New Tool Checks Food Affordability

Agribusiness giant DuPont has modified the Global Food Security Index to account for the impact of changes in global food prices at a national level where price fluctuations impact most directly.

Commissioned by DuPont and developed by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), the Price Adjustment Factor captures the impact of changing food prices and income growth over time. In response to the rising cost of food, mainly in June of this year, the Index recorded a slight decline in food security globally.  The interactive tool is available online at www.foodsecurityindex.eiu.com.

DuPont Executive Vice President James C. Borel says this tool will help understand the root causes of hunger. “The ramifications of this year's drought are far reaching.  Knowing where the impact is the greatest can help focus our collective efforts where they are needed most.”

The World Bank estimates that global food price spikes in 2008 pushed 44 million people below the poverty line globally, most of them in poor countries.  In the United States, almost 15 percent of households experienced food insecurity in 2011, up 11 percent before recent price jumps.

“Many factors affect food prices, from rising demand in emerging markets to abrupt changes in the weather,” said EIU Global Forecasting Director Leo Abruzzese.  “The new Price Adjustment Factor tool will assess, quarterly, the impact of price changes on a country’s ability to afford food.  High and volatile prices can impact food security by limiting consumers’ purchasing power and calorie consumption.”

Seventy eight percent of U.S. corn acres have been affected by drought; some farmers can’t afford to feed livestock and the cost of commodities is at record highs.  While this year’s drought has been devastating to farmers, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has reported the 2nd largest corn crop globally, in addition to the 2nd and 3rd highest rice and soybean crops respectively.

Feed production increases

Speaking at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN, in Rome, Alltech vice president Aidan Connolly, presented the results of the 2011 Alltech Feed Tonnage Survey, along with results from previous surveys, showing a steady increase in feed production year on year.



The 2011 survey, covering 128 countries, put the total feed at 873 million tonnes. The 2012 survey, due to be published soon and covering more than 130 countries, is expected to show a further increase. For 2013 however, Connolly, presenting at the IFIF-FAO joint meeting, predicted a contraction in the region of 3 – 5%, driven by the following three factors:

1. Continued global recession affecting protein consumption.
2. The conversion of large amounts of feed stocks and materials into biofuels.
3. Reduced feed supply due to a global drought, specifically in the US.

In addition, a mycotoxin survey, also carried out by Alltech, indicates that the surviving US harvest will be highly contaminated with up to 37 different mycotoxins, due to crop vulnerability from adverse weather conditions. The resulting percentage contraction in feed production will then be determined by the ability of integrated food producers, farmers and food companies to pass on the increased feed material cost to consumers, without any loss in overall consumption levels.

“We are facing into a completely new era for the agriculture industry where, for the first time in history, feed production for 2013 will be lower than for 2012, and it is clear that efficiency in converting feed into food will be more critical to food companies than ever,” said Connolly.

FAO bullish on hunger reduction

If countries step up their efforts to reduce hunger, the Millennium Development Goal of halving the proportion of hungry people by 2015 can still be reached, FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva told the opening session of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) today.

Graziano da Silva said that important progress has been made in cutting the number of hungry people by 132 million since 1990. The proportion of the hungry also fell in the developing world from 23.2 percent to 14.9 percent.

He expressed concern that still around 870 million people are hungry and that hunger has risen in Africa and the Near East. Progress in reducing hunger has stalled since 2007, he said.

"As we renew and increase our commitment to reach the Millennium Development Goal for hunger reduction, let's look beyond it, towards the total eradication of hunger because, when it comes to hunger, the only acceptable number is ‘zero'," Graziano da Silva said.

CFS is the foremost inclusive platform for all stakeholders to work together and recommend policies that will promote food security and nutrition for all. The inter-governmental body is open to participation by civil society, the private sector, international and regional organizations and philanthropic institutions concerned with food security and nutrition. As many as 18 government ministers are expected to attend this year's session.

Agriculture to blame for obesity too?!

Prompt action to promote "sustainable diets and food biodiversity" so as to improve the health of humans and of the planet is urged in a book just published by FAO and Bioversity International. Progressive farmers, be afraid.

Irrespective of the many successes of agriculture in the last three decades, Barbara Burlingame, Principal Officer of FAOs Nutrition and Consumer Protection Division, says food systems are not working. Never mind that the proportion of the world's population that is hungry is actually lower now; never mind that food is produced more efficiently now; and never mind that most of the problems with hunger can be sheeted back to a political (distribution) factor.

Anyway, blame modern agriculture if that's the fashion.

The book, Sustainable Diets and Biodiversity, makes the claim that while over 900 million people in the world suffer from hunger, about 1. 5 billion are overweight or obese, and an estimated two billion suffer from micronutrient malnutrition including vitamin A, iron, or iodine deficiency.

The problem of feeding the world's growing population has so far been seen largely in terms of providing sufficient quantities of food, the book points out. "But the pace of biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation, coupled with emerging health issues related to diet, make it urgent to address the quality of agriculture and food systems."

"Poor diets are linked to marked increases in non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and cardio-vascular diseases across the world." Yeah, thanks for that.

One omission of the book seems to be not placing any weight on the contribution poor personal choices make to the obesity problem; would different farming systems really make any difference in this regard? Very unlikely.

Image: Not from the book mentioned above.

Weather slams grain production

Global rice paddy production for 2012 is forecast to drop by 7.8 million tonnes due to lower than normal rainfall in India.

However, world output will still be slightly above levels achieved in 2011, according to the July 2012 issue of the Rice Market Monitor released by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations.

Global paddy production should reach 724.5 million tonnes (483.1 million tonnes milled), compared with the original forecast in April of 732.3 million tonnes (488.2 million tonnes milled).  The downward revision was mainly due to a 22 percent lower-than-average monsoon rainfall in India through mid-July, which is likely to reduce output in the country this season. Production forecasts were also lowered for Cambodia, Taiwan, North and South Korea and Nepal, all of which may see lower production in 2012.

