World Agriculture

Developments, trade, data, and topics in world agriculture

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2014-07-14
Philippines plans to produce 60 million tons of rice in three years~~Agriculture eyes 60 million MT of unmilled rice in three years By Anna Leah G. Estrada | Jul. 10, 2014 at 12:01am The Agriculture Department said Wednesday it aims to produce close to 60 million metric tons of unmilled rice in the next three years as part of the agency's commitment to attain rice self-sufficiency. Agriculture Assistant Secretary for Field Operations and National Rice Program director Edilberto de Luna said the DA would target a production of 59.7 million metric tons from 2014 to 2016. De Luna said the DA should expand the area harvested for rice and increase the yield per hectare to achieve the goal. Rice production in the first quarter of 2014 stood at 4.3 million metric tons, up 3.28 from 4.17 million MT in the same period last year. The DA this year is looking at producing 19. 07 million MT of rice, with an average output of 3.95 metric ton per hectare. For 2015, DA will pursue 20.09 million MT of rice from 4.9 million hectares at a rate of 4.08 MT per hectare. The DA aims to produce 20.5 million from 4.9 million hectares in 2016 at 4.15 MT per hectare ,. De Luna said Region 3, the country's rice granary, would continue to be the leading rice- producing region. The country's rice stocks continued to drop last month as it fell by 0.3 percent year-on-year, the Philippine Statistics Authority said Wednesday. PSA in a recent report said the rice stocks inventory as of June 1 this year stood at 2.306 million metric tons from 2.313 million MT in the same period last year. http://manilastandardtoday.com/2014/07/10/agriculture-eyes-60-million-mt-of-unmilled-rice-in-three-years/
2014-07-14
Ensuring the survival of family farms~~Ensuring the survival of the family farm NSW Country Hour By Laurissa Smith In this International Year of Family Farming, the United Nations is trying to increase the awareness of agriculture and food security. So, how is the family farm expected to survive in a globally competitive market? Answers will vary, depending on who you ask, but southern New South Wales farmer Linda Chalmers, says it helps to have an open mind. She moved from Kerang in northern Victoria, across the border, to an irrigation property about 50 kilometres north of Barham with her husband Rod, more than 40 years ago. "I think one of the main things we have to keep trying to do is to be positive, to be enthusiastic and believe in what you're doing and just find ways you can keep growing as a business ." During the drought, the pair decided to diversify their country and purchase a property in north-west Victoria at Sea Lake. They also moved into Dorper sheep, a breed which could thrive on native pastures and bush country. Audio: A farmer, food security advocate and food marketer discuss the future of the family farm (ABC Rural) Linda Chalmers says her children have been a big support. "We did say that if they wanted to join us in our farming business, that we would like them to try something else first ." Nick Rose, national co-ordinator of the Food Sovereignty Alliance, says if family farms are to thrive, they need to be valued more by the various levels of government. He says last year the province of Ontario in Canada passed a local Food Act, investing $30 million over three years, to support local food systems and the US has followed in their footsteps. "The US Department of Agriculture allocated $78 million to support local food systems across the United States, in April this year. "So we see there, evidence of institutionalisation and government support for local food systems, which are making a real difference to the viability of family farms ." The Alliance along with the Victorian Farmers Markets Association and Food Bank Victoria has been campaigning for a local Food Act during the Victorian state election. With NSW heading to the polls next year, he hopes to continue the campaign. Topics: agricultural-marketing, agricultural-crops, women-in-agriculture, barham-2732
2014-07-02
IGC expects global rice production to be 0.4756 billion tonnesIGC expects global rice production to be 0.4756 billion tonnes 2014-07-02 09:27 | source: China Grain Network | the latest report released by the International Grains Council (IGC) shows that the global rice production in 2013/14 is expected to be 0.4756 billion tons, compared with the earlier forecast of 0.4753 billion tons and 0.4716 billion tons in the previous year. According to the IGC, the total global rice supply in 2013/14 is expected to be 0.5853 billion tons, compared with an earlier forecast of 0.5856 billion tons and 0.5784 billion tons in the previous year. Global rice exports are expected to be 39.7 million tons, compared with an earlier forecast of 39.2 million tons and 37.9 million tons the previous year. Global ending stocks of rice for 2013/14 are expected to be 0.1091 billion tons, compared with an earlier forecast of 0.1102 billion tons and 0.1098 billion tons the previous year. (Source: Master Boyi)
2014-07-02
Vietnam exports 2.85 million tons of rice in first six monthsVietnam exports 2.85 million tons of rice in first six months 2014-07-02 09:29 | source: China Grain Network | according to the latest data released by the Vietnam Food Association, Vietnam exported 2.848 million tons of rice from January 1 to June 26, 2014, a year-on-year decrease of 19%. So far this year, the average export price of rice is US $432 per ton, FOB price, an increase of US $1 over the same period last year. Vietnam exported 512,904 tons of rice from June 1 to 26, down 12% from the previous month's export volume in June. So far in June, the average export price of rice is $423 per ton, up $13 from a year earlier and down about $2 from the previous month.
2014-07-02
Cargill invests $0.1 billion to expand Russian wheat flour processing plantCargill invests $0.1 billion to expand Russian wheat flour processing plant 2014-06-27 10:57 | source: China Grain Network | cargill, an international grain giant, announced that it has invested $0.1 billion million to expand its wheat flour processing plant in the Yevremov region of Tula, Russia. Cargill plans to double the annual wheat processing capacity of the Yevremov processing plant to 500000 tons/year. The processing plant employs more than 800 people and uses corn, barley, wheat and other grains to produce starch and sweeteners. Natalia Olova, manager of Cargill's Russian food industry company, said in a statement that the project reflects Cargill's investment commitment to Tula state. Cargill opened an office in Moscow in 1991. In 1995, the Yevremov processing plant was established, which was Cargill's first investment in Russia. Russia is expected to become the world's third largest wheat exporter this year, after the United States and Canada.
2014-07-02
South Africa or will soon export Chinese yellow cornSouth Africa or will soon export Chinese yellow corn 2014-07-02 09:25 | source: China Grain Network | the Republic of South Africa, Africa's top corn producer, may soon start exporting yellow corn to China, which will be the first time South Africa has exported such corn to China. According to Jenny Villiers, chief executive of South African Grain Company (Grain SA), negotiations between the governments of South Africa and China have reached the final stage. He expressed the full support of the South African government. At present, the exporter has completed the pest risk analysis and submitted all documents to the Chinese government for approval. According to a report by the South African Crop Evaluation Commission (CEC) on April 29, South Africa's yellow corn exports in 2013/14 (May to April) were 1.2 million tons, more than double the year-on-year increase. South Africa's corn exports hit a 14-year high in 2011, nearly four times higher than the previous year, as a bumper harvest prompted exporters to open up new markets, including Japan and Spain. South Africa's yellow and white maize production in 2013/14 totaled 13.9 million tons, the highest since 1981. Production in 1981 was 14.1 million tons. Villiers added that (exports to China) have been decided, and currently they are just waiting for the governments of both sides to sign, and then they can export corn to China. Markos Marlow, a spokeswoman for the South African Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, also said that the technical consultations between the two sides have ended, but formal signatures are still needed. (Source: Boyi Master)
2014-06-23
2014 Brazil corn production forecast sharply higher2014 Brazil corn production forecast sharply higher 2014-06-20 09:19 | source: China Grain Network | according to a report released this week by renowned industry expert Dr. Cordonnier, U.S. corn yields will reach 165 bushels per acre in 2014, the same as his earlier forecast. Dr. Cordonez this week predicted that Brazil would produce 77 million tons of corn in 2013/14, much higher than his earlier forecast of 74.5 million tons; Argentina would produce 24 million tons of corn, the same as his earlier forecast.
2014-06-23
Indonesia's corn imports will exceed 3.6 million tons in 2014Indonesia's corn imports will exceed 3.6 million tons in 2014 2014-06-20 09:28 | source: China Grain Network | according to Xaverius Sudirman, chairman of the Indonesian Feed Processors Association, Indonesia's corn imports may increase by at least 22% in 2014, breaking the previous record of 3.6 million tons, because El Nino may occur this year and dry weather will damage domestic production. There may be an El Nino in the middle of this year. El Niño usually causes dry weather in Southeast Asia. Corn imports are likely to hit an all-time high of more than 3.6 million tonnes this year, the Sudirman said. Last year's corn imports were 2.95 million tonnes, he added. Corn is mainly used for feed production. Indonesia expects its corn output to grow 12 percent this year to 20.82 million tons. (Source: Master Boyi
2014-06-23
Import dynamics: China imports of soybeans this year or up to 69 million tonsImport dynamics: China's soybean imports this year or up to 69 million tons 2014-06-23 9:17 Source: Economic Observation Network according to the investigation and analysis by Zhang Xiaoping of the International Project Department of the American Soybean Association, it is estimated that China's soybean imports will reach about 69 million tons in 2014. In recent years, the number of soybean imports in China has been rising. According to the import data released by the General Administration of Customs of China, the cumulative import of soybeans in 2011 was 52.64 million tons, the cumulative import volume in 2012 was 58.38 million tons, and the cumulative import volume in 2013 was 63.38 million tons. The import of soybeans has increased significantly for three consecutive years. China's customs import data also showed that in the first five months of this year, China imported 27.82 million tons of soybeans, an increase of 35.3 percent over the same period last year and an increase of 30.4 percent over the same period last year. According to the forecast of Zhang Xiaoping and other industry insiders, the number of soybean imports in China this year will be as high as 69 million tons. In addition to soybeans, China has also imported a considerable amount of edible vegetable oil. In the first five months of this year, the cumulative amount of edible vegetable oil imported was 3.07 million tons. If the amount of imported soybeans and edible oil is combined, China's imports of soybeans and vegetable oil have exceeded 30 million tons in the first five months of this year.
