Research into cutting nitrogen bills

By dana.bucur Comment Closed
June 23 2010 THE production of wheat and barley varieties which can access and use nitrogen more efficiently could cut farmers’ fertiliser bills while reducing environmental damage from fertilisers leaching into the soil, especially in sandy areas. A recently started five-year Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) funded project has been set up with the goal of developing more nitrogen efficient varieties through a process of assessing genetic variability in nitrogen use efficiency in Australian wheat and barley germplasm, including advanced breeding lines. The project involves researchers from the University of Western Australia (UWA), the Department of Agriculture and Food WA (DAFWA) and the University of Sydney, with contributions from major Australian breeding companies. UWA researcher Winthrop Professor Zed Rengel said high fertiliser prices were driving the development of new cultivars better able to acquire and use nitrogen. “Modern grain production relies on relatively large amounts of synthetic fertilisers to...
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Silos and transport ‘offer good scope for profits’

By dana.bucur Comment Closed
Companies have a "good opportunity to make money" building the infrastructure needed to feed a world population growing by some 100m people a year, a top executive at oilseeds giant Bunge has said. While the need to raise crop production by 1.7bn tonnes in the first half of the century to feed the growing population had been appreciated, the problems of transporting and storing the extra had been largely ignored, Carl Hausmann said. "The infrastructure needs of the world have been underinvested in over the last several year," said Mr Hausmann, the former chief executive of Bunge in Europe and North America, now head of the agribusiness giant's corporate affairs. "But if farmers do not get more facilities to store, deliver crops, they cannot increase their production. Infrastructure is a linchpin of the entire agricultural system." Public vs private sectors Developing the transport facilities and silos needed to meet this demand looked likely to come down to private companies, given the squeezes on public sector...
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Why farmers need a pay rise

By dana.bucur Comment Closed
By Lucy Knight FARMERS are in need of a pay rise if they're to be expected to keep producing food for the world, a parliamentary hearing in Canberra was told last week. Science writer and former head of CSIRO media, Professor Julian Cribb, told a Senate Inquiry on food production last week that major investments in farmers were needed to make it worth their while getting out of bed each day. What's happening instead, he said, is increasing competition for cheap food supplies by major supermarket chains the world "closing down" or "destroying" local industries and driving more and more people out of agriculture. Professor Cribb has recently launched a new book, The Coming Famine, where he speaks of the global food challenge and what efforts are needed to avoid it, including an entire chapter on securing a 'fair deal for farmers'. He told the hearing the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation...
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Canada woes send Paris rapeseed to 19-month high

By dana.bucur Comment Closed
Rapeseed rose nearly 3% to E334.00 a tonne for August delivery, a contract high, and the best price for a near-term lot for 19 months. The better-traded November lot notched up similar records by touching E338.75 a tonne. The rises reflected the impact of Canada's sodden spring - which the Canadian Wheat Board estimates will leave up to 12.5m acres of cropland in the west of the country unsown on hopes for production of canola, the rapeseed variant. Furthermore, the harvest in Ukraine, a key exporter to the European Union, has been dented by winterkill. "There are problems in Canada, there are problems in Ukraine, and prices of these are higher once you have got them into the EU," David Sheppard at UK grain merchant Gleadell said. "Therefore, our market probably has to go up a bit." Crushers' needs At Macquarie Securities, the investment bank, commodities analyst Alex Bos said that the rise in Paris rapeseed prices was "definitely a spillover from Canada's canola situation", which looked...
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EU AGRIBUSINESS – BIG SPENDERS OF EU BUDGET

