21st may,2015 daily global rice e newsletter by riceplus magazine

Daily Global Rice E-Newsletter Daily Global Rice e-Newsletter www.ricepluss.com www.riceplusmagazine.blogspot.com

May 21,2015 Vol 5,Issue V

Flower power for the win May 21, 2015, 7:51 AM IST Vikram Doctor |

Watching someone chop cauliflower might hardly sound interesting, but with a friend of my father‘s it was. His family was orthodox Jain, which meant, he told us, that they had to be particularly careful with cauliflower in case the fleshy heads hid tiny insects that could be killed during cooking.So he would sit with a small knife dissecting the cauliflower with all the finesse of a surgeon, reducing it to a pile of tiny florets and diced stalks within which no insect could

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Daily Global Rice e-Newsletter lurk. The reward for this patience was that the fragments cooked instantly; just a brief toss in the pan with hot oil, spices and salt, and they were done,

without losing an essential freshness.

Nothing could be further from Jain cooking than the currently trendy Paleo diet. It argues we should eat like our cavemen ancestors since our bodies evolved for their hunter-gatherer lifestyle; it is the foods of farming that followed which are unnatural and cause obesity and sickness. So reduce or eliminate grains, legumes and dairy (all Jain staples), and eat lots of meat, nuts and non-starchy vegetables.Debating this theory is not the point here. Like all diets it probably works to some extent simply by making people conscious of what they eat — paying large sums of money to dietitians is an even more effective way to do this — so they restrain themselves, at least until they get bored and the diet is forgotten.

But the one useful thing diets do is make you aware of new ways to use ingredients. I think many people who have tried and abandoned diets retain at least a few recipes that they find good

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Daily Global Rice e-Newsletter enough to keep making. With Paleo one which is proving popular is cauliflower rice, a substitute for grains made by grating raw cauliflower (or pulsing briefly in a mixie) into morsels about the size of cooked basmati rice and then steaming or braising them briefly till just cooked.Because cauliflower is firm they hold their shape, but still become soft and yielding, just like rice. It isn‘t quite the same — they are chewier and lack the starchy satisfaction of rice, yet at quick glance a pile of cauliflower rice can look and feel a lot like poha.

Tint it with turmeric and cook with onions, nuts and chopped greens and you can fool people into thinking it‘s a healthy pulao, especially if you cheat and throw in some brown rice or bulghur wheat.This is also useful (without wheat) for gluten-intolerant people, but what I really like about cauliflower rice is that it doesn‘t feel like diet food at all. You can serve it at a fancy meal as an accompaniment to other dishes or eat it every day and feel happily, and healthily, replete. You could feel, in fact, much as I would after eating that essentially similar Jain dish: happy at how the simplest techniques can yield such great results — and even find common ground between Paleo and Jain cooking!

(Fascinating nuggets from epicurean history) DISCLAIMER : Views expressed above are the author's own.

SunRice furthers Northern pledge 21 May, 2015 03:00 AM

The field day included a tour of Allan Milan‘s rice crop. Allan is pictured with SunRice‘s Brandon Mill Manager Steven Rogers.

SUNRICE hosted another successful Rice Field Day in Brandon for 60 local farmers, suppliers and other members of the agribusiness community on May 14.The event was a follow up to two previous field days and this time participants had the chance to meet and hear from SunRice CEO Rob Gordon during a series of presentations preceding

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Daily Global Rice e-Newsletter the field day component.Mr Gordon‘s presentation explained to growers SunRice‘s commitment to building a sustainable rice industry in north Queensland. He outlined the company‘s state-ofthe-art operations and infrastructure and also its unique and innovative marketing capabilities. ―SunRice sees exciting potential in north Queensland and the opportunity to increase production significantly over the coming years. Mr Gordon said. ―There is strong international demand for clean and green Australian rice and we need Queensland growers to help us meet this demand,‖ he said.―We are committed to growing the north Queensland rice industry and events like this one are an important way for us to add value and provide assistance and advice to growers looking to grow rice.‖Attendees at the presentation component enjoyed a technical presentation from SunRice‘s Brandon Mill Manager Steven Rogers about how to grow rice, and a presentation from Rice Research Australia‘s Manager Russell Ford on the latest in rice research and development including suitable varieties for Queensland conditions and variety development underway for Northern Australia.

Another highlight of the event was the afternoon tour of four local farms near Brandon who have started growing rice. These growers – Lawrence Pavone, Alan Milan, Ross Pirrone and Ben Nielson – were able to show first-hand how they had integrated rice into their farming systems.Since the acquisition of Blue Ribbon Rice Group‘s assets was completed in late 2014, SunRice has made significant capital improvements to the Brandon Mill including purchase of a new huller and colour sorter. In addition, the response from local growers has been extremely positive with a successful Queensland rice harvest in the C14 dry season and an even larger crop expected from the C15 wet season crop http://www.northqueenslandregister.com.au/news/agriculture/cropping/general-news/sunrice-furthersnorthern-pledge/2732689.aspx

Balance of rice supply and demand key to food security' PETCHANET PRATRUANGKRAI THE NATION May 21, 2015 1:00 am

COOPERATION among rice-producing and -importing nations is crucial to ensuring global food security as the world is challenged by a rapidly rising population, climate change, low-quality soil and reduced water sources for growing cereal crops, the "Thailand Rice Convention" heard yesterday.At the convention, held in Bangkok and chaired by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, speakers said the world needed to cooperate in balancing supply and demand, so that neither farmers nor consumers suffered from imbalances or fluctuating rice prices.Prayut said that as the

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Daily Global Rice e-Newsletter world's leading rice producer, Thailand did not want to see skyrocketing prices, as they would hurt both consumers and farmers in the long run.

The key to ensuring global food security and making rice-producing countries like Thailand and others in Asean happy is to cooperate in balancing supply and demand, so that rice prices are stable, he stressed.The world is being challenged by its rising population and higher rice consumption, he said, adding that the rice market had expanded to all regions of the globe, no longer limited largely to Asia as it was increasingly recognised as a high-nutrition cereal."Already, more than 3 billion people consume rice as their staple food, causing many countries to turn their attention to developing rice varieties and optimising the capacity of rice cultivation and trade.

The next 20 years "In the next 20 years, the world's population will increase by 20 per cent, and that implies more

rice consumption. Therefore, every nation should cooperate more in the form of research and development in rice production and trading," said the prime minister.Within Asean, Thailand will strive to forge closer cooperation to ensure stable rice prices in the world market, while farmers will get stable and better incomes in the long run, he said.To promote rice-industry growth, Prayut said the government would focus on promoting the production of quality rice, at a higher volume, and with less intervention in the market.The government aims to increase the yield for Thai rice by 25 per cent in the next five years, while lowering production costs by 20 per cent over the same period, he said.

Prayut said the focus on non-chemical rice production, and on premium rice grains and varieties, would be promoted in the Kingdom.Jeremy Zwinger, president and chief executive officer of The Rice Trader industry report in the US, said every nation needed to be more concerned about food security because of rising population numbers, as well as reduced sources of water for the cultivation of crops."Food is critical. The world should focus on adopting high technology to produce more rice grains, and increase supply of rice to ensure price stability," he said.Zwinger said global rice trading now took place in a highly competitive environment, especially in Asia, where most of the major supply nations are located.

Along with lower oil prices, high stockpiles of rice in Thailand have caused a fall in prices in recent times, although they could fluctuate and increase in the future as fuel prices rise, rice stocks decline in many countries, and exchange rates fluctuate, he told the convention.Chookiat Ophaswongse, honorary president of the Thai Rice Exporters Association, said the key for sustainable development of the Thai industry was to introduce zoning for rice cultivation, while no government should intervene in the trading mechanism.

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Daily Global Rice e-Newsletter http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/Balance-of-rice-supply-and-demand-key-to-food-secu30260563.html

Philippines, Indonesia to buy more rice on El Nino fears MANILA, May 21, 2015:

Philippine president Benigno Aquino has approved a proposal to import more rice this year, government sources said, in a move to avert a potential spike in food price inflation due to forecast El Nino affected dry weather conditions.Fresh buying by the Philippines, one of the world‘s biggest rice importers, could help support rice export prices in Asia, which have fallen in recent months because of weak demand.The final terms of the increased imports, which normally specify the amount and variety, are still subject to approval by the National Food Authority Council headed by food security chief Francis Pangilinan, the two sources said.

The Philippine government last week revised down its estimate of first-half domestic rice production, with dry weather already affecting more than half of the country‘s 81 provinces.The sources declined to disclose the volume of additional imports, although industry sources have said the Philippines may buy up to 310,000 tonnes more this year, with shipments expected before the lean harvest season starting July.The Southeast Asian nation recently bought 500,000 tonnes via government-to-government deals with key sellers Vietnam and Thailand, and regional supplies remain abundant.Thailand, the world‘s second-biggest rice exporter after India, has said its plans to sell two million tonnes of rice over the next two months from stockpiles built up under the previous administration‘s failed buying programme.

In Vietnam, the world‘s third-largest exporter where prices have weakened this week on a lack of buying demand, a new crop harvest will begin from around late June, traders said.A dramatic rise in retail rice prices in the Philippines last year after damage to supply chains from Super Typhoon Haiyan pushed food price inflation to the highest in more than five years.Economic planning secretary Arsenio Balisacan said in March that the government must guard against future food price spikes, which had driven up the country‘s poverty rate.The El Nino phenomenon, a warming of sea-surface temperatures in the Pacific, can lead to scorching weather across Asia and east Africa and is almost certain to last through the northern hemisphere summer, the US weather forecaster has said.A significant El Nino would put the Philippines‘ headline inflation well over the 2-4% target by 2016, which could put the central bank under pressure to raise interest rates sooner than expected, HSBC economists said this month.

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Daily Global Rice e-Newsletter Indonesia‘s president could also be forced to backtrack on promises to curb rice imports, with analysts saying the country may ship in as much as 1.6 million tonnes of the staple grain this year due to soaring prices at home and the threat of a strong El Nino.Since coming to power in October, president Joko Widodo has been aggressively pursuing self-sufficiency in various foods as part of an increasingly nationalistic approach to protecting farmers, reducing state imports of rice in a country where private buying from overseas has been largely banned for decades.But rather than risk a spike in food inflation that could prompt social unrest, some analysts predict the country will import volumes of rice way higher than the 1.1 million tonnes estimated for last year, maintaining its position as one of the world‘s top buyers of overseas grain. http://www.therakyatpost.com/business/2015/05/21/philippines-indonesia-to-buy-more-rice-on-el-ninofears/

Philippines to import extra rice as El Nino bites - sources Reuters Posted at 05/21/2015 2:22 PM | Updated as of 05/22/2015 12:26 PM MANILA - President Benigno Aquino has approved a proposal to import more rice this year, government sources said, in a move to avert a potential spike in food price inflation due to forecast El Nino affected dry weather conditions.Fresh buying by the Philippines, one of the world's biggest rice importers, could help support rice export prices in Asia, which have fallen in recent months because of weak demand.The final terms of the increased imports, which normally specify the amount and variety, are still subject to approval by the National Food Authority (NFA) Council headed by Food Security Chief Francis Pangilinan, the two sources said.The Philippine government last week revised down its estimate of first-half domestic rice production, with dry weather already affecting more than half of the country's 81 provinces.

