Agroinsurance

Ukraine harvested over 63.6 mln tonnes of grains

According to operative data as of December 4, Ukraine harvested 63.605 mln tonnes of grains and pulses throughout the areas of 14.574 mln ha, or 98% of the planned areas (excluding the Crimea). The average yield totaled 4.36 t/ha, declared the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine.On the same date in 2013 Ukraine harvested 61.989 mln tonnes of grains throughout 15.182 mln ha, with the yield of 4.08 t/ha.In particular, as of to date Ukraine harvested maize for grain throughout 4.528 mln ha (97%). The production volumes totaled 27.063 mln tonnes, with the average yield of 5.98 t/ha.Source - http://www.apk-inform.com/

Pakistan - Rice growers: government to pay Rs 5,000 per acre subsidy

Federal Minister for Food Security and Research Sikandar Hayat Bosan has said that the government will pay Rs 5,000 per acre as subsidy to the rice growers to compensate them. Talking to media persons Bosan said that the country's food security was directly linked with the financial condition of farmers.He said that the prices of food commodities were decreasing apace in the international market and the federal government was committed to ensuring that this phenomenon did not hurt Pakistani farmers. The federal minister appreciated the role of small farmers in strengthening the country's food security. He said that his ministry was willing to join hands with the development sector non-governmental organisations to deal with the issue of food security and challenges posed by climate change.The minister said that the government was in the process of formulating a policy envisaging measures to reduce the cost of production of different crops. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had constituted a committee under his chairmanship to suggest ways and means to save the crops from diseases and to reduce the cost of per acre production, he added. He said that the policy would be prepared in consultation with the Chief Ministers of the provinces to facilitate the growers.Source - http://www.blackseagrain.net/

North Korea - Water shortages and water parks

North Korea is a country full of enigmas. Isolated and repressive, and governed by a supposed much-loved dictator, little is known about what really goes on within its borders. But some things are impossible to hide, like droughts and water shortages.North Korean state media today issued a statement from Kim Jong Un that continued to place emphasis on a campaign to "secure water" as the country reels from a devastating drought and shortage of water in its rivers, reservoirs and wells. Although this round of droughts and crop failures is not new, the threat of not having enough water for spring seed-planting is a real concern.In the 1990s, the regime went through three years of floods and droughts that resulted in famine and the loss of many lives. According to a study by Ben Habib with the School of Political and International Studies at Flinders University in Australia, flooding is going to become more common in North Korea because of the monsoon season becoming more unpredictable due to climate change.This year's drought was covered in June. At that time, state media was saying the country was experiencing the worst spring drought in over three decades. Despite the lowered water levels and drought, leader Kim Jong-un announced that "increasing agricultural production is a main target," and state media called overcoming the drought “not simply a practical issue but an important task to fulfill the party’s lofty intentions.”A large portion of the country's military was put to work diverting water from rivers into reservoirs in an attempt to save water for planting. It seems the regime is more fixed on having water enough for crops rather than seeing that people have enough water to drink. The plight of the North Korean people has become dire, with two-thirds facing chronic food shortages and over half the population living in squalid poverty.Water, the essential needed for life, and every aspect of our living in this world, has become a great concern. The lack of water is evident everywhere one looks. Dusty fields, dry stream beds and rivers reduced to trickles are seen everywhere. Water for use in everyday routines, like washing clothes, bathing, drinking and cooking is in short supply now.The water shortage in North Korea was of little concern, apparently to the beloved leader, because on October 30, it was reported that water shortages in Pyongyang were being exacerbated because of water being diverted to the Munsu Waterpark. It is part of a plan instigated by Kim Jong Un to show the world North Korea is a nice place to live in and visit. So to that end, millions of gallons of precious water are circulated through miles of tubes, slides and water courses for the pleasure of very, very few people.On opening day, the park was well-attended by a mass of people, watched carefully by armed soldiers. The strange thing is that the park is not visited in the winter, yet the water flows on, just as if it was summer. This is happening even with some hydroelectric plants being shut down because of a lack of water. Go figure.Source - http://www.digitaljournal.com/

