CANFA Comment

I have just returned from Kazakhstan and thought the CANFA members may be interested in this article, below, relating to the drought in Central Asia.
My ZT plantings are looking just OK and will out yield the conventional planted crops (chisel tyne, 120kg/ha) some of which never germinated in the severe conditions of 40+degree temps, hot winds and zero rain since mid-May. Having planted my trials with a lower seed rate, 40, 50 and 60kg/ha, and planting into a “trench” allowed germination and early establishment of the plant. I will be lowering my planting rates to 40 and 50 kg/ha next year as 60kg/ha worked in the good year of 2011 but has suffered badly this year.
I must keep telling myself this is only year 2 of my 5 year ZT/Conservation trial program and I am yet to establish a mulch that will protect and improve the soil – so a long way to go.
Release Date: Wednesday, 8 August 2012
Substantially lower-than-expected yields from harvests in Southern Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan will considerably reduce exportable surpluses from these countries and drive commodity prices even higher, according to Offre & Demande Agricole UK Ltd., a European provider of independent grain market intelligence services to the farming and agri-food industry.
In the south of Russia, the country’s largest production area, the wheat harvest is nearly 80 percent complete, but yields are 25 percent to 30 percent lower than in 2011. In Ukraine, where weather conditions have been terrible throughout the growing season, expectations are that production will be approximately 40 percent to 50 percent lower than in 2011, according to Offre. “In recent weeks most commentators have been focusing on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s downgrading of estimates for world stocks of wheat, corn and soybeans, but that is only one part of a very complex story,” said Leo von Kameke, market analyst for Offre. “What most people have missed is the dire harvest situation in Eastern Europe, where dramatically lower yields look set to have a serious impact on the exportable surpluses from this region and therefore on wheat prices in Europe."
Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan have traditionally accounted for around 25 percent of global wheat exports, but this is likely to drop to less than 15 percent during 2012. "With Russia’s exportable tonnage likely to fall by over 50 percent, many people will be comparing the situation to that which we witnessed in 2010, and this has led to fears of another ban on exports," said von Kameke. "Going into 2010, harvest carry-over of stocks from the previous campaign were much higher. Only a few months ago, analysts and market operators were hoping that increased wheat and corn production would replenish world stocks to more comfortable levels. However, ending stocks are now being estimated at 315 metric tons, a reduction of some 50 metric tons (15 percent) in the last two months alone, which is expected to further support prices."
Offre is recommending that farmers who produce grain keep a close eye on the markets and take the opportunity to lock into higher prices when they are at levels which give them an acceptable margin.

A bus trip, sponsored by the Murrumbidgee CMA and Caring For Our Country was all that we expected it to be and more. The only disappointment was that we only had 12 on the bus! With its main intention to look at disc planting technology, it started from Dubbo on Sunday 22 July 2012 and ended 9 days later. We made various stops along the way, including Michael Pfitzner’s Rankin Springs property (in which Roberto Peiretti was particularly impressed) with his NDF planter, the CANFA and Vic No-Till /First National No-Till Conferences and dinners (including another entertaining evening with guest speaker Neville Brady), David Cook at Shepparton with his Baker Cross Slot planter, Bruce McCague at Rochester with his new Excel planter and Simplicity airseeder, Evan Lewis at Werneth, Scott Blurton at Streatham with his John Deere single disc seeder, George and Barbara Burdett at Wickcliffe, Craig and Jamie Jordan at Murtoa with their Daybreak disc planter, Rob Ruwoldt at Murtoa with his Grizzly disc planter, Craig Keofford at Whitton with his Semeato TDNG double disc planter, Richie Lees at Barellan with his Ultisow disc seeder, Al Payne at Yalgogrin and Grant Byrne at Peak Hill. Various other stops of interest were made along the way including manufacturing facilities of both Goldacres in Ballarat and Gason at Ararat looking at their range of impressive products, the junction of the Darling and Murray rivers at Lock 10, Wentworth and a quick look at Ian Linklater’s farm at Gol Gol (who is using tractor exhaust injection technology).

CANFA wishes to especially thank all those that hosted us along the trip, and Alf, our Langley’s bus driver, for getting us safely there and back!