2014-06-23
U.S. ethanol production hits record high to boost corn prices~ ~ u.S. ethanol production hits record high to boost corn prices 2014-06-20 09:24 | source: China Grain Network | u.S. ethanol production rose sharply to an all-time high as plants stepped up production in preparation for seasonal increases in demand. Weak corn prices and strong international crude oil prices have made ethanol production lucrative. According to the latest report released by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), in the week ending June 13, the average daily output of ethanol in the United States was 972000 barrels, an increase of 28000 barrels from a week ago. That's the highest level since records began four years ago. Ethanol production growth was also expected, given the weak corn market and stronger gasoline prices. Corn is the main raw material for ethanol production. Gasoline prices have risen more than 6% in the past two weeks because of instability in the Middle East. But the increase in ethanol production has surprised many investors. On Wednesday, ethanol for August delivery fell about 3.7 percent to $1.991 a gallon. CBOT July corn futures rose about 1% to $4.43/bushel. Allendale says profits from ethanol production have fallen to about $0.50 a gallon from $0.73 a gallon two weeks ago. Profits from ethanol production peaked at about $1.55 a gallon at the end of March, when adverse weather restricted biofuel shipments, prompting buyers to raise prices and procure limited supplies. Dan Ross, an analyst at U.S. Commodities Corp. in Iowa, said China's restrictions on the import of U.S. corn dross have put pressure on the price of domestic corn dross due to concerns that the shipment is mixed with MIR 162 genetically modified corn that has not been approved by the Department of Agriculture. But on the other hand, the decline in corn prices is also conducive to the improvement of ethanol production profits. Rich Nelson, chief strategist at Allendale, said the increase in ethanol inventories remained a concern. Stocks have risen sharply since the end of March. Last week's data showed inventories were up 15 percent from a year earlier. Although ethanol stocks have been 572000 barrels lower in the past week than a week ago, this still requires close attention from the market. (Source: Boyi Master)
2014-06-23
Land Commodity M & A Options Food Replaces OilThe land commodity merger and acquisition option grain replaces oil. Press time: 2014/05/30 11:21 Latest update: 2014/05/30 11:21 (Central News Agency, Taipei, 30th) Bloomberg reported that mainland China has spent more than US $200 billion in the past 10 years after acquiring mines and oil fields in Argentina and Australia. The focus now turns to food. The mainland, the most populous country, is now facing a grim fact: for every extra pound of wheat or pound of beef produced in the world, the mainland needs almost half to feed its people. According to data compiled by Bloomberg, after recognizing that the country cannot produce enough grain and meat, companies listed in mainland China or Hong Kong spent a total of US $12.3 billion last year to launch overseas mergers and acquisitions in food, beverages or agriculture, rewriting the highest amount in at least 10 years. The deals include Continental's largest-ever U.S. acquisition, with Shuanghui International Holdings buying Smithfield Foods Inc. for $7 billion. According to the National Australia Bank Ltd., overseas acquisition targets for mainland companies are likely to be beef, lamb and grain assets. Cargill (Cargill Inc.) Vice Chairman Conway (Paul Conway) said, "these transactions are bound to happen, in fact, I'm a little surprised that these did not happen earlier. 」 "In agricultural products, the integration of the continental and global commodity systems will be closer than before. 」 Cargill is one of the four largest companies that currently control the global food trade. When the mainland's economy exploded in the past few decades, the Beijing government used state-owned enterprises to lead the way to accelerate strategic industries and became a model. In the past, this has happened in energy security, with China National Petroleum Corporation (HK-857) spending $40 billion on oil assets around the world over a 10-year period. The new champion is COFCO, which controls 90% of the mainland's wheat imports and has launched two acquisitions in the past year. COFCO has acquired Nidera HoldingsBV and Noble Group Ltd in the Netherlands within 2 months. controlling interest, paying a total of about $2.8 billion. Fitch Ratings Ltd. said in an April 3 report that COFCO will be a strong global agricultural trader, able to purchase directly around the world. (Translator: Liu Shuqin, Central News Agency) 1030530 . The text, pictures and audio and video ※ on this website shall not be reproduced, publicly broadcast or publicly transmitted and utilized without authorization.
2014-06-23
Analysis and Reflection on Some Important Issues of National Economic SecurityAnalysis and Reflection on Some Important Issues of National Economic Security china Economic News Network 2014-06-19 11:31:02 (Author: in the water) national economic security is an important part of the national security system relative to national political security, national military security and national cultural security. In the early concept of national security, countries emphasized military security and political security, but did not involve economic security. However, with the end of the Cold War and the rapid development of the world economy, economic security has gradually attracted the attention of all countries and has become the basis of national security. National economic security is in the basic position in the national security system, and economic interests and economic security play a guiding role in the national security strategy. Whether it is a hegemonic country or a developing country, the premise of its national security strategy is to expand and safeguard national economic interests, so the national security strategy is centered on economic security needs. National economic security is the economization of national security, which usually refers to the domestic and international environment faced by a country's economic survival and development, the ability to participate in international economic competition and the corresponding international political status and influence it brings. Its most fundamental economic interests are not harmed, that is, a country's economy as a whole has sovereign independence, a solid foundation, healthy operation, steady growth, and sustainable development. National economic security mainly includes financial security, industry and trade security, strategic resource security and economic information security. What is 1. National Economic Security? National economic security has not yet formed a more unified definition. The understanding of economic security by politicians and strategists in developed countries such as the United States and Japan is mainly based on national economic interests and national security needs, and elaborated from the strategic and policy levels. The U.S. government and theorists believe that the national economic security of the United States is that the country's economic interests must have sufficient security guarantees; the national economic development of the United States cannot be threatened by external threats; economic security is essentially "the ability of the economy to adapt to change", the national economy The international competitiveness of the system. Proceeding from the status of a hegemonic country, American politicians and scholars believe that economic security is the guarantee and embodiment of the hegemonic status of the United States in the world. The Japanese government's view on national economic security is that since Japan has neither resources nor energy, both rely on the international market. Therefore, Japan must maintain the country's economic security by ensuring the stable supply of overseas resources and energy and the opening of the international market. Russian economists and strategists tend to closely link social security with economic security, arguing that "socio-economic security is a state of the national economy. In this state, it is possible to ensure rapid social development, maintain economic and social stability, and have a strong national defense capability to withstand the influence of internal and external undesirable factors". Russian scholars believe that to ensure national security, we must first ensure the country's economic security, and for Russia, economic security is to ensure the normal operation of the national economy. Since the definition of national economic security by Russian scholars is based on the special feelings of countries in transition, it is more meaningful for our country. Chinese scholars have a more consistent definition of national economic security: national economic security refers to the overall economic competitiveness of a country; the ability of a country's economy to resist various external invasions, interferences, crises, and stable development; a country's economy can exist, And the continuous development of the domestic and international environment. National economic security corresponds to national economic interests. However, it can only be the major national economic interests in the national economic interest system that can be recognized by the national economic security level, and the government formulates public policies and even adopts strong measures to support it. These major economic interests are related to the survival and development of the whole country and all the people, and even the rise and fall of the country. Only when it involves the survival and development of all the people of the whole country, and even when the major economic interests related to the rise and fall of the country are attacked and destroyed, can we make a judgment that "national economic security has been endangered. 2. the main problems and challenges facing China's economic security at present, China's economic security is facing severe challenges and unprecedented threats, mainly in the following nine aspects. 1. Financial security, internal and external troubles. Financial security is the core of economic security. However, China's financial security is not safe, and even poses a great threat to economic security. On the one hand, the institutional contradictions accumulated for a long time make China's financial security have huge hidden dangers; on the other hand, with the international financial integration and China's accession to the WTO, China's financial security will face the test of external shocks. First, the illegal activities of financial institutions are serious and the financial regulatory system lags behind. At present, in the financial field of our country, some financial institutions take risks in order to pursue high rates of return, and violations of laws and regulations occur from time to time. This behavior not only seriously damages the interests of depositors and reduces the credit of financial institutions, but also poses a potential threat to the healthy development of China's finance. This potential threat is amplified by the lack and lag of the external regulatory system. Second, external shocks from financial openness and financial globalization. After joining the WTO, although it is conducive to learn from the advanced management, technology and experience of international financial institutions to promote China's financial reform and development, but with the gradual opening of the financial market, to a certain extent, it will also cause heavy pressure on China's financial industry. It is difficult for domestic financial institutions to compete with strong financial giants in developed countries in terms of service quality, work efficiency, operating capabilities, and technical conditions. This means that once foreign financial institutions enter the RMB business, domestic commercial banks and other financial institutions will face the problem of losing a large number of customers, and even endanger the survival of domestic financial institutions. Third, international hot money poses a potential threat to China's financial security. International capital, also known as international speculative capital, is short-term capital that has no fixed investment area and moves between markets in pursuit of high short-term profits. This kind of capital wanders in the international financial market, making profits by taking advantage of the short-term imbalance between international interest rates, exchange rates and the prices of financial commodities such as stocks, and the potential threat of international hot money to China's financial security cannot be ignored. 