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Agriculture • Britain’s farmers are facing the third poor harvest
Beleaguered farmers’ third poor harvest in a row mean British shoppers will rely on imported food
Crops from potatoes and peas to cereals are being hit, leading to increased reliance on imported produce
ANDREW JOHNSON MONDAY 01 APRIL 2013
Britain’s farmers are facing the third poor harvest on the run as the coldest March in 50 years plays havoc with crop planting – already significantly down because of last year’s wet weather.
With the cold snap set to continue through April farmers say crops such as potatoes, peas, tomatoes and ornamental flowers have either not been planted, are not growing or are being stunted by the lack of light.
This follows low winter planting levels of cereal crops – a fifth down on last year because of the wet weather. A shortage of spring seed is adding to the problems.
Lower UK crop yields will make UK consumers more reliant on imports and the vagaries of the international markets, which could push up prices. Livestock farmers have been struggling to cope for some time with feed shortages due to poor grass growth in the summer, and continuing snow hampering deliveries.
Farmer’s Weekly columnist David Richardson, who farms near Norwich in Norfolk, said: “Last year our acreage was in the ground by 2 March. This year, with snow falling every day and frosts most nights, there’s no hope of drilling anything. 2013 will be the third poor year in succession.”
Lincolnshire farmer Mark Pettit told the magazine that slug damage and dead patches meant the wheat harvest would be down by 30 per cent – from 15m tonnes to 10m.
The results of the winter planting survey by the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board showed that until December in England and Wales wheat planting was down by 25 per cent on the previous year, barley down by 19 per cent and oats down 30 per cent. Overall cereal crops were down by 19 per cent.
The board’s senior analyst Jack Watts said: “Traditionally, following a difficult autumn planting spring barley is the most popular ‘go to’ spring crop. However, the availability of seed could be a limiting factor.”
He added: “It is important to remember that UK grain and oilseed markets operate in a global market. It is critical to monitor the global situation.”
Reports from the National Farmers Union Board for Horticulture and Potatoes, which represents growers, provides a snapshot of the difficulties farmers are facing. Growers of potatoes, peas and flowers for garden centres all saying their planting was late and existing crops were being hampered by the cold and poor light.
The board’s chairman, Guy Poskitt, a Yorkshire farmer who grows root vegetables wrote: “The main concern is the land being very wet and cold. Nothing is growing and the prospect of early crops or high yielding summer crops now looks low. Another year of shortage is highly likely.”
He told The Independent: “We’re about a fortnight to three weeks behind. Nature’s a wonderful thing and it might turn around with a warm summer. But if not we’ll need more imports and that means prices go up.”
Tim Papworth, who farms in Norfolk, added: “We are well behind on planting potatoes and drilling peas which will push the whole season back.”
Soft fruit grower Anthony Snell of the West Midlands said: “Yields and production will inevitably be down, but there will be a consistent programme of production throughout the season to ensure that we have enough soft fruit for every summer event.”
Tomato farmer Paul Simmonds of East Anglia added: “Light is significantly down on levels expected for this time of the year.”
Flower growers are facing huge energy bills as they struggle to keep crops warm and supplied with light.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/ho … 56131.html
Statistics: Posted by yoda — Mon Apr 01, 2013 3:44 pm
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Agriculture • English winemaker scraps entire grape harvest due to weather
Nyetimber, which is based in West Sussex and produces around 400,000 bottles of sparkling wine a year, said that the quality and volume of this year’s grape harvest is not up to its usual standard.
The winemaker said that it had taken the “exceedingly difficult” decision to skip this year’s harvest as part of its commitment “to put quality above all else”.
This summer’s wet and cold summer meant that grapes did not mature as they should. Yields across many British vineyards are expected to be down by around 25 per cent and 75 per cent this year.
The Sussex winery, which provided wine for the Queen’s barge during the Jubilee, only uses grapes grown on its estate, meaning that there will be no wine produced at all at Nyetimber this year.
The move could result in a shortage of English sparkling wine in three or four years’ time when wine from this vintage would normally be released.
Cherie Spriggs, Nyetimber’s winemaker, said: “The quality is just not there. We’ve been monitoring the situation for some time and made the final decision on Tuesday after a week of difficult conversations with myself, the viticulturalist and Eric Heerema, the owner."
She said that the maturity of the fruit “is not where it needs to be”.
Ms Spriggs said: "As for the flavour development, that’s just not worth talking about. It’s heart-breaking. For the whole team here it’s tough – this is what we do, we take vines and we grow grapes and we make them into wine so to not have a harvest.”
