Dec 15, 2009 10:44 AM, By Elton Robinson, Farm Press Editorial Staff
Wet weather at the wrong time will have a big influence on rice profitability in the Mid-South this year and next, but rice producers at the USA Rice Outlook Conference in New Orleans were also focused on two other factors that could impact their bottom line — rice prices and regulation.
“Overall, we had a good season,” said Jackie Loewer, a rice producer from Branch, La. “We had some really big yields. We didn’t break any records, but we did well in rice particularly, and soybeans looked good. We had a couple of days of pretty good harvests, then it started raining when everything was ready. It took several weeks before it was dry enough to thresh.”
While harvest operations proved expensive due to problems stemming from wet fall weather, “at least we had something to sell,” Loewer said. “We were through with beans and second crop rice before Thanksgiving, got all our beans delivered last week and sold them Dec. 7.”
Loewer is holding rice in bins, noting, “I think there’s some upside potential in rice. I’m not sure exactly where it’s going to go. Will it go to where it did in the spring of 2008? I don’t think so. But I can’t see anything real negative. Venezuela is going to need rice. Of course, they don’t like us, so they may not come to us right away.
“Around the world, I don’t see a lot of downside. Here in the United States, we’re somewhat stable with our yields year in and year out. The only downside we see right now is that the mills are really struggling in the export business.”
Loewer believes rice acreage for rice will hold in 2010. “Even at the prices we have right now for rice,people are selling.”
One problem could be the anxiety that some foreign buyers have expressed regarding the volatility of the U.S. futures markets. “Theoretically, using futures works for pricing rice, but in practice, it can be brutal,” Loewer said.
Mike Strain, commissioner of the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry, who welcomed attendees to the conference, said producers should be concerned with coming regulation.
“Most Americans are three or four generations removed from the farm,” Strain said. “This lack of understanding of the importance of production agriculture is leading Washington bureaucrats to advance legislation and regulatory policies (such as cap and trade legislation) that will have a negative impact on agricultural producers.”
“All this is coming down at us,” Loewer said. “We seem to be in a very defensive mode. That’s not our comfort level. That’s not what we like to do. When we have a problem on the farm, we like to go fix it. Right now, we’re just accepting what’s going on. We’re just receiving information on what we’re required to do next year.
“We need to be more proactive. A lot of it is simply letting people in Congress know. The role of a leader is to accurately define reality. It’s our job to explain to Congress the consequences of what is happening at the farm level.”
Travis Satterfield, a Benoit, Miss., soybean and rice producer and president of the Delta Council for 2009-10, says the 2009 crop year is one he would just as soon forget.
“We had sort of a rough start. Initially, we had a wet spring and couldn’t get the crop planted. We had a lot of replant situations in soybeans. Then after we got the crop up, it turned dry. We had a small soybean crop that wasn’t growing real well so we ran some water across it, then we got some heavy rains. It just seemed that from the start to finish, we were out of step the entire season. Then the wet fall weather was another detriment to us. This has been year we’d like to forget and start over for next season.”
Satterfield noted that prices for soybeans and rice “seem fairly positive at this point. Corn prices appear to be a little weak, but hopefully that will improve. It looks like input costs have sort of stabilized, so maybe there is the prospect for a pretty good year in 2010.”
Satterfield said many Mid-South commodity producers are feeling the pinch of severe crop losses this year and higher costs next spring for ground preparation.
“That’s a big concern right now. We still have a lot of land that did not get much fall preparation, and it’s pretty rutted. We have some work to do.”
Satterfield is hopeful for some type of disaster assistance for commodity producers in the Mid-South, including sweet potato producers in Mississippi, who suffered severe losses in 2009. “We have strong support from our congressional delegation, and from surrounding states including Arkansas. When you have a regional disaster, it’s always a little more difficult to go forward, but we’re positive they’re working hard.”
