11.09.2014

USA - Growers consider legal action to implement APH change crop

USDA’s decision to delay implementation of a key crop insurance change—included in the 2014 farm bill—could end up in the courts.Oklahoma City trial lawyer Jeff Todd told he is “looking into several different ways to protect the legal rights of producers” who will be adversely impacted by the failure of USDA’s Risk Management Agency to implement the Actual Production History (APH) change as mandated by the 2014 farm bill. No action is expected until after Sept. 30.Todd serves as co-chair of McAfee & Taft’s Agriculture and Equine Industry Group and has successfully litigated several crop insurance cases in the past.Rumors have been flying across drought-ravaged sections of the country that some type of legal action was in the works, including the potential for an injunction that would prohibit USDA from implementing other parts of the farm bill until the APH adjustment is included.Todd said he “doesn’t think a lawsuit is out of the question,” but that he is “weighing the options” and will “ultimately do whatever is best for our producers.”For some producers in the Southwest U.S., crop insurance is really the only thing they get out of the farm bill, Todd explains. “Failure to implement this APH provision impacts producers ability to purchase workable crop insurance, the ability to get operating loans and, potentially, the ability to collect indemnities.”Under the new farm bill, a producer may choose to exclude any year from their APH if his or her yield in that year is less than 50 percent of the 10-year county average. Additionally, the final provision is retroactive, enabling a change not just to future yields, but also to the previous 10 years that can be used to calculate a producers’ APH.David Cleavinger, a Texas Wheat Producers Association (TWPA) board member who farms near Wildorado, Texas, says that without this APH change, his crop insurance coverage will continue to erode after years of devastating drought.“I haven’t harvested an acre of dryland wheat since 2010,” Cleavinger said. “I ran very conservative figures on one dryland wheat section in Deaf Smith County, and by dropping the yields from three qualifying years, I would be able to increase my APH from 23 bushels per acre, to 28.” At $6.50 wheat, the adjustment would correspond to $32.50 per acre of crop insurance coverage that he is not eligible for now but would have been under average growing conditions.During a House Committee on Agriculture hearing on July 10, Chairman Frank Lucas, R-OK, expressed frustration about USDA’s intention to delay implementation until 2015.Rep. Mike Conaway, R-TX, told USDA Under Secretary Michael Scuse he was “deeply troubled” by the failure to make this change in 2014 because it “would provide critical relief for those struggling against severe drought.”“Producers suffering from a drought shouldn’t have to wait until the third year of a five-year farm bill to receive relief, particularly when Congress intended for it to be available immediately,” Conaway noted.Scuse said an APH adjustment included in the farm bill to help farmers affected by drought and other disasters in recent years will be available for crops planted in the fall of 2015, but not for crops harvested before then. Scuse said “it’s no small effort” to adjust the APH, which requires going over 20 years of data “for every single county for every single crop in that county.”While Scuse did not commit to implement the provision earlier than the fall of 2015, he did promise to investigate and provide the committee with details about potential timelines, and even to consider a partial implementation for crops most impacted by drought, according to Conaway.But during an Aug. 6 press conference, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told reporters that USDA cannot plan to implement the provision sooner because the department has to select some programs to handle first.“It’s the best we could under the circumstances,” he said, because USDA decided to move forward with Commodity Title provisions. “It was a staffing issue. It comes down to that.”While noting the tremendous progress that USDA has made on many other parts of the farm bill, Vilsack said recalculating APH is very “labor and staff intensive” because it requires computations on every commodity and every county.Asked about a partial implementation of the APH provision, Vilsack said this may not be feasible.“If you’re going to single out counties or commodities...how do you draw the line?” he said.Source - http://www.hpj.com/

11.09.2014

USA - Invasive insects taking a bite from N.Y. farms, gardens

New invasive pests are arriving at New York gardens and farms more frequently. A recent arrival has put at risk $325 million in fruit, grapes and berries grown in New York and thousands of farm jobs.The West Coast bug — the spotted wing fruit fly (Drosophila suzukii) — began appearing on soft fruit in 2012. While the insect prefers berries, it also damages other kinds of fruit and wine grapes.Last year, it became more prevalent and this year, Morgenthau estimates about 20 percent of the organic farm's raspberry crop was lost."It's extremely difficult to control," Morgenthau said.The speed that new invasive pests arrive in New York has accelerated, and the consequences can be huge for the state's agriculture. In just two growing seasons, the spotted wing fruit fly has put at risk $325 million worth of small fruit, grapes and berries grown in New York and thousands of farm jobs.The new invader infests berries as they grow on the bush. The more common fruit fly attacks overripe or damaged fruits and vegetables of all varieties throughout the summer."(The berries) are still white," said Peter J. Jentsch, a Cornell University entomologist stationed at the Hudson Valley Agricultural Research Laboratory in Highland. "They are weeks from being ripe."Jentsch said the infestation poses no unusual health threat to consumers visiting U-Pick farms or area farmers' markets. But the results of the insect-damaged fruit can be devastating to growers.Statewide, Cornell University estimated the damage to commercial berry growers at $7 million in 2012. The past winter's bitter cold appears to have reduced infestation this season. The fly began chowing down four weeks later than in previous summers, said Juliet Carroll, coordinator of New York's integrated pest management program for fruit.Another impact of the infestation that peaks in late summer is New York growers eliminate late season raspberries and blueberries from their fields. That reduces late berry crops and cuts farm employment, Carroll said.Some strategies — such as fine-textured netting placed over the bushes to keep the flies away —may be too expensive to consider, some growers said.Other tactics, such as spraying with insecticides, approved by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, are being tested and rotated, with but limited success.Cornell is working with growers to set up effective "Trap and Kill" stations, which lure the pests to a trap to destroy the flies there. Monitoring of the insect in the Hudson Valley have found the insect in Albany, Columbia, Ulster, Dutchess, and Orange counties. Infestations are expected to increase in September and put late-season fruit crops at high risk for damage.The most successful safeguards appear to be labor intensive — picking the berries thoroughly and destroying damaged berries by freezing, picking the fruit just as it ripens and refrigerating it immediately.Cornell's field research shows the fly prefers raspberries, with blueberries about half as likely to be infested. Lower on the list are grapes, cherries, peaches and plums, and other thin-skinned fruits.But for growers, the real question is how long they can sustain unchecked havoc caused by the insect."Before the spotted winged (fruit fly), it was pretty feasible to grow a good crop of organic raspberries," Morgenthau said. "And now it's much more difficult."Journal staff writer John Ferro contributed to this report.Threats to gardens, cropsNew York produces about $3 billion of field crops, fruits and vegetables annually. Invasive insects are chewing up some its top agriculture products and backyard garden produce. Here is a look:Khapra beetle: Stored grainsLight brown apple moth: Berries, field crops, fruitsSummer fruit tortrix: Various fruit, ornamental trees, flowering shrubsFalse codling moth: Grapes, stone fruits, various field cropsEuropean grapevine moth: Grapes, berriesBrown marmorated stink bug (shown above): various fruits and vegetables.Winter moth: Tree fruitSource - http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/

