Rain key to state agriculture in 2013

Wisconsin's dairy farmers are poised for a strong 2013 because milk prices are expected to rise and feed prices are likely to drop, a panel of agriculture experts predicted Wednesday. Crop farmers, on the other hand, face a key unknown — whether they'll get enough rainfall to compensate for last year's prolonged parched conditions.

Wisconsin produced a record 27.2 billion pounds of milk last year, remaining the nation's second-leading producer behind California. However, the 4 percent increase didn't necessarily translate to more money for Wisconsin's dairy farmers because it was offset by lower milk prices and higher feed costs.

Worldwide demand suggests that milk prices are likely to rise, while the price of feed is expected to stabilize, said Mark Stephenson, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Stephenson was a featured speaker at the annual Wisconsin Agricultural Economic Outlook Forum, which was held Wednesday in Madison. The event typically features about half a dozen agriculture professors who forecast the outlook for key Wisconsin products.

Most speakers said they were most concerned about lingering effects from last year's dry weather. The drought was severe enough that most fruit and vegetable crops were hit hard, and the crops that fared well were largely those that could tap into water reserves deep in the soil.

This year those water reserves are partially depleted, and it would take about 12 inches of rain statewide to replenish them, according to a Status of Wisconsin Agriculture 2013 report produced by UW-Madison.

Weather patterns have been too uncertain in recent years to predict rainfall with any certainty, so the best crop farmers can do is hope for enough rain to compensate for last year, said Brenda Boetel, an agricultural economist at UW-River Falls.

She also cautioned that consumers might pay extra for beef in the grocery store this year. Many dairy and beef farmers culled their herds last year because the drought sent feed costs soaring, and the U.S. supply was further limited because the demand for beef has increased in developing countries.

"Beef that cost $5 per pound last year might cost 10 to 20 cents more this year," she said.

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Dry cold weather affects agriculture and horticulture in Kullu region

Intense dry cold conditions and lack of rainfall in Himachal Pradesh has taken a toll on the Rabi Crop as well as on apples and other fruits.

Dharambir Dhami, an agriculture expert, said: "The weather is cold and dry. It's so dry that children are falling sick and same is the case with old people. It's really difficult. Also, the farmers are suffering. Agriculture and horticulture have taken a severe hit. Apple production has also been adversely affected and farmers incurred heavy loss. Agriculture is in a bad shape, the last season was bad and even this year there is little hope, as farmers have not been able to cultivate wheat as yet."

Dhami also said that apple production would particularly be affected in the low-lying regions of the state.

The dry weather has also affected the production of other crops such as wheat as the growth of the crop is dependent on a good amount of rainfall

Although not cold by the standards of Europe and North America, the drop in temperature can have a devastating effect on the hundreds of thousands of homeless people in India. (ANI)

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Using rainwater to develop agriculture

THE ongoing rains and floods have played havoc with all four provinces, as well as with Azad Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan. Hundreds of people have died as a result of landsliding and electrocution in different parts of the country.

The half of the Dera Ghazi Khan city has been reportedly inundated because of rains. The government has declared it a calamity-hit area. Soldiers have been deployed in Sindh to take part in relief and rehabilitation work.

According to media reports, the floodwater has closed Punjab-Balochistan highway. The communication network of Balochistan with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has also been suspended. Apart from Multan, Sukkur, Kashmir, Naseerabad, Jhal Magsi, Dera Bugti, Bolan, Sibi, Dera Allah Yar and other towns and cities have been affected by rains.

The standing crops of maize and tobacco have been devastated and washed away by floods/ torrential rains. Many people are now homeless and have moved to safer places. The meteorological department has forecast more rains which can cause more problems.

The Monsoon season is most notable in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Likewise, torrential monsoon rains and floods

cause devastation in other countries also. The governments of these countries consider themselves responsible and manage such disasters through a proactive approach.

But the situation in Pakistan is different. The government and the authorities concerned do not bother about taking preemptive measures to overcome the situation. As a result, many human lives are lost. The economy, including agriculture, suffers greatly, despite forecast by the meteorological department.

Thus rains have become a disaster rather than a blessing, especially the poor are largely affected.

To overcome the situation and rehabilitate and compensate the hapless and homeless, the government has no other option but to ask for foreign aid.

The fact is that had our policymakers taken timely and concrete measures to cope with the situation, the rainwater could have brought an economic revolution in our life. Beside generating electricity, we would have been able to utilise rainwater for developing our agriculture.