Cambodia - Cassava threatened by Witches’ broom disease

Cambodia’s cassava crop is under serious threat if a disease that has been spreading in the country since last year is not brought under control soon, agricultural experts said Thursday.Witches’ broom disease, which is named after the broom-like leaf growth at the top of the plant, and attacks the starch in the roots, looks set to aggressively spread unless farmers take action soon. The Colombia-based International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) will next week host what it describes as “urgent meetings” in Siem Reap to raise awareness among government officials and farmers in an effort to stamp out the disease before it causes significant damage to the industry.“In Cambodia, the destructive cassava witches’ broom, a systemic disease that results in 10-15% [yield] loss…spells disaster for farmers. The disease causes yellowing, leaf proliferation and stunting of cassava plants,” said Kris Wyckhuys, CIAT’s entomologist in Asia, in an email. Cassava is one of Cambodia’s most important agricultural products.Local agronomist and cassava expert Lim Sokundarun said that after being first detected in the region in Thailand several years ago, the disease then spread to Vietnam and more recently to Cambodia.“[The] outbreak [began] in Cambodia last year and will continue to this year if farmers [are] still using the planting material that [was] detected last year,” he wrote in an email.“The main problem is Cambodia always imports the cassava planting material from Vietnam, especially during the planting time in April… which make[s] the disease pass to Cambodia so fast,” he added.Leng Ieng, the owner of a cassava plantation in Kompong Thom province, said he noticed at the end of October that 100 of his plants were diseased. Though the infected number accounts for a fraction of the plants on his 8-hectare plantation, Mr. Ieng is nonetheless concerned.“I have not visited my plantation for one month, so I don’t know the current situation, but I am worried about it spreading further,” he said.Tiv Vanthy, deputy director of the Kompong Thom provincial agriculture department, said that since the witches’ broom outbreak began in August, agriculture officials had been working with a private company—whose name he could not immediately recall—to make sure that farmers grappling with the disease could easily purchase the appropriate remedy.“A private company has been distributing medicine which is provingSource - https://www.cambodiadaily.com

USA - Insect pressure on most crops declined greatly during 2014

Viewed in terms of insect damage to crops, 2014 was a good or even great year in Wisconsin as multi-year population lows were established for some of the major pests that attack crops.That's according to the year-end Wisconsin Pest Bulletin (WPB) summary report issued by the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection (DATCP), which was compiled by entomologist Krista Hamilton. An update is issued nearly every week during the major part of the crop growing season in the state.Corn pests minimalIn corn fields, the WPB surveys did not document any economic level damage from black cutworms despite a near doubling to 1,068 in the number of moths caught in 34 traps. The cutworm is the year's first likely pest in corn fields.The catch of 521 western bean cutworm moths in 108 traps in an extensive network was the lowest in the 10 years of this tracking project. The number of moth catches peaked at 10,807 in 2010 but the totals have declined every year since.Of the 229 corn fields which were checked, 193 did not have any evidence of European corn borer larvae, the summary report indicated. The state-wide average of a corn borer larva in .03 percent of the plants tied the previous low rate set in 1998. Corn borer populations have been tracked for 73 years in Wisconsin.Corn rootworm beetle populations dropped to the second lowest count in 10 years. The state-wide average was .4 beetle per corn plant in August compared to .5 in 2013.Compared to 2013, the rootworm beetle populations were up slightly in western parts of Wisconsin and down in the east. Of the 229 corn fields which were surveyed, 36 had a population above the .75 per plant which is considered to create the likelihood of an economic loss.Soybean pests lowExcept for a late August surge, populations of soybean aphids were also quite low this year. The WPB noted that through July the average count of aphids was only four per plant.That number jumped to an average of 118 in late August, Hamilton noted. This put about 20 percent of the surveyed fields above the 250 aphids per plant that is the standard for a yield loss, making those fields candidates for an insecticide treatment, she remarked.By early September, however, the soybean aphid populations crashed. Hamilton attributed this to a combination of natural biological controls such as lady beetles, lacewings, parasitic wasps, and fungal pathogens along with the dropping nutritional content of the soybean foliage as the plants matured and some environmental factors.The WPB summary report also indicated that Japanese beetle populations were down across the state in 2014 and no soybean field that was in the DATCP survey had enough defoliation to justify an insecticide application. The report noted, however, that the Japanese beetle's range continues to expand in the west central and northern parts of Wisconsin, where there were a few reports of moderate damage to various crops in 2014.Root rot a soybean problemOn the disease front, however, it was not a good year for soybeans. DATCP plant pathologist Anette Phibbs reviewed those findings in the WPB summary report.The survey of 57 fields in 35 Wisconsin counties for phytophthora sojae root rot conducted from June 2 to July 16 found that 26 of the fields tested positive for this pathogen. This was the highest incidence of this species of root rot since the testing began in 2008. The infected fields were in Barron, Clark, Dane, Green, Jefferson, Kenosha, Lafayette, Manitowoc, Marathon, Ozaukee, Rock, Sheboygan, St. Croix, Walworth, and Winnebago counties.Two new phytophthora species — pini and personii — were detected for the first time in soybeans in Wisconsin in Eau Claire and Winnebago counties respectively. Phibbs pointed out that pini is common on many shrubs and trees while personii is so new to science that it hasn't even been formally described.Sansomeana, another root rot species, was detected in Calumet, Dunn, and Eau Claire counties this year. Phibbs noted that this species was first identified in Jefferson, Marathon, and Sheboygan counties in 2012.Soybean dwarf virus was found in 24 percent of the 155 fields which were tested from July 28 to Aug. 28. This was an increase from 9 percent in 2013. On the flip side, the incidence of the new vein necrosis-associated virus which was first detected in Wisconsin in 2012 was down to 5 percent of the tested fields this year compared to 12 percent in 2013.Alfalfa fields cleanPest populations were also down across the board in alfalfa fields this year, the WPB report indicated. No economic threshold for yield loss was determined for any of the 534 fields which were surveyed this year.In line with the delay to the start of the 2014 growing season, alfalfa weevil larvae were late in appearing. Populations of the weevil remained low and, unlike in recent years, no crop damage was documented.Potato leafhopper populations did not reach the economic threshold level for losses in any of the 534 surveyed fields. The first migrants arrived in the southern part of the state from May 8 to 14.Pea aphid populations in alfalfa fields peaked from June 20 to 26. For the remainder of the summer, the populations were very low.Source - http://www.wisfarmer.com/