11.09.2014

Canada - Alberta farms devastated by sudden summer snowstorm

Great moisture and heat all summer meant Tony Marshall was supposed to have a great harvest. Instead, the southern Alberta farmer’s fields have been wiped out by a freak summer snowstorm.“We missed the hailstorms that had come through, so yeah, we were looking forward to good things,” he said, while surveying the damage. “It’s flattened, and it’s going to be really tough to swath.”His barley was supposed to become a batch of beer for a Calgary micro-brewery, but the damage means he’ll be feeding it to cattle instead.“As a farmer you don’t really have to go to Vegas to get your risks,” he says. “It hurts, but that’s the nature of farming. Some years are good, others are not so good.”Marshall’s neighbours with even larger operations stand to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars.“Because we have only maybe 15 to 20 per cent of the crop harvested in the province, this is a bigger impact than it would have been a month from now,” explains crop specialist Mark Cutts.However, the losses likely aren’t widespread enough to prompt the price of bread or flour to rise.Source - http://globalnews.ca/

11.09.2014

Australia - Fruit growers vote to collect fruit fly management funds

Victorian and NSW fruit growers have voted to create a new Sunraysia Pest Free Area order for collecting funds to manage fruit fly in the region. Of 460 growers eligible to vote in a recent poll, 371 were in favour of creating a new Greater Sunraysia Pest Free Area Industry Development Order.The proposed order would see a committee of industry members created to manage prevention and eradication activities. Growers in the area would pay a charge towards these activities if they have at least 150 citrus fruit-bearing trees, or produce at least 1000kg of stonefruit or table grapes a year.The charge in the first year would be $3 a tonne. Growers would have the opportunity each year to vote on the charge, which can be no greater than $3.50 a tonne. It would be collected at packing sheds for citrus growers and when buying boxes from a box supplier for packing stonefruit and table grapes.Growers could apply for an exemption from paying the charge if they could prove they do not receive any benefit from the services.In November last year, the citrus, stonefruit and table grape industries in Sunraysia petitioned Minister for Agriculture Peter Walsh to create an order under the Agricultural Industry Development Act 1990 to help them collect funds to aid management of the devastating pest, which ruins fruit and impacts on the ability of the region to export its produce domestically and overseas.On July 17, Mr Walsh placed a notice in the Government Gazette advising that a poll would be held on whether to create the order.The Victorian Electoral Commission posted ballot papers­ to relevant producers on August 6, and the voting period closed on August 29. VEC published the results of the poll in statewide and local newspapers­ on Monday.Mr Walsh said it was great to see strong recognition of the importance of retaining the pest-free area for domestic and international trade.“The next step is for the Victorian Government to consult with our NSW counterparts, but I expect a speedy resolution and it is possible the new order could be in place as early as October,” he said.Victorian Government funding for the PFA will continue. Sunraysia Citrus Growers chairman Vince De Maria said the order was a positive move towards gaining control over fruit fly.Source - http://www.freshplaza.com/

11.09.2014

Losses for agricultural sector in Gaza estimated at 550 million dollars

The preliminary estimates about the total losses for the agricultural sector in Gaza have been estimated at 550 million dollars, of which 350 million correspond to direct losses and $ 200 million to indirect losses.In a joint press conference held at the fishing port of Gaza, with the participation of representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture and members of the agricultural sector, as well as the fishermen's union, it was announced that "the direct damages to the agricultural sub-sectors has been estimated at 200.4 million dollars, affecting more than half of the agricultural area, which is estimated at 140,000 hectares."Dr. Nabil Abu Shamala, director general of policy and planning at the Ministry of Agriculture said that "the damage to and loss of livestock production amounted to 70.8 million; that to soil and water amounts to 68.2 million dollars, and damage to fisheries reaches 10 million dollars; the estimated losses of crops stored amount to 16 million dollars."He also noted that "water wells and water tanks have been affected, as well as the lines for water supply, in addition to the destruction of agricultural land located along the eastern border of the area, where ​​about 34,500 hectares were bombed and destroyed completely."He added that "the value of indirect losses resulting from the loss of opportunities and disruption of the labour force in the agricultural sector if of 200 million dollars, and the most affected provinces are Khan Younis, with 79 million dollars, the province of Gaza, with 60 million dollars, followed by the northern Gaza Strip, with 48.5 million."He pointed out that "one of the most important results of this barbaric war is an acute shortage of locally produced agricultural crops and high prices, which threatens the Gaza Strip's food security, which according to estimates, may already be affecting about half of the area's population."Source - http://www.freshplaza.com/