Otherwise our surplus and excessive water will continue to fall and waste in the sea. Every year we have to confront rains and floods, but policymakers are reluctant to take workable decisions to improve the situation.

Let us pledge to take urgent and concrete measures to curb this menace once and for all.

SHAUKAT HAYAT BUNERI

Buner

People’s misery

HEAVY rains that have inundated Sindh, Balochistan and parts of Southern Punjab portray a scene of misery for the people who have turned into refugees in their own country with meagre belongings.

Does it not bring tears to the broad smiling faces of our rulers who boast of serving the people as ‘khadims’. The hypocrisy is writ large on their faces when they fail to take any action to store rainwater upstream to the relief of the lower riparian.

China has built six storages on the Brahmaputra River passing through their territory to store floodwaters, while we have made only one storage on the Indus, which is not enough to control rainwater.

DR M. YAQOOB BHATTI

Lahore Cantt

Original Article Here

Tractors Revolutionise Agriculture in Chad

By François Djékombé

N’DJAMENA, Sep 18 2012 (IPS) - Chad has more than 400,000 square kilometres of arable land, but poor rainfall and a reliance on basic agricultural techniques have left the country with a grain deficit in the past two years. The government is turning to mechanisation in a bid to improve harvests. Chad became an oil producer in 2003. But despite the financial rewards raked in from this, the northern and eastern parts of this Sahelian country have suffered famine since 2010.

Chadian President Idriss Déby Itno, whose fourth term began in 2011, has put youth and the countryside at the head of his priority list. He wants to put an end to what he has called “the hellish cycle of famine”. But the cereal deficit has stubbornly remained at more than 500,000 tonnes a year since 2010.

A factory to assemble tractors was opened in N’Djamena in 2009.

The government has made tractors available to smallholder farmers to boost production in the 2012-2013 growing season. As part of the National Food Security Programme (PNSA), some 450,000 hectares of land were expected to be ploughed between mid-June and the end of August and a harvest of 900,000 tonnes of grain is expected.

A total of 914 tractors will till the fields at a cost of 19 dollars per hectare, said Yaya Mahamat Outman, responsible for monitoring and evaluation for PNSA, at the launch of the growing season in April 2012. The receipts from the ploughing will raise more than 8.4 million dollars, which will serve to keep the programme running, he added.

The N’Djamena-Fara district, just 40 kilometres northwest of the capital, N’Djamena, is one of the country’s prime agricultural regions. While fishing and livestock have been the principal economic activities of residents of N’Djamena-Fara, that has changed with the arrival of the tractors.

“With a tractor, even the laziest person can have a farm,” joked Othniel Djimadoumngar, one of the tractor operators assigned to work here. In total, five tractors are working in this area. Djimadoumngar ploughs between seven and eight hectares a day, while it would take several days to prepare even one hectare manually or with an ox.

But keeping the machines running has been a problem. “When a tractor breaks down, we have to fix it ourselves. When we call N’Djamena, no one responds. Even getting hold of base dressing, like NPK (fertiliser added to the soil while ploughing), is not easy. Sometimes you have to go to Douguia, a town 30 kilometres away, to buy them,” said Patrice Allarabaye, head of agriculture in the N’Djamena-Fara district.

Gisèle Bénaïdara Djasnebeye, an agriculture advisor, told IPS that her role in the district is to help producers to achieve the best yields.

“What you see here is a demonstration plot. We teach producers how to transplant rice. You always need to transplant in a grid of 25 by 25 centimetres, or 20 by 20, using a measuring tape. With this technique, if the plot is properly weeded and looked after, a farmer can harvest as many as 90 100-kilo sacks of paddy rice per hectare,” Djasnebeye told IPS.

As the ploughing season draws to a close across the country, some 400 hectares of land will have been tilled in N’Djamena-Fara this year thanks to the tractors. The smallholders paid cash for the service. The rainfall has also been good. If the predictions are accurate, farmers in the district will harvest around 36,000 bags of paddy rice this season.

PNSA’s work complements that of the National Office for Rural Development, established in the 1960s and now the largest and oldest government structure to support farmers.

PNSA deploys extension workers and agronomists in the field to support farmers. Each year, it buys up stocks of staple foodstuffs direct from growers and resells them at subsidised prices during famine or the annual lean period, which runs from the end of June until the first of the harvest is reaped in the latter part of August.

This year it built up a reserve of more 20,000 tonnes of grain.