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Thai Flood-Resistant Jasmine Rice To Be Available Next Year
Thai Flood-Resistant Jasmine Rice To Be Available Next Year
By Oryza News on May 10,2007
A new flood-resistant variety of jasmine rice seeds will be available to Thai farmers by next year, Rice department chief Suraphong Pransilapa said Thursday. "Field trials of the new rice have just been completed," Suraphong said. "The upgraded variety can withstand up to 20 days of submergence of paddy fields due to floods and save farmers from losing the crop."
The rice, Khao Dok Mali Thon Nam Thuam, has the physical characteristics and long translucent grain common to regular jasmine rice. It is the result of a yearlong effort by scientists at the department working in conjunction with Kasetsart University, he said.
Apichart Vanavichit, director of the state-run Rice Gene Discovery Unit, said the research team first examined the weakness of regular jasmine rice eight years ago. It is popular with farmers in the north and northeast, but can't tolerate flooding at critical times of the year.
With initial funding coming from Thai princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, the team began searching for the right genes to give it flood-resistant qualities. The research team found the genes in a species of Indian rice and
experimented with implanting the extracted genes into regular jasmine rice. The stems of the jasmine rice became stronger, and better able to resist flooding, Apichart said.
The growing of flood-resistant jasmine rice showed that local varieties are significant in rice development, he said, adding studies should be made of many local varieties that contain unique qualities before they disappear.
"Researchers and local farmers should learn together in developing new varieties. That would pave the way for more sustainable preservation efforts," said Apichart. "The government will further develop the strain and promote the new variety in a big way, which will be readily available next year," he said.
By Oryza News on May 10,2007
A new flood-resistant variety of jasmine rice seeds will be available to Thai farmers by next year, Rice department chief Suraphong Pransilapa said Thursday. "Field trials of the new rice have just been completed," Suraphong said. "The upgraded variety can withstand up to 20 days of submergence of paddy fields due to floods and save farmers from losing the crop."
The rice, Khao Dok Mali Thon Nam Thuam, has the physical characteristics and long translucent grain common to regular jasmine rice. It is the result of a yearlong effort by scientists at the department working in conjunction with Kasetsart University, he said.
Apichart Vanavichit, director of the state-run Rice Gene Discovery Unit, said the research team first examined the weakness of regular jasmine rice eight years ago. It is popular with farmers in the north and northeast, but can't tolerate flooding at critical times of the year.
With initial funding coming from Thai princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, the team began searching for the right genes to give it flood-resistant qualities. The research team found the genes in a species of Indian rice and
experimented with implanting the extracted genes into regular jasmine rice. The stems of the jasmine rice became stronger, and better able to resist flooding, Apichart said.
The growing of flood-resistant jasmine rice showed that local varieties are significant in rice development, he said, adding studies should be made of many local varieties that contain unique qualities before they disappear.
"Researchers and local farmers should learn together in developing new varieties. That would pave the way for more sustainable preservation efforts," said Apichart. "The government will further develop the strain and promote the new variety in a big way, which will be readily available next year," he said.
Mills creating hurdles in rice paddy procurement
Mills creating hurdles in rice paddy procurement
By: Ramzan Chandio
Published: November 04, 2009
KARACHI - The rice mills owners in country are creating obstacles in smooth procurement of paddy from growers as they have expressed unwillingness to lease mills’ premises to the PASSCO, official sources told The Nation.
The PASSCO, which is a federal organization, has approached the owners of rice mills in the county to get mills’ premises on lease to store the paddy of kharif crop 2009 there, which is to be purchased from the growers.
The federal government has assigned task to PASSCO to procure the rice paddy of over one million tons from the growers directly on prescribed rates announced by Ministry of Food and Agriculture for this outgoing kharif season 2009.
The government has fixed minimum support price of Rs600/40kg for irri-6, above Rs1200/40 for Baspati and other varieties. Though, the PASSCO has started preparations to purchase the commodity from growers, but rice mills owners are creating hindrances in terms of disallowing their mills’ premises to lease PASSCO, sources said.