A spokesman said: “The wet and cold summer meant we knew it could be a challenging harvest, but you never know till closer to harvest. Followed by a wet and cold autumn this has meant conditions aren’t right for maturing our top quality grapes.”
In 2009 Nyetimber made enough wine for about 400,000 bottles, representing about 12.5 per cent of the wine production of the entire country that year. The estate covers around 430 acres.
In a statement, the company thanked all the workers who had helped to grow this year’s harvest.
It said: “The drive for perfection is key to every aspect of Nyetimber’s business. We focus not on years, but on generations. Nyetimber remains committed to creating the finest sparkling wine in England, one to rival the very best in the world, including champagne, and continues to look to the future with excitement and confidence.”
The company said that “at this stage” the cancelled harvest will not cause it to increase the price at which it sells its wines.
“However, sparkling wines are released after several years on the lees, so that pricing decision is some way off,” the spokesman said.
Two years ago Nyetimber’s Classic Cuvee 2003 won first prize in an international competition, beating leading French Champagne producers including Bollinger and Louis Roederer.
The first Nyetimber vineyards were planted in Sussex in 1988. The aim was to make premium sparkling wine that would rival Champagne.
The south of England shares similar geology and soils to the Champagne region.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ … ather.html
Statistics: Posted by yoda — Wed Oct 10, 2012 11:12 pm
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Agriculture • Focus on fire prevention for 2012 harvest
Focus on fire prevention for 2012 harvest
Charles Schwab and Willy Klein, Iowa State University Extension | Updated: August 11, 2012
Nationwide, combine and tractor fires are believed to have caused tens of millions of dollars in property losses each year. Harvest is a prime time for agricultural fires, even when the weather has not been warm and dry. This year, the normal harvest dryness will be intensified since Iowa has been experiencing drought conditions. The potential for agricultural fires also is increased above normal, warns Chuck Schwab, agricultural safety specialist with Iowa State University Extension and Outreach.
“The three parts of any fire – fuel, oxygen and ignition source – are in Iowa’s agricultural fields,” said Schwab. “Fuel sources such as husks, leaves, dust and grains are always present when harvesting, and so are many sources of ignition found on combines, trucks and other vehicles that include exhausts, hot engine compartments, bearings and electrical wiring.”
Minimize risk of harvest fires
Schwab said there are several ways farmers can minimize the risk of harvest time fires.
Clean stalks and debris from the combine often. How often depends upon the wind and field conditions.
Monitor tractors for similar buildup of dry materials that are a fuel source for fires.
Watch closely when trucks and other vehicles enter those fields with dry materials. The catalytic converter located on the underside of these vehicles can easily serve as the ignition source.
Carry a fire extinguisher and know how to use it.
Using fire extinguishers
Carrying a fire extinguisher in these vehicles might make the difference. Be prepared for combine fires by carrying two ABC-type extinguishers – one in the cab and one at ground level. Use a 10-pound extinguisher in the cab or operator’s station and a 20-pound size nearer to ground level. Tractors and other vehicles can have one ABC-type extinguisher and the size depends on the space available.
“Make sure the extinguishers you have on your vehicles are ready and fully charged for use,” Schwab said. “Just having the extinguisher is not enough; you should know how to use it effectively.”
Ideally it is best to have practiced putting out a fire with an extinguisher in a controlled training session before confronting an actual fire, according Schwab. However, that is not always possible, so he suggests remembering the acronym PASS when using any portable fire extinguisher. PASS stands for
P – Pull the pin in the fire extinguisher handle. This allows you to squeeze the handle and release the extinguishing agent.
A – Aim the fire extinguisher at the base of the fire. If the spray is not directed at the base, then the chance of extinguishing the fire is lost.
S – Squeeze the handle firmly to start the flow of extinguishing agent. Starting and stopping extinguishing agent flow is controlled by squeezing the handle.
S – Sweep the fire extinguisher back and forth – not too fast or too slowly because it does make a difference in how effective you’ll be in extinguishing the fire.
Not all fire can be extinguished by an individual with a portable fire extinguisher. A large 20-pound fire extinguisher does not contain an infinite supply of extinguishing agent. These portable extinguishers only last a few minutes at most and that means the time to control the fire is limited. A fire extinguisher can be effective when properly used if the fire is discovered early, when it is still small.
