Does Russia belong in the West or the East? – Keith Woodford:
The issue of whether Russia belongs in the West or the East might seem a strange topic for a New Zealand agri-food systems person like me to be discussing. However, political and food systems, and the associated international trade, are joined at the hip. Politics and agricultural trade are always fellow travellers.
These last two weeks, while working in Russia, I have pondered as to where Russia belongs. From a cultural perspective, I have no doubt it is in the West. Yet from a geopolitical perspective it would seem that Russia’s future is more with China in the East. Here, I explore the dichotomy and the contradiction.
Milk flush is depressing prices – Hugh Stringleman:
Record milk collection in New Zealand over the October peak has continued to depress Global Dairy Trade prices, which, in turn, threaten a reduction in the farmgate milk price closer to $6/kg.
The GDT index fell 3.5% after the auction on November 21, the twelfth consecutive fall or sideways movement since mid-May.
World prices are now 20% below their 2018 peak and 12% lower than this time last year.
Plenty of cattle left – Neal Wallace:
Stirring international and domestic storms have conspired to undercut bull beef prices.
A combination of falling United States prices in the last two months, processors trying to maintain margins and farmers being careful with stock purchases because of Mycoplasma bovis have reduced demand and prices, AgriHQ market analyst Reece Brick says.
At a recent Feilding calf sale those bred on the vendor’s property were $30 to $40 ahead of calves that weren’t. . .
The green, green grass of Maniototo – Jono Edwards:
Green fields in the usually-barren Maniototo have some farmers casting their minds back to the 1970s.
Unusually high rainfall, including a recent heavy downpour, was welcome news for the industry after months of dry heat last year.
Gimmerburn farmer Duncan Helm said things were looking “bloody magnificent”
Mataura Valley’s multimillion-dollar milk plant opens – Margaret Phillips:
The official opening of the $240 million Mataura Valley Milk plant at McNab brought guests from all corners of the globe today.
MVM general manager Bernard May said the plant was forecast to pour about $90 million annually, directly or indirectly, into the South’s economy. Its major shareholder is the China Animal Husbandry Group. . .
Will Argentina be the first country approving a GMO wheat? -Javier Preciado Patiño:
“We mustn’t do what other countries have already done; we must do what no other country did” Self-confident and why not a little bit provoker, the CEO of Bioceres, Mr. Federico Trucco, challenged the audience in the formal presentacion of the HB4 Wheat, the transgenic wheat that added drought tolerance to glufosinate-ammonium herbicide tolerance.
The beginning of this development dates from middles ’90 when scientist Raquel Chan’s team identified a gene (HB4) that confers sunflower seed a better performance under drought condition. In 2003, Bioceres reached an agreement with Conicet (the governmental Science and Technology Comission) to develop this finding in a commercial way. In 2007, HB4 was transferred to other crops like soybean, maize and wheat, and now only one formal step is missing to release this technology to the Argentinean farmers.
Mr. Trucco explained the three step deregulation process for a GMO crop in Argentina. HB4 wheat has already been approved by the SENASA (Food Quality and Health Service) and the Conabia (Biotechnology Advisor Commission), because there is not risk to the human health, animal health and the environment, and the characteristics of this wheat are the same of conventional ones. . .
New app helps farmers finish cattle to retailers’ specifications:
A new app can help farmers finish cattle to retailers’ specifications with greater precision, avoiding lower prices for the farmer and waste in the value chain.
Changing customer tastes mean that almost half of prime beef now fails to meet ideal market specifications.
The app will help farmers finish cattle to retailers’ specifications with greater precision, underpinned by the data to evidence this. . .
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