By dana.bucur Comment Closed
Jack Thurston | February 5th, 2010 - 11:20 am The biggest driver for further reform of the CAP is budgetary. At a time when most governments are struggling with vast budget deficits, public expenditure is under pressure as never before. Policy-makers are looking for ways to trim budgets, to get better value for public money and to ensure that budgets are aligned with their most pressing policy priorities. Several years ago the commission initiated a ‘fundamental’ review of the EU budget and it is expected that this will set the scene for the debate over the EU’s finances from 2014 onwards. The views of member states are critical, as they hold the EU’s purse strings. James Clasper and I have this week published a new analysis of the views of member states on the EU budget and the CAP, based in part on their responses to the budget review consultation....
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Romania – Swiss sell Expur but keep 13,000 hectares of farming land

By dana.bucur Comment Closed
Swiss-held Alimenta Group, the shareholder of Expur Urziceni - producer of vegetable oil brand Ulcom, which last year entered the biodiesel market, will sell all vegetable oil and biodiesel production divisions held via Expur Urziceni to French giant Sofiproteol, but will retain 13,000 hectares of farming land in Galati county. "Agricultural operations, which belong to some of the Expur shareholders are not included in this sale. Agricultural operations involved around 13,000 hectares in the Calarasi area, close to the Danube, where rapeseed, sunflower, wheat, barley, and maize are grown," said Richard Radag, president of Expur Urziceni, without, however, revealing the name of the corporate entity through which the Swiss own these plots. Alimenta Group started negotiations with Sofiproteol for the sale of Expur Urziceni - the biggest biodiesel producer in Europe, with 5.5 billion euros in turnover, with the due diligence process being close to completion. Representatives of...
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Romania – The European Commission approved aid scheme for diesel used in agriculture

By dana.bucur Comment Closed
Date: May 29th 2010 European Commission announced the Romanian Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development the decision on state aid for applying a rate of excise duty of eur 21 per 1000 litres for diesel used in agriculture. After analyzing GD no. 408/2010 approving State aid granted for diesel used in agriculture, the Commission made no objection and decided that an agreed scheme is compatible with the internal market. However, in its assessment, the Commission found that the legislative act complies with "Community guidelines on state aid in the agriculture and forestry 2007-2013’ and that reducing the duty established by legislative act is intended to help facilitate the development of certain activities or regions economic, without trading conditions to an extent contrary to the common interest. Following the opinion, GD no 408/2010 shall enter into force from Thursday, May 27th 2010. Agricultural diesel users, potential beneficiaries of the scheme should apply, at each supply with diesel sales tax documents (invoices) issued by providers...
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Land may become top asset class – beating shares

By dana.bucur Comment Closed
LAND may become the world's biggest asset class, and listed farm operators win an upward rerating, Hardman & Co has said in a report identifying agriculture services groups as the next focus of sector investment. Farmland prices have, in doubling in the UK and US over the last decade, made shares look "an embarrassingly inept bet", the London broker said. Stocks have fallen by 10-20% during the same period. And the outperformance looks set to continue, driven by rising food prices and demand from investment funds. Population pressure Farmland, whose $5,000bn value equates to about 7-10% of the value of world equity markets, could be worth 15-25% of share values by 2020. "By 2050, it is possible to argue that food producing land might have a superior value to all other asset classes," Hardman analyst Doug Hawkins said, noting forecasts of rising global populations. "This land is feeding over 6bn people and is being pressed into feed a further 3bn by 2050." The broker noted the...
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Foreign-owned farms control over 6% of Czech farmland

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zech News Agency | 17 May 2010 Prague, May 16 (CTK) – Farms of foreign owners control more than 6 percent of the total Czech farmland area of 3.6 million hectares, weekly Euro says in its latest issue to be published on Monday, referring to data of the Czech Statistical Office (CSU). There are over 378 farms controlled or partly owned by foreign entities which operate on nearly 230,000 hectares of Czech farmland, Euro says. Foreigners acquired Czech land during a seven-year moratorium which the Czech Republic negotiated before its entry into the European Union. Under the moratorium, which is to expire on May 1 next year, foreigners are banned from buying farmland and forests in the Czech Republic. However, land can be bought by EU citizens which have lived and worked as farmers in the Czech Republic for at least three years, and by legal entities with foreign owners which are based in the...
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