Keeping in view the problems in smooth purchasing of paddy from growers, the PASSCO has sought the help from provincial governments in this regard, sources in PASSCO said, adding that it is consciously striving to implement the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet/MINFA decision regarding PASSCO’s intervention in procurement of paddy of kharif crop 2009, but the arrangements critically depends on hiring/leasing of the rice mills. The official confirmed that during PASSCO’s initial efforts for leasing of the rice mills in the country, only 2 mills from Sindh have showed their willingness to lease their premises to PASSCO.
However, 94 rice mills from Punjab have expressed willingness to lease their premises to PASSCO, while no rice mills from Baluchistan came forward in this regard.
By: Ramzan Chandio
Published: November 04, 2009
KARACHI - The rice mills owners in country are creating obstacles in smooth procurement of paddy from growers as they have expressed unwillingness to lease mills’ premises to the PASSCO, official sources told The Nation.
The PASSCO, which is a federal organization, has approached the owners of rice mills in the county to get mills’ premises on lease to store the paddy of kharif crop 2009 there, which is to be purchased from the growers.
The federal government has assigned task to PASSCO to procure the rice paddy of over one million tons from the growers directly on prescribed rates announced by Ministry of Food and Agriculture for this outgoing kharif season 2009.
The government has fixed minimum support price of Rs600/40kg for irri-6, above Rs1200/40 for Baspati and other varieties. Though, the PASSCO has started preparations to purchase the commodity from growers, but rice mills owners are creating hindrances in terms of disallowing their mills’ premises to lease PASSCO, sources said.
Keeping in view the problems in smooth purchasing of paddy from growers, the PASSCO has sought the help from provincial governments in this regard, sources in PASSCO said, adding that it is consciously striving to implement the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet/MINFA decision regarding PASSCO’s intervention in procurement of paddy of kharif crop 2009, but the arrangements critically depends on hiring/leasing of the rice mills. The official confirmed that during PASSCO’s initial efforts for leasing of the rice mills in the country, only 2 mills from Sindh have showed their willingness to lease their premises to PASSCO.
However, 94 rice mills from Punjab have expressed willingness to lease their premises to PASSCO, while no rice mills from Baluchistan came forward in this regard.
Malaysia agrees to import rice, cattle from Pakistan : Qureshi
Malaysia agrees to import rice, cattle from Pakistan : Qureshi
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has expressed its willingness to import rice and cattle from Pakistan and Malaysian delegation comprising official and private officials would visit Pakistan in December for the import of mango and other fruits.
The willingness was shown by Malaysian Agricultural Minister Haji Nooh Bin-e-Omar during meeting with visiting Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Tuesday.
Both the leaders during their meeting discussed in detail agriculture and agricultural industries, livestock and on the promotion of Halal food industry.
Malaysian Minister said Malaysian delegation would visit Pakistan soon and would hold meetings with Pakistani counterparts, while he would visit Pakistan next December and agreement-promoting cooperation in agriculture and livestock fields would be signed.
During the meeting, Qureshi said Pakistan produces high quality basmati rice in enough quantity, which is popular throughout the world due to its good taste and smell, while it has vast reservoirs of the rice for exporting it to Malaysia and there is no hurdle to disconnect its transportation.
Qureshi said Halal meat is being used in enough quantity and we have the international standard system for its processing and packing, through which severe scarcity of meat could be ended in Malaysian markets by providing freeze beef and mutton, while it can also import mango and other fruits of international standard.
He said Pakistan is the biggest country in the world of producing milk and its products, which neither could fulfill needs of Malaysian but could also improve Pak-Malaysian cooperation in this field regarding promotion of modern technology.
Pakistan can provide technical help to Malaysian in the field of cattle production and in the field of anti-cattle diseases, so that could increase the number livestock in Malaysia, adding, Pakistan can also export cows of Sahiwal breed and buffalos of Neeli Ravi breed.