Ukraine - 20% of winter rye areas in northern oblasts are in poor condition

According to agrarians of northern oblasts of Ukraine, to date the condition of nearly 20% of winter rye planted areas in the region is estimated as unsatisfactory. According to the respondents, the situation was caused by shortage of the moisture content in the soil during the planting campaign of the winter grain, and frosts, observed in the northern Ukraine in early November 2014.In addition, a number of agricultural producers feared that in case of continuation of the low air temperatures, established in the north of the country, in terms of the absence of snow covering, there can be formed the complete loss of weakened crops areas, and worsening of the crops areas, which are currently in good and satisfactory condition.As a reminder, according to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy of Ukraine, as of November 24 the planted areas under winter rye in northern oblasts of the country totaled 63.2 thsd ha.Source - http://www.apk-inform.com/

Kazakhstan harvested nearly 18.9 mln tonnes of grains

According to the oblast departments of agriculture, as of December 2 agricultural producers of Kazakhstan harvested grains throughout nearly 14.855 mln ha, or 99.1% of the planted areas. The production volumes reached 18.915 mln tonnes of grains, with the average yield of 1.27 t/ha, declared the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Kazakhstan.As a reminder, on the same date in 2013 Kazakhstan harvested over 20.82 mln tonnes of grains throughout the areas of 15.64 mln ha (99.4%), with the average yield of 1.33 t/ha.Source - http://www.apk-inform.com/