The sources declined to disclose the volume of additional imports, although industry sources have said the Philippines may buy up to 310,000 tonnes more this year, with shipments expected before the lean harvest season starting July.The Southeast Asian nation recently bought 500,000 tonnes via government-to-government deals with key sellers Vietnam and Thailand, and regional supplies remain abundant.Thailand, the world's second-biggest rice exporter after India, has said its plans to sell 2 million tonnes of rice over the next two months from stockpiles built up under the previous administration's failed buying program.In Vietnam, the world's third-largest exporter where prices have weakened this week on a lack of buying demand, a new crop harvest will begin from around late June, traders said.

FOOD INFLATION IN FOCUS A dramatic rise in retail rice prices in the Philippines last year after damage to supply chains from Super Typhoon Haiyan pushed food price inflation to the highest in more than five years.Economic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said in March that the government must guard against future food price spikes, which had driven up the country's poverty rate.

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Daily Global Rice e-Newsletter The El Nino phenomenon, a warming of sea-surface temperatures in the Pacific, can lead to scorching weather across Asia and east Africa and is almost certain to last through the Northern Hemisphere summer, the U.S. weather forecaster has said.A significant El Nino would put the Philippines' headline inflation well over the 2-4 percent target by 2016, which could put the central bank under pressure to raise interest rates sooner than expected, HSBC economists said this month."We now expect two rate hikes in 1Q and 2Q (next year), but food inflation risks could bring this into late 2015," HSBC said. http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/business/05/21/15/philippines-import-extra-rice-el-nino-bites-sources

Extension workers train on climate change-resilient strategies in agriculture May 21, 2015 CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, May 21, 2014 (PIA) - With its continuous effort to promote sustainable agriculture amidst challenges brought about by climate change, the Department of Agriculture-Regional Field Office 10 (DA-RFO 10) conducted a training for the Agricultural Extension Workers (AEWs) handling rice and corn on May 12-14, 2015.The activity which was attended by around 30 AEWs from the municipalities of Misamis Oriental and Cagayan de Oro City aimed to enhance the capabilities of the AEWs and strengthen their information dissemination and extension activities at the grassroots level.Experts coming from the Bureau of Plant Industry (DA-BPI), Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice), Philippine Crops Insurance Corporation and the Northern Mindanao Agricultural Crops and Livestock Research Complex (DA-NMACLRC) have imparted relevant information which are essential in the promotion of climate-smart agriculture in order to build climate-resilient farming communities in their respective areas.Topics tackled include: the contribution, effects and impact of agricultural activities on climate change; mitigating and adaptation measures for climate change; climate change resilient strategy through enhanced farmers‘ field schools (FFS); Prevention, Avoidance, Monitoring and Suppression (PAMS) as pest management strategy; weather index based on crop damage assessment; and rice crop manager and other management strategies.Moreover, the AEWs have also learned about technical report writing which is relevant in the enhancement of their report writing skills as most of them are FFS facilitators. With the conduct of the training, the DA is expecting that the local agriculture offices through the trained AEWs will be able to extend the information to the farmer-clienteles and encourage them to adopt efficient and appropriate technologies. The training was also previously conducted for the AEWs in Camiguin and Misamis Occidental, while the next leg will be conducted in June 2015 for the AEWs of Lanao del Norte and Bukidnon. (Vanessa Mae S. Siano, DA-RAFIS 10/PIA 10) http://news.pia.gov.ph/article/view/1471432195978/extension-workers-train-on-climate-change-resilientstrategies-in-agriculture#sthash.xZ06zjFy.dpuf

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Daily Global Rice e-Newsletter APEDA India News Price on: 21-05-2015

Product

Benchmark Indicators Name

Price

1

Chinese first grade granules, CFR NW Europe (USD/t)

2100

2

Chinese Grade A dehydrated flakes, CFR NW Europe (USD/t)

2000

3

Chinese powdered, CFR NW Europe (USD/t)

1800

1

Chinese sliced, CIF NW Europe (USD/t)

4600

2

Chinese whole, CIF NW Europe (USD/t)

5100

3

Indian Cochin, CIF NW Europe (USD/t)

3000

1

Indian 100 mesh 3500 cps, FOB Kandla (USD/t)

5740

2

Indian 200 mesh 3500 cps basis, FOB Kandla (USD/t)

3160

3

Indian 200 mesh 3500 cps basis, FOB Kandla (USD/t)

3160

Garlic

Ginger

Guar Gum Powder

Source:agra-net

For more info

Market Watch Commodity-wise, Market-wise Daily Price on 21-05-2015 Domestic Prices

Unit Price : Rs per Qty

Product

Market Center

Variety

Min Price

Max Price

1

Cachar (Assam)

Other

2000

2500

Rice

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Daily Global Rice e-Newsletter 2

Nilagiri (Orissa)

Other

2100

2300

3

Gadarpur (Uttrakhand)

Other

1334

2239

1

Amirgadh (Gujarat)

Other

1250

1940

2

Attari (Punjab)

Other

1450

1450

3

Dhing(Assam)

Other

1450

1700

1

Banga (Punjab)

Other

2500

2500

2

Taura(Haryana)

Other

2500

3000

3

Mechua(West Bengal)

Other

3400

3900

1

Banki (Orissa)

Other

2800

3000

2

Aroor (Kerala)

Other

2600

2800

3

Surat(Gujarat)

Other

750

2250

Wheat

Mousambi

Brinjal

Source:agra-net

For more info

Egg

Rs per 100 No Price on 21-05-2015 Product

Market Center

Price

1

Pune

312

2

Nagapur

288

3

Namakkal

320

Source: e2necc.com

Other International Prices

Unit Price : US$ per package

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Daily Global Rice e-Newsletter Price on 21-05-2015 Product

Market Center

Origin

Variety

Low

Potatoes

High Package: 50 lb cartons

1

Atlanta

2

Baltimore

3

Detroit

Colorado

Russet

23.50

23.50

Idaho

Russet

17

19

Wisconsin

Russet

21

21.50

Carrots

Package: 20 1-lb film bags

1

Atlanta

California

Baby Peeled

18

20.50

2

Dallas

Arizona

Baby Peeled

20

20

3

Philadelphia

California

Baby Peeled

16

17

Grapes

Package: 18 lb containers bagged

1

Atlanta

Mexico

Black Seedless

33

34

2

Chicago

Chile

Black Seedless

18

20

3

Detroit

Mexico

Black Seedless

32

34.50

Source:USDA

Pacific trade pact is a good deal for rice farmers, waterfowl Long-billed dowitchers forage in a rice field in Meridian last September. Increased rice exports under a proposed Pacific trade deal could also benefit migrating waterfowl, some say. | Randall Benton Sacramento Bee file MARK BIDDLECOMB, TIM JOHNSON

AND BILL MUELLER Special to The Bee There has been a lot of press about the Trans-Pacific Partnership leading up to a possible vote this week on ―fast-track‖ authority for the Obama administration to negotiate a final deal.Some

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Daily Global Rice e-Newsletter

proponents laud it as the future of Pacific Rim trade. Some decry it as a further erosion of American jobs and the environment.

Mark Biddlecomb What does it practically mean for the Sacramento region?

The agriculture and food sector is one of our top economic drivers, supporting nearly 40,000 jobs and $3.5 billion a year in economic input. The value of crop production grew to $2.15 billion in 2013; it is the one sector showing strong growth throughout the recession and contributing positively to the nation‘s trade balance.Agriculture was the second biggest export sector for our region in 2014; combined with agriculture-related products and machinery, it provided $1.4 billion in total exports.

Because of our region‘s location, we are uniquely situated to capitalize on the demand for exports to Asia, and to bolster our North and South American trade opportunities.In the case of our valley‘s iconic crop – rice – the Pacific trade agreement will expand markets for the next

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Daily Global Rice e-Newsletter generation of farmers. Today our best export market for rice is Japan. The TPP promises to expand that trade and improve the bottom line for family farms battered by the drought.Expanding the rice market could be good for wildlife, too. The 4 million to 6 million waterfowl that call the Central Valley home in the winter rely heavily on flooded rice fields for food. Upward of 60 percent of the diet of ducks and geese comes from rice fields that farmers flood after harvest.

Family farms and waterfowl both benefit from increased production the following spring.

Farmers have taken care of their rice straw and waterfowl return to their northern breeding grounds in great shape due to the plentiful food resources farmers have provided. It‘s a win for both.A legitimate question often raised is the effect of exporting water as a byproduct of trade.

Would the TPP simply allow for more export of our region‘s water in the form of raw agricultural products?

While it may seem to be the case, increased exports will actually keep more of the water in the Valley. During drought, there is increased movement of water from the Sacramento region to meet the demands of urban users and of farmers in other regions. In the long-term, however, economics will play an ever-increasing role.Strong demand for rice, wheat, tomatoes and other crops grown in the Sacramento Valley ensures that farmers will continue to grow those crops and that our region and the plethora of wildlife that utilize them, continue to enjoy the water that irrigates those fields.For our region, the TPP will improve our economic opportunities and continue to build one of our key regional advantages – agriculture – while at the same time supporting our environment.

Mark Biddlecomb is Western region director for Ducks Unlimited. Tim Johnson is president and CEO of the California Rice Commission. Bill Mueller is CEO of Valley Vision http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/op-ed/soapbox/article21515271.html#storylink=cpy

Turnaround Tuesday’ taking toll on technical trading: Part I May 20, 2015Forrest Laws | Delta Farm Press Scott Stiles says timing is everything, and, if he could have his druthers, he would rather have given the talk he gave the Agricultural Council of Arkansas‘ board of directors on May 19 a day earlier.―This is officially turnaround Tuesday,‖ said Stiles, an agricultural economist for the University of Arkansas Extension Service who is based in Jonesboro. ―This last time I looked at the markets today September rice was down 11, December corn down seven, November beans

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Daily Global Rice e-Newsletter down 12.―That‘s below a key support. If they‘re down 12 that means they‘re trading at 9.23 so you really, really need to pay attention to where November beans close today if you‘re not hedged or priced. Wheat has backed off its highs, and it‘s down 15 cents on the July contract.‖Stiles was apologetic, saying he wished he could have given the presentation on May, May 18, when cotton and grains futures had all moved higher because of a rally that began the previous week following USDA‘s release of the May 12 World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates or WASDE report.By Tuesday, May 19, the cotton and grains futures markets in New York and Chicago had given back most of those gains, costing farmers who haven‘t priced their crops millions of dollars in potential returns at harvest. ―This is how marketing will have to be done over the next few years, but especially for this year,‖ said Stiles. ―It‘s going to be very labor intensive. You understand that this is how we‘re going to market – we‘re going to sell rallies.‖ 70-cent rally He used wheat as an example. After May 5, when the wheat market bottomed, the July contract put on a 70-cent rally. ―When the market hands you 70 cents on a 6-bushel yield, or $42 a bushel, you have to take that off the table,‖ said Stiles. That‘s how marketing has to be done.