2. Industry and trade security, external shocks are increasing. Industry and trade security is an important part of national economic security. With the implementation of the strategy of reform and opening up, China has made gratifying achievements in attracting foreign investment and foreign trade. At the same time, China's industrial and trade security is also facing the risk of increasing external shocks. First, foreign direct investment (FDI) has brought a certain impact on China's industrial development. First of all, from the perspective of industrial structure, foreign investment in general heavy industry, light agriculture and infrastructure construction; emphasis on small-scale, low-risk general processing industry, light fine processing industry; emphasis on labor-intensive industries, light capital and technology-intensive industries. With the continuous increase of the scale of foreign investment, this kind of industrial investment structure will bring great impact on the overall development of China's industry. Secondly, due to the various preferential policies of the state for foreign investment and the advantages of foreign-funded enterprises, the domestic market of some products in China has been controlled by foreign-funded enterprises, and this trend is still expanding. For example, washing products, beverages, etc., foreign-invested enterprises account for 35%-50% of the output and sales; foreign-invested enterprises in program-controlled exchanges account for 70% of the market; foreign-invested enterprises such as home appliances and cars account for more than half. The entry of a large number of foreign direct investment and the control of the relevant market have formed a strong squeeze on the development of national industries, which greatly threatens the economic security of our country. Second, the high degree of dependence on foreign trade reduces the ability of our economy to resist external risks. With the growth of China's economy, the degree of dependence on foreign trade is gradually increasing. In 2005, China's foreign trade dependence has reached 80%. In 2006, China's dependence on foreign trade was 65 per cent, compared with 21.8 per cent for the United States, 46 per cent for France, 27.4 per cent for Japan and 36.4 per cent for Russia. It can be seen that China's dependence on foreign trade is significantly higher than that of other developed countries. The high degree of dependence on foreign trade reduces the ability of China's economy to resist external risks to a great extent. 3. Strategic resource security, the situation is extremely serious. Since the reform and opening up, China's economic growth has made remarkable achievements, but this extensive economic growth is at the cost of massive consumption of resources. From 1990 to 2001, China's oil consumption increased by 100 percent, natural gas consumption by 92 percent, steel consumption by 143 percent, copper consumption by 189 percent, aluminum consumption by 380 percent, zinc consumption by 311 percent, and consumption of 10 non-ferrous metals by 276 percent. Since the 1990 s, China's total energy consumption has far exceeded its total production, and the contradiction between energy supply and demand has been intensifying. In order to make up for the shortage of domestic energy supply, we must rely on foreign imports, so that the degree of dependence on foreign energy gradually increased. According to relevant forecasts, by 2010, China's dependence on foreign oil, iron ore, copper and aluminum will reach 57%, 57%, 70% and 80% respectively. Once the international energy market fluctuates (such as a sharp rise in international crude oil prices), it will inevitably have a strong impact on the development of the domestic economy and affect national economic security. 4. The ability of scientific and technological innovation has been weakened, scientific and technological talents have been lost, and the dependence on international high technology has been deepening. Thirty years of practice has proved that in all industries with a highly open market in my country, the gap with foreign advanced technology has not narrowed, but has a tendency to continue to expand. On the contrary, the more foreign countries impose strict technical blockade on China, the more likely it is that China will make real technological progress. For example, since the full opening of China's color TV industry to the outside world, China's TV manufacturing has become a major global producer, but the core technology of color TV has always been in the hands of foreign investors, the generation gap between China's color TV display technology and foreign countries has not narrowed, and the main profits of color TV production are still controlled by foreign investors. On the contrary, my country continues to be blocked by international blockades in some key areas, and it is in these blocked areas that my country's independent innovation technology has leapt to the world's first echelon, such as launch vehicle technology, satellite communication technology, research and development of large supercomputers, and recent high-speed EMU technology, maglev train technology, etc. But these areas of technology that have been forced to come from behind are only a few. The loss of scientific and technological talents is weakening the foundation of China's independent scientific and technological innovation. In recent years, China is the third wave of immigration since the reform and opening up. The difference between this immigration wave and the previous two immigration waves is that this third immigration wave shows that my country's education system has also been completely incorporated into the unreasonable international division of labor system. my country is also placed at the bottom of the industrial chain in the international education system., Responsible for primary education (elementary school, middle school), while college education has begun to be monopolized by developed education systems such as the United States. There is a serious shortage of public resources for education in China, and a very small number of students can receive "elite education". This small number of reserve talents who have received "elite education" are setting off an increasing wave of immigration. By 2010, the total number of students studying in the United States in my country has exceeded 100,000. Most of the students in the graduating classes of some key middle schools choose to study directly and give up applying for domestic universities. For students who have already gone to domestic universities, most of the outstanding students from our top universities choose to go abroad. According to statistics, as an important reserve force for my country's scientific and technological development, the current return rate of science and engineering doctoral graduates studying in the United States is only 8%, which is the lowest in the world and far lower than other developing countries. Not only that, my country is currently surging with a wave of immigration dominated by technical elites and entrepreneurs. This will mean the double loss of knowledge and wealth in our country. 5. China's agriculture and food security are facing serious challenges. As of 2010, China has seven consecutive years of grain harvest. But behind this is the grim situation of China's agricultural security and food security. At present, my country's agriculture and food security are facing serious threats in the following main aspects: one of the threats: foreign investment is stepping up its massive penetration into China's agricultural sector. Foreign capital, mainly US capital, is stepping up efforts to penetrate and control China's agriculture and food sectors in the following ways: directly seizing market share with low-priced agricultural products to combat China's local planting industry; cooperating with financial capital to fully penetrate the circulation of agricultural products; and gradually controlling China's agricultural products market with genetically modified seeds as a weapon. Therefore, when China's agricultural sector is gradually and fully opened to foreign investment under the WTO framework, the competition for foreign investment in China's agricultural products is showing a trend of overall retreat. my country's soybeans, corn, cotton, vegetable seeds, meat and other fields are being occupied by foreign capital. Take soybeans as an example. Since China's accession to the WTO and the abolition of import tariffs and quota restrictions on soybean, China's soybean planting has been completely defeated. my country has changed from the world's largest soybean producer and soybean exporter to the world's largest soybean importer in less than ten years. The import dependence of soybean consumption has reached 70%. In the context of my country's increasing dependence on imports of soybean and other oil crops, multinational capital has further controlled more than 60% of my country's oil companies. At present, similar transnational capital invasion operations to the upstream and downstream of my country's edible oil industry chain are being repeated in agricultural fields such as cotton, corn, seeds, meat and poultry, and have begun to gradually strengthen the invasion in the most basic agricultural products such as wheat and rice. Intensity. Threat two: China's agricultural land quantity and quality continues to decline, threatening China's food security. Although my country has stipulated a red line to ensure "1.8 billion acres of arable land" to ensure food security, the obvious challenges are: first, the bottom line of the red line of "1.8 billion mu of cultivated land" is being eroded in large-scale urbanization, real estate development and industrial project development. Second, the quality of this "1.8 billion mu of arable land" is declining, and it is being challenged by a serious decline in quality in the following main aspects: some local governments, in the name of land replacement, replace good land with inferior land, carry out real estate development with good land, replace the quota of arable land with inferior recultivated land, and use a large number of chemical fertilizers and pesticides on the land. The fertility of our arable land continues to decline; land and pasture are being degraded under excessive use. The high-intensity use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides in agriculture is the basic reason why China can still maintain grain production. But it is also a time bomb that will trigger a future food crisis in our country. According to statistics, the amount of fertilizer used in agricultural land in China is five times the world average. China's agricultural land accounts for only 7% of the world's total, but the amount of chemical fertilizer used accounts for 34% of the world's total. The damage to agricultural land caused by excessive application of chemical fertilizers is extremely difficult to repair. Once the land becomes "waste land", the natural restoration process will take hundreds of years or even longer. According to the research of the Ministry of Agriculture, the problem of grassland degradation in my country has been very serious. The area of grassland degradation has reached 90%, and it is still increasing at an annual rate of 0.5 (that is, 30 million mu). Threat three: China's extensive agricultural production will threaten China's food security. The scientific and technological content of field agriculture in China is low, and the investment in agricultural science and technology is seriously insufficient, which leads to the dependence of agricultural production on the continuous application of chemical fertilizers. The consequence of the abuse of chemical