Spain - 30% of banana acreage damaged

The windstorm that hit the Canary Islands last weekend has caused damage to its banana plantations. Based on preliminary estimates, approximately 4,500 plots may have been affected, which represents around 30% of the total acreage.The first data collected by the Association of Canary Banana Producer Organisations (ASPROCAN) show that the most affected island has been La Palma, with the most damage registered in the areas of Tijarafe and Barlovento. The area of La Dama, in the island of El Hierro has also been seriously affected. In addition to the damage to banana crops, 25% of La Palma's avocado plantations have also been affected.In the case of Tenerife and Gran Canaria, although no severe damages have been registered, there have been isolated incidents in the North and West. In El Hierro, the damages are similar to those of northern Tenerife.The storm has caused banana trees to fall, especially those which had still unharvested bunches. There has also been widespread damage to the aerial part of plants, causing severe defoliation which will delay their normal development.Canary banana crops are amongst the few in Spain that are protected by collective insurances for 100% of the producers. This insurance covers the damages caused by adverse weather conditions, which are precisely the cause of some of the greatest damage and can put the banana production in jeopardy.At present, ASPROCAN has asked its partners to report the damages caused by the weather in recent days. To make the process smoother, growers must inform their packager or mediator, and they will also have to report any damage to property, including greenhouses, windbreaks or irrigation installations.Source - http://www.freshplaza.com/

Climate Change Report: Philippines hardest hit by extreme weather in 2013

The Philippines, Cambodia and India were the countries hardest hit by extreme weather events in 2013, according to a study unveiled on Tuesday at U.N. talks in Lima on a global deal to limit climate change.The report by Germanwatch, a think-tank partly funded by the German government, said the Philippines suffered most because 6,300 people died when Typhoon Haiyan struck a year ago and caused $13 billion in damage.A new storm is now threatening the country.Overall, the study found that more than 530,000 people had died worldwide from 15,000 extreme weather events in the last two decades, including floods, mudslides and droughts, with economic losses of $2.17 trillion.Extreme weather “is not only an issue for the distant future,” Sonke Kreft, one of the authors, told a news conference. Cambodia was struck by severe monsoons and India was battered by Typhoon Phailin that wrecked $4 billion of crops.The United Nations’ panel of climate scientists has said that the impacts of global warming can be found on every continent, with rising temperatures causing more heatwaves, downpours and rising sea levels.Scientists say the frequency of some weather extremes is rising but that it is hard to link climate change to individual weather events. This year is on track to be among the warmest on record.“The victims continue to be the victims,” Heherson Alvarez, a delegate from the Philippines, told a news conference of the ranking, where the top spots are dominated by developing nations.The Germanwatch study is based on death tolls from extreme weather, deaths per 100,000 inhabitants, absolute economic losses and losses as a percentage of gross domestic product.Delegates from almost 200 nations are meeting in Lima from Dec. 1-12 to work on a deal, due to be agreed in Paris in late 2015, to combat climate change.Source - http://www.insurancejournal.com/

Philippines - Extreme weather hurts production of rice farmers

Countries heavily reliant on agriculture are already feeling the effects of extreme weather. According to a United Nations report the poor will be hit the hardest. Filipino farmers are among the hardest hit.For more than four decades now, 57-year old Guillermo Joson has been toiling in the vast plains of the northern Philippine province of Nueva Ecija. This region is often referred to as the country’s rice granary. But Joson says the past few years have been difficult.“In recent years, typhoons seem to come just when we are about to harvest. When they do, they can destroy a huge portion of what we’ve planted,” he said.And if it isn’t the deluge of water, it’s the lack of it. El Niño- a weather pattern characterized by a dry spell may start taking its toll on Filipino farmers soon. It’s extreme weather that is being attributed, at least in part, to climate change.Scientists say the earth’s temperature has increased by almost one degree Celsius since the Industrial Revolution. Two more degrees and it could have devastating effects, especially on agriculture. In the Philippines, this could mean an estimated 10-15 percent decrease in crop production for every increase of one degree Celsius.“That is based on a threshold of 34, 35 degrees. And every degree above this threshold will increase sterility of rice by 10-15 percent. Sterility means the grains will be produced but they are empty,” Dr.Bjorn Ole Sander from the International Rice Research Institute said.And as the law of supply and demand dictates, a drop in food production could drive up food prices, which in turn could mean less food on the table for those who cannot afford and for farmers, a loss in income. “Rice is our only source of income so if we are not able to harvest enough, we don’t earn enough, and our families suffer,” Joson said.To help farmers cope with the effects of climate change, the International Rice Research Institute has been developing climate-adaptive varieties of rice as well as new irrigation techniques.Source - http://www.cctv-america.com/

Australia - Insuring crops against natural disasters touted as better than ad hoc drought support