You have to sell the rally, sell the rally, sell the rally. That‘s your three-step marketing plan.‖Market watchers sometimes forget the impact a bullish move in one crop can have on others. The rally in new crop wheat had the effect of pulling rice, soybeans, corn and cotton somewhat higher during what some might call the spring rally.―You had this confluence of weather news that came together,‖ said Stiles. ―The knee-jerk reaction in the grain market was this was a fund liquidation, and that‘s partly true. The funds have a record net short position in corn, wheat and soybeans. Last week you saw that 15,000 short contracts were liquidated in wheat.‖Driving that move was unusually cold weather in the Dakotas that could cause some replanting of the corn, soybeans and wheat crops in the upper Midwest. At the same time, growers have received too much rain leading to quality concerns in the hard red winter wheat areas of the Plains and even now in the soft red winter wheat areas of the Mid-South and Midwest.

Climatologists seem to be agreed that an El Nino weather phenomenon will occur in full force in September, which could lead to disastrous weather conditions in Australia, India and in other key markets. Australia is the fourth largest wheat exporters, and India has been playing an increasingly larger role in the cotton, rice and wheat markets.―So you have some weather events that could converge, and then you have to look at the technicals,‖ says Stiles. ―The technicians look at the red line (on a wheat futures chart he displayed). It‘s a 100-day moving average, and they said that if the market can close above this 100-day moving average then we‘ll move on to that April double-top around $5.42. It didn‘t happen, and today you‘re seeing the market pull back and correct.‖

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Daily Global Rice e-Newsletter No fundamental changes Did the fundamentals change in any of those markets? ―Absolutely not,‖ said Stiles. ―There are very few bullish cards in the deck this year when you look at the global fundamentals situation.

Wheat, for example, has record-high ending stocks of 201 million metric tons, the highest since 2009. You had record production in the world last year.‖U.S. exports, as a result, are expected to decline from 32 million metric tons to 23.4 million metric tons because of a combination of the wheat surplus around the world and the strength of the U.S. dollar compared to other currencies. ―The U.S. is a residual supplier,‖ he said. ―We export a lot of wheat when there‘s a failure somewhere else in the world or the dollar is weak compared to other currencies.‖Stiles suggested growers mark June 30, the date the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service Acreage Report will be released, on their calendars and plan to have a major portion of their expected 2015 production hedged.In the March 31 Prospective Planting Report released by USDA, the average of trade estimates was 1.5 million acres above the USDA forecast of 84.6 million acres for the 2015 soybean crop. If achieved, the 84.6 million acres would be a record for the U.S.Informa Economics, the Memphis, Tenn.-based economic forecasting firm, has released a new estimate that is 2.5 million acres above the USDA NASS March 31 Planting Intentions Report figure of 84.6 million. ―Informa is well-respected. They survey growers, they survey lenders, they survey agribusiness, and someone is telling them there‘s more bean acreage out there,‖ said Stiles. ―It would be a nuclear bomb in the soybean markets. If it‘s 87 million acres, that would take the carryover estimate from the current 500 million bushels to 600 million, and that gets us back to the 200910 lows of $7.86 per bushel.‖For more on the March 31 Prospective Plantings Report, visithttp://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/MannUsda/viewDocumentInfo.do?documentID=1136 http://deltafarmpress.com/rice/turnaround-tuesday-taking-toll-technical-trading-part-i

Rice keeps US, Japan from signing the TPP The Trans-Pacific Partnership – a free trade deal between the United States, Canada, and 10 countries in the Asia-Pacific region that‘s been under negotiation for nearly a decade – is stuck… over rice.Whether to allow more rice imports into Japan is among the few issues that have kept Washington and Tokyo from concluding trade talks, reports The Wall Street Journal.Rice is a top obstacle for the Japanese, even though it‘s less than 1% of the $200bn in annual trade between Japan and the United States.

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Daily Global Rice e-Newsletter Each year, Japan imports 770,000 tonnes of rice tariff-free, or about 10% of its annual consumption, under a 1995 World Trade Organization quota agreement, reports The Wall Street Journal. Also, of the total amount of rice imported, Japan allows up to 100,000 tonnes to reach consumers. The rest is not allowed to enter the market. It is actually purchased by the government and sold as animal feed at a fraction of the original cost or re-exported as food aid.―Only small amount of [American] rice reaches Japanese consumers identified as US rice, despite industry research showing Japanese consumers would buy US high quality rice if it were more readily available,‖ the Office of the US Trade Representative said in its 2015 report on foreign trade barriers.

While Japan has agreed to ease restrictions on beef and pork, it has rejected to do the same with rice. The government reportedly fears a backlash from the country‘s 3.3 million rice growers, trade officials say.―Even a small import increase of 10,000 tonnes or 20,000 tonnes could have a big impact on the rice market,‖ said Akira Banzai, head of Japan Agricultural Cooperatives, a powerful farm lobby, was quoted as saying by The Wall Street Journal.

PH to import extra 500,000 MT rice May 21, 2015 9:48 pm

by James Konstantin Galvez

The inter-agency National Food Authority (NFA) Council has approved importation of another 500,000 metric tons of rice this year on expectations that local palay (unhusked rice) production will fall short of target, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said on Thursday.In an interview, Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala disclosed that Manila plans to import 250,000 MT to serve as buffer stock during the so-called lean season (June-September), while delivery of the remaining 250,000 MT still has to be decided by the NFA.The state-run grains agency is required by law to have at least 15-day buffer stock at any given time, and 30-day buffer stock during lean months.

Once completed, the new round of imports will bring total rice shipments to the Philippines to 1.3 million metric tons for this year.In February this year, Manila imported a total of 500,000 MT of rice through a government-to-government deal with Thailand and Vietnam.The NFA also allowed entry of about 300,000 MT of rice under the minimum access volume commitment under the World Trade Organization.In 2014, the Philippines‘ rice importation reached over 1.7 million MT, the biggest under the Aquino administration, and closer to the 2009 level of 1.8 million MT.―Based on projections, we will unlikely hit our target of 20.08 million MT of rice by end of the year.

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Daily Global Rice e-Newsletter So the council has agreed to import to fill the possible gap in our rice requirement,‖ Alcala said.Despite another expected record year for the palay sector, the DA chief admitted that the rice self-sufficiency goals remained elusive because of shortfalls in irrigation and other government interventions.―By end of this year, our sufficiency level will be around 96-97 percent with more than 19 million MT of rice to be produced this year. This is roughly the same level last year,‖ he said.The Bureau of Agricutlural Statistics said palay production reached 4.367 million MT in January-March 2015, higher by 1.41 percent from 4.306 million MT a year ago.The positive growth was largely attributed to expansion in harvest areas and improvement in yields of irrigated palay.

Forecasts on standing crops of palay indicate lower production in the second quarter of 2015 that may bring about reduction in outputs for the staple crop in the first half of 2015.The NFA attributed the lower projected output to effects of a dry spell on some crops.The April-June 2015 forecasts on standing crops indicate palay production of 3.90 million MT, 4.21 percent below the 4.07 million MT output in 2014, while the total first half production may reach 8.27 million MT, 1.32 percent below the 8.38 million MT output in 2014 http://www.manilatimes.net/ph-to-import-extra-500000-mt-rice/185419/

Happiness Eludes Divided Thailand as Farmers Struggle byChris Blake 7:44 PM PDT May 20, 2015 Sakhon Sutasaeng points at posters of former Thai prime ministers Thaksin and Yingluck Shinawatra at his house in Khon Kaen province. Photographer: Dario Pignatelli/Bloomberg There‘s not much sign of Thailand‘s yearlong military rule in Sakhon Sutasaeng‘s home in the rice-growing northeast region of Isan.In the traditional thatched sala outside his house, beside a sign that says ―Defend Democracy,‖ hangs a portrait of Thaksin Shinawatra, deposed by a 2006 coup. Inside, on a bookshelf, are photos of Thaksin‘s sister Yingluck, whose government was toppled by the military last May.―We‘re waiting for the election next year,‖ said Sakhon, 66, a retired agriculture ministry official. Like many people in the region, he still supports the political movement known as the Red Shirts, who backed Thaksin and his

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Daily Global Rice e-Newsletter sister. ―If nothing happens we are ready to fight to have an election. We have more Red Shirts than the military has soldiers.‖The junta seized power with a promise to bridge a decade of political schism in the country, root out corruption and bring happiness. Coup leader-turnedPrime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha said he‘ll return the country to democracy next year if there is no dissent and a new constitution is put in place.Interviews with rice farmers in Isan, a bastion of support for the parties of the Shinawatras, and rubber planters in the south, a stronghold of their opponents, show that divisions in the country are as wide as ever and trouble may be brewing if the government fails to boost the economy and keep its promise to hold elections.

Rejigging Constitution ―Whatever rejigging the constitution drafters might do to reformulate the electorate, the stark fact is that farmers make up at least half of voters,‖ said David Streckfuss, a Thailand scholar based in Isan. ―The military government can‘t expect to win the day with just its charm. There‘s not much in the present draft constitution that would be attractive to the average farmer in the northeast.‖Since taking over, the junta has had its work cut out. As well as quelling protests, it has faced a global commodities slump, increasing competition from neighboring countries and slowing demand from China. Consumer confidence fell in April to its lowest level in almost a year, and the baht is Asia‘s worst-performing major currency so far this quarter.Output at Thailand‘s factories has declined every month but one since March 2013. Economic growth last quarter was probably about half the pace of Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam.At the heart of Thailand‘s political troubles is rice, the country‘s staple food and among its biggest export earners. Agriculture employs almost half of the nation‘s workers.

Buying Votes?

Yingluck‘s party won an election in 2011 in part by appealing to rice farmers with a plan to boost rural incomes by buying their crops at above-market rates. Her government also bought rubber directly from farmers. Her opponents said the programs encouraged corruption and were a form of vote buying.The cost of the rice program has risen to 536 billion baht ($16 billion) according to the junta. Rice subsidies by successive governments over the past 10 years have cost 700 billion baht, according to estimates from the Ministry of Finance.After the coup, Yingluck was retroactively impeached by the junta‘s legislature and banned from politics for five years for failing to stem losses from the subsidy. On Tuesday she was in court again, pleading not guilty to negligence charges in a criminal trial that could see her spend up to 10 years in prison.

