" I heard it through the AgLine"

August 16, 2007

 

 

·        Specialty crop alliance outlines priorities

·        DuPont strives to make up sales lost to Monsanto

·        Researcher travels far to get the scoop on beans

·        India evaluates fruit, vegetable export markets

·        Aussie farmer treed for a week as crocks gather below

 

 

 

Specialty crop alliance outlines priorities

(Wire Services) – The U.S. House recently passed a Farm Bill that for the first time recognizes the needs and priorities of specialty crop producers. Specialty crops account for nearly half of all the cash crop receipts in America. The Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance, a national coalition of more than 120 specialty crop organizations, is hoping that Congress will enact federal farm policy that focuses on increased competition while providing a safer, healthier and nutritious food supply for all Americans.

Over the last two years, our coalition has outlined a series of priorities that results in more balance and equity into the Farm Bill. One of our top priorities is a focus on improving nutrition for all Americans, especially our children. We've all read stories and seen reports that indicate obesity among adults and children is soaring. I have even read reports where some have said it's at an epidemic level.

One of the ways that we can turn the tide against obesity is expanding the USDA Fruit and Vegetable Snack program to all 50 states. This program helps establish a routine for children in developing lifelong health habits through the consumption of fruits and vegetables. Without a doubt, if congressional leaders are serious about implementing policies that focus on more nutrition, they will dedicate the resources to expand this program to schools all across America.

We have also outlined other priorities that must be expanded upon in the current Farm Bill. We support enhancing critical trade assistance and market promotion tools that will grow international markets for specialty crop producers. This tool will inject more competition into the current Farm Bill debate.

Additional investment in the prevention and mitigation protocols to combat invasive pest and diseases is a critical need for specialty crop producers. Pests and diseases cost the economy millions of dollars due to the destruction of crops each and every year. We also support greater investment in research to improve the safety, taste and quality of foods.

Finally, specialty crops are unique to certain regions of the country. We believe a critical component of the Farm Bill is the expansion of the state specialty crop competitiveness projects that have a proven track record of delivering positive results for specific local needs. The "Ohio Grown" campaign partnered with 20 grocery chains totaling approximately 250 stores in efforts to promote home-grown specialty crops. In addition, the Ohio Department of Agriculture brokered an agreement with the largest fresh fruit and vegetable trade show in the world allowing individual growers to exhibit allowing them to expand their business and retail abilities

The Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance has outlined a series of priorities that will inject more competition into the marketplace while ensuring a food supply that is safer, healthier and more nutritious for all Americans. In the coming weeks, the U.S. Senate will vote on a Farm Bill. We encourage them to support legislation that is more balanced, equitable and enhances the investment made in the House version.

Robert Guenther is senior vice president for public policy with the United Fresh Produce Association. He also is secretary of the Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance, a national coalition of more than 120 specialty crop organizations.

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DuPont strives to make up sales lost to Monsanto

(Bloomberg News) – DuPont Co., the world's largest corn seed producer, said it accelerated $100 million US in investments aimed at halting the loss of North American market share to rivals led by Monsanto Co.

DuPont hired 150 more sales and marketing employees in its Pioneer seed unit and is increasing production of the most-popular seeds, the Delaware-based company said Wednesday in an Internet presentation. Monsanto grabbed as much as five percentage points of U.S. corn-seed share from competitors this year, the company's sixth straight gain.

"Pioneer is making a very strong case that they are back. They are saying they are going to hold share in 2008 and grow share in 2009," Mark Gulley, an analyst with Soleil Securities, said.

In the U.S. Gulley rates DuPont shares a "hold."

DuPont forecasts its global seed sales will rise 15 per cent this year and at least 10 per cent in 2008. About half of the seed investment will be used for research to get new products to market faster, Erik Fyrwald, agriculture group vice-president, said in the presentation.

"At the top of the list is to turn around our North American corn market share situation by, at a minimum, holding share flat in 2008," Fyrwald said.

DuPont shares have climbed 20 per cent in the past year.

DuPont had 30 per cent of North American corn-seed sales this year, spokesman Anthony Farina said. St. Louis-based Monsanto, the world's biggest seed producer, said in June its market share exceeded 30 per cent for the first time.

The marketing hires will increase sales time with customers by 25 per cent, helping demand for Herculex seeds that compete with Monsanto's Yieldgard products, Fyrwald said.