11.09.2014

India - Floods dampen hopes of horticulture farmers

Standing crops in hundreds of acres in Konaseema damaged. A good number of farmers opted for papaya as an inter-crop with coconut by investing about Rs. 50,000 per acre.The hopes of horticulture farmers from this greenish village on the banks of Godavari were dampened by floods. At a time when the crops are about to yield, the sudden rise in the Godavari has played the spoilsport.The farmers, who were in a cheerful mood till three days ago, are calculating their losses by standing in knee-deep water on Wednesday. Even as the flood is receding, the damage has already been done to the standing crops of banana, sweet orange, papaya, betel leaf and vegetables spread in hundreds of acres.A good number of farmers opted for papaya as an inter-crop with coconut by investing about Rs. 50,000 per acre. When the fruit was in ripening stage, entire gardens came under sheets of water. “Now, the yield is hopeless. We can’t count on any yield and the entire investment turned into mere waste,” said Kola Edukondalu, who cultivated papaya in two acres in Ainavilli Lanka. “You know the cost of seed? It is Rs. 7,000 per 100 grams and we bought it from Bangalore,” he says while calculating other investments such as labour, fertilizer and pesticide.Village maroonedThe village is under a sheet of water and boats are being used for transportation. People residing in the low-lying areas are spending their second day in the relief camps.Sweet orange and betel were cultivated in huge extents in the vicinity and the two crops too were at the yielding stage. “It will take another two to three days for the floodwater to recede from the farms and fields. By that time, sweet orange attracts bugs and the betel leaf will be completely damaged,” says Salivahana, a farmer from Ainavilli Lanka.Vegetables sown in hundreds of acres in the abutting Kotipalli Baga village are marooned and the farmers lost all the hopes of minimum returns. “Though coconut growers are the happiest lot as the sand deposits will make the groves more fertile, the horticulture and vegetable farmers are a worried lot. Most of them are tenant farmers and the loss is irrecoverable for them,” M.V. Subba Rao, who owns a coconut grove in the village, said.Source - http://www.thehindu.com/

11.09.2014

USA - Sudden death syndrome and white mold observed in Illinois

Signs and symptoms of a few soybean diseases have begun to show up in some areas of the state over the last few weeks, and two of these diseases, sudden death syndrome (SDS) and Sclerotinia stem rot (white mold), are likely to cause economic losses in some growers' fields this year, said a University of Illinois plant pathologist.Carl Bradley explained that symptoms of SDS that currently are being observed include interveinal chlorosis and necrosis of the leaves (veins remain green while the tissues between the veins turn yellow and then brown). "These symptoms look exactly like the foliar symptoms caused by a different disease, brown stem rot. Brown stem rot, however, causes internal browning of the pith in soybean stems while SDS does not affect soybean stems," he said.On SDS-affected plants, the leaves will fall off eventually, while the petioles will remain attached to the stems and branches. In some cases, Bradley said, a bluish-white mass of spores of the SDS fungus (Fusarium virguliforme) may be observed on the roots."Although the foliar symptoms of SDS are now being observed, infection by the SDS fungus occurred during the seedling stage, not long after planting. The symptoms that are now being observed are the effect of toxins that the SDS pathogen produces that are phytotoxic," he said.Cool and wet weather after planting along with recent rainfall received in parts of the state have been favorable for infection and disease development and are the reasons that SDS incidence is high in some areas this year, Bradley explained."The primary method of managing SDS is to choose the most resistant soybean varieties available. Some evidence has shown that high soybean cyst nematode (SCN) egg populations may also increase the likelihood of severe SDS; therefore, managing SCN populations through resistant varieties and crop rotation may also reduce the risk of SDS," he said.White mold has also been observed in fields located in the northern half of Illinois this year. "The appearance of this disease also is weather-related. Areas in the northern half of the state that were cooler and wetter than normal after soybean plants began to flower are the areas that are affected the most severely," Bradley said."Unfortunately, once white mold signs and symptoms are detected in the field, fungicide applications generally will be futile as the damage has already been done," he added.Bradley said that growers with severe levels of white mold may encounter some discounts at the elevator this year for high levels of foreign matter. "Some sclerotia (dark survival structures produced by the white mold fungus -- Sclerotinia sclerotiorum) that are formed on plants may be similar in size to the seed, and will make their way to the hopper and eventually the elevator, where discounts may be received," he explained.Source - http://www.farmersadvance.com/

