why not make them shovel and
earn for their supper? That is teaching them how to fish!

[mikey]

New product to prevent Salmonella
// 02 jul 2008

The Institute for Food and Agricultural Research and Technology (IRTA), in collaboration with the company Industrial Técnica Pecuaria, S.A. (ITPSA) developed an innovative product for the prevention of Salmonella. The product – Salmosan – can be added directly to the feed.


The product helps reducing the incidence of Salmonella in animals, which translates into an improvement of food safety for the products obtained from them (meats, eggs and milk) and, in short, in a reduction of Salmonellosis incidence in people.

[mikey]

China may not have enough grain
// 03 jul 2008

China faces serious challenges in ensuring it will have enough grain to feed its population in the decades to come, according to Premier Wen Jiabao.


Industrialisation, urbanisation and a growing population are boosting grain demand while "shrinking arable land, water shortage and climate change is an increasing constraint on output," Wen told a cabinet meeting.

"The long-term demand and supply will be balanced but tight and ensuring grain security faces serious challenges," he said.

The meeting approved a mid- and long-term grain security plan that aims to keep the nation's annual grain output above 500 million tonnes by 2010 and increase production to more than 540 million tonnes a year by 2020.

[mikey]

Aussie dairy cows switch to grain diets
// 03 jul 2008

A quarter of the dairy cows in Australia are fed on grain diets - and it's not just due to the drought.

 
Once dairy farmers fed grain to cows to get through dry times, but increasingly the change in diet is to boost milk supply and protein content.

Steve Little, from Dairy Australia, says just four per cent of dairy farmers rely solely on grass anymore. "Tasmania has the lowest level of grain feeding, they're at about 1.2 tonnes per cow per year and the highest regions are South Australia, northern New South Wales, south-east Queensland and other areas in New South Wales."

[mikey]

Animal Feed & Animal Nutrition News Grazing US cattle year-round pays off
// 04 jul 2008

The good ol' days are coming back to the Northern Plains, USA with new twists based on recent research findings by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists.

 
ARS researchers in Mandan, N.D., have shown that a newly designed program of "swath grazing" allows cattle to, once again, graze year-round, even in the middle of a North Dakota winter. The concept involves pushing harvested crop leftovers into row piles up to 16 inches high, to keep them within reach of cows in winter.

Winter grazing, from mid-November through mid-March in North Dakota, can save farmers as much as 24 cents per cow per day, compared to the costs of baling hay for winter corral feeding. With a herd of 200 cows, that would save a farmer more than $4,000 in feed costs a year.

Soil scientist Don Tanaka and colleagues at the ARS Northern Great Plains Research Laboratory in Mandan calculated those savings based on data from a four-year research project. In each year of the study, the scientists monitored 20 pregnant Hereford beef cows due to give birth in March. The nutritional needs of pregnant cows increases as pregnancy advances. This makes the winter feeding of late-pregnant cows one of the most expensive times in beef cattle production.

The researchers compared weight gains from swath-grazing cows on the residue of annual crops--oats/peas, triticale/sweet clover and corn--to gains with perennial western wheatgrass, and with bales of hay fed in winter corrals. Another benefit of swath grazing: The cows in this system also distributed their manure evenly over the landscape, eliminating the chore of removing manure from corrals. The manure also provides fertilizer for crops and improves the soil. Integrating crops and livestock benefits both enterprises.

[mikey]

Animal Feed & Animal Nutrition News More Thai corn sales after India export ban
// 10 jul 2008

The estimated rise in Thailand’s 2008-09 corn crop of 3.7 million tons, up from the proceeding year’s 3.6 million tons, is expected to double Thai corn exports on surging foreign demand, following India’s recent corn export ban through October 15th.

 
The Indian ban has pushed Thai export corn prices to $350 per ton, up from $280 in late June and would probably rise further if demand continues to outpace supply, as exporters compete with feed producers to buy corn, primarily for the main buyers in Malaysia, Vietnam and Indonesia.

Thailand’s feed producers have requested permission from the Commerce Ministry to raise their selling price by 20% to help offset the higher cost of corn which should remain high for the rest of the year.

Urgent review of farmland size
Skyrocketing food prices, drastic changes in the use of farmland and increasing fears of foreign invasion into the farm sector, has prompted the Thai authorities to determine the exact size of Thailand’s farming area, - around 130-131 million rai, - based on the statistics of the Office of Agricultural Economics (OAE) statistics.

Farmland over the years, says Apichart Jongskul, OAE secretary-general, has been threatened by rapid urbanization, and more recently by "foreign invasions" of farming areas and it is important at this time, he says, to consider possible measures; including tax schemes, more support for farm owners, such as better marketing strategies and product-price support to encourage them to keep their land.

[mikey]

Animal Feed & Animal Nutrition News Alleged price fixing at Cargill and Bunge
// 14 jul 2008

Cargill, the largest U.S. agriculture company, Bunge and grain traders in two countries were raided by European Union authorities in an antitrust investigation into alleged price-fixing.


European and Italian antitrust officials made surprise visits at Cargill offices in Italy, said Francis DeRosa, a spokesman for Cargill in Cobham, England.

The European Commission, the EU's antitrust regulator, carried out inspections in two countries, the agency said in a statement. "We have provided and will continue to provide full cooperation," DeRosa said last Thursday. Commodity prices have advanced for six consecutive years, with wheat, corn, rice and other foods reaching records this year. World food imports will cost a record $1.04 trillion this year, $215 billion more than last year, the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization has said.

Officials also inspected the Rome office of Bunge's Italian subsidiary, a spokesman, Stewart Lindsay, said in an e-mail. He said Bunge is committed to compliance with all European Union laws and will cooperate fully. Companies can be fined as much as 10 percent of annual sales for antitrust violations. Decisions may be appealed to European courts in Luxembourg.

"Surprise inspections are a preliminary step in investigations into suspected cartels," the commission said in the statement. The inspections were made at the premises of traders and distributors of products for human food and animal feed, it said. Archer Daniels Midland, the world's largest publicly traded grain processor, said in a statement Thursday that its offices were not raided.