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Large pecan crop predicted, but expenses keep growing Knight-Ridder Tribune | by Angel Riggs | October 31, 2005 This year will likely be a busy one in the pecan patch. After peak production in 2004, the USDA again expects a healthy harvest in Oklahoma this year - roughly 20 million pounds of pecans. That figure is down 29 percent from last year's bumper crop of 28 million pounds, which earned state producers a record-breaking $39 million. But it's a lot of of nuts. This year's hurricanes damaged the nation's pecan crop but didn't take nearly the toll as last fall's hurricane season. Farmers turn to croc hunting after floods Bangkok Post | by Manit Sanabboon | October 31, 2005 Several farmers have turned to crocodile hunting for a living after many of the reptiles were found in the area after floodwater receded. A small crocodile about 30 cm long can be sold for 2,000 baht and big ones can fetch more than 10,000 baht each. Pit Chimchana, 56, caught three crocodiles so far and put a 12,000 baht price tag on the large one. He said many other farmers in the area were also hunting the reptiles. It was far more profitable than fishing. People at Ban Nong Pla Khayaeng, about 5km from his village, had caught six or seven crocodiles, but did not tell anyone for fear of being seen as breaking the law. Relief package for flood hit farmers One News | October 31, 2005 Teams of unemployed people will help Gisborne farmers tidy up after last week's crop-wrecking floods. The government is to provide immediate aid of $150,000 to farmers hit by the Labour Weekend floods in the Gibson-East Coast region. Flooding and slips from torrential rain wiped out crops and brought other destruction to an estimated 3,000 hectares of land in the Towage Bay and Gibson areas. The package, approved by Cabinet on Monday, includes assistance through Taskforce Green to help with the clean up and income support via the Rural Assistance scheme. The workers will repair fences, clear drains and clean up land over the next 10 weeks. Cabinet has also agreed to investigate whether extra support is needed for farmers who experienced significant flood damage. Farmers will be able to apply for special needs payments to help with day-to-day living. 30,000 farmers to participate in irrigation farming Vanguard | October 31, 2005 Under the Kebbi State Agricultural Transformation Scheme (KATASHI), 30,000 farmers are expected to participate in this year's irrigation farming. The state Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Alhaji Umaru Isah said the success recorded in last year's irrigation activities had prompted the government to raise the number of participants this year to 30,000. According to him, government has already made adequate provision for pump machines, improved seedlings of rice and has procured assorted fertilizers for distribution to the farmers. New green programme may help Kenyan farmers IOL | by Karen Calabria | October 29, 2005 Elderly Boniface Musya struggles to raise a water-filled drum from the 23m well which he and his wife carved out of the berock for five long years with only a hammer and chisel. Villagers gather round and eagerly alternate turns at the worn wooden crank. Musya's neighbours marvel at the sight of water - a precious commodity in Kenya's increasingly arid southern rangelands. Musya, a maize farmer whose crops are often trampled by marauding elephants, has increased his income more than fourfold from the equivalent of $204 to $1,090 a year since enrolling in a United Nations-sponsored initiative to prevent land degradation in nine African countries. But more than two-thirds of Musya;s improved income results from selling water to neighbours and not the land conservation techniques he learned through the programme, a problem experts are hoping to change with a new programme. On Monday, the United Nations and international lenders lauched TerrAfrica, a coalition that will invest four billion dollars over 12 years to stem the expansion of deserts and promote sustainable land management as part of wider efforts to reduce Africa's crushing poverty. Winds hurt sugar cane, staple of Florida's economy New York Times | by Joseph Treaster | October 28, 2005 The green fields of sugar cane stretched to the horizon here on the southern edge of Lake Okeechobee. Normally the stalks rise ranrod straight, like battalions of soldiers in orderly ranks. But after being beaten for hours by winds of more than 100 miles an hour from Hurricane Wilma, the columns of cane bent forward in defeat on Thursday, some