10.09.2014

Canada - Farmers struggle with wet harvest

It rains. Then it pours. Now, will it freeze?With weather watchers raising the possibility of frost this week, Manitoba farmers are struggling to get harvestable crops into the bin — wet or dry — and keeping their fingers crossed later crops such as corn and soybeans will reach maturity in time.Many hay producers in the province are still trying to gather up enough supplies for winter, the president of the Manitoba Forage and Grasslands Association says.“I think we’re looking at pretty tight stocks,” said Jim Lintott. “We came into the summer having had no hay inventory for basically two winters… we finished off the winter and there was just no inventory left. That’s been the struggle for two years in a row.”That means all the feed producers will need this winter will have to come from this summer’s production, he added.In years past, a farmer who was short on hay could turn to a neighbour, but not anymore.“The same is true for your neighbours… everybody is tight to start with, everybody is tight in terms of average, then you have the weather on top of it,” Lintott said.Because of the wet conditions, many forage producers turned to making silage, instead of putting up dry hay.“We still want to make dry hay whenever we can because it’s cheaper to make, particularly with the second cut,” he said. “There’s more cost involved with silage, but then it reduces the risk substantially when you go to a silage program, whether it’s chopped or round bales.”Some forage producers were able to get a second cut off during a stretch of dry weather in early August, but those whose forage wasn’t ready to cut during the brief window lost out, said Lintott.Forage producers are not alone in their water troubles, however.“It’s definitely affecting everybody,” said Bill Ross, general manager of the Manitoba Canola Growers Association. “We’ve had too much rain, and out west they’ve had even more rain than the rest of us.”What is getting harvested isn’t coming in dry, he added.“Producers are still able to get out on the land, and there’s been some canola swathed and I’ve seen some cereals done, but it can’t be coming off dry. I’m positive they’re being dried,” he said. “But if we keep getting more rain, guys are going to have trouble getting on the land at all.”The result is farmers are left trying to balance options, said Pam de Rocquigny, a business development specialist with Manitoba’s Department of Agriculture. Some are opting to harvest crops that are still too wet and dry them once they’re off the field.“Of course there is going to be an extra cost if they are putting it through a dryer,” de Rocquigny said. “But at the same time they’re weighing what the potential losses could be if they have a downgraded quality due to weathering losses or something like that, so you’re weighing if you can leave it out there. Is it getting too mature, am I going to have losses due to shattering or something like that… or can I take it off at a little bit higher moisture content and then do something about it?”But there is one big difference between forage crops and cereal or oilseed crops when it comes to excess moisture.The vast majority of cereal and oilseed producers insure their crops, while uptake on the newly available forage insurance has been minimal, said Lintott.“Crop insurance on grains and oilseeds has about 95, 98 per cent sign-up, everybody buys crop insurance for those annual crops, but it has only been from six to 16 per cent on forages,” he said. “As a rule, we do not think there is enough risk with growing forages to insure them, but if you actually look at the amount of investment… the amount of nutrients you’re removing from your soil that has to somehow be replaced, forages are actually quite expensive and you need to look closely at your risk management needs.”Source - http://www.manitobacooperator.ca/

10.09.2014

India - Heavy rains, pest brew trouble for coffee planters

Prolonged dry days, followed by heavy rains and pest attack during a belated monsoon are brewing production crisis for coffee planters in Karnataka, which accounts for 69 percent of the country's bean production."Absence of pre-summer showers, a delayed monsoon remaining vigorous and invasion by the white stem borer pest in the Arabica variety plantations are likely to hit our production target in the crop year (October-September)," Coffee Board chairman Javed Akthar told IANS in an interview here.Though the state-run board has estimated an all-time high production of 344,750 tonnes for 2014-15 as part of its post-blossom forecast, the target is unlikely to be met due to 50 percent damage to plantations in the coffee-growing regions of the state across the rich bio-diverse Western Ghats."About 10 million (100 lakh) Arabica plants have to be removed from 3,200 hectares across coffee regions to check the spread of white stem borer, which flares up due to erratic rainfall and rising temperature in the Deccan Plateau," Akhtar said on the margins of the commodity plantations event.The dreaded pest, which attacks only in India among the world's 10 coffee-producing countries, is a brown coloured beetle that damages coffee plants and causes a yield loss up to 40 percent."The larvae typically enter a plant's stem and burrows up to its roots. Infested plants turn yellow and their leaves wilt. Though old plants get damaged, new plants perish," Akthar pointed out.Of the total output the board has projected a quarter ago, Robusta variety is estimated to be 239,250 tonnes and Arabica 105,500 tonnes for the ensuing crop year.Planters, however, claim that the board's estimates are unrealistic in view of the pest menace and excess rains in the Malnad region of the state that continues this month."The board made a similar estimate of 347,000 tonnes last year (2013-14) only to revise downwards by 10 percent, as the final production slumped to 304,500 tonnes as against 318,200 tonnes in 2012-13," a coffee planter told IANS here.Contrary to the board's projection, the Karnataka Planters' Association (KPA) estimates that the production will be about 300,000 tonnes, as conditions remain same as last year."Heavy rains from July till this week in the coffee belt have also led to cherries falling off the bushes and absence of sunlight for days led to water stagnating in the estates, which may result in black rot disease setting in," KPA president D.G. Jayaram noted.Of the total output (304,500 tonnes) in 2013-14, Karnataka produced 211,100 tonnes of Arabica and Robusta, Kerala 66,675 tonnes and Tamil Nadu 18,775 tonnes.Similarly, of the total 415,341 hectares of land in which the aromatic beans are grown, 347,236 hectares are spread across the three southern states, with Karnataka having 230,333 hectares, followed by Kerala 85,359 hectares and Tamil Nadu 31,544 hectares."We have taken integrated pest management steps (IPM) on mission mode to tackle the menace and limit its fallout in unaffected estates by training and demonstrating to planters and small growers with less than five hectares of holding," Akhtar said.The board has roped in the state-run Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) for collaborative research on the menace and engaged private labs such as Bio-control Research Lab to identify female pheromones and Kairomons."We have also submitted an action plan to the commerce ministry for on catch, kill, gap filling, community nurseries on mission mode and develop the beans with tolerance to pests and diseases," Akhtar observed.Unlike tea, which is largely consumed across the country, about 70 percent of the Indian coffee is exported the world over, especially to Europe and the US."Though exports declined nine percent to 122,340 tonnes in first five months of this fiscal (2014-15) from 134,361 tonnes in same period of last fiscal (2013-14), value realisation was 4.3 percent up at Rs.2,084 crore from Rs.1,998 crore, as unit price was 15 percent more at Rs.170 per kg than Rs.149 per kg," United Planters’ Association of Southern India (Upasi) commodities head R. Sanjith told IANS.Year-on-year, exports increased 4.4 percent to 312,454 tonnes in fiscal 2013-14 from 299,275 tonnes in fiscal 2012-13 and value realization was also 4.6 percent higher at Rs.4,760 crore as against Rs.4,552 crore though unit value was same - Rs.152 per kg.Source - http://www.daijiworld.com/