It's extraordinary that, in a country with floods and droughts, there has been no insurance for farmers to protect their investment.Now for the first time there is a trial of a multi-peril crop insurance, but only one product is available.In its first year, the insurance company will be tested, with one of the worst grain years in the eastern states.There's now a push to replace the flawed drought assistance with this type of working capital insurance.Andrew Trotter, a western Victorian grain farmer, will have to claim against his own company, Latevo International, as his own crop has been a disaster.He set up the multi-peril crop insurance to cover production costs, against dry stress, flood, heat waves, tornadoes or pests."The grain crop this year on the eastern seaboard is now being touted as bad as 1967," said Mr Trotter."It's actually great for the insurance this year, because we're able to prove to farmers the value of this insurance.Mr Trotter says farmers in the program have been able to recover the full cost of business by being in the program."A lot of grain farmers showed interest early, but didn't sign up before the cut-off in April. In the end, only 29 farmers took it up."It's a worst case scenario."This year we saw the best start to the season in April, and farmers put every hectare of crop in and spent all their working capital on growing a good crop."The season cut out in July making the crops fail."Farmers have lost hundreds of thousands, in some cases millions of dollars, this year."The multi-peril crop insurance is said to work best when it covers the cost of putting in the crop, not lost income.David Taylor took it up. He's a grain farmer at Coonamble in north west NSW, who watched the season go from good to bad very quickly this year."You had to go through five years of financials, so it's no easy get in, and it costs the farmer $5,000."Then Latevo offered me a contract on my history, to insure me for $280 a hectare, which they ascertained was my production costs."It cost me just over $50,000. In insurance terms, that's quite high, 7 per cent, but in farming terms, minimal. It works out at around $20 a hectare. I have 3,000 hectares of farming."So it becomes another tool in my farming mechanism."Mr Taylor took the insurance out in April, and the season fell away and is still falling, but he will make a claim for 50 per cent of the policy and Latevo International will make up the gap.He says it's a no-brainer for the future of government drought policy, because they're sick of handing out endless amounts of money to farmers.He says the Federal Government should offer tax incentives and State Governments should remove the stamp duty on it.The Federal Government's green paper on agriculture highlights this multi-peril crop insurance as a way to support farmers through natural disasters.At the crop insurance workshop in Sydney, Nationals MLC Rick Colless said the NSW Government paid out $400 million in eight years of drought support, which was an unfunded liability, and that ad hoc drought policy has to end.Gary Gale, from National Australia Bank agribusiness, says there's been 25 years of fruitless discussion about multi-peril crop insurance.He says underwriting by global companies spreads risk, but he wants to see more companies offering it."I've had four players come and see me in the last six months," he said.Mr Trotter says his insurance product is not available to drought declared farmers, which excluded some Queensland but not NSW farmers."Like any insurance company, you can't buy an insurance policy after you've crashed the car. You must have purchased it before you got in the car."So we individually assess, and we don't appreciate an overarching assessment by government. It's counterproductive."Jay Horton, of Strategis Partners in Sydney, which hosted the workshop, says it's establishing an AgRisk Exchange in 2015 to give farmers a forum to learn more about multi-peril crop insurance.Premiums need to be efficientNot everyone is convinced that multi-peril crop insurance is the best way to go.Grain Producers SA is one group sceptical about whether these kinds of insurance products will work for farmers.Darren Arney is the organisation's CEO and says on face value it's a fantastic product that allows you to plant a crop and claim back lost production.But he has reservations."We have to be mindful that for this scheme to be profitable for the insurance companies, that the premiums are going to exceed the payouts," he said."What we need to make sure is that any program makes sure the premiums are kept as efficient as they can."It would be fantastic to have that in place for years that go pear shaped, it comes down to the fact that you're going to have some good years as well and whether the seven per cent, 10 per cent, five per cent paid annually is going to cover the cost of production in the years that you have a good one."Source - http://www.abc.net.au/

