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.

19 Aug: Dallas, Texas
After another couple of flights, here we are in Dallas ready to leave tomorrow for Mexico. We're having a great time!

In St Louis we saw Monsanto's headquarters - 2,500 employees and 5,000 all up in St Louis.They spend more on ag research than the USDA does.

We went to Gavilon Grain Elevators, after which a couple of Texans lead us on a visit to their farms - pretty impressive. They are having more than a month of temps above 100F and in the midst of a serious drought which they are starting to compare to the 1930's Dust Bowl, but this time without the dust storms. Despite the dry they are still harvesting some crops such as sunflowers and cotton.

We had lunch at a real Texan bar at the Fort Worth Stock Yards - they had saddles as bar stools!

A free day tomorrow before another flight to Mexico which we are all greatly looking forward to.

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22 Aug: Cimmyt, Mexico
Hi there from Mexico City, our last visit on the GRDC’s The way we were trip.

Yesterday we went to Cimmyt and met the farm manager Fernando Delgardo (pictured here in wheat trials at Cimmyt) who ran an excellent experimental station with a lot of emphasis on breeding wheat and corn for international partners, but always kept in mind his obligation to improve the local farming systems that are around 1 acre per farmer (with livestock included). The chief breeder, Dr Ravi Singh from Sydney Uni, gave us an excellent insight into how plant breeding for wheat works and their ambition to be ahead of the next global catastrophe in wheat diseases. He was able to quote wheat breeds, like Cook and Hartog, that we direct descendants of Mexican Cimmyt breeding programs.

Australian, Dr David Bonnett showed us his trials pre-breeding to bring back the genetics of ancient grasses and durum wheats to bring more diversity into the genome pool, bringing hybrid vigour back into the breeding program so that they may be selected to put into the main line of breeding. We are privledged to met such clever people as we have travelled.

We are visiting the Australian Ambassador this afternoon and back to the headquarters of Cimmyt tomorrow before we fly back to Chicago to catch up with John Lawrie's tour of USA and Mexico. It will be great to catch up with them.

Anne Williams