10.09.2014

USA - Hail Loss Claims Closing Date Approaching

After record hail crop damage and claims last year, the 2014 season has been below average in reported damage so far this year. The last day for producers with state hail insurance to file a hail loss claim is October 1, 2014.“This year has been fairly quiet compared to last year. We’ve had a few events around the state, but to date we are below average. The department wants to remind producers that if they experienced any hail damage and have coverage through the state, they should get their claim in as soon as possible,” said Walt Anseth, Rural Development Section Supervisor with the Montana Department of Agriculture.As of September 1 with the possibility of more hail this season, there have been 321 claims filed with the department, down from 1,046 last year. Average losses for the state hail insurance program the last ten years total 539 claims with a 74% loss ratio, while this year’s loss ratio to date is 45%.“It’s important for producers to remember that it is not the responsibility of your private carrier to inform the department of their hail loss. Hail loss claims need to be filed with the department by October 1, 2014,” said Anseth.Source - http://www.roundupweb.com/

10.09.2014

USA - Reducing insurance subsidies for wealthy farmers could save hundreds of millions annually

Reducing Crop Insurance subsidies for America's wealthy farmers could save hundreds of millions annually for taxpayers, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO). GAO's report examined the effects of reducing the federal subsidy for crop insurance revenue policies, and found possible savings of nearly $2 billion per year with little effect on farmers' total production cost per acre."This report provides us a blueprint on how to save hundreds of millions of dollars with little impact on our farm industry." Dr. Coburn said. "The Federal Government needs to get out of the business of subsidizing the wealthiest farmers."GAO's report notes that the cost to the federal government of the crop insurance program increased from an average of $3.4 billion per year from 2003 through 2007 to an average of $8.4 billion per year from 2008 through 2012, peaking at $14.1 billion in 2012, a new record. During this time period, the rate of premium subsidies provided by the federal government increased from 37 percent to 63 percent and the amount of acreage covered by the program increased dramatically, all while the farm industry was bringing in record profits.The GAO report also found median farm household income was significantly higher than median income for all U.S. households in 2012. While the median income for all U.S. households was $51,017, households associated with farms specializing in cash grains such as corn or soybeans had a median household income of about $82,300 and farms specializing in a few choice crops (rice, tobacco, cotton, and peanuts) netted a median income of $101,400. Success does not need a government subsidy.Source - http://insurancenewsnet.com/

10.09.2014

Canada - Losses for farmers could top $1B due to rain storms, flooding

After a season of intense rainfall and extensive overland flooding, Manitoba farmers are harvesting what they can from this year’s crop.Kevin Yuill farms about 3,000 acres in the area north of Portage la Prairie and thinks he lost about 500 acres due to excessive moisture this year.“Agriculture - it’s a big numbers game now, so on our own, we spent about a million dollars setting our crop up, so if you lose a crop it hurts,” said Yuill.He completely lost a 170 acre corn field - a crop that was already a metre high when the water came.“What happens when we lose a bunch of acres like this? We quit spending,” said Yuill. “Because the fact is, you know that it’s going to hurt. So, guess what? The business that normally would have got some of those dollars, it’s not there for them so they’ve got to pull their belt in a little bit too.”According to Keystone Agriculture Producers, 985,000 acres went unseeded in Manitoba due to excessive moisture in the spring and an additional million acres of crops were wiped out by heavy rains and overland flooding.The industry estimates the total economic impact to farmers at $1 billion.Agriculture producers would like to apply for aid from the provincial and federal governments through a program called AgriRecovery.“At this time, there is no AgriRecovery program,” reads a statement from the province. “While the province has not ruled out the possibility of an AgriRecovery program, we cannot act alone, and will await the outcome of ongoing assessment and discussion with the federal government.”But speaking Monday in Saskatoon, federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz said it is up to an affected province to get the ball rolling."We'll take a look at it if the province of record pulls the trigger on AgriRecovery, sends in the assessments to be done. We'll do the counterpart at the federal level,” said Ritz.Yuill hopes the two levels of government can sort something out soon saying many producers in his area will be hurting this year if they don’t.Source - http://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/