nearly flat against the rich black soil of the Everglades, others tangled and twisted in sad bunches. Sugar is one of the most important crops in the state, and agriculture vies with tourism as the main engine in Florida's economy, which is valued at $50 billion annually. South Florida's crop damage from Wilma is worse than expected, official says Knight Ridder Tribune | by Kevin Bouffard | October 27, 2005 Residents of Polk County and elsewhere in Florida would recognize the signs immediately: uprooted trees, collapsed buildings, citrus fruit on the ground. But residents of this Southwest Florida agricultural community haven't seen such sights since Hurricane Donna tore through the area in 1960. But those signs are all over the community now in the aftermath of Hurricane Wilma strike on Monday. Charles Bronson, Florida Agriculture Commissioner, saw some of Alico's 11,000 acres of sugar cane, all of it lying on the ground pointing in the same direction, as if a huge rolling pin had swept through the fields. The cane survived, but the mechanical harvesters won't be able to function properly with the plants on their sides. Rita-cowboys without cows Associated Press | by Doug Simpson | October 27, 2005 Billy Griffith, a lifelong cattleman, has lost most of his cattle. Griffith owned about 150 cows, bulls and calves before Hurricane Rita ravaged his pastures last month. Just 45 survived; the rest drowned in the floodwaters that surged over Johnson Bayou on Louisiana's southwestern coast. Rita killed tens of thousands of cattle in Louisiana. Miles of the Gulf Coast's lush pastures were scorched by salt water that left the grass dead and inedible to livestock. Some areas are still flooded, a month after Rita struck. Economists said it is too soon to tell how badly the storm damaged the state's cattle indusrty, which in 2004 was Louisiana's second largest agricultural sector, with about $365 million in sales. Wilma-Agriculture Associated Press | by Mike Schneider | October 26, 2005 Shoppers can expect to pay much more for tomatoes and peppers, especially in grocery stores along the East Coast, for the next two months because Hurricane Wilma flooded fields and tore through crops in Florida. Florida growers who choose to replant destroyed crops likely won't be able to bring their produce to market for another two months. This will cause a temporary shortage of tomatoes and peppers since the state provides more than half of the nation's fresh vegetables between the months of November and February, industry officials said Wednesday. After last year's hurricanes ruined some Florida vegetable crops, the price of tomatoes went from $1.50 to $2 a pound to as much as $4 to $5 a pound. But the price didn't go back down right away, even after the Florida crop returned to normal in early January causing a small drop in consumer demand. Growers' storm losses top $1 billion, ag chief says Knight Ridder Tribune | by Susan Salisbury | October 26, 2005 Hurricane Wilma inflicted damage of more than $1 billion on the state's farms, groves and nurseries, Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson said Tuesday. Among the casualties: Flattened sugar cane, ruined sweet corn, tomato and pepper fields, collapsed nursery greenhouses and 30 percent of Southwest Florida's citrus crop blown to the ground. Bronson's estimate follows 2004's quartet of hurricanes, which caused $2 billion in agriculture losses, and this year's Hurricane Katrina, which inflicted $427 million in farm-related damage. Wilma wallops grapefruit crop: Half or more of Florida's grapefruit may have been lost in the storm The Ledger | by Kevin Bouffard | October 26, 2005 Florida may have lost more than half its grapefruit, the state's second-largest citrus crop, to a hurricane for the second consecutive season. Hurricane Wilma also caused significant damage to the state's tomato and winter vegetable crops that lay in its path. The good news is that perhaps only 5 to 10 percent of the Florida orange crop, the state's largest, blew to the ground, according to citrus industry officials. However, those figures could change significantly either up or down, during the coming weeks as growers continue to assess crop losses. Wilma caused losses for vegetable growers Associated Press | by Mike Schneider | October 26, 2005 Hurricane Wilma peeled off the corrugated steel roofs of vegetable packinghouses, and flooded tomato and pepper fields. Winds ripped off the plastic coverings of greenhouses, exposing delicate baby tomato and pepper plants to the burning rays of Florida sunshine. "This is the worst time