While rice farming, livestock and fishing are key economic activities in N’Djamena-Fara, it is also a major centre for growing fruit and vegetables. Thanks to the Logone river which flows through the district, many vegetables are available throughout the year, such as cabbage, cucumbers, spinach and carrots, as well as different kinds of fruit.

But N’Djamena-Fara, like many parts of Chad, has difficulties getting this bounty to the capital, despite its proximity. Most of the produce is delivered to Cameroonian merchants who cross the Logone which separates N’Djamena-Fara from Goulfé, a border city.

Mahamat Moussa Kach, sub-prefect of N’Djamena-Fara, told IPS: “We are so close to the capital, just 40 kilometres away, but paradoxically we are cut off from the rest of Chad.” He hopes that an 18-kilometre section of unpaved road will be tarred, as promised by the government, to allow them to transport their produce to the capital.

Original Article Here

Late rains should boost rabi crop prospects: RBI

MUMBAI: As the monsoon season draws to a close, the Reserve Bank today said the late revival of rains should brighten prospects for key rabi crops like wheat, allaying to an extent fears over farm growth outlook. 

Monsoon, the lifline of Indian agriculture, has revived in last one month but Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Rajasthan continue to face deficit rain. 

The overall monsoon deficit has declined to 7 per cent so far, from 22 per cent a month back. 

While announcing the mid-quarter review of the monetary policy, the RBI said: "With the progressive reduction in the rainfall deficit, kharif sowing, though still below normal, has improved. Reassuringly, the late rains have augmented storage in reservoirs which should improve prospects for the rabi crop, mitigating to some extent concerns about agricultural prospects." 

Recently, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar had said that deficit rains have impacted sowing of kharif crop and production of coarse cereals and pulses will be affected. 

However, the revival of monsoon augurs well for rabi crops, he had said. 

According to official data, total area under kharif crops is lower by over 1.2 million hectares as on September 14, as compared to a normal year (average of five years), with major fall being in coarse cereals, pulses and oilseeds. 

Due to impact of poor monsoon on agriculture, Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) had in August pegged farm sector growth at 0.5 per cent for the current fiscal, a projection that is even lower than in 2009-10 when monsoon was the worst in 28 years. 

The farm sector had expanded at growth rate of 2.8 per cent in the last fiscal.

Original Article Here

Dry weather puts top wheat ranking in jeopardy

CAROLINE HENSHAW 

AUSTRALIA may lose its ranking as the world's No 2 wheat exporter in the next marketing year as dry weather threatens to reduce yields of the grain, the head of trading at Cargill Australia said yesterday.

Poor rainfall in Western Australia is expected to cut national production in the year starting October 1 by about a quarter from last year's bumper crop to 22.5 million tonnes, according to government forecasts this week.

Cargill trading manager Will Reid forecast wheat exports would fall to 18-19 million tonnes in 2012-13, down from a record 24.5 million tonnes in 2011-12 and substantially below the 21.5 million tonnes official forecast by the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences. "Who will be the No 2 exporter is between Australia and Canada, but it's probably more likely to be Canada," Mr Reid said.

Despite the reduced volume forecasts, exporters can expect strong returns from grain.

Wheat prices have jumped 35 per cent on the Chicago Board of Trade since the end of May, fuelled by fears of a shortfall of world supplies, as drought has devastated crops in two of the world's largest producers of the grain -- Russia and the US.

Front-month CBOT wheat for September delivery closed 0.8 per cent higher at $US8.67 a bushel after the US Department of Agriculture this week lowered its estimate for world wheat production to come in 5.2 per cent below last year's level.

DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

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Argentina's wheat crop benefited from record rains

Argentina's 2012/13 wheat crop benefited from record rains in August although some flooding has hurt plants in key areas, the Agriculture Ministry said on Friday in its weekly crop report. Argentina is the world's No 6 wheat exporter and the top supplier to neighbouring Brazil. Government officials estimate production this season at 12.5 million tonnes, which would translate into about 6 million tonnes of exports under government trade caps. 

August's plentiful rains not only benefited wheat; they also contributed to moist soils as Argentine farmers start sowing corn and prepare to seed soybeans. In Buenos Aires province, the country's top wheat-growing region, crop conditions vary. In Pehuajo, conditions are excellent, while in Tres Arroyos and 25 de Mayo, flooded fields could be hiding losses, the ministry report said. 

By Thursday, farmers had planted 97 percent of the 3.7 million hectares estimated for wheat this season, showing no progress from a week earlier and lagging 3 percentage points behind last season's pace. The US Department of Agriculture forecasts Argentina's 2012/13 wheat output at 11.5 million tonnes, down from 15 million tonnes in the previous crop year. 