10.09.2014

India - Cotton hit by excessive rains, Punjab to seek package

Cotton crop in Punjab was the main casualty of heavy rains lashing across the state in past one week as over 45,000 hectares under the fibre was badly hit in cotton growing areas in the state.With Punjab ordering assessment of loss to crops because of "excessive" rains, the state government is planning to seek a package from Centre to compensate farmers for the crop loss."Excessive rains have caused maximum loss to cotton crop in Punjab. A Girdawri (revenue assessment) has been ordered to across the state to wok out the percentage of damage to crops and report will be ready within a week," Punjab Agriculture Minister Tota Singh told PTI today.He said the cotton growing areas including Mansa, Bathinda, Fazilka, Abohar, Muktsar areas were hit by "excessive" rains.As per reports gathered from various districts, cotton was affected in Fazilka (25,000 hectares), Muktsar (16,000 hectares), Mansa (2,530 hectares) and Bathinda (2,000 hectares)."The loss could be in the range of 25 to 50 per cent in cotton crop," said the Agriculture Minister.Significantly, damage to cotton crop could be a setback for the state government's ambitious plan of pushing crop diversification programme wherein it was looking to divert area under paddy to alternate crops including cotton, maize, etc.Area under cotton in Punjab went down this Kharif seson on account of "weak" rains as the state brought 4.50 lakh hectares as against the target of 5.20 lakh hectares.Paddy, including, basmati variety was also hit at Amritsar (17,170 hectares), Tarn Taran (7,000 hectares), Fazilka (12,000 hectares), Muktsar (3,600 hectares), Gurdaspur (2,300 hectares), Pathankot (115 hectares), Patiala (100 hectares) was affected while Guar and Maize crops were also feared to have been hit by rains.Punjab Agriculture minister said that the state government would demand financial assistance for loss caused to crops because of excessive rains."Now package will be demanded from the Centre for the crop damage by heavy rains," said Singh.Notably, Punjab government had already demanded package of Rs 2,330 crore from Centre to deal with delayed monsoon and prolonged dry spell conditions.Under this package, SAD-BJP led state government sought Rs 1,500 crore for diverting electricity from other sectors to farm sector and buying additional power to ensure uninterrupted power supply to farmers and Rs 800 crore on spending diesel.Source - http://www.business-standard.com/

09.09.2014

USA - Considerations in reducing federal premium subsidies

The Government Accountability Office released the following report highlight:What GAO FoundThe cost of the federal crop insurance program and farm sector income and wealth grew significantly from 2003 through 2012. The cost of crop insurance averaged $3.4 billion a year from fiscal years 2003 through 2007, but it increased to $8.4 billion a year for fiscal years 2008 through 2012.According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Risk Management Agency (RMA), the agency that administers the crop insurance program, subsidies for crop insurance premiums accounted for $42.1 billion-or about 72 percent-of the $58.7 billion total program costs from 2003 through 2012. Revenue policies, the most frequently purchased crop insurance option, accounted for $30.9 billion of the total premium subsidy costs for 2003 through 2012. Crop insurance premium subsidy rates--the percentage of premiums paid by the government--are set by Congress and would require congressional action to be changed.For most policies, the rates range from 38 to 80 percent, depending on the policy type, coverage level chosen, and geographic diversity of crops insured. As premium subsidy costs increased, farm sector income and wealth indicators also increased. For example, for each year from 2003 through 2012, median farm household income exceeded median U.S. household income. Specifically, on average, median farm household income was $7,205, or 13.8 percent, greater each year than U.S. household income, in constant 2012 dollars. Farm sector income also grew from $73.8 billion in 2003 to $113.8 billion in 2012, in constant 2012 dollars. Farm real estate values, another measure of farm prosperity, increased by 72 percent from 2003 through 2012, in constant 2012 dollars, and farmers relied less on borrowed funds to finance their holdings.Reducing premium subsidies for revenue policies could potentially result in hundreds of millions of dollars in annual budgetary savings with limited costs to individual farmers. For example, the federal government would have potentially saved more than $400 million in 2012 by reducing premium subsidies by 5 percentage points, and the savings would have been nearly $2 billion by reducing these subsidies by 20 percentage points. Although such reductions would have required farmers to pay more of their premiums, the impact on their average production costs per acre would have been limited, usually less than 2 percent, and often less than 1 percent. For example, for corn, premium subsidy reductions of 5 and 20 percentage points in 2012 would have raised average production costs per acre by about $2.80 and $11.20, respectively. These increases would have been about 0.4 percent and 1.7 percent, respectively, of the total average production cost per acre of $656 that year for corn. The ultimate impact of such limited production cost increases on farmers' income would depend on their individual profit margins. However, for the industry as a whole, the impact appears to be minimal. In 2000, when Congress enacted new premium subsidy rates, the new rates immediately became effective. In contrast, when RMA increases the premiums charged for policies, it generally phases in the increases over several years to lessen the impact on farmers. Documents from farm industry groups and some researchers note that reductions in premium subsidies could result in lower farmer participation in the program and lower insurance coverage levels.However, available economic literature indicates that farmers' response to such reductions may be small due to factors such as the attractiveness of revenue policies and increasing importance of crop insurance as other farm programs are reduced or eliminated. In addition, other stakeholders identified incentives that would help keep farmers in the program, including pressure from lenders to maintain crop insurance coverage and the importance of crop insurance to many farmers as their primary risk management tool. In the event that subsidy rates were reduced, actual information on the impact on farmer participation would be available if participation were monitored.Why GAO Did This StudyFederally subsidized crop insurance, which farmers can buy to help manage the risk inherent in farming, has become one of the most important programs in the farm safety net. Revenue policies, which protect farmers against crop revenue loss from declines in production or price, are the most popular policy type and account for nearly 80 percent of all premium subsidies. The crop insurance program's cost has come under scrutiny while the nation's budgetary pressures have been increasing.GAO was asked to look at the cost of the crop insurance program. This report examines (1) trends in federal crop insurance costs and farm sector income and wealth from 2003 through 2012 and (2) the potential savings to the government and impacts on farmers, if any, of reducing federal premium subsidies for revenue policies. GAO analyzed USDA crop insurance program data and farm sector income and wealth data from 2003 through 2012 (most recent year with complete crop insurance data); reviewed economic literature and documents from stakeholders including farm industry groups and researchers; and interviewed USDA officials.What GAO RecommendsTo reduce the cost of the crop insurance program, Congress should consider reducing the level of federal premium subsidies for revenue crop insurance policies, including a phased reduction, if appropriate, and directing USDA to monitor and report on the impact, if any, of this reduction on crop insurance program participation. In written comments, USDA said it had no comments on the report's findings.Source - http://insurancenewsnet.com/