fertilizers in my country's agriculture is not only to cause land degradation, but more seriously, the abuse of chemical fertilizers and pesticides is making my country's agricultural production "petroleum", making my country's food production directly linked to the world oil market. The sharp rise in world oil prices in the past few years has led to sharp fluctuations in world food prices and China's food prices, which is enough to be alarming. The water crisis. my country is a country with a serious shortage of water resources per capita. The per capita water resources in my country is only 2300 cubic meters, which is only 1/4 of the world average. It is in such a serious water shortage of natural environment, China's agricultural water to account for more than 70% of the water consumption. Among them, the extensive irrigation method of agricultural water has wasted more than 40% of the precious agricultural water. The effective utilization rate of agricultural water in China is very low. At present, about 10 per cent of our food production is completely dependent on groundwater. In Shandong, one of the main grain producing areas in China, the dependence of agricultural irrigation water on groundwater has exceeded 50%, and the extraction of groundwater for agricultural use has reached twice the amount of recharge. In the North China Plain, one of the main grain producing areas in my country, the extraction of groundwater is 32 billion cubic meters per year, which has far exceeded the recharge of precipitation and rivers. Because of the over-exploitation of groundwater for many years, more than a dozen huge funnel areas have been formed in the North China Plain, that is, the land subsidence area formed by the serious decline of groundwater, which means that the stratigraphic structure of groundwater supplied by surface water has been destroyed in the area, and the groundwater in North China can never be repaired. To make matters worse for China's per capita water scarcity, the distribution of water resources in China is seriously unequal. my country's per capita water resources only rank 88th in the world, but the area north of the Yangtze River in my country only accounts for 1/3 of my country's average level. The land area north of the Yangtze River accounts for 63% of the country, but only 19% of the water resources. On the one hand, the area north of the Yangtze River is an important agricultural production area in China, on the other hand, it is an area with serious shortage of water resources. The development of three things in our country in the past three decades has further exacerbated the development of my country's agricultural water crisis: First, the investment in farmland water conservancy facilities is seriously insufficient. According to the survey, the basic construction of water conservancy facilities in China is still basically dependent on the construction results of 30 years ago. Second, the scientific research investment in water-saving agriculture is insufficient, and there are almost no scientific research results of water-saving agriculture. Third, the national eating habits are becoming more and more abundant, which will aggravate the development of China's agricultural water crisis. Not only that, China's agricultural and industrial development model is also exacerbating China's water crisis. In the past 30 years, China has become the world's largest textile industry. The textile industry is a high water consumption industry. China has not been able to invest in scientific research to develop new water-saving textile industry technology. Therefore, China's textile industry as a whole is an industry with extremely low water use efficiency. 7. The promotion of agricultural transgenic technology may seriously threaten the food security of our country. At present, the debate on the impact of transgenic technology on the safety of agricultural products is quite fierce, but this is not a fundamental problem that threatens the safety of agriculture in our country. The impact of genetically modified technology on food safety is a problem that can only be accurately judged after at least decades or even hundreds of years of observation. It is too hasty to make an affirmative or negative judgment on it. However, from the perspective of decision-making science, whether the impact of genetically modified crops on food safety and human safety is positive or negative, it will threaten China's food security. The reasons are as follows: one of the reasons: if transgenic technology has been proved to be harmful to human body after decades or even hundreds of years of observation, it will certainly seriously threaten China's food security. However, if transgenic technology is proved to be harmless to human body after decades or even hundreds of years of observation, it will still seriously threaten China's food security. Because the technology patents of genetically modified technology are basically monopolized by multinational companies, my country currently does not master the technology patents of genetically modified technology. If my country promotes genetically modified technology on a large scale, the core technology of my country's grain production will be basically mastered by multinational companies, and the lifeblood of my country's grain and agricultural production will be in the hands of international capital. Moreover, foreign capital is trying to use genetically modified technology as a breakthrough to comprehensively break through my country's last line of defense against the most basic food crops such as rice and wheat. The GM technology patents of these basic food crops have been basically controlled by foreign capital. If my country promotes genetically modified technology in basic food crops, my country's food sector will be firmly controlled by foreign capital, and my country's food security defense line will completely collapse. Reason 2: If genetically modified technology is promoted on a large scale in my country, under the constraints of the natural environment where my country's water resources are severely scarce, my country's agricultural production will fall into a more serious water crisis. So far, the water demand of genetically modified crops is much higher than that of native natural crops, and some have several times as much water demand. In addition, the demand for pesticides for genetically modified crops is also more stringent. The pesticide technology patents of genetically modified crops are mostly in the hands of multinational companies. Therefore, genetically modified crops will make China's demand for water and oil higher, which will aggravate the contradiction of resources in China. The third reason: transgenic technology will reduce the ability of China's agriculture to resist disastrous natural weather, and will greatly reduce the ability of China's agriculture to save itself in the face of major natural disasters. Reason 4: Transgenic technology is a strategic weapon for multinational companies to infiltrate and master the lifeblood of China's agriculture. Over the past decade, international transnational capital has taken full control of China's soybean industry and extended the industrial chain of China's edible oil and feed industry by using transgenic technology. In addition, transnational capital has partially controlled my country's cotton production and corn production by using genetically modified technology, and is striving to penetrate into the field of rice and wheat production. The soaring price of cotton in my country in 2010 is the consequence of the continuous use of cotton transgenic technology by multinational capital to penetrate my country's cotton production in the past ten years. It is the cotton transgenic technology of transnational capital that leads to the decline of cotton quality and yield in China, which leads to a serious gap in supply, forcing China to increase the import of American cotton. In addition, multinational capital currently controls more than 50% of the market share of vegetable seeds in China. 8. The disorderly flow of huge local hot money threatens China's economic security. In the U.S. economic war against our country, foreign hot money is one of the assault forces to launch attacks. In China, another equally amazing destructive force is "local hot money". In recent years, this "local hot money" has repeatedly made waves in China. It can be seen everywhere in China's stock market, property market, agricultural product market, grain circulation field, commodity market, mineral market, gold and silver, medicine circulation, etc. The most conservative estimate of the scale of this local hot money is several trillion yuan, or even higher. The "hot money" mentioned by public opinion, such as the "hot money" in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, is one of its main forces. The existence of "local hot money" and its destructive power have so far not attracted the attention of the Chinese people. The composition of this "local hot money" mainly includes the following main components: first, part of the operating funds of private enterprises are separated from industry and turned into speculative funds; second, idle funds of state-owned enterprises are turned into speculative funds; third, there is no fixed investment in residents' savings. Target speculative funds; fourth, commercial circulation capital is transformed into speculative funds, etc. At present, China's large-scale "local hot money" will cause great damage to China's economy if it forms a common attack target with the inflow of "international hot money" from abroad. 9. The superposition of the two major problems of "over-reliance on export-oriented" and "getting old before getting rich" will threaten China's economic security. According to estimates by population experts, China's demographic dividend period will end in 2030. After that, the total social dependency ratio will rise rapidly. At present, an average of 5.4 working-age adults in our country are raising one elderly person. Twenty years from now, in 2030, the proportion will fall to 1 elderly person for every 2.5 working-age adults. By 2050, this ratio will fall further to one older person for every 1.6 of working age. From the perspective of my country's current labor knowledge structure, at least half of the labor force in my country and in the next ten or twenty years, that is, at least 50%-60%, will still be mainly composed of migrant workers and low-end blue-collar manual workers. The low productivity of this labor force is bound to make it difficult to bear the increasing burden of raising an ageing population. At present, American society is facing the same challenge of aging. More than 30 percent of the U.S. population is now over 50 and more than 20 percent are over 65. According to estimates by US institutions, by 2016, the expenditure of the US Social Security Fund will exceed the income, and the potential gap of the US Social Security Fund will reach 40 trillion US dollars. In the face of such great social security pressure, the solution must be to issue money indiscriminately to claim wealth from the world. And if our country still one-sidedly emphasizes the "export-oriented" strategy, our country will become one of the main countries to support the aging population of the United States. Some Countermeasures 3. Ensuring China's Economic Security economic security is an important part of national security. It is related to the sustainable development of China's economy and the continuous improvement of its comprehensive national strength. It is also a strong guarantee for the realization of the "Chinese Dream" in the hearts of 1.4 billion Chinese people. The Party Central Committee and the State Council attach great importance to the economic security of our country under the new situation. The report of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China pointed out that "to adapt to the new situation of economic globalization, we must implement a more proactive opening strategy and improve an open economic system that is mutually beneficial and win-win, diversified and balanced, safe and efficient. ...... Improve the ability to resist international economic risks." Some potential risks or signals in domestic economic security have attracted the attention of party and state leaders. All these have pointed out the direction for us to adhere to reform and opening up and ensure national economic security. 