In sharp contrast with trends observed in the maize and wheat markets, which have been rocked by widespread drought in the US, rice prices have remained surprisingly stable after gaining 2 percent in May. Amid abundant rice supplies and stocks , the likelihood of a strong price rebound in coming months is low, but the future of rice prices remains uncertain. Meanwhile, corn, wheat and similar grains have soared in price as the US drought maintains its grip.

'Conventional plough could contribute to famine'

Photo: Cross Slot no tillage drill

A New Zealand agricultural scientist slash machinery manufacturer claims conventional ploughing could contribute to famine because it causes high rates of carbon loss from soil.


Dr John Baker, has a MAgrSc in soil science and a PH.D in agricultural engineering, which these days are mainly deployed in the manufacture and sales of his Cross Slot no-tillage seed drills. His 'famine' claim is stretching it, and he obviously has a vested interest in this, however, he makes a valid point about carbon loss.


He says carbon is lost to the atmosphere through conventional ploughing and that studies show 15-20% of CO2 in the atmosphere comes from annual ploughing.


Vital ingredient
Carbon is a vital ingredient of soil, Baker notes. Plants that we eat all contain carbon. When they die they decompose and earthworms and other microbes take the products of decomposition, which are rich in carbon, into the soil and keep them there. Fair enough.


“When the soil is ploughed it releases much of the carbon back into the atmosphere. The long term result is a reduction in soil organic matter, which in turn leads to soil erosion, dust storms and ultimately famine,” Dr Baker says.


“Ploughing takes away the food sources of microbes that hold the soil together. Organic matter also stores water and the loss of both decreases the crop yields.”


Key-hole surgery
After 30 years of research at Massey University, Dr Baker researched and developed Cross Slot no-tillage drills which penetrate through crop residue on top of the ground and simultaneously sow seed and fertiliser in adjacent bands.


The no tillage process causes minimal or low disturbance to the soil, traps the humidity, preserves the micro-organisms and soil life and largely prevents carbon from escaping into the atmosphere. Further, by leaving the stubble and straw from the previous crop to decompose on the surface of the ground, it helps sequester new carbon into the soil. 


Food Prize
This year Dr Baker was nominated for the World Food Prize, which was announced last month at the State Department in Washington. Someone is taking his no tillage message seriously.


He points out it’s incredibly important for the soil to gain and trap carbon “if we’re to feed the 50% extra population in the world by the year 2050.”


“Only four percent of the world’s surface has arable soil and we have to learn to farm it sustainably which we simply haven’t been doing. That means no-tillage must replace ploughing as the mainstream food production technique.”


Fuel costs: a net gain
Dr Baker also claims no-tillage saves up to 80% of a farmer’s fuel costs in establishing crops and pastures. Typically no tillage drills are harder to pull through the ground and therefore require a more powerful (and less fuel efficient) tractor. However, no tillage requires fewer passes by the tractor; Baker says farmers typically use 50 to 90 liters of diesel per hectare during the multiple times required to establish a crop. By comparison no-tillage uses “10-20 liters per hectare”.


Dr Baker says that New Zealand farmers sow about one million hectares of new seeds each year. Recent Massey University research suggests that if low-disturbance no-tillage was used universally to sow these seeds it would result in about 1.5 million tonnes less CO2 discharged into the atmosphere annually.

Wanted: Drought resistant crops

With over 60% of continental US suffering drought it is perhaps no surprise Purdue University is promoting its work to find drought-resistance genes.

The search for these genes is focusing on tropical varieties of corn; the genes would be transferred to American corn varieties along with the drought tolerance they confer on plants. The desired equation is simple: maximum yield for minimum water use. As such, it is likely the most useful genes will be related to the control of transpiration -- the opening and closing of stomata on the leaf surface.

Meanwhile, the US droughts are forcing authorities to open up protected land to help farmers feed stock. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has authority to open up land under the voluntary Conservation Reserve Programme for emergency grazing.

According to US Drought Monitor data, 88% of US corn and 87% of US soybean crops are in drought-stricken areas. Global grain prices have soared over recent weeks.

No surprises in FAO's food security summary

While international agricultural commodity markets appear to have entered calmer conditions after record highs last year, food commodity prices are anticipated to remain on a higher plateau over the next decade, underpinned by firm demand but a slowing growth in global production, according to the latest OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook.


The report suggests that in addition to population growth higher per capita incomes, urban migration and changing diets in developing countries, as well as rising requirements for biofuel feedstocks, are underpinning demand pressures. At the same time, agricultural output by traditional exporting developed countries has been slow to respond to higher prices in the last decade.


Higher demand will be met increasingly by supplies that come to market at higher cost. With farmland area expected to expand only slightly in the coming decade, additional production will need to come from increased productivity, including by reducing productivity gaps in developing countries, the report said.


The Outlook anticipates that agricultural output growth will slow to an average of 1.7 percent annually over the next 10 years, down from a trend rate of over 2 percent per year in recent decades. Higher input costs, increasing resource constraints, growing environmental pressures and the impacts of climate change will all serve to dampen supply response.


Much of the projected growth will come from developing countries, which will increasingly dominate in the production of most agricultural commodities, and also take on a more important role in commodity trade.


"Increased productivity, green-growth and more open markets will be essential if the food and nutrition requirements of future generations are to be met," said OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría. "Governments should renounce trade-distorting practices and create an enabling environment for a thriving and sustainable agriculture underpinned by improved productivity. We have highlighted many of these issues in our work on food security for the G20 and this Outlook provides further important analysis and recommendations to governments."

Global atlas to gauge farmers' potential

Jun 25, 2012 by IFPRI

The world’s population is growing, but its resources, including land and water, are finite. This means that if farmers are to feed 9 billion people by 2050—which would require them to roughly double current production—they will have to make their fields work harder without transforming forests and other precious ecosystems into additional cropland.



Researchers at IFPRI and elsewhere have already shown that farmers—including smallholder farmers in developing countries—could sustainably boost crop yields through the use of traditional and innovative technologies and practices, including water harvesting and irrigation. But researchers have yet to successfully quantify how much potential, exactly, there is on earth to increase the crop yields of major crops.