USA - A second crop insurance critique

On Tuesday a Minnesota farm group released the second of three white papers on what it charges are flaws in the nation’s crop insurance program.Federal crop insurance has become an engine for consolidating land and financial resources in rural communities in Minnesota and across the country, the study by the Land Stewardship Project (LSP) says. Launched in 1938 to provide a basic safety net for farmers facing severe weather catastrophes, crop insurance has in recent years become a major vehicle for directing benefits into the hands of some of the largest crop producers in the country, according to the "Crop Insurance Ensures the Big Get Bigger" white paper, which is based on an analysis of government data and farmer interviews."We need a crop insurance program that provides a basic, reliable safety net for farmers like me," said Darwyn Bach, who raises corn and soybeans in southwestern Minnesota's Yellow Medicine County. "But what we've ended up with is a tool that guarantees income in times of high grain prices, which has created a land rush by the largest crop operators."In 2011, the top 10 percent of crop insurance premium subsidy recipients represented just 2.3 percent of America's farmers, but they took in more than half of all premium subsidies paid out of the public treasury -- $4 billion, according to the LSP study. These 50,000 farms each received an average of $82,223 in crop insurance premium subsidies, while the remaining farmers who have crop insurance received an average of $7,639 each.Minnesota is home to two operations that in 2011 each received over $1 million in insurance premium subsidies, and an additional seven that each received more than $500,000 in premium subsidies that year. The state’s number one crop insurance premium subsidy recipient in 2011 garnered $1,667,852 on 26,835 corn and soybean acres in Dakota, Dodge, Fillmore, Goodhue, Mower, Olmsted, Rice and Wabasha counties.Providing guaranteed income on even marginal farmland has resulted in an unprecedented upward increase in farmland prices, which has pushed beginning farmers out of the market, according to the LSP white paper. The latest U.S. Census of Agriculture found that between 2007 and 2012, the number of farms in the U.S. dropped 4.3 percent while the average size of farms rose 3.8 percent. The Census found that in Minnesota, for example, a short-term trend of increased farm numbers has been reversed. The only size category of Minnesota farms that increased from 2007 to 2012 was the one consisting of operations over 2,000 acres in size — their numbers jumped by 14 percent."When grain prices are high you could be guaranteed $1 million to $2 million in income if you have 5,000 to 10,000 acres," said Bach. "When there's no risk in farming more land, people go out and bid up rental rates and land prices. It's a snowball effect. And the irony is that the public is footing the bill for something that's causing so much harm out in the countryside."And the bill is growing, the LSP study says. The crop insurance program cost taxpayers $58.7 billion between 2003 and 2012, and is projected to cost $90 billion over the next 10 years. Despite the growing price tag, farmers, landowners and farm investors who are enrolled in the crop insurance program receive premium subsidies on each and every acre and for every bushel of production without limit, and regardless of their income or ability to pay."That's wasteful. We need to look at reforms like establishing an adjusted gross income limit so that wealthy individuals either don't receive premium subsidies or receive a reduced amount of premium subsidies from the public treasury," said Amy Bacigalupo, one of the authors of the LSP white paper. "Reducing subsidies for wealthy farm operators who can already afford insurance is smart, fiscally sound policy."Huge subsidies that benefit the largest crop operators have caused well-documented environmental problems as well. As national studies show, increased crop insurance subsidies encourage the farming of marginal land -- acres too erosive, wet or otherwise fragile to raise a good crop on. By guaranteeing income no matter what those acres yield, there is no longer an economic brake on plowing up those acres."Land was being put into production that should have never been put into production -- that was a big factor with crop insurance," said Bach. "As one guy told me, 'The problem is there's a lot of guys not farming the land anymore, they're farming the crop insurance program.'Source - http://www.agriculture.com/

New Zealand - Limited damage to fruit in hail strike

For the second time in a month hail has hit some of the region's orchards, but the damage is more localised and less severe.Yesterday afternoon a violent storm front swept across the Waimea Plains and sent down hail for a short time across the fruitgrowing area near Hope.Riwaka, which bore the brunt of the previous devastation, was spared, with damage confined to a handful of properties.Growers were out assessing their orchards this morning.The large Vailima Orchard was one of the most affected but owner Richard Hoddy said apples on the more resilient varieties were not harmed and the event was nothing like the Riwaka hailstorm, which pummelled trees and fruit for almost an hour."A lot of our varieties are OK. It hailed for about seven minutes with rain but they weren't very big hailstones and they were relatively soft. We haven't got a lot of cuts [to apples], we've got mainly bruises."He said the damage would "make life a lot harder" but he had a good crop and it could have been much worse.Wai-West Horticulture director Nick Patterson said his orchard suffered only light damage in one corner but he knew others in the Pughs Rd-Main Rd Hope area were hit harder.However, it was still serious for those who were affected, Patterson said.Hail also fell briefly on parts of the Nelson and Richmond urban area.Source - http://www.freshplaza.com/