Qureshi during the meeting invited the Malaysian Minster to visit Pakistan in December to promote Pakistan-Malaysian cooperation in food, agriculture and livestock and said Pakistan wanted to send technical manpower to Malaysia, so that could play role in the development of Malaysia.
He said Pakistan wants to avail the experiments of Malaysia and other countries in packing, processing and marketing fields for increase in trade volume and development and emphasized on the setting up of joint working group for increase in import and export of rice, beef, mutton, mango, milk and its products and promotion of cooperation in other fields and the working group should include representatives of government and private sectors of the two countries.
The Malaysian Minister welcomed the proposals of Shah Mehmood Qureshi and expressed his full willingness to them, saying, his countries takes interest in importing rice and cattle, so that could meet the country requirements effectively.
He said the Malaysian delegation during its visit in December would hold meetings with their Pakistani counterparts for the import of mango and other fruits, milk and its products.
Accepting the invitation of Pakistan visit, the Malaysian Minister thanked Shah Mehmood Qureshi and expressed the hope that during his visit to Pakistan agreement promoting Pakistan-Malaysian cooperation in food, agriculture and livestock would be signed.
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has expressed its willingness to import rice and cattle from Pakistan and Malaysian delegation comprising official and private officials would visit Pakistan in December for the import of mango and other fruits.
The willingness was shown by Malaysian Agricultural Minister Haji Nooh Bin-e-Omar during meeting with visiting Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Tuesday.
Both the leaders during their meeting discussed in detail agriculture and agricultural industries, livestock and on the promotion of Halal food industry.
Malaysian Minister said Malaysian delegation would visit Pakistan soon and would hold meetings with Pakistani counterparts, while he would visit Pakistan next December and agreement-promoting cooperation in agriculture and livestock fields would be signed.
During the meeting, Qureshi said Pakistan produces high quality basmati rice in enough quantity, which is popular throughout the world due to its good taste and smell, while it has vast reservoirs of the rice for exporting it to Malaysia and there is no hurdle to disconnect its transportation.
Qureshi said Halal meat is being used in enough quantity and we have the international standard system for its processing and packing, through which severe scarcity of meat could be ended in Malaysian markets by providing freeze beef and mutton, while it can also import mango and other fruits of international standard.
He said Pakistan is the biggest country in the world of producing milk and its products, which neither could fulfill needs of Malaysian but could also improve Pak-Malaysian cooperation in this field regarding promotion of modern technology.
Pakistan can provide technical help to Malaysian in the field of cattle production and in the field of anti-cattle diseases, so that could increase the number livestock in Malaysia, adding, Pakistan can also export cows of Sahiwal breed and buffalos of Neeli Ravi breed.
Qureshi during the meeting invited the Malaysian Minster to visit Pakistan in December to promote Pakistan-Malaysian cooperation in food, agriculture and livestock and said Pakistan wanted to send technical manpower to Malaysia, so that could play role in the development of Malaysia.
He said Pakistan wants to avail the experiments of Malaysia and other countries in packing, processing and marketing fields for increase in trade volume and development and emphasized on the setting up of joint working group for increase in import and export of rice, beef, mutton, mango, milk and its products and promotion of cooperation in other fields and the working group should include representatives of government and private sectors of the two countries.
The Malaysian Minister welcomed the proposals of Shah Mehmood Qureshi and expressed his full willingness to them, saying, his countries takes interest in importing rice and cattle, so that could meet the country requirements effectively.
He said the Malaysian delegation during its visit in December would hold meetings with their Pakistani counterparts for the import of mango and other fruits, milk and its products.
Accepting the invitation of Pakistan visit, the Malaysian Minister thanked Shah Mehmood Qureshi and expressed the hope that during his visit to Pakistan agreement promoting Pakistan-Malaysian cooperation in food, agriculture and livestock would be signed.
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