09.09.2014

USA - Supplemental coverage option on crop insurance available for winter wheat growers

Farmers who grow winter wheat in any of 11 counties in Wisconsin are eligible for one of the new crop insurance policy options contained in the 2014 Farm Bill.Enrollment in that policy, called Supplemental Coverage Option (SCO), is available from crop insurance agents only through Sept. 30 but winter wheat growers will have until Dec. 15 to decide if they're going to keep the policy and pay the premium, according to Paul Mitchell, an agricultural economist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.Mitchell spoke at the latest farm management update for agricultural professionals, which is sponsored twice a year by the Extension Service offices in east central Wisconsin counties. He noted that Sept. 30 is the sales closing date for any winter wheat crop insurance policy although the latest planting date to assure full coverage varies from Sept. 30 in the northern half of the state to Oct. 10 in the southern three tiers of counties.Counties eligible for SCOThe 11 Wisconsin counties in which SCO is offered in addition to the basic crop insurance policy on winter wheat are Rock, Dane, Dodge, Fond du Lac, Sheboygan, Calumet, Winnebago, Brown, Manitowoc, Kewaunee, and Door. Mitchell noted that SCO will be available to corn and soybean growers in some Wisconsin counties next spring.SCO is layered with the standard revenue protection, yield protection, or harvest price exclusion policy that farmers must buy in order to obtain an SCO policy, Mitchell pointed out. Farmers will pay 35 percent of the premium while a federal subsidy will cover the balance, he indicated. Premium rates are not known yet, pending futures and wheat prices along with volatility probabilities, he noted.Calculated on a county level basis, SCO is a policy that covers a portion of the deductible in individual insurance policies, Mitchell explained. With the addition of an SCO policy, farmers could have four possibilities for obtaining a payment on cropping losses, he observed.An SCO payment would be triggered when a county loss of at least 14 percent (up to 25 percent) is determined, Mitchell indicated. Coverage for the two individual policies would be capped at 86 percent of the expected revenue or crop yield, he added.Timetable complicationsOne requirement for obtaining an SCO policy is that the insured farmer also be enrolled in the Price Loss Coverage (PLC) commodity crop support program (details of which were reported in previous Wisconsin State Farmer stories). Mitchell noted, however, that farmers could sign up for PLC on one crop and select the Agricultural Risk Coverage (ARC) commodity support program for others.PLC is a virtual continuation of what were called counter-cyclical payments in previous Farm Bills but with higher support or "reference" prices, Mitchell stated. ARC, available either on a whole farm or county-wide basis, uses a five-year Olympic average to determine guarantees and actual revenue, he pointed out.But there is at least a temporary complication in the timing as different agencies of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) develop and roll out the rules and procedures for the provisions of the 2014 Farm Bill, Mitchell remarked.The program details and signup dates for PLC and ARC, which is administered by the Farm Service Agency, have not yet been announced, Mitchell noted. But the crop insurance program, including SCO, which is handled by the USDA's Risk Management Agency, is in place. He hopes that enough information will be available by Dec. 15 so farmers who have signed up for SCO can decide if they want to keep it or not (with no penalty).Mitchell's recommendationsBecause of the uncertainty on the timing, Mitchell advises wheat growers who buy a basic crop insurance policy to also sign up for SCO. That would allow them to keep their options open until Dec. 15, when their premium payment for SCO would be due, he explains.Mitchell hopes that by then the details and dates for PLC and ARC will be available. He expects that the signups for those programs will be available by mid-January. For that enrollment, education and decision aids will be provided by Texas A&M University and the University of Illinois.What's good for Wisconsin's farmers is that PLC will be the best choice for a great majority of them, Mitchell believes. He has learned that ARC, especially the coverage for individual farms, was inserted into the Farm Bill mainly for wheat growers in Montana.Mitchell also pointed out that SCO is available as annual purchase decision while the choice of either PLC or ARC will apply for the lifetime of the Farm Bill (at least through the 2018 crop year). This means that wheat growers who do not buy SCO in the coming weeks can do so in subsequent years and that those who buy a policy this year are not obligated to do so again in later years, he explained.Source - http://www.wisfarmer.com/