1. Improve the legal system for safeguarding China's industrial security. The construction of China's industrial safety legal system should follow the principles of unity of the legal system, ease of operation and coordination. In the current international environment, we can consider to strengthen the construction of the legal system of industrial safety from the following aspects: first, improve the laws and regulations on industrial safety. my country should promptly revise and improve laws and regulations including anti-dumping, countervailing, foreign investment, intellectual property protection, national security, agricultural protection, etc., to form an industrial protection legal system that complies with WTO rules, and promote the legalization and systematization of industrial protection methods; Strengthen the formulation of technical regulations and standards to strengthen the effect of industrial protection; in the process of performing relevant legal procedures, it is clear that enterprises are the subject of litigation, the trade association is the core of organizing and coordinating the response, giving full play to the leading role of both in the export response. At the same time, strengthen the guidance of enterprises to respond to lawsuits, increase negotiations and negotiations, establish a feasible and effective incentive mechanism, and promote enterprises to respond to lawsuits to achieve better results. Secondly, formulate comprehensive laws to regulate foreign investment. It is recommended that relevant departments consider including the industrial orientation, objects, principles, methods, legal application, legal responsibilities, and national review and supervision of foreign investment mergers and acquisitions, so as to make it a programmatic law for regulating foreign investment in my country. Thirdly, strengthen the legislation of industrial safety early warning system. Timely introduction of industrial damage early warning monitoring laws and regulations to strengthen the guidance of industrial safety early warning work. Finally, the coordination of the Catalogue for the Guidance of Foreign Investment Industries with other laws and regulations should be strengthened. As a departmental regulation, the "Catalogue for the Guidance of Foreign Investment Industries" should be coordinated with relevant laws and regulations to achieve the unity of the legal system. 2. Give full play to the leading role of the government and effectively enhance the competitiveness of the industry. From the process of industrial protection in developed countries such as the United States, Japan, and Europe, it can be seen that the process of industrial protection is a process of continuous upgrading of the industrial structure, so as to effectively avoid the disadvantages of unreasonable resource allocation and inefficient operation of the industry. Therefore, China needs to seize the opportunity of international industrial division, adjustment and reorganization, give full play to the leading role of the government in industrial development, implement policies to promote industrial development, and provide necessary protection and support for industries with potential advantages in a certain period of time through the organic cooperation of industrial policies and trade policies, so as to promote their development, growth and expansion until they become important industries of the national economy. Build an industrial safety early warning system. Establish an effective interaction mechanism between the government, industry associations and enterprises. The experience of foreign countries shows that maintaining industrial security is not the business of a certain department or an enterprise. It requires the joint efforts of all relevant parties. Close cooperation between the government, industry and enterprises is very important. Only by coordinating and uniting from top to bottom can we form a joint force and have the strength to safeguard industrial security. The competent departments of the Chinese government should strengthen the contact with various industry associations and enterprises, establish contact mechanisms and effective communication channels with industries and enterprises, and exchange information in a timely manner, so that the government can formulate practical and feasible industries on the basis of maintaining information communication with industries and enterprises. Protect policies and work together to do a good job in industrial safety. Trade associations should play a special role in maintaining industrial security. Trade associations should give full play to their role in regulating and serving the export behavior of enterprises, and provide timely legal advice on import anti-dumping for export enterprises. The government, industry associations and enterprises should be highly sensitive to information on various foreign trade remedy measures and technical barriers to trade, and make full use of various channels to collect and sort out information on various barriers that are currently and are being formulated abroad that affect domestic exports. Establish a trade barrier database and consulting center, so as to take preventive measures in advance against possible trade barriers abroad. 3. The problem of industrial safety involves the measurement of industrial safety situation, and the construction of industrial safety early warning system is inseparable from the judgment of industrial safety. First of all, the establishment of industrial safety early warning index system. An important part of the industrial safety early warning system is to build a set of indicators that can reflect the status and trends of industrial development in a comprehensive, dynamic and timely manner. Secondly, determine the industrial safety warning critical domain. The industrial safety early warning system can only really operate after the index early warning critical region is determined. The reasonable definition of early warning critical area has a great influence on accurately monitoring the evolution of various early warning indicators, and then making accurate judgments on the operation and development trend of the industry. Finally, the industrial safety early warning results are analyzed and output. The establishment of an industrial safety early warning system aims to make predictions and issue warnings in a timely manner before the emergence of warnings. Forecasting and warning are based on the output of the early warning system, and the final judgment of the performance of the early warning system depends entirely on the output of the early warning system. 4. Effectively promote independent innovation. Foreign experience tells us that attaching importance to the development of high-tech industries and possessing independent intellectual property rights is the key to maintaining national industrial security. With the gradual integration of China's economy into internationalization, independent innovation plays a more and more important role in improving the international competitiveness of the industry. In particular, in order to form the sustainable competitiveness of the industry and maintain the stamina of sustainable development, we must make a big breakthrough in independent innovation. It is necessary to take the establishment of an innovative country and the cultivation of innovative enterprises as the fundamental measures to ensure industrial security, the strategic alliance of industry-university-research technological innovation as a strategic measure to promote independent innovation, and the establishment of an enterprise technological innovation service platform as a strategic breakthrough. to introduce and train excellent talents as the key to the strategy, and to improve and implement various policies of independent innovation as the strategic guarantee of industrial security. In short, only by establishing a technological innovation system with enterprises as the main body, greatly enhancing the independent innovation capabilities of Chinese enterprises, and realizing economic innovation-driven development, can we maintain my country's industrial security and promote stable, sustained and rapid economic development. 5. Formulate foreign investment regulation policies in line with national conditions and strengthen the supervision of industrial safety. From the experience of various countries, when appropriate foreign investment regulation policies are adopted, which are in line with national conditions and development strategies, the use of foreign investment will achieve good results. On the contrary, the cost of using foreign capital will far exceed its benefits. With the rapid growth of foreign investment and the accelerated pace of foreign mergers and acquisitions, there will be more and more industrial security problems, and it is necessary to strengthen the supervision of industrial security. Strict management of foreign investment, especially strict regulation of foreign mergers and acquisitions. Foreign investment should be encouraged and prevented by "two hands". The grasp of its looseness and tightness and the design of the policy combination should be based on my country's development strategy, the stage of economic development, the maturity of the industry, and the domestic and foreign situation and conditions. Adjust in a timely and flexible manner, so as to assess the situation and keep pace with the times. At the same time, it is necessary to change the management of foreign investment, strengthen the management of foreign investment that has been introduced, establish an index system for the evaluation of foreign-funded enterprises by supervising the development of investment enterprises, distinguish the level of foreign-funded enterprises, adopt different standards, and restrict or even close those enterprises that bring less benefits to China's development. Source: China Economic News Network Editor: Zhao Yangzi
2014-06-23
EU to limit the use of food as raw materials to process biofuels programThe EU has formulated a plan to restrict the use of food as raw materials for processing biofuels. Ministers of the 28 EU member states today broke the deadlock over the past year and agreed to reduce the use of "first generation" bioenergy processed from corn, beetroot or rape. According to the resolution, the upper limit of biofuels using food as raw materials for transportation energy is 7% by 2020, which is lower than the 10% target set in 2009. The EU has been a leader in pushing for so-called first-generation crop-based biofuels to replace some fossil fuels such as oil in order to reduce global carbon emissions. But Brussels is facing growing criticism that the use of such biofuels is crowding out the global food supply and raising food prices in some of the world's poorest countries. Critics also say that arable land is used to grow raw crops for biofuels, especially in mangrove reserves in Southeast Asia, which is contrary to the environmental concepts peddled by the European Union. Bioenergy experts say the agreement is not enough to reduce the impact of bioenergy on the world's increasingly tight food supplies. "In a starving world, a gradual reduction in the use of food for biofuels is the only sensible thing to do". The European Parliament will consider the resolution.
2014-06-04
Cambodia's rice exports to increase slightly in 2014~ ~ cambodia's rice exports to increase slightly in 2014 2014-06-04 09:59 | source: China Grain Network | the latest report released by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) shows that Cambodia's rice exports will increase slightly to 1.2 million tons in 2014 due to increased production. The FAO said the rice export figures include unofficial exports of finished rice as well as rice exported through the border to Vietnam and Thailand. Cambodia exported about 120,291 tons of rice in the first four months of 2014, up 1.5 percent year-on-year. In 2013, Cambodia exported 378,856 tons of rice, up 84% year on year. FAO expects Cambodia to produce 9.5 million tons of rice in 2014, up 1% from the previous year.