of the year for something like this to happen since we're just starting the season," said Pat Naughton, as customer service manager for TransGro. The state's agriculture industry was hit by yet another hurricane, a year after four hurricanes caused $2 billion to $3 billion in damages to crops and infrastructure. Agriculture officials said that it's too early to assess the destruction from Wilma but that it would be in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Growers fear storm may spread citrus canker Knight Ridder Tribune | by Kevin Bouffard | October 25, 2005 Although there were no reports of major damage, the extent of crop loss was difficult to determine Monday afternoon, said Casey Pace, a spokeswoman for Florida Citrus Mutual in Lakeland, the state's largest growers' representative with about 11,000 members. Growers were reluctant to go into the groves while they were still wet from Hurricane Wilma because of the fear of spreading canker, she said. That's more of a concern from this storm than crop damage. Canker is a bacterial disease characterized by the lesions it leaves on citrus trees and fruit. Remnants of Wilma could prolong spud growers' agony Summerside Journal Pioneer | by Jim Brown | October 25, 2005 Potato harvesting operations could be delayed by as much as a week thanks to the impending arrival of heavy rains and high winds from the remnants of hurricane Wilma, which has devastated large swaths of Florida and Mexico. That's the assessment of Danny Hendricken, district director of the National Farmers Union (NFU) in P.E.I. As if Island growers didn't have enough to worry about, the remnants of hurricane Wilma - expected to pass through the Maritimes by tomorrow and and Wednesday - is expected to dump approximately 50 millimetres of rain on already waterlogged fields. Hendricken says steady rains over the past month have turned many fields into muddy bogs. And at a time of the year when the harvest should be in storage, he estimated as much as 35 to 40 percent of the Island's crop remains in the field. Portuguese farmers stage protest to demand drought aid Agence France Presse | October 25, 2005 Farmers from across Portugal headed Tuesday to parliament in the capital Lisbon to demand more help in dealing with the country's worst drought in 60 years. The drought has caused farmers two billion euros (2.4 billion dollars) in damages and lost income according to the Portuguese Farmers' Confederation, which estimates up to 7,000 farmers will take part in the demonstration. The dry spell, which began last year and is also affecting neighbouring Spain and parts of France, is the nation's worst since 1945. Africa, donors unveil plan to fight desertification fret Reuters | by Wangui Kanina | October 24, 2005 African governments and donors on Monday launched an ambitious plan to fight desertification, which causes chronic food shortages and threatens to drive millions from their homes in coming decades. The so-called Terrafrica partnership aims to attract at least $4 billion over 12 years to improve the sharing of ideas about how best to combat land degradation, officials told a news conference in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi. "Its objectives are to improve the policies and governance that affect the management of land, to augment the analysis of the causes of land degradation and the solutions that actually work on the ground," said Karen Brooks, the World Bank's regional manager. Brooks said the money for Terrafrica, described by its creators as the largest anti-desertification alliance ever, would be administered initially by the World Bank and made available through a trust fund to be established by donors. Storm-battered agricultural community still waits for helping hand Knight Ridder | by Morris Fraser | October 23, 2005 Copeland Griswold, who has been farming since the 10th grade, is among more than 500 farmers in Santa Rosa County alone who are feeling Dennis' aftermath and are facing some perilous financial times. While the loblolly and longleaf pines will not grow to harvest during Grisold's lifetime, farm advocates such as the Florida Farm Bureau are making efforts to seek federal support to rebuild structures and pay for damaged crops in order to prop up what always has been a tenuous financial enterprise. "Money from the 2004 hurricanes is all dried up. We're waiting for congressional action to refill the coffers," said Casey Walsh, legislative director for the Florida Farm Bureau. Wilma worries farmers Knight Ridder Tribune | by Jennifer Rich | October 21, 2005 Gary Reeder is doing