A group of researchers from the University of Nebraska and Wageningen University are setting out to determine just that through the production of an atlas. The Global Yield Gap Atlas will use map-based evidence to reveal the “gap” between the current average yields of farms and their maximum production potential. In other words, it will show the difference between what the world’s farms currently produce and what they could produce. The Atlas will also document the world’s potential to use water more efficiently.

http://bit.ly/OomoPq

Ancient Inca crop has its day

Evo Morales Ayma, President of Bolivia, will visit FAO on Monday 11 June for bilateral talks with FAO Director General José Graziano da Silva and a special session of the UN organization’s governing council focusing on Quinoa, the so-called South American “super grain.”

The United Nations has declared 2013 the International Year of Quinoa. An extremely nutritional grain-like crop with high protein and micronutrient levels, Quinoa was of major nutritional importance for pre-Columbian Andean civilizations, second only to the potato. The International Year of Quinoa aims to focus world attention on the role that the crop can play in contributing to food security, nutrition and poverty eradication.

As a crop, Quinoa is undemanding and altitude tolerant and is grown from coastal regions in Chile up to 4000m elevations in the Andes. Timing the harvest seems to be its trickiest element as timing it wrong can result in high yield losses due to shattering of the grains.

The downside of eating local

   Australian Farm Institute Executive Director Mick Keogh says the international local food movement brings the potential for a retreat from globalised agricultural markets.

   Unwittingly the local food movement also has the potential to dramatically increase agriculture’s impact on the environment, he says.

   A ‘locavore’ is defined as a person who seeks to only consume food that is grown less than 160 km away. More generally, the 2008 U.S. Farm Bill, defines local food as produced and consumed within a state, or that is consumed less than 640 km from where it is produced.

   “Irrespective of the validity of the reasons advanced for preferring local food, the movement seems to encompass a strong desire to retreat from the globalised, internationally traded food supply system,” Keogh says.

   One often-claimed attribute of local food systems that is not supported by available research is the claim that local food systems are better for the environment.

   “A UK consumer opting for the local UK dairy product would unwittingly be selecting a product that has double the energy and environmental footprint of the competing New Zealand product, despite the New Zealand product having been transported almost 18,000 kilometres,” Keogh says.

    A comparison for lamb production, he says, shows the New Zealand lamb shipped to the UK had an emission “footprint” of 688 kilograms of CO2-e per tonne of lamb compared to the UK product with an emission footprint of 2,850 kg of CO2-e.

   Keogh says a further aspect of the local food movement that is seemingly at odds with many perceptions is the implications of a ‘local food’ model for the potential of global agriculture to provide sufficient food for a larger future population.

   “It is also easy to overlook the fact that the benefits of specialisation (growing specific crops in areas where they are agronomically best suited and transporting them to distant markets), modern science and scale economies mean that the world is now consistently able to produce a surplus of food, which can be safely and efficiently delivered to any location on earth in a relatively short period of time,” he says.

   A recent estimate says for the United States to maintain current output levels for 40 major food crops and vegetables under a locavore-like production system would require an additional 24.3 million hectares of cropland, 2.45 million tonnes more fertiliser, and 22.7 million kg more chemicals.

   “The result would be a profound increase in the carbon and energy footprint of the U.S. food system, and the destruction of significant natural habitat due to land use change,” Keogh says.

Ad development priority on US agenda

April 26, 2012 - The U.S. government has made major strides toward putting agricultural development back at the top of its foreign assistance agenda, reversing a three-decade long downward trend in U.S. global food security activities, says a new report issued by The Chicago Council on Global Affairs.

The 2012 Progress Report on U.S. Leadership in Global Agricultural Development (PDF) is the second in a series of annual reports tracking changes to the U.S. government’s global agricultural development policy. The non-partisan assessment, issued by the Council’s Global Agricultural Development Initiative, examines how these changes have contributed to U.S. leadership in improving global food security. The Initiative is cochaired by Catherine Bertini, former executive director, UN World Food Program, and Dan Glickman, former secretary, U.S. Department of Agriculture. 

“It is clear that the U.S. government has begun to develop and implement a focused strategy for global agricultural development, with well-defined goals and benchmarks,” said Bertini. “Renewed U.S. efforts are helping further the plans of African, Asian, and Latin American country governments to revitalize their agricultural sectors, spur economic growth, and alleviate poverty.”

The report finds that under the direction of Secretary Clinton and Administrator Shah, both the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Agency for International Development are showing “outstanding” leadership in advancing these issues. The Millennium Challenge Corporation, via its activities to bolster agricultural infrastructure in developing countries, is also making “outstanding” contributions to renewing U.S. leadership. 

Congress receives a “good” evaluation for making policy changes and appropriating substantial resources for food security in a difficult budget environment. The U.S. Department of Agriculture receives a “good” evaluation and the Peace Corps a “satisfactory” evaluation for their respective contributions. The study also examines how the changes in Washington have led to higher levels of U.S. agricultural development activity in Ethiopia, Ghana, and Bangladesh.

The report concludes that while this recent progress should be celebrated, the hard work is just beginning. “The 2012 Progress Report is best viewed as a midterm evaluation of U.S. leadership in what must be a long-term effort, rather than a final grade on a finished job,” said Glickman.  “The challenge in the years to come will be to maintain this level of leadership and resourcing for the decade or more needed to bring tangible benefits to the developing world’s agriculturalists - and to our global food security.”

The food price crisis of 2008 spurred renewed international and U.S. attention to the challenge of global food insecurity. In 2009 President Obama pledged to double U.S. support for global agricultural development and Senators Richard Lugar (R-IN) and Robert Casey (D-PA) introduced legislation to make food security a higher priority for U.S. foreign assistance. This same year, The Chicago Council released its seminal report entitled Renewing American Leadership in the Fight Against Global Hunger and Poverty (PDF). This report put forward a comprehensive strategy for revitalizing U.S. global agricultural development activities and funding.  