2014-06-04
From Mexico to Brazil, climate change threatens coffee farming in Latin America~~From Mexico to Brazil, climate change threatens coffee growers in Latin America Written by By Diego Cupolo Tuesday, 03 June 2014 11:30 Coffee Grower In EcuadorCoffee, like gold, sugar and oil, has long been one of Latin America's major exports, sustaining everyone from independent farmers in mountain regions to corporate bankers in capital cities, all while keeping weary minds alert throughout the world. Image: Coffee Grower in Ecuador (Diego Cupolo). Yet over the last decade, changing climate patterns have intensified droughts and plagues in the region, creating conditions less suitable for coffee production and wreaking havoc on the industry that came to define, even shape, many hillsides in rural Central and South America. Today, as coffee growers struggle to recover from a string of weather-related events, some industry analysts have already foreseen a major shift in coffee production towards Asia and away from Latin America. The long series of problems came to a peak this spring, when coffee prices doubled after a severe drought stunted the growing season in Brazil, the world's top coffee exporter. The extent of the damage remains unknown, but the price hike arrived at the same time that many other Latin American nations underwent a record-breaking epidemic of coffee rust, or “roya” in Spanish, a fungus known to suffocate coffee trees and lower bean yields. The rust outbreak began in 2012 and has since affected nations spanning from Mexico to Peru, with countries in Central America experiencing the highest levels of crop loss, said Monika Firl, social projects manager at Cooperative Coffees, a Montreal-based sourcing co-op that imports specialty coffee. “In Nicaragua in particular, farmer groups have been really hit hard," Firl said. “Some groups that we are working with might have 20 percent of their total harvest. There are other farmers we are working with in El Salvador that will have 5 or 10 percent of their usual harvest, so for a farmer that's already living on the edge, this is disastrous ." The outbreak is just one of three major epidemics to hit Latin American coffee growers in the last six years. There was also a coffee rust outbreak in Colombia from 2008-2011, where nearly a third of the nation's harvest was lost to the fungus. Along with this year's drought in Brazil, the three events were caused by erratic climate patterns, said Peter Baker a senior scientist specializing in commodities and climate change at the Centre for Agricultural Bioscience International. Image: Coffee rust examples (Wikimedia Commons). “It's difficult to point the finger directly and say it's because of climate change, but it's consistent with more chaotic weather patterns which I think we're seeing globally," Baker said during a phone interview in May 2014. Aside from higher prices and lower quality brews for consumers worldwide, the wave of agricultural catastrophes threatens the economic foundation of coffee growing nations in Latin America, where total coffee production has dropped about 20 percent since 2011, an estimated loss of more than $1 billion. In Central America alone, about 5 million people get their livelihood, directly or indirectly, from the coffee and their future remains uncertain. The latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) states “the suitability for coffee crops in Costa Rica, Nicaragua and El Salvador will be reduced by 40 percent” with increasing of temperatures. Regarding Brazil, the report says warmer summers could make coffee crop unfeasible in Minas Gerais and São Paulo, the nation's major coffee growing states. Meanwhile, countries like Vietnam, Indonesia and China are stepping up their coffee production to fill global demand as many Latin American coffee growers face a 2-3 year recovery period before they can return to pre-plague harvest figures. Baker said mitigation efforts are often slowed and complicated by their costs, as they require significant investments and adaptations, which most independent farmers cannot afford without government assistance. If current trends continue, rural areas from Mexico to Brazil, many of which are already afflicted with poverty and malnutrition, are bound to experience higher unemployment rates, increasing hunger and, eventually, mass migration. “If the problem persists, employment and stability in the region could be compromised," Mark Feierstein, administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), told the International Business Times. “It could affect migration patterns and prompt an increase of immigration to the U.S ." Deep Roots of a Plague While speaking of the many causes behind the current rust outbreak, W. Alejandro Sanchez, a senior research fellow at the Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA), pointed out the fragility of commodity-based economies in Latin America. “Countries like Peru, Mexico and Colombia are regarded as the 'pumas of Latin America' just like the tiger economies in Asia," Sanchez said. “As much as some of our economies are thriving, we are still economies based on basic commodities: oil, gas, lithium, potatoes, rice, beans and coffee. That means we are at the mercy of the environment ." From the environment to farming practices, the recent outbreaks were created by a myriad of conditions, which scientists are still trying to define. While there hasn't been conclusive research on the subject, the main causes for rust seem to correlate with rising heat and humidity. “Warming temperatures at higher altitudes and the resulting shifts in moisture accumulation are likely allowing the rust to thrive in areas previously uninhabitable," wrote Emma Bladyka, coffee science manager for the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA). “Disruptions in the typical dry season can create an environment more habitable for rust outbreaks. Smaller and more frequent rainfall in the region likely contributed to the perfect fungal habitat ." Many other factors are also exacerbating the rust outbreak, including land use methods, degradation of soil quality, use and misuse of fertilizers or fungicides and a general shift towards high-density monoculture farming that allows easier disease transmission between plants. Coffee Rust in Colombia“Roya is a fungus that is always present in coffee," said Firl of Cooperative Coffees. “When the fields become out of balance or the trees become very vulnerable and climatic spore infestations occur, that's when you get this epidemic proportion. Once it starts multiplying, it just takes over ." Image: Coffee rust in Colombia (Wikimedia Commons). In Colombia and Guatemala, governments have responded by assisting farmers in planting rust-resistant varieties of coffee, which have proven effective in some short-term case studies, but are not popular among specialty roasters who claim engineered coffees have inferior cup quality. The US government has also announced a $5 million partnership with Texas A&M University's World Coffee Research center to create stronger strains of coffee that will fight off future pests and plagues. Yet due to fast evolving and fluid outbreaks, “the science is always three years behind," Firl said. There are many varieties of coffee rust along with other coffee diseases and researchers often struggle to make hybrids resistant to multiple conditions. “Clever as we think we are, the natural cycles are much quicker” Firl said. “The insects, the illnesses, the plagues become much more resilient and then you're back at the laboratory, trying to come up with a more resistant new breed [of coffee] to combat the now more resistant strands of fungus. So it's great for the labs, but it's not good for farmers ." The Orphan Commodity Fungicides, insecticides, fertilizers and even pruning equipment all require significant investment. Even if governments were to provide subsidies to coffee farmers for such products, large-scale education programs would be needed to teach growers about rust-prevention techniques and planting methods, Baker said. Fighting region-wide epidemics requires massive, multi-national campaign efforts, which can be difficult to organize due to the fact that coffee is an “orphan commodity," or a crop without a global institution to direct and oversee development trends. “Unlike the CIMMYT international corn and wheat center in Mexico or the IRRI rice center in the Philippines, there is no equivalent organization for coffee," Baker said. Few crops are in the world are grown like coffee. The results create not only a decentralized, country-by-country response to disaster relief, but also a global deficit in research and development on coffee production. Speaking at the Let's Talk About Roya conference in El Salvador last fall, Baker said worldwide investment in R&D for coffee totaled about $100 million per year. Coffee beans in Nicaragua (Diego Cupolo)“The full value of the coffee industry is a $100 billion a year, so [research and development is] 0.1 or 0.2 percent the total value spent on production and that's crazy," Baker said. “It's completely crazy. Expenditure is completely inconsistent with the risk levels ." Image: Coffee in Nicaragua (Diego Cupolo). Normally, Baker said industries spend between 2 and 10 percent of their total production value on R&D. He also pointed out the research conducted on coffee is more often focused on its health effects for consumers than on improving growing conditions in the fields. For these reasons, even the root causes of coffee rust remain unclear to many scientists studying the epidemic. To obscure matters further, there are no official figures on how many crops are lost to disease or how much land is used to grow coffee worldwide. All we know is how much coffee reaches the market, Baker said, a method of commerce that disregards the supply chain and strictly values the end product. “Instead of developing technology to continue on the same footprint, globally the coffee industry continues, I think, to be a deeply exploitive and extractive industry," Baker said at the conference. “It moves on, it burns out land, moves on to other areas ." Other areas like Vietnam, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar and China where much of the rising coffee production is driving deforestation. While sustainable and fair-trade coffee certifications have made significant impacts on the industry over the last decade, Baker said they haven't done enough to curb destructive land use practices. "That's a principle problem, that you have a lot of new coffee coming onto the market every year and most of that, I think, is coming from deforestation so this is something the coffee industry doesn't really want to talk about, but it's happening," Baker said, citing studies by David Gaveau of the Center for International Forestry Research, that link coffee price fluctuations to deforestation rates in Sumatra. The globalized production of coffee has kept crop prices relatively stable. New exports from Asia replace crop losses in Latin America and, until recently, consumers have remained unaffected. “What the last years have told us is we lose millions of sacks of coffees because of rust and yet the price goes down," Baker said. “So roya is a sort of earthquake that reminds us that we're sitting on top of a fault and the fault is that the global market doesn't work for agriculture in general ." Adding to the long list of sustainability problems, Baker said coffee production has become dangerously concentrated over the years, with just four countries exporting 2/3 of the world supply. If one nation undergoes a climate-related event and production is affected, such as the drought in Brazil, the impact that single event can be amplified through the industry worldwide. “Increasingly, in