Rice Reforms Thaksin, who pursued a similar rice-purchase program, fled Thailand after being convicted by a military-appointed court of corruption and abuse of power.Prime Minister Prayuth said the government is restructuring the rice industry by reducing planting for a second harvest, encouraging the production of higher-quality rice and helping farmers to improve yields and reduce costs. Some farmers have also been barred from irrigating crops this year because of concern about water shortages.Farmers in Isan aren‘t happy with the loss of their second harvest,

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Daily Global Rice e-Newsletter which they say is more profitable than the first. They say there is plenty of water if only the government would release it from dams. Isan is Thailand‘s poorest and biggest region, an area larger than Greece where more than half the agricultural land is devoted to rice.Sovit Phoma, 52, head of Dok Kra Jiew village in the region, said the loss of a second crop has slashed the village‘s combined annual earnings from rice by two-thirds, to about 4 million baht. He said the stable prices under Thaksin had allowed poor farmers to plan their lives, to borrow money and invest in their future.―He gave me control over my life,‖ said Sovit, who took out loans that allowed him to send his two children to university. ―He made rice farming a business.‖ Debt Struggle Critics say the subsidies drained government resources. State stockpiles of the grain have risen to 16 million metric tons, from about 2 million tons before the government began paying guaranteed prices in October 2011.Laongsri Phoma, a 46-year-old rice farmer in Isan, said the subsidies flowed back into the economy.―If we have money it means the economy will grow,‖ she said. ―If we don‘t have money, how can people sell things? Who‘s going to be their customers, because we‘re the majority of customers in the country.‖Without their second crop, many farmers in the area say they‘re struggling to pay off debts. Apinam Nawan, 47, a rice farmer who also breeds crickets for eating, said most families have debts of 300,000 baht or more and are surviving on money sent from family members working in factories in the cities. ―We are going deeper into debt. It‘s hopeless.‖ Losing Patience It isn‘t just the rice farmers of Isan, who are struggling.Even in the rubber plantations of the south, a cornerstone of support for Thaksin‘s opponents, some farmers are losing patience with the junta. Prices of latex, the sap from the rubber tree, have fallen by as much as 65 percent from their peak in early 2011 and by about 14 percent since the coup, as demand from China waned.―The government doesn‘t support price distortion,‖ Prayuth said Wednesday in a speech at a rice industry conference in Nonthaburi on Bangkok‘s outskirts. ―Setting product prices too high, both for rice and rubber, shouldn‘t be done.‖Still, the junta began buying rubber at subsidized prices earlier this year after 5,000 farmers in the south threatened to defy martial law and hold protests. The state‘s rubber stockpile has increased by 70 percent to 340,000 tons since the coup. ‗Broken Promise‘ Manoon Sooksrisang, 43, a rubber farmer in Songkhla province, said he gets 10,500 baht to 12,000 baht a month now versus 30,000 baht to 45,000 baht before. Manoon joined the protests in Bangkok against Yingluck‘s government that eventually led to the military takeover after protest leaders said getting rid of her would lead to higher rubber prices. Now, he says he and his friends feel betrayed.―It‘s like a broken promise,‖ he said. ―They don‘t care about us at all.‖The protests were led by former members of the Democrat party, who have their stronghold in southern Thailand. The Democrats have become natural allies for the traditional power brokers -civil servants, army officers and royalists in Bangkok -- who felt threatened by the rise of the Shinawatra political machine.Most farmers interviewed in the south are upset about the drop in

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Daily Global Rice e-Newsletter income but still support the military government, arguing that they have at least restored order and should be given more time to fix the country‘s problems.

Interim Charter The government is responding by boosting spending. Lawmakers proposed a fiscal 2016 budget today that would see the highest proportion of investment in seven years, largely by upgrading Thailand‘s aging rail network. Of the 543.6 billion baht proposed for investment, 297 billion baht would be for outside Bangkok.Lawmakers will also soon consider changes to the interim constitution to allow a referendum to be held on a permanent charter. If rejected, the charterdrafting process would start again, further delaying the return of democracy.―Elections coming back to the people is a good thing, but we have to look into whether it is the right time,‖ said Suwichan Ruttiwul, 50, who sells rubber sheets in the town of Khlong Ngae. He blames Thaksin for the division in the country.―If there‘s an election now there will be chaos,‖ agreed Nataworn Jantarit, 46, another rubber farmer and latex seller. ―Election or not, the main issue is money. It‘s simple. It‘s the farmer‘s stomach.‖ Returning Happiness?

Meantime, Prayuth appears on TV almost every Friday evening on all major networks in a program called ―Returning Happiness to the People.‖ In monologues that can last an hour and a half, he offers advice on everything from how to reduce household debt to tips on cultivating orchids and strawberries.He penned a song, ―Return Happiness to Thailand,‖ which plays each night after the national anthem and appears when people try to access websites banned by the junta.In Isan, villagers said they are they are fed up with the weekly broadcasts.―The best business would be selling TVs since so many people are breaking theirs when they see Prayuth‘s face,‖ joked Suchart Busrakham, 49, a farmer who borrowed money to buy a truck. He had planned to sell straw mats in surrounding villages, but with the drop in rice prices and consumer spending he‘s fallen behind on repayments and now ferries schoolchildren to make ends meet.―You can‘t command people to be united,‖ he said. ―We want our democracy back.‖ http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-05-21/happiness-eludes-thailand-s-divided-regions-asfarmers-struggle

GMO Scientists Could Save the World From Hunger, If We Let Them

BY TOM PARRETT / MAY 21, 2015 6:18 AM EDT FILED UNDER: Tech & Science, GMO, food, health

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Daily Global Rice e-Newsletter A Nebraska Cornhusker frets as he surveys his drought-stunted crop.

A Nigerian yam farmer digs up shrunken tubers. A Costa Rican coffee baron lays off hundreds of workers because a fungus has spoiled his harvest. I planted cherry trees in upstate New York last spring. One summer morning, they were denuded by Japanese beetles.Such disasters are increasingly common on a planet buffeted by climate change and worldwide commerce, where heat burns crops, soil has been ruined by over-farming and drought, and bugs ride across oceans to feast on defenseless plants. Agronomists have been working on these problems for years, but the rapid population growth of humans makes overcoming these challenges increasingly urgent. If we can‘t feed the world, it will eventually feed on us.

Anti-Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) activists symbolically tear out sunflower plants in a field in Feyzin, near Lyon, July 30, 2011.

ROBERT PRATTA/REUTERS

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Daily Global Rice e-Newsletter The United Nations and experts say global food production will have to double by 2050, at which point the world population is expected to have grown from 7 billion today to well beyond 9 billion. That‘s just 35 years away, and there will be no new arable land then. In fact, there probably will be less. For example, 73 million acres of arable land in the U.S. were lost between 2002 and 2012, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA); more was certainly made fallow during the last several years of severe drought. Looking ahead, growing conditions will only get harsher.

The solution, though, appears to be on the way: In 2012, a new tool was invented that revolutionizes how scientists can examine—and manipulate—plant genetic processes. It‘s called CRISPR-Cas9, and unlike its predecessors in the world of genetic modification, it is highly specific, allowing scientists to zero in on a single gene and turn it on or off, remove it or exchange it for a different gene. Early signs suggest this tool will be an F-16 jet fighter compared with the Stone Age spear of grafting, the traditional, painstaking means of breeding a new plant hybrid. Biologists and geneticists are confident it can help them build a second Green Revolution—if we‘ll let them.

Citrus affected by 'greening,' an insect-borne bacterial disease, is shown as Larry Hardie, a grove manager for Barnes Citrus, Inc., holds a malformed star ruby grapefruit in a grove in Vero Beach, Florida December 1, 2010. JOE SKIPPER/REUTERS ―We now have a very easy, very fast and very efficient technique for rewriting the genome,‖ said one of its inventors, Jennifer Doudna of the University of California, Berkeley, when the Innovative Genomics Initiative was launched in 2014. ―[It] allows us to do experiments that have been impossible before.‖ The speed and simplicity of CRISPR have momentous implications for agriculture: The process could lead to plants that can withstand what an increasingly overheated nature has in store. It could also result in a more nutritious yield, from less plant. Researchers have glommed on to it—they‘ve already published more than 150 related scientific papers, and the publication rate is accelerating. ―It‘s tough to keep up with all the papers that are coming out,‖ says Joyce Van Eck, who runs a lab focused on the study of genetics-based crop improvement at Cornell University‘s Boyce Thompson Institute. ―The field is exploding.‖CRISPR stands for—brace yourself—Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats. The name comes from a trick that bacteria use to protect themselves from lethal viruses and phages, little cellular saboteurs. The ―palindromic repeats‖ (gene sequences that read the same from either end) are immune response elements, genetic code the bacteria copy and incorporate from invading viruses so that, if they return, they can be easily identified. It‘s a bit like posting an FBI wanted poster or splashing enemy soldiers with glow-inthe-dark paint.The technique requires two accomplices: molecules called guide RNA and a protein from a class labeled Cas.

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Daily Global Rice e-Newsletter The most effective one found so far is Cas9. RNA has long been known to be the vehicle DNA needs to convey its message. In a cell, Cas9 prepares the chemical environment around a DNA molecule for interaction, then spurs RNA to find the selected section of DNA. Once it does, the RNA will guide the Cas9 into the DNA, where the Cas9 unzips DNA‘s double helix and does one of three things, depending on the chemical instructions scientists provide: It blunts this section‘s ability to work, stimulates it to go to work or excises selected genes. Then the cell‘s repair crew zips the DNA back up.The process can easily modify plant DNA without changing the plant‘s essence—except to make it tastier, more nutritious, quicker to market, easier to ship, machine-pickable, less needy of water and/or able to flourish in a heat wave. And we can do it for big companies and small, the world at large and isolated communities.

Farmers tend to a maize field where they plant GMO crops, in Bonkhorstspruit, South Africa. JONAS BENDIKSEN/MAGNUM In the old days, relying on hit-or-miss natural processes to breed plants took many years. Norman Borlaug, father of the first Green Revolution—a hugely successful effort to improve food-crop productivity in poor countries that began in the 1940s and eventually doubled or even quadrupled what many plants could produce—needed almost two decades to create a better wheat variety. With CRISPR-Cas9, we can compress that development cycle to a few days or weeks.