Fires that have been discovered too late or that have grown too big for a fire extinguisher to handle require a different response. Call for professional help during the first sign of fire. Instead of fighting the fire, retreat to a safe distance and wait for the professionals. In some cases, farmers barely have enough time to exit the operator station before the fire can trap them. Avoid getting caught or trapped by a large fire while trying to extinguish it.
“Personal safety must be the top priority and the equipment that is on fire secondary,” said Schwab. “Make smart decisions about safety as you choose to fight or flee a fire. The value of that equipment that is on fire is never worth your life.”
http://www.cattlenetwork.com/cattle-new … 23586.html
Statistics: Posted by yoda — Sat Aug 11, 2012 3:25 pm
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Agriculture • Record corn harvest to cut Chinese imports by 60%
Record corn harvest to cut Chinese imports by 60%
China’s much-watched corn imports will tumble by 60% thanks to improved harvest hopes, with Argentina and Brazil also set to help fill a void in supplies left by the drought-hit US output.
China, whose import prospects have been a big factor in influencing Chicago corn prices over the last two years, will import 2.0m tonnes of corn in 2012-13, down from the 5.0m previously expected, matching the previous season’s total, the US Department of Agriculture said.
The downgrade reflected – besides reduced hopes for exports from the US, which faces its lowest yield in 17 years – an increase of 5.0m tonnes to a record 200.0m tonnes in the forecast for the Chinese harvest, thanks to benign weather.
Feed vs meat
"According to reports from industry and government analysts, satellite imagery, and crop yield models, it appears that China’s corn yields in 2012-13 may exceed earlier expectations," the USDA said.
"The overall weather pattern has been favourable for corn growth this summer," with "above-normal rainfall in July" covering the important north east production region.
However, Steve Kahler, chief operating officer at exchange traded fund group Teucrium Trading, also flagged the importance of China’s meat consumption dynamics in determining its need for imports of corn, which is used primarily as a livestock feed.
"They may import more corn because they import less in the form of protein," Mr Kahler told Agrimoney.com.
Safra vs safrinha
The USDA lifted hopes for output in Mexico and South Africa, but particularly in the major South American producing countries of Argentina and Brazil, for which harvest estimates were raised by 3.0m tonnes apiece.
In Brazil, growers are expected, for the first time, to plant more second season, or safrinha, corn, sown as a follow-on crop after the soybean harvest, than first-crop corn to capitalise on high prices.
Ironically, the chance means that the safrinha, or so-called "little harvest", will exceed the safra, or big, one.
"In addition, Brazilian farmers in the Midwest and Northeast are adding more irrigation systems which reduce drought risks, increase yields, and increase crop area with double and triple cropping potential," the USDA said.
Dispute over acres
For Argentina, the second-ranked producer, the USDA boosted estimates for corn area to 3.8m hectares, on a harvested basis, noting that "excellent corn pricing has suggested potentially good returns".
The forecast contrasts with estimate earlier this week from the Buenos Aires Grains Exchange that Argentine corn area may fall 20% to 3.1m hectares in 2012-13.
"Reduced investment capacity among some growers following a bad season, the increase in some costs and a moisture deficit in a big part of the grains belt are variables that counterbalance incentives to plant," the exchange said.
http://www.agrimoney.com/news/record-co … -4854.html
Statistics: Posted by yoda — Fri Aug 10, 2012 10:11 am
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Agriculture • Corn prices hit record after US cuts harvest hopes
Corn prices hit record after US cuts harvest hopes
Farm officials cut their forecasts for the US corn and soybean crops even further than investors had expected to account for damage from drought, lowering their estimates for the corn yield to a 17-year low.
Corn prices soared to a record high.
The US Department of Agriculture cut its estimates for the domestic corn yield from 146.0 bushels per acre to 123.4 bushels per acre, which would be the worst result since 1995.
The estimate for acres abandoned because of the worst drought in more than 50 years, capped by the hottest July on record, was raised by 1.5m acres to 9.0m acres, to leave production at a little under 10.8bn bushels.
This figure represented a 2.2bn-bushel downgrade from the USDA’s July estimate, and was lower than the market had expected.
Soybean downgrade
For soybeans, the yield estimate was cut to 36.1 bushels per acre from 40.5 bushels per acre.
With the forecast for sowings making it to harvest also reduced, production was pegged at 2.69bn bushels, 350m bushels lower than previously expected.
The downgrade was also bigger than forecast by investors.