The Agriculture Ministry said farmers have begun seeding 2012/13 corn in some parts of Santa Fe province, one of the biggest corn-growing regions in the country. Many grains experts are forecasting record corn production in the coming season due to expectations for wet weather. Corn area is seen falling from last season, however, due to farmers' financial difficulties after a tough, drought-battered harvest. Farmers just finished gathering the 2011/12 corn crop, which totalled 21 million tonnes, according to the government. The USDA foresees Argentine corn production of 28 million tonnes in the 2012/13 crop year. 

Copyright Reuters, 2012

Argentina trims wheat outlook

Argentina's Agriculture Ministry trimmed its outlook for 2012/13 wheat area on Thursday to 3.7 million hectares from 3.82 million hectares a month ago, further dimming the crop's prospects. The South American country is the world's No 6 wheat exporter and the top supplier to neighbouring Brazil. But the area planted with wheat is seen shrinking by about 20 percent this season, largely due to commercial problems.

"There were practically no rains during the month of July, which made it impossible to finish seeding all the area that was initially forecast," the ministry said in its monthly crop report. Farmers complain that government intervention in grains markets has slashed the profitability of wheat, pushing them toward cultivating more corn and soya.

Argentine growers planted 4.63 million hectares with wheat in the 2011/12 crop year, producing 13.19 million tonnes. The US Department of Agriculture forecasts that Argentine wheat production will fall to 11.5 million tonnes in the 2012/13 season, down from 15 million tonnes a year earlier.

The Buenos Aires Grains Exchange said on Thursday that farmers finished planting wheat on a total of 3.6 million hectares during the last week, down from 4.6 million hectares in the prior growing season. "Just under half of that area is concentrated in Buenos Aires province, where average moisture conditions for the crop's seeding, growth and development range from good to excellent," the grains exchange said in its weekly crop progress report.

After a dry July, rains have picked up the pace in August. In its report, the local ministry held its forecast for the recently harvested 2011/12 soya crop at 40.1 million tonnes and kept its 2011/12 corn output projection at 21 million tonnes. It did not give estimates for 2012/13 corn or soyabean area in Argentina, the world's No 2 corn exporter and No 3 soyabean supplier. The Buenos Aires Grains Exchange reported that farmers were nearly done harvesting 2011/12 corn, which it estimated at 19.3 million tonnes.

"The average national yield (is estimated at) 5.51 tonnes per hectare ... making this the lowest yield in the last 12 seasons," the exchange said, citing drought-related losses to early-seeded corn. Farmers have gathered 99 percent of harvestable corn area, advancing 1.2 percentage points in the last week and beating last season's tempo by 0.7 points. The 2011/12 soya harvest is over and the government said production fell 18 percent from the prior season, also because of the drought. 

Copyright Reuters, 2012

Agriculture and climate

Khan Faraz

Agriculture is the mainstay of the country’s economy. According to the Pakistan Economic Survey 2011-12, the agriculture sector is the second-largest sector of the economy and contributes about 21 percent to the GDP. It provides 45 percent of the country’s labour force with employment opportunities and 60 percent of the rural population depends directly or indirectly upon this sector for its livelihood. According to the Survey, Pakistan’s agriculture grew by 3.1 percent against the targeted 3.4 percent. Agriculture is continuously witnessing a downward trend. It has registered an overall decline of 10 percent in several major and minor crops during the last three years.

The top reasons for the decline have been the floods in the country during 2010 and the heavy rains in Sindh in the summer of 2011. This is not to mention the lack of research, insufficient funds allocation and discouragement to domestic varieties among the major impediments in the development of agriculture. Therefore, farmers should practise knowledge and improve food security through sustainable agriculture. Promotion of sustainable agriculture will not only save the environment, it will also boost the farmers’ income.

 Original Article Here

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack: I pray for rain every day

By Georgetown/ On Faith

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack listens to a question during a press briefing about the drought in the midwest at the White House in Washington July 18, 2012. Broiling heat has blanketed much of the U.S. Midwest this week, exacerbating the region's worst drought in more than 50 years and devastating corn, soy and other vital crops. (KEVIN LAMARQUE - REUTERS)

“I get on my knees every day and I’m saying an extra prayer right now. If I had a rain prayer or a rain dance I could do, I would do it.”

Original article here

Positive thinking; farmers hopeful for good season

HOPE: Farmer Geoff Piggott is hopeful for a good season.