the future, I think we're going to get more climate shocks and it will be like playing one of those [slot] machines," Baker said. “One year, two or three climate shocks will come up together and we'll have a real shortage of coffee ." “Locally, on the farm level you've got some really nicely run farms, on a micro-level, but globally I think coffee is actually becoming less sustainable," Baker continued. “I think its carbon footprint must be going up, biodiversity is going down and you're getting this concentration [of production] and it's risky to have all your eggs in a few baskets ." The Future in the Past In 1870, Sri Lanka was the largest coffee producer in the world. At the time, it was a British colony known as Ceylon and the small island supplied Europe with much of its coffee until the first signs of a rust outbreak appeared in 1875. The fungus spread quickly and the colonizers failed to slow infection rates, resulting in the loss of 95 percent of the coffee harvest in less than 20 years. With a once thriving industry decimated, local coffee growers began planting tea. Today, many argue the Ceylon coffee rust outbreak of 1875 is the primary reason behind the British addiction to tea. They were forced to adapt to new circumstances. It's too early to tell whether the same fate awaits Central and South America, but the prospects are worrisome, Firl said. “The position rust puts farmers in is so challenging," Firl said. “Most of the support going out to farmers, I feel, is misguided. It's pushing them towards chemical solutions, it's a lot of talk and a lot of showcasing, grandstanding new policies, grandiose summits and very little is going to farmers to help them get through what's a very horrific plague ." Most efforts to combat the outbreak have been centered on developing new fungicides and fungus-resistant coffee trees, Firl said. Yet these remedies have proven to be problematic in Honduras, where 50 percent of coffee plants were rust-resistant varieties and the nation still suffered a 28 percent loss of coffee yields during the most recent outbreak. Firl said chemicals and laboratory solutions alone cannot stop the spread of rust. Organic fertilizers, soil quality and field management are all important components in combating the plague. Coffee field in Costa Rica (Diego Cupolo) “In Marcala, Honduras, we have one organic farmer who is using different kinds of compost, frequent applications, spraying, cultivating micro-organisms that are natural inoculants, adding that back into coffee fields, spraying the soil and spraying the foliage," Firl said. “He's doing all of that and this guy is getting 50 quintales of good quality, organic coffee while his neighbors will have scattered berries on their bushes ." Image: Coffee fields in Costa Rica (Diego Cupolo). “It takes a lot of work and investment," Firl continued. “He was already doing this before the plague. Out of conviction, not reaction. He had the resources available that a lot of farmers don't, to hire extra hands, to do the pruning and the composting, but not all coffee farmers are in that luxurious position of having profits [from their harvests.]" In response to the Ceylon rust outbreak, growers in Southeast Asia and Africa also replaced much of their Arabica coffee trees, the rich-flavored variety preferred by specialty brewers, with the more bland, but more resilient Robusta coffee trees. Today, Latin America still produces most of the world's Arabica coffee beans, but if the problems persist more coffee growers are bound switch to Robusta, Baker said. “Big coffee roasters, in their standard supermarket blends are putting in a bit more Robusta so, yes, the taste and quality, I think, will tend to slip," Baker said. “Whereas twenty years ago, 30 percent of coffee worldwide was Robusta, now it's up to about 40 percent and I think that's going to carry on ." Taste aside, larger coffee distributors will adapt to changing climate patterns by finding substitute suppliers, Firl said. Global demand for coffee is rising and consumers will likely remain largely unaffected as the production landscape is rearranged throughout the world. “A year ago, roya was in the news for two or three weeks, and my theory is that once the industry recognized that supply wouldn't be effected, that they'd just have to move production elsewhere, the issue just completely dropped of the map," Firl said. “For us, it's a little more difficult because we have a really long term relationship with a lot of coffee-growing organizations and we want them to be there three years in, once they recover from [coffee rust], so we're looking for different ways around this, as we speak," she continued. “The growers in El Salvador, for example, we won't be buying coffee from them in the next two years and I keep asking them 'What are you going to do?' The only concrete response I 've heard so far is 'plant corn .'" From infrastructure to popular culture, coffee has shaped much of Latin America's identity. Its importance is hard to overstate as we are constantly reminded of its status by songs like Juan Luis Guerra's “Ojalá que llueva café” or “Let us hope it rains coffee ." In times when there have been few alternatives, coffee has sustained families in rural regions throughout Latin America. The present epidemics have dealt significant blows to coffee growers in the region. While some farmers will continue to thrive, others may not, but all will be forced to adapt in the face of global climate change. Diego Cupolo is an independent journalist, photographer and author of Seven Syrians: War Accounts From Syrian Refugees, released January, 2014, by 8th House Publishing. He serves as Latin America regional editor for Global South Development Magazine. See more of his work at www.diegocupolo.com
2014-06-04
Latin American Countries Addressing Climate Change Challenges~~Latin America tackles challenge of climate change BY JORGE FAMILIAR worldbank.org/lac It is no coincidence that the Globe International network of legislators has chosen Mexico as the venue for the Second World Summit of Legislators on climate change that takes place in the Mexican Congress this coming weekend. Five hundred legislators from around the world, especially from emerging economies, will tell the world that yes we can, that it is possible to create a movement that puts the interests of citizens first and that passes environmental legislation in favor of a more sustainable development model. They will make it clear that - in the absence of a global agreement - parliaments, governments, civil society and the private sector can show the way at a national level. Many of the alarming forecasts regarding the effects of climate change -from glacial retreat to rising sea levels - are being felt first hand in Latin America. From extreme weather variations in Mesoamerica and the Caribbean to prolonged droughts in the Southern Cone, all of this is having a devastating impact on agriculture, ecosystems and community life. The good news is that at least in Latin America we are not sitting back with our arms crossed, despite the absence of global agreements. In Costa Rica, reforestation projects, new market regulations and public campaigns are all part of the commendable effort being made by that country to become carbon neutral by 2021. In Brazil, the forestry and iron industries in the state of Minas Gerais are changing their ways and being rewarded with the first issue of carbon bonds for a forestry project, while in Mexico, the Climate Change Law of 2012 became one of the most comprehensive and ambitious at a global level. In fact, wherever one looks in Latin America and the Caribbean today, its leaders are pushing initiatives to mitigate or adapt to the effects of climate change. In this way, even in times of global uncertainty, it is evident that the region is contributing rationality, certainties and trustworthiness to become a significant part of the solution to a global threat. For example, its energy matrix currently boasts the lowest carbon emissions in the developing world (6 percent for the energy sector), the world's largest Rapid Transit System (associated with lower levels of environmental pollution) and the first catastrophe risk insurance mechanisms to guarantee the capacity to recover following a natural disaster. Many of the green initiatives in the region have been strongly endorsed by legislators. In fact, Latin America is the region of the world that has done the most in 2013 in terms of legislation to prevent or mitigate the effects of atmospheric change, according to a report from GLOBE International. Some of the most notable examples include the Mother Earth Law in Bolivia, which penalizes the mistreatment of nature, the law for Good Living in Ecuador and the climate change framework law in Costa Rica, which, among other things, guarantees that the subject will be taught in schools. Many of these initiatives have also received technical and financial support from the World Bank. We have supported the Amazon Protected Areas program, which covers a surface comparable to France's, and which has enabled Brazil to lower its deforestation rate continuously for more than four years. Faced with retreating glaciers in the Andes, the World Bank has established - alongside the governments of Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru - a regional adaptation project administered by the Andean Community of Nations. This will lead to improvements in the capacity of local economies, ecosystems and populations to address its impending impact. This becomes a life or death situation when 97 percent of regional GDP is generated in countries that are net commodity exporters - oil, minerals and agricultural products. These resources could be significantly depleted in less than one generation if current extraction rates remain unchanged or if more sustainable agricultural techniques are not adopted. Latin American leaders are aware of this reality and will not wait for others to take the first step toward changing it. They believe that a different future, a more balanced and sustainable one, is possible for all Latin Americans and future generations. Jorge Familiar is the vice president of the World Bank for Latin America and the Caribbean. Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/06/02/4153956/latin-america-tackes-challenge.html#storylink=cpy
2014-06-04