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Researcher travels far to get the scoop on beans

 

(The Columbian) – By Dean Baker: Washington State University researcher Carol Miles has spent many months over the past five years traveling from Vancouver to Africa, planting, harvesting and cataloging beans.

Her purpose is to help American farmers earn a profit and to help African farmers feed the hungry.

Quietly and steadily, the internationally known vegetable horticulturist has joined with her assistant Liz Nelson and a changing crew of graduate students to test a new exotic mix of dried beans. In Western Washington and Oregon, the new varieties of beans may produce major profits for small, specialized niche farms.

But the work that had been conducted at WSU's Research and Extension Unit at 1919 N.E. 78th St. has shifted to a facility in Mount Vernon, north of Seattle. The move occurred amid questions about the future of the Vancouver site.

For African farmers, Miles and her students have been working to increase seed production of red kidney beans and get them into the hands of farmers where transportation systems are poor.

"In Washington, we've been using colored and patterned beans," Miles said before leaving to work in Malawi. "These are beans that are not on the shelf anywhere, beautiful old beans, heirloom, in very pretty colors and patterns, that farmers have been selling from Olympia to Western Oregon, often at several dollars a pound."

They've been a success, for example, on Laura Masterson's 47th Avenue Farm in Portland as well as at Ayers Creek Farm in Gaston, Ore. Masterson said she's been growing and selling Jacob's Cattle beans and cannellini beans that Miles developed, and has just started growing other varieties of dry beans from Miles' stock.

"The beans are great. They are definitely profitable for us, a nice little niche option" said Masterson, who grows a wide variety of fruits and vegetables. "Carol is a tremendous resource. She saved us years of work. I can't tell you how tragic it is that she is not going to be here anymore."

Miles' work isn't all beans. She also has been studying a new cornstarch-based, biodegradable mulch to replace the common black plastic that now lingers for years in landfills.

She's been growing more than 100 varieties of watermelon. She works with graduate student Jamie Cummings on spinach variety trials. She also has worked to develop hearty Pacific Northwest butternut squash with Molly Jahn, now dean of the University of Wisconsin College of Agricultural and Life Sciences.

It's unclear whether any of this research will continue in Vancouver.

Changes have already come to the 79-acre research station, which from the late 1800s through 1949 was "the county poor farm" for homeless, disabled or elderly men and women. WSU and Clark County changed the use of the land in 1949 to an agricultural experiment station.

Now, in the spirit of economizing on the state's agriculture research functions, much of the work is being transferred to other sites.

Miles and entomologist Lynell Tanigoshi, the Vancouver station's two major researchers, have moved their offices to WSU's Northwestern Research and Extension Center at Mount Vernon. Researcher Tom Walters, also based at Mount Vernon, continues some blueberry and raspberry experiments here.

It's unclear how the old farm will be used in the future, officials say.

WSU and Clark County have been negotiating for several years on the fate of the land. Ideas range from continued farm research to setting up ball fields with walking trails and open space.

"The possibilities are for a regional agriculture demonstration farm, or for care of small-scale crops or production," said Blair Wolfley, southwest district director of WSU Extension in 11 Western Washington counties. "I don't know of anyone who is concentrating on urban fringe production, and that might be a possibility. You don't have to have an office here to continue to do research here."

Nelson, who lives in Battle Ground, hopes the research will continue at 78th Street. She notes that weather and soil conditions at Mount Vernon are different from the conditions in Clark County. "What about the farmers here?" she asked.

Miles said she just plans to carry on her work wherever it's allowed and let Wolfley talk about the future of 78th Street.

Miles has developed an international reputation. She joined Washington State University in 1994 as an area extension agent specializing in vegetable production systems. She also has studied alternative high-value crops including edamame (vegetable soybeans), baby corn, pea shoots, wasabi and bamboo.

Her interest in sustainable agricultural systems seems to have grown naturally out of the pattern of her life.

Born in Rangoon, Burma, she attended grade school in Turkey, Nigeria and Panama. She graduated from high school in Afghanistan. She served in the Peace Corps, teaching vegetable production in Cameroon. There she also worked on a bean and cowpea project studying crop balancing and pest issues.

She also worked on preventing blindness in Malawi with the Helen Keller Foundation and Save the Children. She saw a lot of subsistence agriculture in all these places and cultures, and her goal became working with farmers to create sustainable production systems that provide a source of well-being to both the family and the community.

She has also worked on organic pest control, disease suppression and human pathogens. She has worked in Malawi and Tanzania on sustainable seed systems. She said she intends to carry on her work, wherever she can find space and interest.