More than half of the world’s population living on less than $1.25 a day reside in rural areas and depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. Food production will need to increase by 70 percent in the coming decades to overcome the challenge of global hunger, alleviate poverty through increasing the incomes of rural populations, and meet the growing demand for food. A key component to increasing food production and alleviating global poverty will be investments in developing country agriculture and food systems. - The Chicago Council on Global Affairs

Symposium tackles red tape challenges

As if feeding 9 billion people by 2050 was not enough of a challenge for the food industry, ever-evolving regulations can create confusion and significantly impede progress. 
Meanwhile, says Alltech, when news of food safety issues go viral, families who are already far-removed from the farm become wary of the entire supply chain and the organizations safeguarding it. The regulatory landscape presents a challenging environment for any farmer or food producer, also facing the formidable foes of economic woes and unpredictable weather patterns.
Alltech’s 28^th Annual International Symposium, held May 20 – 23 in Lexington, Kentucky, will address these challenges through its dedicated regulatory session, featuring expert speakers from leading regulatory organizations and influencers.  
“Agriculture is at a crossroad between competitiveness, trade, safety and sustainability. Minimum standards of feed safety are often not enough. Businesses are going beyond these minimum standards for several reasons including strict retailer procurement policies, brand/reputation management and consumer demand. This regulatory session will address both feed safety and trade against the backdrop of these competing demands,” said Jean Kennedy, European regulatory affairs manager for Alltech.
Regulatory focused session topics will include:
Feed Safety

• Key Challenges to Sub-Saharan Feed Safety and Regulation
• Food Safety Modernisation Act
• Japanese Case Study: Crisis Management
• Quality Assurance – A marketing ploy or a risk reduction strategy?

Feed Trade

• Ensuring Compliance Across International Boundaries
• Do Better Standards Mean Safer, Better Foods?
• 5 Trends that Might Concern You – Reviewing the regulatory scene
• Feeding 9 billion people: A unique challenge for the world’s feed industry

Featured presenters at the regulatory session will be De Wet Boshoff, executive director of the African Feed Manufacturers Association; Mario Cutait, chairman of the International Feed Industry Federation; Joe Hain, deputy director, Processed Products and Technical Regulations Division, Foreign Agricultural Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture; Keith Millar, head of Animal Feed Unit and Secretary to the Advisory Committee on Animal Feedingstuffs, Food Standards Agency, United Kingdom; Joel Newman, president of the American Feed Industry Association; Ashley Peterson, National Chicken Council, United States; Katsuaki Sugiura, professor at the University of Tokyo Research Center for Food Safety; Patrick Wall, professor of Public Health at the University College Dublin, Ireland.
Other invited and confirmed roundtable participants include representatives from Argentina (SENASA), Chile (SAG), China (MOA and ZAoAS), Ecuador (AGROCALIDAD), Guatemala (MAG), the Dominican Republic (SEA), Mexico (SAGARPA) and Peru (SENASA).
Additional information on the regulatory session is available at www.alltech.com/symposium-sessions/regulatory. The 2012 Symposium will be the forum for more than 100 presentations by industry experts, including experts from Domino’s Pizza, Jack in the Box, Wendy’s, Nestle, Murphy-Brown, Future Farmers of America, PetSmart and the Harvard School of Business.

World food prices remain stable

World food prices in March remained virtually unchanged from their February levels, according to the latest FAO Food Price Index, published last week. The Index averaged 216 points in March, compared to 215 in February.

Among the various commodity groups, only oils prices showed strength, whereas dairy prices fell.

The FAO Cereal Price Index averaged 227 points in March, up 1 point from February. Maize prices registered some gain, supported by low inventories and a strong soybean market, but wheat changed little as supplies remained ample. After several months of declines, prices of rice recovered somewhat in March, underpinned by large purchases by China and Nigeria.

The FAO Oils/Fats Price index rose in March to 245 points, up 6 points or 2.5 percent from February, as markets reacted to the prospect of growing tightness in the 2011/12. Weak growth in world palm oil production and limited global soy oil export availabilities combined with declining rapeseed production contributed to the rise in oils prices.

The FAO Meat Price Index averaged 178 points in March, up marginally from  the previous month, sustained by a slight rise of bovine meat price but still reaching an all time high. Prices of pig meat and sheep meat changed little, while they weakened in the case of poultry amid slowing import demand and generally ample export availabilities. On average, meat prices in the first quarter were 3.5 percent higher than last year.

The FAO Dairy Price Index averaged 197 points in March, down 5 points or 2.5 percent from February and registered the lowest level since August 2010. All the dairy products showed weakness last month, in particular butter, as well as skim milk powder and casein. Since reaching record levels in March 2011, dairy prices have followed a downward trend, as supplies rose in Oceania, Europe and North America. As a result, prices in the first quarter were 12 percent lower in 2012 than last year.

The FAO Sugar Price Index averaged 342 points in March, and remained unchanged from February but was 30 points or 8 percent lower than in March 2011. Overall, sugar prices were volatile, as the market looked for direction ahead of the beginning of the new season in Brazil, the world's largest sugar producer and exporter. India, the EU and Thailand, have all reported increased output, which contributed to keeping prices below their high levels of last season.

Cereal stocks expected to rise

The forecast for world cereal carryover stocks in 2012 has been raised by 1 million tonnes over the previous month to 519 million tonnes.  Much of the upward revision relates to expectations of higher rice inventories.

At the current forecast level, the world cereal stocks-to-use ratio in 2011/12 reaches 22.1 percent, up slightly from 21.7 percent in 2010/11.  Among the major cereals, rice inventories are forecast to increase the most - by 11 million tonnes to 152 million tonnes, the highest level since 2000. Wheat stocks are also expected to rise sharply by 7 million tonnes to 196 million tonnes, the second highest level since 2003; however, coarse grains stocks could decline by nearly 3 million tonnes to 171 million tonnes, the lowest level since 2008.

