Tag: agra

THE UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has thrown down what appears to be an impossible agricultural challenge to expand food output drastically on a planet with depreciating land and water resources. In order to feed the extra 2.3 billion people expected to be on the planet by 2050, the FAO said last week the world will have to produce 70 per cent more food. Annual cereal production will need to increase by nearly one billion tonnes to meet this mark, and meat production by more than 200 million tonnes. About 90 per cent of the necessary increase will have to come from increased crop yields and cropping intensity, according to the FAO discussion paper, while extra arable land will have to be found - 120 million hectares of it in the developing world. In Australia, director of CSIRO's Sustainability Agriculture Flagship, Dr Peter Carberry, says the world demand for food and fibre will eclipses climate change as the world's next great challenge. The "21st...

FARMERS have been warned that storing grain on-farm is not a marketing strategy in itself. Danny Verbeek, the accumulation manager for Elders Toepfer, the business that is working to bring on-farm storage into the mainstream through its on-farm storage accreditation scheme, said it was not enough simply to store grain post-harvest hoping for a spike in the months after. "You have to have a strategy prior to storing the grain, it is not enough to just dump the grain on-farm and hope for a rally," Mr Verbeek said. Please read more on http://fw.farmonline.com.au/news/nationalrural/grains-and-cropping/general/have-a-plan-in-mind-for-onfarm-grain-storage/1637075.aspx?src=enews...

By 2050, according to new modelling work by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), climate change could help push wheat prices up by 170-194 percent, rice prices up by 113-121 percent, and maize prices up by 148-153 percent. Please read more on http://fw.farmonline.com.au/news/nationalrural/agribusiness-and-general/general/population-boom-to-double-food-prices/1637126.aspx?src=enews...

The overarching aim of this study is to provide a complete and detailed insight of the evolution of high-volume retailers (HVR) in the food and clothing sectors in different EU Member States, over the last 5 years. The main conclusions from the analysis are the following. The number of HVR (firms with more than 5% market share) in the food sector is around 5 in each country. The combined market share of the top-5 firms (C5) in the food retail market varies significantly between countries. Germany and the UK are the most concentrated markets with over 70% of the market controlled by the largest five firms. The French market is also comparatively concentrated (C5 of 60%) whereas in Italy, Spain and the Czech Republic it is between 30% and 45%. Over the last three years, there have been significant increases in market concentration in the UK, the Czech Republic, Romania and Spain. Pleaseread more on http://www.londecon.co.uk/le/publications/recent_reports.shtml...

February 10, 2009 "Market Oracle" -- After reading about the droughts in two major agricultural countries, China and Argentina, I decided to research the extent other food producing nations were also experiencing droughts. This project ended up taking a lot longer than I thought. 2009 looks to be a humanitarian disaster around much of the world To understand the depth of the food Catastrophe that faces the world this year, consider the graphic below depicting countries by USD value of their agricultural output, as of 2006. The countries that make up two thirds of the world's agricultural output are experiencing drought conditions. Whether you watch a video of the drought in China, Australia, Africa, South America, or the US , the scene will be the same: misery, ruined crop, and dying cattle. Please read more on http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21955.htm...

More evidence is emerging that this recession has changed everything. First, a new and rather large survey by IBM shows that Americans at all income levels, despite the tough economic situation, are not sacrificing quality to save money on their food purchases, but - big but - they are more conscientious about the brands they buy, the packaging they buy and the supermarkets they shop to find new ways to save money. Furthermore, they have confirmed that their new spending strategy "will stick beyond the recession", IBM said. In the survey of 4000 American consumers - from those earning less than $20,000 per year to those earning more than $100,000 per year - 72 per cent said they are more focused on quality than price in their grocery shopping trips, and 90-92pc said health/nutrition and value will be of equal or greater importance when the recession ends, IBM said. Consumers are becoming more flexible about brand and grocery store loyalty but are reluctant to...

Global wheat supplies for 2009/10 are projected 5.0 million tons higher with higher beginning stocks and increased prospects for global production. World wheat production is raised 2.8 million tons for 2009/10 with major increases for India, United States, EU-27, China, and Ukraine partly offset by reductions for Russia, Argentina, Canada, and Kazakhstan. India production is raised 3.0 million tons to a record 80.6 million based on the latest revision to the official government estimate. EU-27 production is raised 1.6 million tons mostly on higher reported yields for Germany, but also on better-than-expected yields for France and rising prospects for harvested area and yields for Poland. Partly offsetting are cuts for Spain, Romania, Bulgaria, and Austria where persistent dryness reduced yields. China production is raised 1.0 million tons reflecting the first official indications for the harvested summer crops. Ukraine production is raised 1.0 million tons on higher winter wheat area and harvest reports. Please read more on http://www.wellgrain.co.uk/images/features/USDA_120-08-2009.pdf...