This is partly because we can now process, store and compare vast quantities of genetic data quickly and cheaply. The upshot for scientists has been the rapid growth in knowledge of cell chemistry and genes, and most important, our ballooning database of many species‘

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Daily Global Rice e-Newsletter genomes.Ideally, we would know everything about the genome of all our favorite produce staples, down to the placement of every single gene. And this cataloging is happening with astonishing speed. Researchers at the University of Kansas have sequenced the first and toughest of wheat‘s 20 chromosomes—and that one chromosome is far more complex than the entire rice genome. They say they‘ll be able to do the next 19 in three years. The result will be complete knowledge of the genome of the world‘s third-most cultivated crop, the one with the most protein and arguably the grain that is most versatile as a food and cooking source.

Genetic scientists are currently attempting to sequence all of wheat's 20 chromosomes. Once they do, they'll be able to use CRISPR to make the crop hardier and more nutritious. JONATHAN GREGSON/GETTY Then, the amazing flexibility of CRISPR-Cas9 can be brought to bear. The idea is to use the process to replace a segment of a plant‘s genetic sequence entirely, a bit like exchanging a chunk of Lego blocks, to improve specific plant behavior. Imagine a wheat strain that thrives at the edge of a salt marsh in tropical Ecuador. Compared with Iowa‘s amber waves of grain, it‘s a runt that produces small, bitter kernels. But by adding bits of the Ecuadorian genome to the American variety, scientists make a strain that is more salt-tolerant and still provides a big yield. Both dry, salty Ecuador and dry, salty America would gain a better plant.It‘s critical to note this has nothing to do with creating a new species. CRISPR-Cas9 is a tool that helps us adapt plants to new environments by fine-tuning their own genetic traits, using their own genes from plants they‘d naturally breed with, such as their wild versions. As the tool targets a tiny segment of a plant‘s DNA, the plant stays the same species—technically, even the same genotype. As scientists see it, the technology respects a plant species for its evolutionary capacity to thrive over eons, while helping it evolve more quickly to adjust to today‘s environment. We are only putting our foot to the accelerator of natural plant processes.

Beautiful Tomatoes Caution and guidelines are certainly called for. The early results of CRISPR-Cas9 tests have not been completely predictable. A published number is up to an 80 percent success rate, high for experimental stuff but not high enough for commercial applications. What can happen is ―offtarget DNA interactions,‖ where ―you accidentally modify a very similar sequence elsewhere in the genome,‖ says Cornell‘s Van Eck. This was also a big problem in earlier genetic engineering technologies, which basically flooded a plant‘s genome with compounds, trusting that some would stick. CRISPR-Cas9 is comparatively precise, but some scientists remain cautious. The technology could and probably will get better; different versions of CRISPR-Cas9 could be developed, or scientists could find a new enzyme that does what CRISPR-Cas9 does more precisely.

In the Van Eck laboratory at Cornell University, scientists have already applied a number of genetic engineering strategies to two major crops: tomatoes and potatoes. HENRIK SORENSEN/GETTY

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Daily Global Rice e-Newsletter On the other hand, Van Eck and her colleagues have proved that what they already have works beautifully with the tomato, a plant that‘s become ―a model species, like the white rat in animal studies,‖ she says. Soon she and others in the field will be working to improve the tomato‘s hardiness and disease resistance, with results that will come with what she terms ―drummer-like precision‖—the exactitude of, say, Elvin Jones or Charlie Watts—―because we can go in and target exactly the areas we want.‖ Other early advances include a new version of rice that is more adaptable and has the ability to photosynthesize faster and more efficiently. That portends a future where, thanks to CRISPR-Cas9, scientists are at the rice control console, able to consider the available inputs— water, soil nutrients, temperature—and make adjustments to better control the outputs: productivity, nutritional value, resilience. All that‘s needed is for consumers to buy in.

Suspicions Trump Science Biotech crops are already well-established around the world. The U.S. has approved about 100 genetically modified plants for use in agriculture. Virtually all cotton in India, a vital economic staple for the country, is GM, as is 90 percent of cotton grown in China. Four out of every five harvested soybeans on earth are genetically modified. Corn worldwide is 35 percent genetically modified. Bangladesh is considering a GM eggplant that could double its harvest by protecting it from worms. Food writer Mark Bittman recently pointed out that we‘ve been happily eating harmless genetically modified, virus-resistant papayas for years, and that‘s Mr. Natural talking.But some countries are balking.

Mexico, where maize was first domesticated, must now import it to meet local demand because activists there will not allow genetically modified organism hybrids. Mexico‘s maize growers get yields 38 percent lower than the world average and three times below the U.S., where 90 percent of the maize crop is an insect-resistant GMO hybrid. Mexico‘s fields are beset by such crop ravishers as the corn earworm, black cutworm and fall armyworm, which cost the country up to half its crops and incite farmers to spray their land with thousands of tons of chemical insecticides.The European Union has approved just one genetically modified crop, a type of maize used for animal feed.

The reasons are political and bureaucratic: A majority of member countries must approve a biotech plant, and anti-GMO sentiment runs strong in places where phrases like naturel and natürliche are more about what‘s been done for centuries than what it actually means for

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Daily Global Rice e-Newsletter something to exist in or be caused by nature.This genetic work has not just found detractors but also aroused fierce partisans.

Take Golden Rice, for example. It‘s basic rice, but modified to produce its own vitamin A, potentially saving up to 2.8 million children a year from blindness and a million of them from death. Yet it sits in labs, unused. The notion of GMOs has spooked environmental groups such as Greenpeace, which has resisted GMOs with violent action, including destroying an experimental Golden Rice field last year in the Philippines. This despite the fact that Golden Rice is being offered to the world by a nonprofit, with no commercial stipulations, and is likely to save many lives.The scientific consensus for the safety of GMOs is overwhelming. A recent Pew poll found that 88 percent of U.S. scientists think GMO technology is harmless. By contrast, only 33 percent of civilians agreed.

A recent 7-1 U.S. Supreme Court decision concurred that genetically modified alfalfa is safe.

The USDA, after arduous review, has allowed genetically modified sugar beets. Several independent studies so far have tested the effects of varieties of genetically modified crops on animals. In 2012, a meta-analysis of 12 long-term studies and 12 multigenerational studies was published in Food and Chemical Toxicology; it concluded ―that GM plants are nutritionally equivalent to their non-GM counterparts and can be safely used in food and feed.‖ And according to the independent organization Biofortified, more than a hundred such studies have been performed, with no harmful results found.

GM potato seedlings are grown in test tubes at the National Center for Plant Genome Research in New Delhi. Biologists and geneticists are confident that the gene-editing CRISPR technology can help them build a second Green Revolution—if we‘ll let them.

FREDRIK RENANDER/REDUX Anti-GMO activists tend to cite two scientific studies, which both involve rats, GM corn and the pesticide Roundup. Both were undertaken by French scientist Gilles-Éric Séralini and found that the rats fed the GM corn were more likely to die prematurely than a control group. But the journal that originally accepted the studies, Food and Chemical Toxicology, withdrew them, and every major scientific and food-safety organization in Europe has condemned them. Among the problems with the studies was that the strain of rats used in the test are cancer-prone—80 percent routinely develop tumors. ―All we are seeing in these results is due to random variation in a poorly controlled experiment,‖ Ian Musgrave, of the University of Adelaide, in South Australia, told Forbes when the studies were retracted.Chances are, you‘ve heard of Roundup (active ingredient: glyphosate).

That‘s because it‘s the second in the supposed double punch that agrochemical company Monsanto has allegedly been throwing for years to create a cycle of financial dependence among farmers worldwide. Monsanto produces Roundup. Since 1996, it has also produced Roundup Ready crops, including soy, corn and alfalfa, all genetically modified to be resistant to the herbicide—which means it can be used on fields to get rid of encroaching plant life without harming the crops. That‘s great for farmers. But these Roundup Ready seeds have a dark side: farmers who buy them sign an agreement saying they will not buy save any seeds from the resulting crop.

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Daily Global Rice e-Newsletter In other words, they have to buy new seeds every year from Monsanto. This has all been incredibly lucrative for the company; it currently has a third of the $40 billion global seed business. The Monsanto/Roundup controversy continues to inflame passions: Among the many concerns that have been raised is the possibility that genetically modified DNA from the Roundup Ready plants might be contaminating non-GMO food supplies. Then there‘s the fact that glyphosate might be a health hazard—the World Health Organization says it is a probable carcinogen.Meanwhile, ―No GMO‖ is now being embraced by consumer brands; the ascendant ―fast-casual‖ chain Chipotle posts just such a sign in its restaurants. It makes sense: If over twothirds of Americans think GMOs are unhealthy, declaring yourself GMO-free is a lucrative proposition. Local governments are also weighing in. Vermont now demands that all GMO foods sold there be labeled as such. Two rural counties in Oregon have banned GMO crops within their borders.

There have been a number of efforts in recent years to get state governments to require labeling all GMO products. Proponents claim that even if GMOs are safe, consumers should know what they're buying. CARLOS GARCIA RAWLINS/REUTERS Yet despite the conventional wisdom, startup money for GMO development in the U.S. and elsewhere is flowing like it‘s coming out of a fire hose, first for biomedical applications, from venture capitalists as well as traditional pharmaceutical companies such as GlaxoSmithKline, Celgene and Novartis. U.S. startups include Caribou Biosciences, Editas, Intellia Therapeutics, CRISPR Therapeutics and CRISPR-Plant.In China, where rural populations react to GMOs with dread and anger, the only genetically modified crop currently grown is Bittman‘s papaya.

But China‘s mighty science establishment has thrown its weight behind genetic work, with 400 labs and 30,000 researchers. Labs there have already sequenced the genes of 3,000 varieties of rice, in preparation for matching them against one another to find the best traits for nutrition, yield and resistance to environmental stressors. One result someday soon will be what

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Daily Global Rice e-Newsletter researchers have dubbed ―green super rice.‖ Even if the Chinese government can‘t sell genetically modified crops to its own people, there‘s a good chance the poor populations of Southeast Asia, Africa and India will welcome the nourishment. Gengyun Zhang, head of life sciences for BGI, China‘s giant state-sponsored genetic engineering center, recently said, ―With today‘s technology, I have no doubt that we can feed the world.‖Correction: This article originally incorrectly stated that today's world population is 2 billion. It is 7 billion. It also incorrectly suggested that "Bt" stands for "biotech." "Bt" actually stands for bacillus thuringiensis, a bacterium whose genes are often used in the development of genetically modified crops. It also incorrectly stated that Roundup Ready seeds are sterile.