Chile - Rains cut cherry export by 15%

Rains on Friday and Saturday in Chile’s cherry growing regions have caused serious damage to the production intended for export. Over the next few days, the losses will be more accurately estimated, as well as the possible impact on other fruits, which is expected to be very minor.According to preliminary data, FEDEFRUTA expect 15% fewer cherries this season.In the case of cherries, about 20% of the expected volume this season has been already been shipped; a volume that has been estimated at about 20 million 5 kilo boxes.The President of the Association of Chilean Fruit Exporters AG (ASOEX), Ronald Bown said: “Preliminary data supplied by the Cherry Committee reveals that in those areas where rainfall has exceeded 20 mm, orchards will suffer losses of between 30% and 50%. In municipalities with rainfall between 10-20 mm, the extent of the damage will be lower.”The greatest loss is observed in the region of Maule, where it is estimated that, at least, 25% of production can not be exported.Orchards in the Santiago area were the least affected as the harvest was coming to an end and only between 4 and 11 millimetres of rain fell.However the situation becomes more serious as we move towards the south, for there the cherry harvest was in full swing.In the O'Higgins Region, where 12 to 30 millimetres of rain fell in the fruit growing areas, it is expected that 20% of cherries for export were damaged. In the region of Maule, meanwhile, the producer / exporter and also director of the Federation, Antonio Walker Prieto says a loss of 25% to 40% due to rainfall in some areas of a much as 43 mm."The crop damage will be clearer after three days, so we are assessing the situation," says Walker, chairman of Fruséptima. "What we can anticipate is that the loss is great."In the case of blueberries, export estimates for the current 2014-2015 campaign supplied by the Blueberry Committee are of 99,500 tonnes; an increase of 35% on last season. So far, 4,500 tonnes have been exported, which represents 80% more than on the same date last year. This volume is in line with the Committee’s estimates for these first weeks of the season.Executive Secretary of the Blueberry Committee, Andrés Armstrong, said: “The impact of the rains this weekend will delay the harvest by one or two days and will require the use of applications to prevent fruit decay, a customary procedure when such events take place during the harvest period.”Meanwhile, the estimated impact on production volumes which may have affected some varieties is under evaluation and will be reported in the “Harvest and Export Report of the Blueberry Committee” this week.Lastly, the president of ASOEX said: “This weather phenomenon has been a blow for us at the beginning of the season, but we hope to be able to meet our commitments in the shipment of fruit to all international markets.”Source - http://www.freshplaza.com/

Canada - Potato wart-confirmed fields total 312 acres

None of the six Prince Edward Island potato fields in which potato wart has been confirmed during the 2014 growing season ever tested positive for the pest previously, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency indicates.The CFIA has not indicated where in Prince Edward Island the six fields are located, but reported that five of the six fields are on one farm property and the sixth is closely linked through the movement of potatoes.Potato wart is not known to contaminate neighbouring fields naturally but is primarily transferred from one field to another through the movement of contaminated soil on machinery, vehicles or plant debris, or from planting contaminated tubers.Potato wart poses no risk to human health or food safety, but it can impact the economic viability of the potato industry by reducing yield and making potatoes unmarketable.The first case was confirmed in August. It was during CFIA’s follow-up investigation that the agency found the five additional fields.The CFIA noted that, due to their link or proximity to the initial find, the additional finds were not unexpected. The investigation continues.The six fields take up approximately 312 acres.The CFIA has indicated, via emailed response, that the potatoes from these fields will be destroyed. Farmers can recover some of their loss through private crop insurance or Government of Canada Plant Protection Act provisions.To help prevent the spread of the pest, CFIA issues notices under the authority of the Plant Protection Act and Regulations to land owners and users indicating the need to prevent movement of soil, contaminated machinery and product from potato wart-infested fields.Source - http://www.journalpioneer.com/