Fisheries are booming in AsiaFish farming is booming in Asia The aquaculture industry in Asia is booming but the sector remains largely unprotected, offering significant opportunities for insurers The world's top five aquaculture-producing countries are all in Asia, with China leading the way with a massive 36.7m tonnes of fish in 2010, dwarfing the second-biggest producer, India, at 4.6m tonnes. Overall, 90% of the fish we eat is produced in Asia, while the continent has also been responsible for 92.5% of increases in global production in the past 20 years. But despite the strong growth in aquaculture in the region, in addition to its importance in terms of both food security and employment creation, the majority of the Asian industry is uninsured. Insurance deficit Jason Scott, head of aquaculture and livestock at Hong Kong-based broker FP Marine Risks, says: “There is very little aquaculture insurance in Asia. There have been some pilot projects over the years and some government subsidy schemes, but the majority of the industry is underinsured ." Given the level of underinsurance, it is difficult to calculate how much premium income the sector could generate. The Chinese agriculture insurance industry generates around $6bn a year in premium income, and Scott estimates aquaculture insurance could be worth around half this amount. Paddy Secretan, managing director of AUMS, adds that growth for the insurance industry in the aquaculture sector could be “exponential” if it can model the right products. But he cautions: “The insurance industry has got to change and develop a lot of new products ." Scott agrees that one of the reasons aquaculture cover has failed to take off in Asia is that the products currently available are not suitable for the region. Only a handful of providers offer aquaculture insurance and they are all based in Europe, although some major Chinese insurers are showing an interest in developing products. The traditional policies are focused on a few high-value species, such as salmon and tuna, predominantly in sea cage farming. Small farms The Asian industry is focused on different species compared with Europe, such as shrimp, while it also has a different structure to in the West. Scott says: “In Asia there are two tiers. There are larger, more sophisticated companies that are trading on an international market, then there are the thousands and thousands of small-scale farmers ." “You need a very different product for the two different tiers. The larger ones have more in common with products that are currently available. The smaller ones are likely to need government subsidies and programmes that are done in very different way ." Secretan thinks the insurance industry has been too focused on the big producer and has lost track of the hundreds of thousands of small farmers who successfully run their businesses without big losses. “They are faced with rates, terms and conditions which to them are just totally unrealistic," he says. Reto Schneider, director of insurance and specialty risks at Swiss Re, points out that even where insurers are expanding into new markets, they do not have much data to set prices. Meanwhile, there are numerous risks that insurers need to factor in, including jellyfish, predators, disease and pollution, in addition to damage caused by storms and tidal waves, and losses due to algae blooms and water salinity. Schneider adds: “Other challenges include remote areas that are not accessible, and insuring completely new species ." Another challenge is that the cover is not well understood by many small-scale aquaculture farmers, for whom it may be the first insurance product they have ever bought - so education is key. Scott says: “We at FP Marine are very actively educating and working with local insurers to develop innovative solutions, as it is crucial to have a good local partner. “The big Chinese companies are beginning to get involved because they see the opportunities, and the government is keen to protect the aquaculture industry as it is vital for sustainable food security ." As part of this push to move aquaculture cover up the agenda, the first ever Asian Aquaculture & Risk Management conference was held in Hong Kong in May this year. But Secretan points out that other issues also need to be sorted out if the cover is going to be successful in Asia. He says: “The law has got to be right for both insurers and the aquaculture industry. If you are going to stop a disease in its tracks, you may need compulsory slaughter - but who will compensate for that? The availability of drugs to treat disease, the ability of the authorities to restrict movements of stock, and a comprehensive veterinary and laboratory infrastructure are also important issues ." Distribution is also a challenge, as many farmers are in remote and inaccessible areas. Schneider says: “We have to build up a completely new distribution channel. In Vietnam, government representatives went through People's Committees in various provinces, but government people are not insurance people, so a lot of training was needed to make them familiar with our products ." Affordability Another crucial issue is having government premium subsidies, otherwise affordability is likely to be an issue for small farmers. Schneider says: “When you really want to grow in small-scale farms with new countries and new species, you need government support, otherwise it probably will not work ." He adds that there are pilot schemes in China and Vietnam where the government subsidises part of the premium. Paul Koronka, chief executive of Regis Mutual Management, thinks encouraging small-scale farmers to develop mutual would also help increase the levels of aquaculture insurance cover in Asia. He says: “Mutuals are naturally suited to aquaculture. It is quite a powerful mechanism for broadening the access-to-insurance market ." “It is a natural bolt-on to existing co-operatives and it is good for all sides of the insurance industry to become aligned with a well-structured mutual ." Koronka believes well-structured mutuals are self-selecting, while cover can be tailored to members' needs and there is no cross-subsidisation of poor risk. He adds: “It also encourages the reinsurance market to engage, because it can see a self-selecting pool of business. It raises standards across the industry ." Meanwhile, there is talk of developing index-insurance for aquaculture to enable fast payouts. “Index insurance is possible in some areas for aquaculture insurance," says Schneider. “It is possible to make a model and correlate mortality with pollution. It can also be done with wind speed and typhoon damage. However, it will not be a super-sophisticated model and it cannot be done with disease ." There is much to consider and plenty of opportunity for aquaculture insurance to develop in Asia.
2014-06-04
U.S. Agriculture Faces Shortage of Agricultural Science Talents~U.S. agriculture faces shortage of trained scientists May 20, 2014 Olivia McClure, LSU AgCenter | Southeast Farm Press AGRICULTURE SCIENTIST Bob Kemerait (left), a UGA peanut specialist, speaks with attendees at the 2013 Georgia Peanut Tour. Demand for food and fiber is booming as world population grows at an exponential rate. Ironically, the United States - the No. 1 exporter of agriculture products - is facing critical shortages of agriculture workers. Leading domestic life science companies need to hire at least 1,000 trained ag scientists by 2015 to help meet changing global needs, according to a 2013 study by the Coalition for a Sustainable Agricultural Workforce. Nearly half of those hires need to hold doctoral degrees. Despite high demand for these scientists, not enough university students are being trained fast enough in disciplines such as plant science and crop breeding, said Rogers Leonard, LSU AgCenter associate vice chancellor for plant and soil science programs. Many students are simply unaware of these opportunities for employment, partly because of stereotypes of agriculture in popular culture. “A career in agriculture is not just about picking cotton or chopping weeds," Leonard told a group of high schoolers at a recent youth field day. “Science and technology drive the new agriculture today ." Even among children who grow up on farms, however, there has been a degradation of students wanting to go into agriculture, he said. Longer lifespans mean American farmers have gotten older and older in recent decades - in Louisiana, the average age of a farmer is 58.5, according to the 2012 Census of Agriculture. Because farmers don't hand over the reins to the family business as soon as they once did, their children often look beyond agriculture to find employment, Leonard said. The ag industry is running short on human capital at a time it is under pressure to be more efficient, which requires scientific innovation. The CSAW study reports “the pipeline of graduates … isn't as full as it needs to be” and companies “anticipate challenges in finding quality applicants ." Student recruitment at universities is part of fixing that problem. Incoming freshmen who are pondering majors need to know about the diverse opportunities available in agriculture, said Bill Richardson, LSU vice president for agriculture and dean of the College of Agriculture. The college has renewed its focus on recruitment this semester, with representatives traveling throughout Louisiana to reach as many students as possible.
2014-06-04
63% of U.S. consumers support a voluntary GMO labeling policy~~63% of U.S. Consumers Support Voluntary GMO Policies By Amanda Brodhagen, Farms.com A new study suggests that 63% of Americans support the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's existing voluntary policy for labeling genetically modified (GM) foods. Interestingly, the 63% figure is consistent with survey results from previous years. The survey which was conducted by the International Food Information Council Foundation also found that consumers generally had positive perceptions of GM foods. Specifically, GM foods that offer additional nutritional benefits. The study also found that consumers overall confidence in the safety of U.S. food supply to be strong at 67%. Comparatively, only one percent of the survey participants said that biotechnology is something that they avoid when purchasing food. A small percentage 4% of respondents identified biotech as something they want information about on their food labels. Sparingly, a sizable majority of Americans said that they have favorable perceptions about modern agriculture practices. Percentage wise, 73% viewed modern agriculture as sustainable and 71% said that it produces nutritional food. The survey was conducted between March 28 and April 7, 2014, and the sample size was 1000 participants.
2014-06-04
IGC raises global 14/15 corn yield dataIGC raises global 14/15 corn yield data 2014-06-03 09:21 | source: China Grain Network | london, June 2: According to the May monthly report released by the London-based International Grain Council (IGC), the global corn production in 2014/15 is expected to be 0.9552 billion tons, higher than the 0.9502 billion tons predicted in April, but still lower than the previous year's output of 0.9697 billion tons. IGC expects US corn production to be 0.35 billion tons in 2014/15, in line with earlier forecasts and 0.3537 billion tons in the previous year. Ukraine's corn production is expected to be 26.5 million tons, compared with an earlier forecast of 26.8 million tons and 30.9 million tons the previous year. EU corn production is expected to be 65.8 million tons, compared with an earlier forecast of 65.3 million tons and 64.5 million tons the previous year. China's corn output is expected to be 0.215 billion tons, in line with earlier forecasts, compared with 0.2177 billion tons a year earlier. Brazil's corn production is expected to be 71.5 million tons, compared with an earlier forecast of 70.5 million tons and 75 million tons the previous year. Argentina's corn production is expected to be 27 million tons, in line with earlier forecasts and 24 million tons the previous year. South African maize production is expected to be 13 million tons, in line with earlier forecasts, compared with 13.3 million tons the previous year. IGC expects global corn consumption to be 0.9468 billion tons in 2014/15, compared with an earlier forecast of 0.945 billion tons and 0.938 billion tons the previous year. Among them, the amount of feed will reach 0.5486 billion tons, up from 0.5457 billion tons previously predicted and 0.5419 billion tons last year. The consumption is expected to be 0.1028 billion tons, compared with an earlier forecast of 0.102 billion tons and 0.1026 billion tons the previous year. Industrial consumption is expected to be 0.2584 billion tons, compared with an earlier forecast of 0.2613 billion tons and 0.2552 billion tons the previous year. The IGC expects global corn trade to reach 0.1139 billion tons in 2014/15, compared with an earlier forecast of 0.1123 billion tons and 0.1156 billion tons the previous year. Corn ending stocks are expected to be 0.1721 billion tons, compared with an earlier forecast of 0.1629 billion tons and 0.1637 billion tons the previous year. (Source: Master Boyi