a lot of praying these days. It's about the only thing that he and other Manatee County farmers can do as they worry about their soon-to-be-harvested tomato crops while keeping an eye on an angry Wilma brewing in the Caribbean. And as they pray, acres and acres of ripe, top-heavy tomato vines wait for pickers. Heavy winds and rain could also wreak havoc with an estimated 18,500 acres of citrus. The disruption from Wilma is expected to push up the prices of winter vegetables as well as orange juice and other citrus products, and even dairy. Wilma threatens Florida's agriculture ABC News | by Jill Barton | October 20, 2005 The late-season Hurricane Wilma threatens Florida's crucial winter vegetable crop, along with the citrus and horticulture industries that were devastated by last year's hurricanes. And the citrus trees and fruit that escape damage from wind and rain face another threat: the spread of canker, a disease that disfigures and weakens citrus trees which can be spread by wind and rain. The damage inflicted by Wilma could reach far beyond Florida. Many Americans already have suffered from increases in gasoline because of hurricanes Katrina and Rita and now they could see prices jump at the grocery store. Global warming makes Oregon's wine hot as Pinot purists fret Bloomberg.com | by Anthony Effinger | October 20, 2005 Eric Hamacher came to Oregon from California's Napa Valley in 1995 to make wine from pinot noir, a temperamental, thin-skinned grape that thrives in cool climates and causes oenophiles to swoon. Since he arrived, global warming has made Willamette Valley in northwest Oregon feel more like the land he left, he says. Hotter-than-normal summers have made for richer vintages with higher alcohol- similar to wines from California. Oregon wines from these hotter years have been popular with critics and consumers, many of whom prefer more generous fruit and less acidity. Yet some winemakers say the hot weather threatens to change the character of Oregon pinot noir, considered among the best in the world. Florida citrus crop seen at risk as Wilma nears Reuters | by Christopher Doering | October 19, 2005 Hurricane Wilma, the most powerful Atlantic storm ever recorded, will likely damage Florida's nearly mature citrus crop but how severely depends on the storm's track, industry experts said on Wednesday. The lion's share of Florida's midseason citrus crop, 89 percent, is grown in the lower half of the state, according to the USDA. About one-fourth of the crop is in southern Florida, which is forecast to be directly hit by Wilma on Saturday. Production has already been cut this year in some parts of Florida by citrus canker disease, which causes fruit to crop prematurely. Wilma's winds could blow the contagious disease to other citrus areas. USDA designates Arkansas as disaster area due to drought, heat Meatingplace.com | by Ann Bagel | October 17, 2005 The Agriculture Department has designated all 75 counties in Arkansas as primary natural disaster areas due to drought and extremely high temperatures that have continued since May. These counties were designated on Oct. 13, making all qualified farm operators eligible for low-interest emergency loans from the Farm Service Agency. Farmers in eligible counties have eight months from the date of the declaration to apply for the loans to help cover part of their actual losses, security and repayment ability. Small Africa farmers seen as vulnerable to climate change Reuters | by Ed Stoddard | October 17, 2005 Small farmers in Africa will be hardest hit by climate change and will have to switch crops and livestock to adapt, South Africa's environment minister said on Monday. "It is small scale agriculture and rural farmers who will be hardest hit- especially because they are not capital intensive," Marthinus van Schalkwyk said. "As climate change threatens our herds and crops with changes in rainfall patterns and temperature ranges, our farmers will either be forced off their land or they must stand ready with new management strategies," he said. Producers have option to replace some hay with corn The Western Producer | by Christopher Ward | October 12, 2005 Across Ontario it would be fair to say that hay and pasture yields were off by about 30 percent in many areas this year. Many producers in those areas are concerned about how their herds and flocks will be fed this winter. On account of various commodity prices, now is the best time to start making decisions on whether grain and in particular corn, can replace part of the hay requirement on many farms. The greatest challenge with