Early outlook for 2012/12

The FAO's production forecast for wheat in 2012 remains at 690 million tonnes, 1.4 percent below the record in 2011 and unchanged from last month. In spite of this decline, world wheat supplies in 2012/13 would still exceed projected need because of large inventories, according to this month's report. Rice markets also appear to be well supplied in 2012/13 given consecutive years of record production which have helped boost inventories. However, coarse grain supplies will be particularly tight in the coming months, especially for maize in the United States, the world's largest producer and exporter. 

Wanted: most efficient feed convertors

A trial run in New Zealand by DairyNZ is seeking cows that are the most efficient converters of feed to milk. Scientists say within a year they should be able to confirm a genetic marker can clearly identify such high performing animals.

The trial is being carried out at the Westpac Taranaki Agricultural Research Station (WTARS) at Hawera in conjunction with LIC and New Zealand Trade and Enterprise with funding from the Ministry of Science and Innovation and DairyNZ.
It is being replicated in Australia under the auspices of the Department of Primary Industry in Victoria. The results of both trials will be combined to ensure sufficient scale to confirm the validity of results.
The trial started in 2008 with a special facility built at the research station. This consisted of 28 pens and feed stations for the 224 calves on the facility at any one time.
Kevin Macdonald, DairyNZ's senior scientist, has been supervising the trial.
"Initially we put calves that were between six and eight months of age through the pens for 60 days. We measured their live weight and their intake for 46 days and identified which were the most efficient and which were the least efficient. All told we put through about 1050 calves, and we've kept the 10% most efficient and the 10% that are least efficient," he says.
From the differences found between calves, LIC identified a likely set of gene markers for feed conversion efficiency (FCE). The markers were used to screen 3700 cows from commercial herds and 214 cows were bought as either efficient or inefficient.
Macdonald says they are now feeding the cows in the pens with the objective of validating the marker genes by conducting the same test. The feed intake, live weight and milk production are measured for 35 days. -Dairy News

Open source food safety network wins award

An open source Food Safety Knowledge Network devised by a Massey University Professor has won a major international award for improving food safety practices in developing countries.

Professor of Agribusiness Hamish Gow oversaw the development of the network that has been recognised with the international effective practice award by the Sloan Consortium.

He worked with a team at Michigan State University on the project that provides Third World food producers free and open access to best practice food safety guidelines.

“The project got started when I was director of Partnerships for Food Industry Development,” he says. “We needed a more effective and scalable model for reaching small and medium enterprises and farmers in developing countries with extension and capacity building.”

The network provides a set of steps that any producer can access that will take them from no food safety capacity to meeting international standards, Professor Gow says.

“We approached the Global Food Safety Initiative, a group comprising some of the biggest food producers in the world, and put together some technical working groups to create the competency requirements,” he says. “This involved four or five companies putting their food safety training manuals on the table. We built a set of training materials that are now available online and through regional and international consultants.”

The network appears to have had pleasing results, with anecdotal evidence showing there has been a big impact on food safety in some countries. “In Ukraine, I’m told, they have gone from 20 per cent compliance to 90 per cent,” he says.

Professor Gow says it is a model that is perfectly suited for knowledge transfer in the New Zealand agricultural sector. “This is a different type of model for engagement. It could help solve the extension problem with disseminating the latest research and best practices to farmers in an easily accessible manner out of Massey and other research organisations. It’s an advanced way of writing a textbook that has a lot more impact.”

Professor Gow’s work fits well with other projects at the University including the World Bank project that has seen public health and veterinary professionals taught master’s programmes through distance programmes devised and offered by Massey staff. The University has also begun offering short courses to Agribusiness managers in a joint initiative with Lincoln University.

The Sloan Consortium is an institutional and professional leadership organisation dedicated to integrating online education into the mainstream of higher education.

Crop Prospects and Food Situation released

FAO today forecast that 2012 world wheat production will be the second highest on record at 690 million tonnes and also announced that  international food prices rose one percent in February —  the second increase in two months. 

Published today, FAO’s quarterly Crop Prospects and Food Situation report forecast a 2012 wheat crop 10 million tonnes or 1.4 percent down from the record 2011 harvest but still well above the average of the past five years. 

Although plantings have increased or are forecast to increase in many countries this year in response to continuing strong prices, a return to normal yields is expected in areas where record highs were achieved last year, the report said. But it was still too early for a global forecast of 2012 cereal output, it added.

Impact of cold weather

Crop Prospects also noted a firming of  international cereal prices in recent weeks due to tightening current wheat supplies and concerns over the impact of severe cold weather in Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States.

Turning to the situation at regional level, the report said that adverse weather in West Africa caused a sharp drop in cereal and pasture production in large parts of the Sahel. This, combined with high food prices and civil strife, has led to high food insecurity and increased malnutrition in several countries, notably in Niger, Chad, Mauritania, Mali and Burkina Faso.

In the Near East, food security has deteriorated in the Syrian Arab Republic and Yemen following civil conflict in the two countries. In Syria about 1.4 million people have become food insecure while thousands of families have been forced to flee their homes in Yemen.

In Eastern Africa, despite some improvement, the food situation of vulnerable groups remains precarious, especially in pastoral areas affected by earlier drought. The food security situation in the Sudan and South Sudan is of concern following poor harvests. 

In Southern Africa, overall crop prospects remain satisfactory despite dry spells and cyclones in some areas.

Gains in India

In Far East Asia, prospects for the 2012 wheat crop are generally favourable with output expected to reach last year’s record level due in particular to good gains in India.

In Central America, dry weather reduced plantings of the 2012 secondary maize crop in Mexico.Elsewhere, good  maize harvests are estimated despite  losses due to torrential rains during the recently concluded secondary seasons.

In South America, a prolonged dry spell affected the 2012 maize crop in Argentina and Brazil but above-average outputs are still forecast due to increased plantings.

US must make food security a G8 priority

Today The Chicago Council on Global Affairs released a white paper (PDF) calling on the U.S. government to make global agricultural development and food security a priority agenda item at the G8 Summit, May 18-19. 

The white paper, developed by a bi-partisan working group of former government, international organization, business, and academic leaders, offers recommendations on how G8 governments can advance an international commitment to agricultural development in order to increase global food production and alleviate poverty.