By ANDREW STORY

Cleve Rural Traders Agronomist, Sarah Traeger said the seeding process has been slow, however after the rain it will pick up again.

“A majority of farmers have stopped (seeding) up until after the rain,” she said.

Ms Traeger said Eyre Peninsula farmers were seeding a range of crops including wheat, barley, canola, lupin, peas and vetch.

She said it was too early in the season to predict how much each would yield as it depended on how much rain the region received during the spring time.

Cowell farmer Geoff Piggott, pictured above, has received close to 100 millimetres of rain in the past week, which has slowed his seeding right down.

Mr Piggott, who has about three days of seeding left, said he has 800 hectares and will be seeding wheat

this season.

He said he had experienced an average start to seeding this season.

“In the 30 years since being here, seeding starts about May 23, which it did this year too, so it was about

average,” he said.

Although it is early into the season, Mr Piggott is expecting his crop to yield about 18 bags to the hectare.

“I’m hoping for about $270 a tonne,” Mr Piggott said.

Paul Webb from Cowell has received about 64 millimetres of rain in the past week.

“The rain has slowed us down to a stop, but we’re not complaining,” he said.

“Now that it’s wet, it will stay wet.”

This season Mr Webb is seeding mainly wheat, oats and barley.

With about 300 hectares left to seed, he has set 1600 hectares for wheat and 200 hectares for feed.

Mr Webb said he is expecting to yield around the same amount as Mr Piggott.

Ms Traeger said so far this season, there has been no issues with mice or other pests.

Original Article Here

Agriculture Extension Update: Million dollar rain

By Gary Zoubek

Coming Events

May 29, 2012 – 8:00 p.m. – Extension Board Meeting, Extension Office, York

June 19, 2012 – 7:00 p.m. – PQA Plus Webinar, Extension Office, York

Cropping Update/ Weather

I checked my rain gauge as I prepare this column Monday morning and it had just at three inches! 

This moisture was long overdue and welcome!  I checked NE Rain and it appears we received a good amount of  rain in many part of the York area. 

Hopefully you did not have any major hail, but I know that some areas did.  

We hear about million dollar rains and this has to be one for our area.  We were going to have to do some irrigating of crops, but now the sensors I have installed in several fields are reading at field capacity or more!  

We had a little hail, but the rain did much more good than the little hail we received did harm. I’m sure that it was a million dollar plus rain!  

The ETgage that I’ve been monitoring dropped 2.3” for the week.  That’s kind of typical for this time of the year when we get lots of wind and we’re wondering if it will ever stop blowing. 

The good news is that the crop is still relatively small, but is beginning to take off.  

The early planted corn field I’m monitoring is in the 6-7 leaf stage, so the crop coefficient is .35 for 6 leaf corn and .51 for 8 leaf corn, so for the week we used between .8” to 1.15”. 

To get the crop water use, we multiply the crop coefficient times the ETgage drop.  

I did not estimate the crop use for soybeans, since for our area, we typically don’t recommend irrigating them until they reach R3 stage and with this rain, were on a good pace to be able to do that!

The ETgage in front of our office that has a #30 or grass cover on it dropped 1.50” this past week.  It can be used to estimate the water use for watered grass or turf.

So for the week, it averaged .21” per day. For the second week in a row, the turf has used more water than our field crops, but as the field crops get larger, that’s going to soon change.

As I mentioned last week, since the grass has a root zone that’s about a foot deep, we’ve seen may areas of grass really showing drought stress as if it was July or August but it’s only late May. 

This rain should help this situation for a while.

For more info about ETgages and Watermark sensors contact Dan at the NRD or me. Also check out the NAWMN website:http://water.unl.edu/web/cropswater/nawmdn. 

Check out the Extension Circular “Watermark Granular Matrix Sensor for Measuring Soil Matric Potential for Irrigation Management” and NebGuide  “Using Modified Atmometer (ET) for Irrigation Management”. 

We also have videos on how to install and use these tools along with growth charts for estimating the various crops stage of growth and water use as well as charts that estimated the soil water depletions for various Watermark Sensor readings for various soil types.  

For the latest crop updates, check out CropWatch at: http://cropwatch.unl.edu.

PQA Plus Webinar Planned

It’s more important today than ever that livestock producers care for their animals and get certified every three years. 

We will be hosting this training at our office on June 19th at 7:00 p.m. 

I’d like to remind all area pork producers that need this training to get the date down on their calendar and plan to attend!

Original Article Here