Crop Management
One of the world’s largest pulse crop processors is casting doubt on reports about India’s looming bumper crop. “The word from the Indian trade is that seeded acreage is down and the overall yields are projected to be average to sub-average,” said Murad Al-Katib, president of Alliance Grain Traders Inc. That contradicts official reports from […] Read more
Crop Management
Indian forecast for good pulse crop questioned
US soy climbs on exports, corn flat; oats hit record high
CHICAGO, Feb 6 (Reuters) – Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures rose for a sixth straight session on Thursday, setting a six-week high on strong export demand for U.S. soybeans and soymeal, traders said. Thinly traded CBOT oats surged, with the March contract soaring its daily 20-cent limit to $4.63-1/4 per bushel, the highest-ever spot […] Read more
German 2013 bioethanol production up 9.6 percent
HAMBURG, Feb 6 (Reuters) – German 2013 bioethanol production rose 9.6 percent to 672,000 tonnes from the previous year as low prices attracted buyers, German bioethanol industry association BDBE said on Thursday. BDBE Chief Executive Dietrich Klein said Germany’s bioethanol is competitive, noting sales of gasoline with a higher 10 percent bioethanol content also rose. […] Read more
African states seek new farmland deals without problems of past
ABU DHABI, Feb 6 (Reuters) – African countries that missed out on Gulf cash pouring into agricultural projects elsewhere on the continent are trying to entice Arab investors with deals they say are designed to avoid problems of the past. An earlier wave of foreign investment in African farmland aroused domestic hostility or even unrest […] Read more
Drought forces California farmers to idle cropland
LOS ANGELES, Feb 5 (Reuters) – Drought-stricken California farmers facing drastic cutbacks in irrigation water are expected to idle some 500,000 acres of cropland this year in a record production loss that could cause billions of dollars in economic damage, industry officials said. Large-scale crop losses in California, the No. 1 U.S. farm state producing […] Read more
Alberta Wheat Commission leadership re-elected
Kent Erickson of Irma, Alta., and Henry Vos of Fairview, Alta., will continue as chair and vice-chair of the Alberta Wheat Commission in 2014. The two were re-elected to their executive positions following the AWC annual meeting at the end of January. Erickson represents region three and Vos region five. Elections were held for directors […] Read more
France plans law to restore GMO crop ban
PARIS, Feb 5 (Reuters) – France has launched a move to restore a ban on genetically modified (GMO) maize annulled by its top court to prevent sowings this spring that could raise public outcry in a country strongly opposed to GMO crops. A Senator of the ruling Socialist party submitted a draft law on Tuesday […] Read more
U.S. wheat deteriorates after a brutal January
CHICAGO, Feb 4 (Reuters) – The condition of U.S. winter wheat grown across the southern Plains deteriorated during January as a combination of dryness and arctic temperatures took a toll on the dormant crop, according to government crop reports. In the top U.S. wheat state of Kansas, 20 percent of the crop was rated poor […] Read more
Farm machinery maker Agco forecasts weak demand for 2014
Feb 4 (Reuters) – Agriculture machinery maker Agco Corp warned of weak demand in 2014 due to reduced farm income and forecast current-quarter earnings well below Wall Street expectations. Economic uncertainty in Europe, coupled with a slowdown in demand from U.S. farmers, has weighed on Agco as corn prices continue to slide, pressured by a […] Read more
Poly cup flighting gives tender seeds more TLC
The ability to auger seed at the same rate as a rubber belt conveyor but with 4.4 percent less seed damage might catch farmers’ attention. Researchers at Ohio State University recently moved soybean seed through a six-inch auger with poly cupped flighting, and ended up with a germination rate of 86 percent. A rubber paddled […] Read more