More soon
http://www.agrimoney.com/news/corn-pric … -4852.html
Statistics: Posted by yoda — Fri Aug 10, 2012 6:54 am
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Agriculture • Heatwave threatens US grain harvest
Heatwave threatens US grain harvest
By Gregory Meyer in New York
An intense heatwave is threatening havoc with this year’s US grain harvest, burning up hopes of blockbuster yields and sending prices soaring.
Even a modest reduction in crops could send ripples through global food commodities markets, as the US is the world’s top exporter of corn, soyabeans and wheat, and stocks of the first two are relatively low.
Soyabean prices have surged to the highest level since the 2007-08 food crisis and the price of this year’s corn crop has risen 30 per cent since mid-June. Worries about the size of the US crop come only months after drought hit the Latin American soyabean belt of Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay.
Top US farming states such as Illinois and Indiana had suffered temperatures above 38ºC (100ºF) for several days already, with no let-up this week.
“The forecast is going to remain pretty much the same over the next week. We’re not looking at much of a break in the heat,” said Matt Barnes, meteorologist at the National Weather Service’s central Illinois office.
Soyabean futures on Monday rose 1.5 per cent in early trading to $15.42 a bushel, the highest since July 2008. The oilseed price has surged 15 per cent since the beginning of June as high temperatures blanketed farm fields. Corn came within pennies of $7 a bushel for the first time since September.
“We aren’t seeing widespread failure yet, but it sure is developing rapidly,” said Brian Fuchs, climatologist at the National Drought Mitigation Centre.
The US Department of Agriculture on Monday said less than half of US corn was in good or excellent condition while 22 per cent was in poor condition, downgrading estimates from a week ago.
The shift in grain market sentiment caught traders and farmers off guard. Lulled by an early and successful planting season, money managers, such as hedge funds, one month ago had the smallest number of bullish bets on corn in two years.
The warmth that enabled farmers to plant seeds quickly has since escalated into damaging extreme heat.
“The combination of low subsoil moisture, which is a reflection of the lack of precipitation that we had during the winter, together with the very hot weather that we’re seeing right now could spell a pretty disastrous scenario for corn and soyabeans,” said Hussein Allidina, head of commodities research at Morgan Stanley.
The outcome is critical to global food prices and the agribusiness industry because the US supplies almost half of global corn exports and a third of soyabean exports. Demand for both has risen as consumers in emerging countries eat more meat.
The heatwave threatens to undermine forecasts of record output after the most widespread US corn plantings in 75 years. The Agriculture Department said that US farmers seeded 96.4m acres with corn this spring, 541,000 acres more than they told government surveyors in early March.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7bc2f826-c45f … z1zVvuwjx8
Statistics: Posted by yoda — Mon Jul 02, 2012 6:19 pm
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Agriculture • World corn harvest to hit record in 2012-13 – IGC
World corn harvest to hit record in 2012-13 – IGC
The world corn harvest is to hit a record in 2012-13, supporting the first rise in inventories in four seasons, and an all-time high in overall grains production, the International Grains Council said.
World corn output will rise 4.2% to 900m tonnes, as farmers scramble to exploit historically elevated prices by lifting plantings, the influential intergovernmental group said.
"Due to favourable pricing and good potential returns, total plantings are expected to reach an all-time high," the council said.
The expected rise in output will more than offset a rise in consumption to leave raise inventories by 7m-tonne over the season, the first increase since 2008-09.
Corn consumption will be constrained by a small fall in demand from US ethanol plants and competition with barley and wheat in the feed market.
‘Quite tight’
Nonetheless, the "modest" rise in inventories will still leave them "quite tight" in 2012-13, the IGC said.
Indeed, at 129m tonnes, they will translate into a stocks-to-use ratio of 14.4%, up four percentage points year on year but still low by historic standards.
The stocks-to-use ratio is a key measure of the availability of a commodity, and therefore of its price potential.
By country, inventories will rise in the US to 30.5m tonnes, but fall in Brazil and China, the IGC forecast.
Wheat prospects
The increase in corn production, combined with larger barley and sorghum crops, will more than outweigh a drop in wheat output to lift the global grains harvest by 1.9% to 1.88bn tonnes
Overall grains sowings will rise by 1.9% to 540m hectares, a 16-year high.
The wheat harvest is seen falling 15m tonnes to 681m tonnes, "capped by a projected reduction in the average yield from the current year’s high".
The IGC added that crops "may be smaller in Australia, Kazakhstan, Morocco and Ukraine, but better outcomes are expected in North America and Russia".
http://www.agrimoney.com/news/world-cor … -4354.html
Statistics: Posted by yoda — Mon Apr 02, 2012 1:14 pm
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