09.09.2014

Africa - Agric advancing slowly but surely

Ghana is recording “a lot of progress” in agricultural development despite the obvious challenges, the Country Representative of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), Dr. Lamourdia Thiombiano, has said in an exclusive wide-ranging interview with the Business & Financial Times.While this progress may not meet “ideal expectations”, it nonetheless ought to be recognised as the general trend of agricultural development is positive, he said.“There’s an African proverb which says everyone hears the fall of a tree, but when the forest is growing no one hears it. The agricultural sector is exactly the same. When there is an emergency like a drought or a flood, everyone hears it, but when it performs well we take it for granted. So there’s a lot of progress that has been made,” Dr. Thiombiano said.He explained that on many indicators – such as productivity and fertilizer application – the trend has been upward, even though certain hindrances to realising the full tremendous potential of agriculture have yet to be addressed.Fertilizer application has doubled from five kilogrammes per hectare to 10, while the yield of crops like cassava and yam has improved substantially, sometimes by about 25-50 percent in growth.“Ultimately, this brings more income at community level. But it also brings more income in terms of the trade balance – because if a country doesn’t produce enough it has to import, but when it produces, the level of imports will be reduced. All this progress can be seen but maybe not at the rate some people would have expected.”After seeing a slowdown during 2011-12, agriculture’s expansion picked up to 5.2 percent in 2013, and the sector accounted for 22 percent of GDP that year. Many recognise that this performance needs to be improved since agriculture provides the most jobs among the three main economic sectors.Dr. Thiombiano, who doubles as the FAO’s Deputy Regional Representative in Africa, said the relative low growth of agriculture compared to other sectors is a sign that investment needs to be improved.Within West Africa, Ghana ranks highly on the level of private capital flowing into agriculture. Yet more investment is required from both government and the private sector.“That’s where the conducive policy is important,” the FAO chief said, “because if you are a private sector company, you want to invest in an area where the rules and regulations are very good and conducive for your business.”This is also where the FAO’s assistance is critical. There are three principal kinds of assistance the organisation provides to Ghana – and other members. The first one is at the policy level, which is assisting the government in designing and implementing policies that facilitate agricultural development.The second area is related to technical support for farmers in the field in terms of transferring know-how and best practices. Being a global organisation of experts and researchers, the FAO has knowledge of practices that have worked elsewhere and could be adapted in Ghana.The third level involves training and capacity-building for the different stakeholders in agriculture. The organisation runs a number of programmes and curricula addressing the needs of varied agricultural actors.The issues tackled in these programmes are many and include post-harvest handling and forestry resources management.“Currently, we are supporting the government to revise the rules and regulations in the livestock sector – because these rules and regulations are outdated and the government is trying to reformulate policy in the sector with new rules that address the current context and challenges,” Dr. Thiombiano said.“We are also supporting the fisheries sector, basically the export of tuna to Europe and other countries. In terms of technical support, we have the papaya sector which was attacked by a disease that brought down the whole sector to a point where Ghana was no longer able to export abroad.With FAO support, we were able to implement a project which has totally reversed the trend. Now Ghana has started exporting again, and we have seen concretely how this sector is currently vibrant.”Asked whether there are any non-traditional crops which hold the promise of becoming significant cash earners for the country in future, Dr. Thiombiano mentioned cassava and yam.Ghana is the fourth-biggest cassava producer in Africa and cassava yields have been improving through technical assistance from the FAO. Cassava, apart from being directly consumed, is used in alcohol production, as feed for livestock, and for bio-energy.Yam is also a niche which has not been exploited enough. Not many countries produce the crop, and the government is currently formulating a strategy for yam production to address challenges such as post-harvest losses, reckoned to be between 20-40 percent.If this strategy is implemented, yam could soon become an important export commodity, Dr. Thiombiano said.The biggest problem facing agriculture in the country is post-harvest management, he added. “The statistics show that we have 30-40 percent post-harvest losses. If we are able to reduce it to a level of 5 percent, we’ll have 25-35 percent more produce. So this is really a key challenge. Together with it is the whole value-chain approach, because agricultural development should be a complete package – post-harvest management, processing, packaging, and access to market."We need to develop the whole value-chain – going from production, transformation, packaging and marketing. You can have an area where there’s excellent production, but how to move it to another area where there is a market can be challenging and this should be addressed. How to increasingly trade this agricultural production with other countries in the sub-region is also an issue to be considered.”Climate change is also a real threat to the sector that should be mitigated or managed through adaptive mechanisms, Dr. Thiombiano said. Skepticism towards climate change has moderated as evidence continues to show average global temperatures rising.On the ground, the evidence is seen in increased frequency and intensity of exceptional events such as droughts and pest attacks.“The continent will face major challenges in terms of the impact of climate change on agricultural production,” the FAO chief said, adding that countries like Ghana that practice rainfall-dependent agriculture are at risk of shifting rainfall patterns.“At community level, this phenomenon will bring more vulnerability to farming. That is why as an organisation we are thinking of ways together with the government and the private sector to effectively support an insurance system to manage those risks.We shouldn’t leave it to the farmers or the communities only to manage the risks. We should also see how to assist them. In many countries such as South Africa and Kenya, there are insurance schemes that have been put in place to reduce the vulnerability of farmers to climate change.”Dr. Thiombiano said the FAO has declared 2014 as the International Year of Family Farming to recognise the millions of smallholders, including those in Africa who produce 70 percent of the continent’s food.The methods used by small-scale farmers, under certain circumstances, are more environmentally-friendly than those employed by large-scale commercial farmers. One of the reasons for the celebration is therefore to acknowledge the efforts of these farmers to conserve the environment even as they feed the ever-increasing population of the world.Supporting small-scale agriculture will help to reduce poverty in Africa, given that most poor people engage in farming, Dr. Thiombiano said. Such support will also enhance the attractiveness of farming and provide jobs for most of the 11 million young people pouring into Africa’s labour market annually.“When you look at the economic landscape, I don’t see any country which can absorb such large people looking for jobs without boosting agricultural growth and development. And to do that you need to create a conducive environment,” Dr. Thiombiano said.Source - http://www.ghanaweb.com/