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India evaluates fruit, vegetable export threats

 

(The Economic Times) – NEW DELHI: Fledgling horticulture industry is likely to face stiff competition from China, Pakistan and Australia if right export strategies are not adopted, says a policy oriented think tank.

The threat arises from the fact that countries like China have a huge production base, efficient supply Chain and better infrastructural facilities, the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations said in a working paper “Can horticulture be a success story for India?”

“These three nations can give India a tough competition if right export strategies are not adopted,” the ICRIER paper said. India’s fruit exports have increased over four-fold during the past four years and value of exports has gone up 10 times. In value terms, mango and grapes earn the maximum exchange for the country. Potato and onion are the most important vegetables, both in terms of quantity and value of exports.

Maximum number of fruits and vegetables are exported to Bangladesh, while some vegetables such as brinjal have found a market in the UK, Saudi Arabia, the Netherlands and France. The United Arab Emirates imports around 60% of papaya, sapota, pineapple and pumpkins from India. Other major export markets for horticultural products are Nepal, Singapore and Malaysia.

Making a case for improving export strategies, the paper pointed out that China’s horticultural economy has advantages with varied agro-climatic regions and abundance of labour. The competition from Pakistan and Australia would become intense in commodities like mango, guava, potato and grapes. Australia is India’s competitor in exporting grapes to Bangladesh, while Pakistan in export of guava, mango and potato to the South Asian countries, the report said.

In fruit exports, India is the world’s largest producer of banana, mango and guava and second largest in lemon after Mexico. In case of vegetables, the country is the largest producer of peas and ranks second in brinjal, onion, cabbage and cauliflower.

Horticultural development, it said will also help the country in overall economic growth through generation of foreign exchange and uplift the small and marginal farmers. The Horticulture Mission aims at doubling the production of fruits and vegetables in the country by 2010. It is estimated that the production of fruits and vegetable would increase to 66.9 metric tonne and 131 metric tonne respectively by 2010 and almost double by 2015

Horticultural crop diversification should be encouraged by inter cropping horticultural with non-horticultural crops, for more food, income and better soil health, the report said.

India also needs to strengthen research on horticulture crops and develop demand-driven technology by improved variety, pest management, in both private and public sectors.

“These technologies should be disseminated through government institutions, NGOs and even private participants by encouraging farmers’ participation and upgrading their technical capabilities,” it said.

The Horticulture Mission identifies the potential states for identified fruits and vegetables that will enhance the export potential of the country. Andhra Pradesh is targeted to enhance exports of mango, banana, grapes, papaya, guava, brinjal and cabbage.

Maharashtra and Karnataka are targeted to raise exports of banana, grapes, papaya, guava and onion. The Horticulture Mission aims at doubling the production of fruits and vegetables in the country by 2010. It is estimated that the production of fruits and vegetable would increase to 66.9 metric tonne and 131 metric tonne respectively by 2010 and almost double by 2015

 

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Aussie farmer treed for a week as crocks gather below

 

(nzherald.com.nz) – The manager of a Queensland cattle ranch claims that he spent nearly a week up a tree, with only two sandwiches to sustain him, and two large crocodiles circling below.

David George's strange tale began when he fell off his horse while out in rugged bushland. Dazed and bleeding, he gave the horse "its head" to carry him home.

Instead, it took him into the heart of a crocodile swamp - a fact that Mr George realised, quickly regaining full consciousness, when he saw crocodile tracks and a nest.

He climbed a nearby tree, and spent his first night among the branches, about 8ft above the ground. But, he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation yesterday, "I could see two sets of eyes . . . about 12 metres to eight metres away from the bottom of the tree".

The next day he climbed higher, setting up some sticks that he could lie on. But the crocs were still below. His two sandwiches lasted him three days.

Meanwhile, he tied his shirt to a stick and spread toilet paper in the branches, in the hope of attracting rescue crews. He also created flashes off the back of tin lids. After his horse arrived home without him, a search and rescue operation was launched.

Eventually an army helicopter crew rescued him from his treetop sanctuary. He was flown to hospital and treated for minor injuries, then discharged. He had spent six nights up the tree, he said. Mark Read, an officer with the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service, said Mr George had been fortunate to survive a very dangerous situation.

He was "very lucky in terms of having a tree that was the right size and shape to accommodate his body for the length of time he stayed up there", Mr Read told the ABC. The crocodiles, he said, would have realised that Mr George was injured, and would have identified him as their next meal.

 

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