Daily Nexus

El Niño 2015 Could Make Food More Expensive, Especially Coffee, Chocolate And Rice, Experts Warn

By Elizabeth Whitman @elizabethwhitty e.whitman@ibtimes.com on May 21 2015 9:16 AM EDT

The price of chocolate and other goods is expected to rise due to the phenomenon El Niño, experts have warned. Above, farmers harvest cocoa fruits at a plantation in Gantarang Keke Village, South Sulawesi, Indonesia May 8, 2015.Reuters/Yusuf Ahmad

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Daily Global Rice e-Newsletter The prices of coffee, chocolate, sugar and other staples are likely to rise this year with the advent of El Niño, a weather event with global consequences, scientists have warned. As the phenomenon sets in this year, some have predicted that the prices of some foods could as much as double.During an El Niño event, waters in the Equatorial Pacific Ocean become unusually warm as trade winds die down, disrupting weather patterns around the world. Heavy rains and flooding in the southern U.S. and parts of Latin America, along with droughts in Australia and Asia, are among its repercussions. It's not to be confused with its counterpart La Niña, where the same waters of the Pacific are abnormally cold.This year, the El Niño event could be anywhere from moderate to strong, scientists predict.

As rice farmers in the southern Philippines and soybean growers in India pray for more rain in what promises to be a relative dry monsoon season, the southern U.S. is already bracing for heavy rains, withdownpours drenching the state of Texas. The price of coffee could increase by 107 percent, while soya beans could rise by nearly 37 percent, the Times reported, although others said the average increase in such staples typically ranged from 5 to 10 percent during El Niño, the BBC reported. Banana, sugarcane and cocoa crops could also be affected."Most El Niños historically have had a global impact on food prices," Nick Klingaman, a climate researcher at the University of Reading, told the BBC. If the phenomenon is strong this year, it could "disrupt global food markets," he added.The National Weather Service, which issued an El Niño advisory in March, has said the phenomenon is 90 percent likely to last through the summer of 2015 and at least 80 percent likely to continue through the end of the year.In 2009, El Niño led to a devastating drought in India and destroyed crop production throughout Asia, leading to a spike in food prices, Reuters reported. http://www.ibtimes.com/el-nino-2015-could-make-food-more-expensive-especially-coffee-chocolaterice-experts-1932800

USA Rice, Dow AgroSciences Team Up on Rice Month Scholarships; $8,500 in Awards Available 2014 Grand Prize Winner Nicholas Schafer

INDIANAPOLIS, IN -- Dow AgroSciences continues its commitment to the agriculture industry by sponsoring the USA Rice Federation National Rice Month Scholarship Program, expanding the opportunity from students in U.S.-rice producing counties to students in all U.S. riceproducing states.High school graduates in the 2015-16 school year are encouraged to apply for scholarships totaling $8,500. To apply, students must create a promotional program that highlights U.S.-grown rice for National Rice Month in September. Applicants can submit a synopsis of their promotion in a variety of ways, including in video format, which will be accepted this year for the first time.

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Daily Global Rice e-Newsletter The scholarship program is now open to students who live in any county in Arkansas, California, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, and Texas. Three scholarships will be awarded based on the originality and effectiveness of the winning entries. "We are thrilled Dow AgroSciences is supporting this scholarship program for the sixth year in a row and opening up the opportunity to all youth in rice-producing states," says Darla Huff, rice product manager, Dow AgroSciences.

"Supporting our youth and educating the public about agriculture is integral to the success of the rice industry. " Because the scholarship emphasizes education, the students' efforts also help build awareness of the valuable contributions the rice industry makes to this country's economy, Huff says.

Nicholas Schafer, a high school senior from Carlisle, Arkansas, was the grand-prize scholarship winner in 2014 for his promotion titled "Do you Know Where Your Rice Comes From?" The promotion educated children from his community about the origin of their food and the intricacies of farming. "They need to understand all the hard work put into growing rice," Schafer says.

"It's not just something you get from a grocery store. There's a lot behind it, and they need to understand the importance of where it comes from." Promotions must be executed in September, and applications must be submitted by Oct. 15, 2015. Scholarship forms and additional guidelines are available at the USA Rice Federation website. "The USA Rice Federation is proud to once again partner with Dow AgroSciences, which funds these three scholarship awards, to support the rice industry and education of our youth," says Betsy Ward, president and CEO of the USA Rice Federation. "Students who participate do an excellent job promoting the importance of U.S.-grown rice and its role in their home states. " The grand-prize winner will receive a $4,000 scholarship and a trip with a chaperone this December to the award ceremony at the 2015 USA Rice Outlook Conference in New Orleans.

The second-place winner will receive a $3,000 scholarship, and the third-place winner will receive a $1,500 scholarship.

Contact: Amy Doane (703) 236-1454

Weekly Rice Sales, Exports Reported WASHINGTON, DC -- Net rice sales of 10,900 MT for 2014/2015 were down 47 percent from the previous week and 83 percent from the prior four-week average, according to today's Export Sales Highlights report. Increases were reported for Honduras (7,400 MT), Canada (2,600 MT), Jordan (1,300 MT), unknown destinations (600 MT), and Lebanon (200 MT). Decreases were reported for Ghana (1,200 MT), Mexico (900 MT), and Colombia (200 MT). Exports of 86,400 MT were up 50 percent from the previous week and 27 percent from the prior four-week

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Daily Global Rice e-Newsletter average. The primary destinations were Mexico (22,400 MT), South Korea (22,000 MT), Haiti (20,600 MT), Japan (13,100 MT), and Canada (3,000 MT).This summary is based on reports from exporters from the period May 8-14.

CME Group/Closing Rough Rice Futures CME Group (Prelim): Closing Rough Rice Futures for May 21

Month

Price

Net Change

July 2015

$9.615

+ $0.045

September 2015

$9.880

+ $0.040

November 2015

$10.135

+ $0.045

January 2016

$10.390

+ $0.035

March 2016

$10.455

+ $0.035

May 2016

$10.455

+ $0.035

July 2016

$10.455

+ $0.035

Update: AR Department of Agriculture Waiting for Audit Results of $15M in Out-of-State Account Marci Manley, Reporter

05/11/2015 05:59 PM 05/20/2015 07:17 PM

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Daily Global Rice e-Newsletter Update

(May

20):

LITTLE ROCK, AR - In an update to a KARK4

investigation, the Arkansas Department of Agriculture is watching and waiting for results from state auditors on $15 million dollars in state funds that were transferred to a nonprofit account out of state. Earlier this month we highlighted that the Rice Research and Promotion Board had voted to move the funds to the Rice Foundation for investment and never reported the funds to state financial officials.

Agriculture secretary Wes Ward, says he's heard from many farmers about the issue and discussions have raised the question of if the department should be overseeing those funds instead. "If there's nothing wrong in the programs, it may be okay to stay there. But there are a number of questions that need to be answered, and we look forward to seeing the results of that audit," Ward says.The funds are required to be used for rice research funding. Despite the millions not being disclosed to state officials, it appears that for the most part that money has been spent on research. About $10 million is still sitting in that out of state account.

Original Story (May 11): LITTLE ROCK, AR - A state senator's inquiry into a fund available to a state board prompted a 2-month long investigation by KARK 4 News. What we found was about $15 million dollars that had been held in an out of state bank account by a private nonprofit that many state officials were unaware even existed. John Alter is no stranger to the frustrations of farming, with decades of experience fighting Mother Nature and the commodity markets. "My job is to feed my family and sell my product at the best price I can," Alter said. But the frustrations of bureaucracy, he said he came to know during seven years on the Arkansas Rice Research and Promotion Board. "I made several attempts to bring about change on the board," he said. "But I couldn't get anywhere. " In the interest of full disclosure, Alter is a member of the Arkansas Rice Grower's Association, which has often been at odds with the Arkansas Rice Research and Promotion Board because the association says members of the board often deny funding requests from them for legitimate promotion opportunities, while opting to give millions of dollars tothe promotional arm of the USA Rice Federation.

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Daily Global Rice e-Newsletter What is the Rice Research and Promotion board?

The Arkansas Rice Research and Promotion Board is made up of nine members appointed by the governor butrecommended by rice industry interest organizations, including Arkansas Farm Bureau Federation and Riceland, among others. Alter represented independent rice mills while on the board, though he's also a farmer in DeWitt, Arkansas. By law, the board's resident agent or administrator can fall under the Arkansas Farm Bureau. ACA 2-20-505 says, "the resident agent of the board shall be the executive vice president, Arkansas Farm Bureau Federation, or his or her designee." Brandy Carroll, an employee of Arkansas Farm Bureau, serves as the administrator of the board.

"My efforts didn't seem to coincide with what was going on," Alter said. Alter served from 2006 until he says he asked to not be reappointed in 2013. "I believe I could make a motion that the sun comes up in the east and it would die for lack of a second," he said. And board minutes show that John Alter's motions veering beyond giving money to the University of Arkansas for research projects often did fail to receive support from the other board members. Following the last legislative session, State Senator Garry Stubblefield had some questions about the board, when he proposed a grain dealer regulation bill in the Senate Agriculture, Forestry and Economic Development Committee meeting.

"I ran a bill that was concerning Turner Grain it would have set up an indemnity fund to protect Arkansas farmers using the check-off funds," Stubblefield said. Turner Grain, a brokering business that went belly up in late 2014, ended up costing many Arkansas farmers tens of thousands of dollars. A number of those farmers produced rice, and according to Stubblefield he had hoped to use check-off money to develop a pool of funds to protect farmers left in the lurch like those caught up in the Turner Grain scandal.

Check-off funds Check-off funds are the annual funding available to the board. They began as a self-imposed assessment approved by farmers in 1985. But those were written into law later, essentially creating a tax. They are no longer refundable, and a referendum to reconsider the tax would have to be referred to voters by the board that receives the money. Farmers pay 1.35 cents per bushel of rice sold, and buyers pay 1.35 cents per bushel bought. That doesn't sound like a great deal of money, until you consider that Arkansas often producers around 190 million bushels or more each year.

The funds are allocated to fund research and promotion of the Arkansas rice industry. The entities that receive the majority of funding, generally without exception, are the University of Arkansas and the USA Rice Council. Minutes show that these two entities were the largest recipients of check-off funds, although occasionally the Arkansas Foundation for Agriculture and Arkansas Farm Bureau have also received funds from the board. The USA Rice Council is the promotional arm of the USA Rice Federation. Its research arm is considered The Rice Foundation, according to its website and the foundation's director.Stubblefield said in the course of analyzing check-off funds as a source of funding for an indemnity pool for farmers, he learned

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Daily Global Rice e-Newsletter of something called TRQ funds that were rumored to be well into the millions. Stubblefield, and others at the committee meeting in March, claims when he asked about the TRQ funds, the meeting was instantly shut down.