It urges G8 countries to sustain their financial commitments to food security and launch an international research initiative to develop new agricultural varieties resistant to weather extremes, water scarcity, disease, and related risks. It also recommends G8 members spur innovation and engage the private sector by reducing regulatory barriers, building capacity, strengthening intellectual property protections, and adopting and implementing policies to increase trade in commodities and food.


Low agricultural productivity in the developing world, along with commodity price volatility, extreme weather, and conflict continue to exacerbate global food insecurity. Almost 925 million people suffer from chronic malnourishment. Agricultural production will need to more than double in the coming decades to overcome the challenge of global hunger, alleviate poverty through increasing the incomes of those living in rural areas, and meet growing demand for food.

2012 marks the third and final year of the 2009 G8 L’Aquila Food Security Initiative which set out a new framework for delivering agricultural development assistance and marked a landmark $21.5 billion pledge. This commitment has begun stimulating new efforts to improve food security, especially in the least developed nations. However, many pledges are not yet fulfilled, and there is a strong risk that progress will not be sustained without a renewed G8 and international commitment. In hosting the G8 Summit this May, the United States has the opportunity to catalyze expanded international support of global agricultural development.

Biogas to power pork production

An innovative biogas system, developed at NIWA Hamilton, New Zealand, has been embraced by the Australian pork industry. It provides an alternative electricity and heating source.

The Australian pork industry association, Australian Pork Limited (APL), has collaborated with NIWA and several pork producers to design and build covered anaerobic pond based biogas systems. So far, four systems are currently at various stages of construction.

NIWA worked in collaboration with the New Zealand Pork Industry Board and Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA) on the New Zealand prototype.

NIWA identified that anaerobic digestion in covered waste ponds holds significant potential to reduce odour and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, while providing biogas as a local energy resource.

Australian pig farmers are incentivised to use the technology to reduce farm GHG emissions. The recently introduced Carbon Farming Initiative (CFI) allows farmers and land managers to earn carbon credits by storing carbon or reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the agricultural sector. These credits can then be sold to businesses with an emission liability, such as fossil fuel power plants or chemical processors.

“The system makes good sense,” says NIWA research engineer Stephan Heubeck, who has driven the development of the technology. “Anaerobic digestion in covered ponds holds significant potential to reduce odour and greenhouse gas emissions from the farming sector. At farm scale, this energy resource can be used for heating and/or to generate electricity.”

The first pond based biogas system that NIWA designed was a purpose-built 7000m3 covered anaerobic pond for Steve Lepper’s piggery in Taranaki, New Zealand.

NIWA’s simple and low cost design has proven effective and reliable over the last two years. At the Lepper piggery, the biogas is used for electricity generation and heating in a combined heat and power unit (CHP). As well as providing the majority of the piggery’s electricity needs during daytime, waste heat from the generator is used in a reticulated hot water system for keeping young pigs warm.

More information is available at: http://www.waikatoregion.govt.nz/effluentexpo

Bioenergy but not at the expense of food

FAO has just released a suite of guidance documents and policymaking tools that governments can use to help rural communities benefit from bioenergy development and ensure that biofuel crop production does not come at the expense of food security.

Materials released by FAO's Bioenergy and Food Security Criteria and Indicators (BEFSCI) Project include: methodologies for assessing the environmental and socioeconomic impacts of bioenergy production, indicators that can be measured when doing so, recommended good practices, and policy measures for promoting sustainable bionenergy development.

"In a few months the international community will gather for the Rio+20 conference to explore new ways to combat rural poverty and promote sustainable development. Undertaken responsibly and where appropriate, bioenergy production can offer farmers and rural people the opportunity to take part in building a new green economy, and can help counter the effects of decades of underinvestment in developing world agriculture and rural areas," said Alexander Mueller, FAO Assistant Director-General for Natural Resources Management and Environment.

But bioenergy development must avoid undermining food security, Mueller stressed. And deforestation due to the conversion of new lands to bioenergy crops as well as impacts on indigenous peoples are also issues of concern.

"Development of bioenergy must be carefully managed, and meeting social goals like sustainable rural development, poverty alleviation and food security should be guiding principles," he said.

Improved grain resource online

The U.S. Grains Council, which develops export markets for U.S. barley, corn, sorghum and related products, has launched a significantly enhanced website at grains.org.

The website, a component of the Council’s branding and communications initiative, presents the latest news and data relating to the U.S. and global grain trade. The site includes charts that present current FOB reference prices and market spreads for several commodities at port, as well as top U.S. export customers and additional information that is helpful for foreign buyers and those monitoring grain markets and exports.

“The U.S. Grains Council gathers a significant amount of information every week, and this new website helps us present that information to members and interested parties in a more timely and more organized fashion,” said Don Fast, USGC vice chairman and barley farmer from Glasgow, Mont. “We also highlight key issues and policy positions taken by the Council to make it clear what the Council and its members believe —  that open, liberalized trade of all goods and services is vital to the prosperity of the world economy.”
Included on the site are details from each of the Council’s 10 foreign offices, as well as a market overview, supply and demand information and market growth potential for more than 25 countries.

Work enables billion dollar industry

Olive Castle was a Mathematician who joined the NZ Dairy Board in the 1940s, who worked largely behind the scenes but whose work enabled a scheme which has generated billions of dollars to the New Zealand dairy industry and the country’s economy. 

Her contribution is recorded in a book that will be launched by dairy farmer cooperative, LIC, in Hamilton on 14 March 2012.

Author of ‘The Billion Dollar Scheme’ and LIC Communications Manager, Clare Bayly, said that acknowledging Olive’s contribution was a very important component of the book.

“We had to make this happen.  Olive was a ‘creature of the times’, a woman working in a male environment, a conceptual thinker who worked behind the scenes and solved a dilemma which enabled dairy sires to be accurately evaluated.