using corn to replace hay is bunk management. Most people winter feed their breeding females with free-choice systems. By introducing grain, the ration becomes a limit-fed (restricted) diet simply on ration bulk or lack thereof. Australia develops web-based weather prediction tool Planet Ark | by Michael Byrnes | October 11, 2005 Australian scientists have developed an Internet-based rainfall prediction tool they say is a world leader in formulating quick weather answers for farmers from masses of complex data. The tool, unveiled on Monday, is based on 115 years of Australian Bureau of Meteorology weather records, intertwined by complex computer mathematics using a stream of data on sea temperatures from the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Covering 3,300 sites across Australia, predictions are made for 13 weeks into the future. A range of background information and predictions are provided for each site, which are updated weekly. Hurricanes cause sugar prices to rise 30 percent Knight Ridder | by Kate Cantrell | October 12, 2005 The rising price of sugar is bitter to bakers. The sweet stuff has been in shorter supply since Hurricane Katrina closed a Louisiana sugar refinery and ruined up to 30 percent of the area's sugarcane crop. The short supply has driven prices up about 8 percent in recent weeks, and more increases might be on the way - just in time for holiday baking. The cost of 25-pound bags increased from $13.26 to $14.26 in the past several weeks. Cotton surges on fears of Chinese crop damage The Globe and Mail | October 11, 2005 Cotton prices surged 4.8 percent, the biggest fluctuation of any commodity yesterday, on speculation that wet weather will hurt the crop in China, the world's biggest producer of the fiber. Farmers in China this year may harvest 4.3 percent less than forecast two months ago amid wet conditions in September. The USDA last month reduced its estimate of China's crop to 25.5 million bales from 26 million. Prairie farmers struggle to harvest before winter The Globe and Mail | October 11, 2005 While the rest of the country celebrated the harvest this Thanksgiving, many Prairie farmers were in their combines, scrambling to get what they could off their fields before winter. Only about 20 percent of Alberta's crops have been harvested. "It's generally terrible," said Doon Pauly, spokesman for Alberta Agriculture. Cold weather in September affected crop quality and high fuel prices have meant costs were higher. From drought to pestilence, insurance industry fears broad risks The Calgary Herald | by Dean Starkman | October 9, 2005 The devastation and cost of hurricane Katrina provided a new hook for a fraction of the insurance industry that is trying to raise public awareness of global warming and push the topic onto the political agenda. Some of the industry's largest companies have sided with environmental group in recent years to argue that global warming exists and that manmade causes are adding to the severity and cost of natural catastrophes. Although no insurer has cited global warming's increased risks as a reason for raising rates, some are funding their own research on the topic and, in the political realm, are supporting measures to reduce emissions Drought, rising fuel costs take toll on farmers Knight Ridder | by Gene Zaleski | October 7, 2005 Growers remain hopeful they will see a profit this year despite a September with little to no rainfall reducing crop yields and high fuel costs greeting farmers as harvest season begins. Calhoun County farmer John Olson says he's keeping his fingers crossed that he will have a good year, despite the challenges of a two-month drought, projected average to below-average yields and high fuel costs. Fuel costs of $3 and more a gallon and commodity prices - corn selling about $2.50 a pound - do not bode well for farmers having to ship their crops by truck, the most common shipment method. Farmers discuss need for assistance to cover costs from Rita's damage The Beaumont Enterprise | by Angela Macias | October 6, 2005 Winds from Hurricane Rita stripped Bill Dishman Jr.'s rice fields in China, just weeks away from harvest, and beat up barns loaded with farm equipment. Dishman figures about a fourth or more of his second crop - the one most farmers count on to make a profit - was lost. He's working on a damage estimate that he expects to be in the thousands. The hurricane arrived at the end of an already frustrating year for rice farmers, who saw untimely rain throughout the growing season, Dishman said. Bad weather caused reductions in yields and delayed