"A lot of the rice farmers would like to know just how that money is being spent and where it is kept," Stubblefield said. " "One of the questions we asked during the meeting was about TRQ funds, where those funds were and how much money was in the account."According to Stubblefield, another state senator called for immediate consideration of Stubblefield's bill, putting an end to the inquiry and discussion. The bill failed to pass, and Sen. Stubblefield said getting information from the board's administrator became a challenge. "I thought information about state money would be relatively easy to get," Stubblefield said. "But I made repeated requests for information from the board's administrator at Farm Bureau. And only recently received a response when I had Senate staff send a formal inquiry," Stubblefield said the last week of April.

What are TRQ funds?

Following the committee meeting in late March, KARK began digging into what TRQ funds were and if they were sitting in an out-of-state bank account as we had been told. After several information requests from multiple sources, here is what we can confirm. In 2012, the Arkansas Rice Research and Promotion Board came into a windfall that has resulted in about $15 million dollars to spend. It appears that few people, including many lawmakers, knew of its existence.

"The TRQ funds from Colombia have been a really amazing opportunity for the rice industry in Arkansas," said Rice Research and Promotion Chairman Marvin Hare.Based on a U.S. Trade Agreement with Colombia, rice export tariffs would be reduced to zero percent by 2030. In the meantime, certain amounts of rice could be exported at that rate, through a certificate of trade auction process. Rice companies bid to fill the order, and the highest bidder wins. The money generated from the auctions is then divided between the United States and Colombia. Of the 50 percent portion the United States receives, Arkansas typically receives roughly 50 percent of that portion, based on rice production. A nonprofit was established to receive the U.S. funds, called Col-Rice, and then it distributes it to the six rice-producing states that make up its membership.

Where did the TRQ funds go?

Arkansas received its first payment, designated to go to the Arkansas Rice Research and Promotion Board, in December 2012. But prior to it ever receiving the funds, the board voted in May 2012 to allow The Rice Foundation to hold the funds for investment purposes on behalf of the board. The Rice Foundation is a private, nonprofit. It is not beholden to any state officials. "This was already in place. They had a mechanism to invest the funds. We chose to continue doing it that way," Hare said.

The Rice Foundation already had a mechanism for handling funds like this because United States rice-producing states had also been the benefactors of a European Union TRQ dating back, Rice Foundation account records show, to at least 1999. Only in that arrangement, the trade agreement made The Rice Foundation the distributing body for those funds to the states, where the Colombian TRQ was slated to go to the states directly after passing through Col-Rice."They put

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Daily Global Rice e-Newsletter it into the Rice Foundation budget as a service to the Rice Research and Promotion Board of Arkansas, they put those dollars in an investment until they need those and decide where they are going to spend those dollars," said The Rice Foundation director Chuck Wilson. "It's just a service we provide for them, we don't get one red penny for doing it. We don't gain anything. We do it as a service for them.

"The money, Wilson said, is in an account in Virginia that the board always has access to withdraw from. The money, according to board minutes, has been invested in CDs and money market accounts. But further investment strategies didn't appear to be available based on documents provided by the board's administrator. "It was the way for the board to hold those funds and earn some interest on them," Hare said. "Although the returns are small because they're in very low risk instruments.

We're very prudent in that area - we don't want to lose any of it." According to Hare, the funds are never really out of the Rice Research and Promotion Board's control. Although, Wilson confirmed that the board would vote to spend the money as it saw fit and alert The Rice Foundation, which would then arrange for the funds to be distributed."The Rice Foundation audits those funds, they provide us regular financial statements on those funds," Hare said.

State approval?

Chairman Hare also stated that the state had approved of the whole arrangement. "The state of Arkansas has reviewed those. They say there's nothing wrong with them," Hare said. "They understand why we were doing that. There's no wrongdoing and everything is open and above board. All the minutes of the board identify the funds as being there."When we followed up with the board administrator, asking who with the state had approved of the process the board had used and if there was any approval in writing, the administrator wrote back," I believe Mr. Hare was referring to the fact that the Division of Legislative Audit conducts annual audits of the Board's finances which includes a review of all minutes and financial statements. " The only problem is, the Division of Legislative Audit confirmed that it reviews what are known as year-end CAFR closing books from the Department of Finance and Administration (DFA). The closing book for the Rice Research and Promotion Board, which is submitted by Brandy Carroll, haven't included any references to the outside bank account where those funds were kept, according to administrator of accounting at DFA, Paul Louthian.These funds have never been included in the board's annual state audits, despite the first payment being received in December 2012, because there is no mention of the funds being part of its revenue stream.

"There is a section in the questionnaire that asks specifically about commercial bank accounts, because there are state agencies that have those," Louthian said. According to Louthian, and documents provided by DFA in response to an FOI request, for the most recent report of 2013 Carroll marked "no" in regard to outside bank accounts, ignoring the "Morgan Stanley" account the board was reportedly keeping the TRQ funds in, according to documents submitted by Carroll to Col-Rice for IRS filings. According to Louthian, even if the funds were in a Rice Foundation account, the relationship that the board had of distributing the funds from that account would have required it be reported as revenue.

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Daily Global Rice e-Newsletter When we asked Louthian to clarify if the lack of reporting would have left financial officials in the dark on the state level not only about how the funds were used but even their existence, Louthian said, "I think that would be safe to assume." When we asked if individuals who prepared these reports, like Carroll, had access to training for how to properly report revenues, Louthian confirmed that multiple training opportunities are available through DFA and that DFA had dedicated staff members within the office that are available to help answer questions regarding financial reporting from the Rice Research and Promotion Board.

Since December 2012, financial records show that the board has spent about $4.5 million of the $14.5 million it has received in TRQ funds. But the board may not have even had the authority to spend that money. According to the division of legislative audit, any money a state agency receives has to have an appropriation from the legislature or a special appropriation from DFA. According to legislative documents and DFA records, the board has received neither in regard to TRQ funds. "I think every person who grows rice in this state deserves to now those things, how their money is being spent," Stubblefield said.

What comes next?

"When you get a dollar, it's no different than state tax dollars, people need to know where it's spent. The percentages and that it's spent correctly," State Senator Bryan King, (R) District 5.Despite all this, it appears the TRQ funds have been spent as intended, funding research projects with the University of Arkansas. But some still wonder how $15 million dollars in state funds were missed. "I think it's high time the whole system be looked at," John Alter said. According to Stubblefield, he and King have requested a full audit of the board, including reviews of financial statements that include TRQ funds.

The Division of Legislative Audit has confirmed a review is underway. Stubblefield has also suggested moving the rice check-off funds and the responsibility of the board under the direction of the Arkansas Department of Agriculture. According to Louthian at DFA, the business process will be used in regard to this board moving forward. He is not aware of anyone from the board arranging to meet with him or his staff members to work out the details or clarify a plan moving forward, aside from meeting with auditors. http://www.arkansasmatters.com/story/d/story/update-ar-department-of-agriculture-waiting-forau/11552/trt3Iq2uRkW4SsjTkylmuQ?utm_source=USA+Rice+Daily%2C+May+21%2C+2015&utm_ca mpaign=Friday%2C+December+13%2C+2013&utm_medium=email

Mahindra enters into strategic pact with Mitsubishi Agriculture

by Takshak Dawda May 21, 2015 Dr Pawan Goenka, Executive Director, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd announces the partnership with Mitsubishi Heavy industries Attending the event was Harish Chavan, COO of Mahindra Farming.Dr Pawan Goenka, Executive Director, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd with Harish Chavan, COO of Mahindra Farming

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Daily Global Rice e-Newsletter Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd (MHI) of Tokyo, and Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. (M&M) have entered into a strategic partnership today in the agricultural machinery field.Under the definitive agreement signed today, Mahindra will invest US$ 25 million (approx Rs 160 crore) for acquiring 33.33% voting stake in MHI subsidiary, Mitsubishi Agricultural Machinery Co. Ltd. (MAM) through fresh issue of common shares and Class A (nonvoting) shares of MAM.The deal is expected to close by October 1, 2015, with the new funding to be used to increase MAM‘s capital base.The announcement was made in Mumbai by Dr Pawan Goenka, Executive Director, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd and Harish Chavan, COO of Mahindra Farming.

The agreement was signed by Kazuaki Kimura, President and CEO, MHI Machinery, Equipment & Infrastructure, Katsumi Tottori, President, MAM and Rajesh Jejurikar, President & Chief Executive (Farm Equipment & Two Wheeler), Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd.Speaking on the alliance, Pawan Goenka mentioned, ―We have had a decade long association with Mitsubishi in USA where their products have played a significant role in Mahindra USA‘s success. We are now excited about our participation through an equity route in Mitsubishi Agri-Machinery, Japan. With this alliance we will focus on making aggressive investments in marketing and product development and becoming a significant player in the global agri-machinery industry.‖Mitsubishi Agricultural Machinery is a full range agrimachinery company producing and selling tractors, combine harvesters, rice transplanters, high horsepower crawler tractors and other agri-machinery. It had revenues of approximately US$ 408 million

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Daily Global Rice e-Newsletter in 2014-15. It is Japan‘s no.4 agricultural machinery manufacturer.Dr Goenka further gave details about the agreement, ―The primary purpose of this acquisition is not the Indian market, it is the global market, which would create more opportunities for us in China, USA and other Asean countries. However, in India, we would be focusing on paddy farming, which would include rice transplanters.

Mitsubishi has a good record in rice transplanters, tractors and other agricultural equipments as well.―Our Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, has quoted that ‗Act East rather than Look East‘.

Mahindra is now spread in China, we are strong in Korea and also in Japan. So we are just following the directives of our PM by Acting East," Dr Goenka added.The new partnership will help both companies to jointly develop products to address global opportunities in the tractor and agri-machinery space. In addition, the partnership will enable MAM and Mahindra to improve cost competitiveness though joint procurement and optimize the supply chain.