CANFA has added another three life members at its annual Conference. The Golden Shovel award was made to two long-term farming family contributors, Scott & Jo McCalman and the Wass brothers, and a public servant, Richard Chewings who have all contributed substantially, not only to the cause of conservation agriculture across Australia but to CANFA in general.

Scott and Jo McCalman from “Jedburgh”, Warren, who were unfortunately absent from the Conference (for the first time for many years) due to family commitments, have long been recognised as leaders in conservation farming across Australia. Scott has been a speaker at CANFA and other CAAANZ group member conferences and functions over many years. They have hosted numerous groups, from representative government officials to interstate and international visitors. They have always been willing to involve themselves in on-farm research and their commitment to finding solutions to problems and exploring opportunities is outstanding. Scott is also a Nuffield scholar and together they were winners of our 1998 CANFA Conservation Farmer of the Year award and the 2005 NSW Farmer of the Year Award. Scott has been a strong and eloquent voice behind the adoption of conservation farming in NSW and elsewhere and we congratulate them both on this award.
The Wass Brothers – Haydon, Michael, Stuart and Nigel, from “The Plains”, Nyngan who were also unfortunately absent from the Conference, have also been recognised as leaders in conservation farming across Australia for a long period of time. Haydon in particular has been willing to participate in farm visits from representative government officials to interstate and international visitors, trials and demonstrations and research initiatives. He has made his time freely available acting as a mentor to many farmers, not only in the Nyngan district but much further abroad. Their willingness to share in technology, by making their planter drawings available for those wanting to copy their latest design is an example of their desire to serve the greater good. We congratulate them and thank them for their continued service to the conservation farming industry.

Richard Chewings is the third winner of this year’s award. Richard would be known to many as the master of ceremonies at our Annual Conference for many years. However, his contribution goes much further than that. Living at our current Wellington base for many years, Richard along with former Golden Shovel winner John Lawrie, was responsible for enacting the no-till program and machinery development at Wellington for over a decade. He was a principal contributor to our CSHIP – Cadonia Soil Health Improvement Program at Wellington and has been also keenly involved in fighting for retention of the Wellington Research Services Station as our CANFA base. He has been a great sounding board for idea generation. He made sure that we were involved in the development of the NSW Government Soils Policy and his understanding of “how government works” has been extremely helpful in our success as an association. We thank him and look forward to having him involved in our future deliberations.

Welcome to the new-look CANFA website and the CANFA Comment, a forum where we can discuss some of the issues generating discussion in the industry. We would encourage your feedback in this forum.

When the issue of stubble burning came up a few months ago, we had some interesting correspondence and comments forwarded to CANFA. CANFA Comment is another avenue for letting us know what you think about some of the big issues impacting on your farming business and your day-to-day activities.

Coming up in a couple of weeks is our annual conference and dinner. This is another great forum in our annual calendar for discussing the challenges, technology and progress being made in conservation farming practice. We’re privileged to have Phil Needham attending as a guest speaker this year – a man who has helped grain growers in Kentucky (USA) double their wheat yields over the past 20 years. Phil will be holding a planter school on CANFA’s block, “Cadonia”, Wellington the day before the conference, where he will look at the set-up criteria for various planters, seed and fertiliser placement, straw and chaff spreading and other factors critical to streamlining crop and stubble management. There’s more information available about the planter school on the the website – it’d be great to see you there.

Obviously, the Federal Government’s carbon tax has taken the headlines lately and there’s also been some keen interest in what’s happening in the Lachlan catchment with the State Government-sponsored trial soil carbon trading scheme. Governments (and farmers) throughout Australia will be closely watching the NSW trial as it could influence a national scheme for sequestering carbon in soil. These are some of the happenings and issues we’ll be writing about in future CANFA Comments.

Finally, the USA/Mexico no-till tour is not far away and we still have some places left to fill. The books are open on this trip until 2 August – check out the itinerary on the website and let us know ASAP if you’re interested in going. We’ll be using the CANFA Comment to report back on highlights of the trip as it happens between 13 August – 11 September.

- Neville Gould