harvesting, pushing some farmers so far behind that their first crop was still in the ground when the hurricane struck. Drought hurts yields: Corn and soybean harvest will be down The Chatham Daily News | by Bob Boughner | October 6, 2005 Southwestern Ontario farmers will harvest smaller-than-expected corn and soybean crops this fall. But dry bean production will reach a record 169,200 tonnes, a 51 percent increase from the 112,000 tonnes achieved in 2004. David Burroughs, of Statistics Canada, said Wednesday the information was obtained in a recent survey of 6,414 Ontario farmers. Grain corn production is expected to fall 7.1 percent to five million tonnes from 5.3 million tonnes. Burroughs said spotty rainfall in July stressed corn plants and, as a result, farmers reported yield reductions of 6.7 bushels per acre over last year. Wild rice crop dismal this year The Western Producer | by Sean Pratt | October 5, 2005 It took a few seconds for Bill Plunz to find the right way to describe this year's wild rice harvest. "I guess dismal is a reasonable word to use." Crops were swamped this year by the highest water levels seen by the province's growers in three or four decades. It is estimated that more than 200 Saskatchewan growers harvested 350,000 pounds of wild rice in 2005, an abysmal output when compared to the 10-year average of 2.5 million lbs. Rain slows corn silage The Western Producer | by Karen Morrison | October 5, 2005 Southern Alberta corn growers are struggling to get this year's corn out of wet fields and into the silage pits for the winter. More than 120 millimetres of rain received in mid-September soaked fields and delayed harvesting. Rick Paskal, who was harvesting corn for silage Oct. 3 near his feedlot said the harvest is a week behind normal. "We're having one hell of a time getting it off with the rain," he said, adding recent cool days have done little to help it dry down. Wheat board hopes for quality wheat The Western Producer | by Adrian Ewins | October 5, 2005 The Canadian Wheat Board is hoping that as much as half of this year's wheat crop will fall into the two top grades. However, with about one-third of the crop still unharvested as September drew to a close, it remains to be seen if those hopes will be realized. CWB chief operating officer Ward Weisensel said October 3 the board expects 45 to 50 percent of the spring wheat crop will grade No. 1 or 2. That's better than last year's disastrous 30 percent, but still well below the long-term average of 65 to 70 percent. Storm has little impact on food prices Ontario Farmer | October 4, 2005 Gas and heating fuel prices may be soaring, but the impact of recent hurricanes on food prices has been smaller than expected, says a Purdue University ag economist. Writing on the AgAnswers web site, Corinne Alexander says U.S. consumers have been seeing only a 1.4 percent increase in grocery store prices from July 2004 to July 2005. This compares to last year's rise of 4.8 percent, a near record high, partly because of an abundant supply of food products that were in short supply last year. Factors leading to a larger increase in 2004 include hurricanes that affected fruit and vegetable growers in the southern parts of the country, and import restrictions on beef due to cases of BSE found in Canadian cattle. Hurricanes ruin Florida citrus crop The Edmonton Journal | October 3, 2005 Stressed by three hurricanes that tore through the state's groves last year, Florida's citrus crop had a worth of $742.2 million US, the least valuable since the 1985-1986 season. The 2004-2005 citrus crop of 169.1 million boxes also was down 42 percent from the 291.8 million boxes produced the previous season, according to a recent report by the USDA USDA sends $9 million in conservation funds to help producers affected by hurricanes Katrina and Rita USDA | September 30, 2005 Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns today announced $9 million in Emergency Conservation Program (ECP) funds are now available for Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas producers to repair environmental damage caused by Hurricane Katrina and Rita. These funds are in addition to more than $20 million in ECP funding provided on September 7. These funds will help farmers and ranchers repair environmental damage caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Producers can use ECP funds to remove farmland debris, restore fences and repair conservation structures. It will also help pay for grading and shaping storm damaged farmland. |
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