“Colleagues recall that she never sought the limelight however and, whereas today, she would seek to have her work published, in those days she ‘just got on’ with the next task at hand.  It therefore became important, when putting this book together, to ensure that her contribution was acknowledged, to avoid it fading into the mists of time.”


Bayly said The Billion Dollar Scheme is dedicated to five very special people who devoted their lives to improving the profitability and sustainability of dairy farming and whose work enabled the LIC Sire Proving Scheme. Those people are Olive Castle, Sir Arthur Ward OBE, Dr Patrick Shannon QSO, Jeff Stichbury and Harvey Tempero.

New vet drug standards to combat fakes

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the International Federation for Animal Health (IFAH) are working to establish the first published pharmaceutical standards for medicines used in treating Animal African Trypanosomosis, commonly known as Nagana.

Transmitted by the bite of the tsetse fly and other blood-sucking insects, Nagana is a fatal animal disease capable of decimating the herds that African smallholders depend on for their livelihoods and which worldwide is estimated as causing economic losses of up to $4.5 billion each year.

"The use of substandard drugs to treat Nagana not only leaves farm animals inadequately protected from the disease, but also permits the evolution of tougher, drug-resistant strains when insufficient doses are used," said FAO chief veterinary officer Juan Lubroth, who heads the UN agency's Animal Health Service. "And it can pose a threat to human health if harmful chemical residues accumulate in meat or dairy products that enter the food chain."

According to IFAH estimates, the value of the official market for veterinary drugs in Africa runs around $400 million a year. The trade in sub-standard and non-registered drugs is just as large and estimated worth $400 million in addition to legitimate, over-the-table sales.

To tackle the problem, FAO and IFAH have submitted an application to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) to formally register the first pharmaceutical standards for the manufacture and proper use of two drugs that kill the parasites that cause the disease.

These standards, called monographs in the pharmaceutical industry, will define the acceptable physiochemical make-up of the drugs, the proper dosages of their active ingredients, and the allowable levels of impurities they can contain. The standards will provide a basis for evaluating the quality of animal medicines and serve as a measure against which national authorities can test for regulatory compliance.

Empowering national animal health authorities

The standard-setting process is expected to be finalized later this spring. Meanwhile, FAO and its partners are moving ahead with efforts aimed at helping animal health authorities put them to good use once they come online.

By April 2012, two laboratories in sub-Saharan Africa will have been selected to carry out tests for quality control and verification of the two standard drugs developed by FAO, IFAH and a group of partner organizations, including the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the Global Alliance for Livestock Veterinary Medicines (GALVmed) and the University of Strathclyde in the United Kingdom. The effort will also include training for laboratory staff.

A disease with major impacts

Nagana affects cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, camels, horses and donkeys — animals which are vital to the incomes and food security of millions of smallholder farmers in Africa and elsewhere.

In cattle, it causes direct economic losses due to  animal deaths estimated at more than $1.2 billion every year, while its wider costs  — in terms of reduced output of milk and dairy products, abortions of unborn calves, and lost fertility resulting in reduced agricultural productivity — are estimated at some $4.5 billion every year.

Record US corn crop equals lower prices says USDA

The U.S. is on track for a record 14.27 billion bushels of corn and 3.25 billion bushels of soybeans in the 2012-13 year, with the effect being lower prices for corn, soybeans and wheat, the U.S. Department of Agriculture says.

The output projections are above the USDA's baseline forecasts issued this month, which projected corn output of 14.235 billion bushels and soybean output of 3.215 billion bushels in the year from September 2012 to August 2013. In the 2011-12 marketing year, corn output was 12.358 billion bushels and soybean production was 3.056 billion bushels.

Farmers are likely to plant so much corn this year--about 94 million acres, the most since 1944--that production will sharply overshoot demand, pushing up stocks and pulling down prices, the USDA says. Recent high corn prices have also made farmers more likely than usual to plant that crop instead of soy in the next year. 

Another global staple, rice, is also being grown in increasing volumes, the International Grains Council says. Global rice inventories should rise for the seventh consecutive year to a nine-year high of 99.3 million tons in 2011-12, up 4% compared with the previous year, as major exporting countries, especially Thailand, are maintaining larger inventories. (The IGC tabulates its data over an aggregate marketing year covering all major producing and trading countries).

It revised upward its forecast for Thailand's rice stocks at the end of 2012 by 4% to 7.7 million tons, up 43% on year. Thailand's exports have been falling sharply in recent months, after the government started purchasing unmilled rice from farmers at prices that are higher than most export prices from competing countries. The IGC lowered its 2012 rice export forecast for Thailand by 7% to 6.7 million tons, down 37% year on year. 

India's rice stocks will likely total 21 million tons by end-September, up 5.5% on year, the IGC said.

Record global rice output of 463 million tons, up 3% on year, is helping to push prices higher, the IGC said.

"Exceptional production in India and China will more than offset the fall in Brazilian and U.S. output," it said, putting China's rice output in 2012 at 140.5 million tons, up 2.5% on year.

India's government has forecast rice output in 2011-12 at a record 102.8 million tons, a 7% increase from last year. Inventories are more than comfortable, as the government had a stockpile of 31.8 million tons rice at the beginning of this month--more than double the country's mandatory minimum buffer requirement and almost equal to the total global annual trade in rice. 

Asian affluence to impact US farming

The sophisticated food demands of newly affluent consumers in China and other developing nations are likely to cause major change in U.S. farming and food production, Asian food policy and world trade, according to Food 2040, a new study of emerging food trends in Asia by the U.S. Grains Council (USGC).

USGC President and Chief Executive Officer Thomas C. Dorr presented a preview of Food 2040 today at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s annual Agricultural Outlook Forum.

“Growing affluence in China could change people’s diets and the global food system. Consumers will expect more choice, quality, convenience and safety in their food purchases,” Dorr said.

Food 2040 also reveals important implications for agricultural trade policy between the United States and Asian nations. “We are seeing China become more open to acceptance of new technology, such as agricultural biotechnology, which can help meet the needs of the Asian middle class in a sustainable manner through trade,” Dorr said.

U.S. attitudes about feeding the world are likely to change too. “Many of the agribusinesses and agricultural organizations that comprise the U.S. Grains Council are starting to review possibilities for meeting the needs and capturing the economic value that ascendency of the Asian middle class represents,” said USGC Chairman Dr. Wendell Shauman, an Illinois corn farmer and member of the Illinois Corn Marketing Board. “Working together with trading partners around the world to understand emerging trends, we can use a convergence of science, technology and policy reform to meet changing food demands and capture the economic potential of new Asian consumers.”

Information and support for smallholders

Improving agricultural data systems and boosting support to smallholder farmers in the fight against hunger emerged as key topics during discussions between Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva, this week at FAO headquarters.

The philanthropist and digital technology icon met with the head of the UN agency, discussing ways to improve FAO's data collection systems and to develop a public, multi-agency scorecard to better measure the progress of hunger reduction. They also talked about how to boost sustainable productivity and market opportunities for smallholder farmers, who make up the bulk of the world's poor.

Possible areas of cooperation include improving agricultural statistics, the use of communication and information technologies to benefit agriculture as a whole, and small-scale farmers in particular, in addition to supporting the development of a scorecard system.

During the meeting, Graziano da Silva presented Gates with a permanent building pass to FAO, in a symbolic gesture of FAO's commitment to working closer with the private sector and civil society.

Information innovation and cooperation

Graziano da Silva highlighted the value of innovative partnerships and of increasing South-South Cooperation to support smallholder producers.

Emphasizing the foundation's commitment to supporting small-scale farming, Gates addressed the need to make sure the benefits of the digital revolution and scientific innovations reach poor farmers worldwide and are better used in gathering and analyzing data.

FAO has also long advocated the need for greater access to information, innovation and cooperation to reduce hunger, malnutrition and extreme poverty through agriculture. In the meeting, the value of information technology to help small farmers obtain market information, link them to new and existing markets, and improve their productivity and business decision-making was also highlighted.

Before meeting at FAO, Gates discussed agriculture and sustainable poverty reduction during a question-and-answer session at the 35^th Session of the Governing Council of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). He said that the world had the opportunity and the obligation to imagine a different future.

"This future will begin with another revolution in agricultural productivity. Sustainable yield increases will lead to a better living for farm families; they will also make food more accessible and cheaper for the growing number of poor families living in cities. In short, more productive small farmers are the key to achieving the Millennium Development Goals on hunger and poverty. If you care about the poorest, you care about agriculture," said Gates.

NZ gets free pasture management tool

Pasture management, quality and quantity, has direct links to productivity and with grass being the cheapest form of food, farmers need to be sure they are making the most of their supply, says a New Zealand company.


LIC’s general manager of Farm Systems Rob Ford say, “If you get that wrong, then your production will be suffering as a consequence." 

“Often the most successful farmers, with the highest production, are the ones who are paying careful attention to how their pasture is tracking too.”

And a new addition to the dairy farmer coop’s herd recording software, MINDA, makes it simple, Rob said, with the launch of LIC’s new pasture management tool on 21 February.

Known as MINDA Land & Feed Basic, the new feature is free for MINDA customers, with a simple tool for farmers to record their grass covers and create a feed wedge.

A feed wedge gives a farmer a clear picture of their feed supply, and allows them to see what likely changes may be ahead, Rob said.

“They just need to add data from the last farm walk, and MINDA does the rest avoiding all the time normally taken to collate and interpret the data.

“They can quickly see how each of their paddocks are tracking, from shortest to longest, all compared to pre and post grazing targets.

“Then they can use this information to make decisions about which paddocks to graze next, harvesting silage, re-grassing, applying nitrogen, purchasing or feeding supplement and culling cows or increasing numbers.”

MINDA Land & Feed Basic is the first of a suite of pasture management tools coming to MINDA, as the traditional herd management software moves to be a full farm management system.

Rob said the majority of New Zealand dairy farmers use MINDA to improve their herd’s performance, so it is a logical extension to provide farmers with tools to make it easier and more efficient to monitor their grass growth in MINDA too.

“Farmers want to manage every aspect of their farm operations; they trust MINDA to manage their herd records – now it does their land as well.

“This is just the first step for pasture management tools in MINDA, and it is an opportunity to give it a go, see how easy it is, and what value it can add, especially with both animal and land information in one whole farm management system,” Rob said.

A ‘Pro’ version will follow later this year with more enhanced tools for planning, forecasting and feed budgeting.

MINDA Land & Feed joins another recent addition to MINDA - MINDA Milk - on the new web-based platform at www.minda.co.nz.

Fast track into 'the zone'

This sounds like fun: hooking your brain up to a 9-volt battery to achieve the Zen-like state of being 'in the zone'.
Actually the device is slightly more sophisticated than a battery, it's a research device that delivers transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). Basically, electrodes send a 2-milliamp current through part of the brain, making those brain cells more excitable and responsive to inputs - a technique being used to accelerate learning. A US defence project is using it to make snipers more efficient killers more quickly. And some amateur enthusiasts have reportedly tried it on themselves with mixed results, including temporary blindness.
Some researchers are taking a less dangerous route to try and isolate then reproduce that effortless feeling of flow. NewScientist reports that Advanced Brain Monitoring in Carlsbad, California, looked at the brain waves of Olympic archers and professional golfers and found a surge in alpha waves and reduced activation of the cortex when attention was focused on the target. The critical or 'thinking' faculties shut down, attention became focused. There is no think, only do.
A kinesiologist at the University of Nevada has managed to get novices to reproduce this flow state by focusing their attention on an external point away from their body. In whatever activity the subject was being taught, they learned faster when they focused on outcomes rather than what they were doing.
These efforts to harness the brain's potential to learn more quickly could be put to all manner of exciting uses, or book titles for that matter: Become the World's Richest Poker Player in a Day; Game the Futures Markets in One Easy Step. Or perhaps more mundane uses, like producing world-saving geniuses at twice the rate and in half the time, and helping the rest of us schmucks absorb enough information to keep pace in an accelerating world.