Commenting on the partnership, Kazuaki Kimura, President and CEO, MHI Machinery, Equipment & Infrastructure said, ―It is an honor for us at Mitsubishi to welcome Mahindra, who are the largest tractor manufacturer globally by volumes as a partner to Mitsubishi Agricultural Machinery. Today‘s signing will only build upon the wonderful relationship which both companies have shared for over a decade. I am sure that the commitment and expertise of both of the companies will open a new horizon to the business globally.‖MAM has been supplying OEM tractors to Mahindra USA (subsidiary of M&M in the US) as well as providing technical license to Mahindra for walk-behind rice planters and new tractor in India. http://www.autocarpro.in/news-national/mahindra-enters-strategic-partnership-mitsubishi-agricultural-machinery-8457#sthash.fmW5o0Is.dpuf

http://www.autocarpro.in/news-national/mahindra-enters-strategic-partnership-mitsubishi-agriculturalmachinery-8457

Scientists Debate Harms and Benefits of GMOs May 21st, 2015at5:01 am by Kendra Witt

Dr. Angelika Hilbeck. Hari Patel/Daily Nexus Dr. Pamela C. Ronald. Hari Patel/Daily Nexus

UCSB Arts & Lectures and the Interdisciplinary Humanities Center (IHC) co-hosted a debate titled ―The 2015 Arthur N. Rupe Debate: The Use of Genetically Modified Organisms in Food‖ at Campbell Hall Wednesday night to deliberate the harms and benefits of genetically modified organisms (GMOs).GMOs are living organisms whose genetic codes have been artificially manipulated through the use of various genetic engineering techniques. UC Davis plant pathology professor Pamela C. Ronald and Swiss Federal University senior scientific researcher in the Institute of Integrative Biology Angelika Hilbeck debated on whether the use of GMOs in

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Daily Global Rice e-Newsletter food is safe, and the role GMOs play in world hunger and poverty. The Chronicle of Higher Education senior reporter Paul Voosen moderated the debate.IHC director and German and Slavic studies professor Susan Derwin said the use of GMOs exemplifies the idea of ―Anthropocene,‖ or human influence on the planet. ―Humans now have the ability to manipulate nature in radical ways and for their own ends,‖ Derwin said. ―In the epic of the Anthropocene, as weather becomes more extreme and as the global population grows, the manipulation of nature promises to increase crop yields and diversify the places where food can be grown.‖According to Ronald, genetic engineering is neither new nor dangerous and inventions such as ―golden rice,‖ a strain of rice supplemented with vitamin A created through genetic engineering, can be used to combat world hunger.―After forty years of commercial use in medicine, cheeses, wine and plants, there has not been a single instance of harm to human health or the environment,‖ Ronald said. ―Instead of worrying about the genes that are in our food … we must ask if farmers and rural communities can thrive and be sure that everyone can afford the food. ‖Ronald said the public‘s fear of genetic engineering is due to misinformation, and is a major obstacle in distributing golden rice to rural communities.―500,000 children go blind every year because of lack of vitamin A,‖ Ronald said. ―Half of these children will die. We have a lot of fear mongering and what really distresses me is that it is preventing this rice from reaching the children. It‘s something we take for granted every day.‖According to Hilbeck, hunger and vitamin A deficiency in developing countries are part of a much larger issue that genetic engineering alone cannot fix.―The kids die because they are poor. We have to address causes of hunger and poverty,‖ Hilbeck said. ―If you don‘t address the underlying causes for hunger and poverty, singling out an individual issue will not help. We are helping those kids already by giving them vitamin A pills right now.‖Hilbeck said the best solution to ending world hunger and poverty is a system that can sustain itself for a long period of time.―We need the best solution, the most sustainable solution — not focus on which technology that is — I personally don‘t care what technology that is,‖ Hilbeck said. ―I want the problem to be solved, but in a system that in itself functions and works so we can have it run for hundreds of years.‖Second-year chemical engineering major Christopher Nyambura said shifting industrial agriculture to a more efficient system should be the main focus.―We need to start changing the way we farm — changing the way we grow crops, meat, all these things, — before we start introducing GMOs,‖ Nyambura said. ―People are dying, people don‘t have food. That‘s what we need to tackle — people getting fed and how we can do it as efficiently as possible, as best as possible.‖According to Hilbeck, debating over GMOs lead to

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Daily Global Rice e-Newsletter discussions about greater topics such as industrialized agricultures and the dangers associated with it.―It‘s about much more than GMOs,‖ Hilbeck said. ―They stand in for a system that requires change and if that‘s what it takes — GMOs — then that‘s what it is. They trigger this debate. As long as we keep arguing, and we keep talking respectfully to each other, listening to each other and try to accommodate, we can move this place forward and progress.‖ http://dailynexus.com/2015-05-21/scientists-debate-harms-and-benefits-of-gmos/

Indonesia could backtrack on rice imports as prices rise, El Nino looms JAKARTA | BY MICHAEL TAYLOR Customers check the quality of rice before buying at a wholesale rice market in East Jakarta, Indonesia, May 20, 2015.

REUTERS/NYIMAS LAULA

Indonesia's president could be forced to backtrack on promises to curb rice imports, with analysts saying the country may ship in as much as 1.6 million tonnes of the staple grain this year due to soaring prices at home and the threat of a strong El Nino. Since coming to power in October, President Joko Widodo has been aggressively pursuing self-sufficiency in various foods as part of an increasingly nationalistic approach to protecting farmers, reducing state imports of rice in a country where private buying from overseas has been largely banned for decades.

But rather than risk a spike in food inflation that could prompt social unrest, some analysts predict the country will import volumes of rice way higher than the 1.1 million tonnes estimated for last year, maintaining its position as one of the world's top buyers of overseas grain."Sometimes Indonesia's policy isn't very rational. Right now international prices are so low and at the same time Indonesian rice stocks are not elevated compared to levels we've seen over the past 10 years," said Aurelia Britsch, senior commodities analyst at BMI Research in Singapore.

While rowing back on election pledges would likely be embarrassing for Widodo, who is already grappling with low approval ratings, the move would be good news for key rice exporters such as Thailand and Vietnam, buoying Thai prices that have fallen around 7 percent in 2015.BMI's Britsch sees imports of 1.3 million to 1.6 million tonnes this year, while Rabobank predicted 1.5 million, Barclays 1 million to 1.5 million and the International Grains Council (IGC) 1.3

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Daily Global Rice e-Newsletter million.Chief Economics Minister Sofyan Djalil has said the nation would probably need to import with a decision likely by early June, while State Enterprise Minister Rini Soemarno said last week that Widodo has given the green light for quick foreign purchases if needed.

When Reuters contacted Widodo's office on Thursday, Cabinet Secretary Andi Widjajanto responded saying: "Up until today, the decision is not to import."State rice stocks currently stand at about 1.2 million tonnes, government officials said last week, compared with almost 2 million tonnes around mid-2014.There is now talk among rice traders in Vietnam that an Indonesian delegation will visit within weeks to discuss possible purchases. An official from Indonesia's state procurement agency, Bulog, said he did not know of such a visit.

El NINO Just three months ago Widodo refused to allow rice imports, but rising domestic prices as local supply fails to meet demand, an expected pick up in appetite during the festival of Ramadan in June and the shadow of El Nino could soon force his hand.A closely watched forecast by Japan last week confirmed that an intensifying El Nino had set in, with Indonesia's rice farmers threatened by the dry conditions the weather pattern typically brings to the region.Indonesia has set and failed to meet several food self-sufficiency targets over the past six years, but Widodo promised to renew efforts after taking power.

High prices for the staple grain are a burden for many Indonesians, with the U.N. food agency saying the self-sufficiency policy has driven up local markets.Indonesian wholesale rice prices were $0.77 per kg last month, the second-highest in the region behind $0.79 in the Philippines, which also has self-sufficiency policies, and way more than No.3 China at $0.64, said David Dawe, senior economist at the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organisation in Bangkok.Indonesia's retail rice prices have gained about 13 percent in the last year, and industry sources expect further climbs of 5-7 percent around Ramadan.

"The desire for self-sufficiency leads to higher prices if it is done through import restrictions," said Dawe."If it is done with open trade and increased productivity, then prices will be lower and there will be no incentive to import."(Additional reporting by Gayatri Suroyo in Jakarta, Ho Binh Minh in Hanoi and Erik dela Cruz in Manila; Editing by Gavin Maguire and Joseph Radford)

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Daily Global Rice e-Newsletter Indonesia Rice Update: Joko Widodo Forced to Allow Rice Imports?

21 May 2015 |Indonesia Investments Subjects |Rice Self-Sufficiency, Rice Import, Rice Farming, Rice Consumption, Rice Production, Rice Price, EL Nino, Rice Industry, Ramadan, Idul Fitri, Joko Widodo, Rice, Inflation In order to avert a spike in inflation and social unrest, Indonesian President Joko Widodo may feel forced to allow around 1.5 million metric tons of rice imports in 2015 as domestic prices of rice have been rising on sluggish local harvests. Moreover, an intensifying El Nino is expected to cause dry weather in the months ahead hence further jeopardizing rice productivity. These already tough conditions will be exacerbated by seasonal Islamic celebrations (Ramadan and Idul Fitri) that always trigger increased consumption of food products.

During his presidential campaigns in mid-2014 and during his first seven months in office, President Widodo (often called Jokowi) emphasized that reaching food self-sufficiency would be one of his main targets. Rice self-sufficiency, in particular, is important as Indonesia has the world‘s largest per capita rice consumption (about 140 kilograms of rice per person per year). As such, rice prices have a relatively large impact on the country‘s inflation. When rice prices rise poverty in Indonesia can quickly increase accordingly as the poorer segments of society spend more than half of their total disposable income on food items, primarily rice.In order to support rice self-sufficiency President Widodo had previously refused to allow rice imports.

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Daily Global Rice e-Newsletter Two months ago he stated that he forbade rice imports despite rising pressures and had already informed Indonesian rice farmers that the government would not import this commodity anymore, hence relying on increased domestic rice production. However, due to narrowing rice reserves (currently only at 1.2 million tons), price pressures, a looming strong El Nino and expected growing rice consumption in the Ramadan and Idul Fitri period, Widodo will most likely see no other choice than to allow rice imports to safeguard price stability. As such, Indonesia would remain one of the globe‘s largest buyers of rice. In 2014 Indonesia imported approximately 1.1 million metric tons of rice.

International rice prices are currently low supported by Indonesia‘s earlier decision not to import rice. The international trade market for rice is remarkably shallow. According to research conducted by the World Bank only five percent of global rice production is traded on the international market thus implying that rice prices are susceptible to small changes in supply and demand. Curbed demand from Indonesia (due to the government‘s initial reluctance to import rice) contributed to easing global rice prices. In contrast, Indonesian rice prices have been soaring due to the government‘s self-sufficiency program primarily caused by the import restrictions. http://www.indonesia-investments.com/news/todays-headlines/indonesia-rice-update-joko-widodoforced-to-allow-rice-imports/item5580

Rice mills seek exemption from GST The rice mill owners and paddy-rice dealers in the State have appealed to the Union Government to exempt rice from Goods and Service Tax.This was one of the resolutions passed at a statelevel meeting of the Federation of Tamil Nadu Rice Mill Owners and Paddy-Rice Dealers Associations held here on Tuesday.Since Tamil Nadu is deficit in paddy production and rice is a major food in the State, the Government has not levied any tax on these so far.Rice millers and farmers need additional power supply during the harvest season to dry the paddy and the low tension power supply available to these units is inadequate.

The federation appealed to the State Government and to the Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission to pass the required orders for this.The mills would pay the charges fixed by the commission for the additional supply.The paddy dealers and mill owners also appealed to the State to remove the market cess levied on rice.The State has 277 agricultural markets.However, rice and paddy were procured by the dealers and mills directly from the farmers and also from States such as Karnataka, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh, they pointed out. http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Coimbatore/rice-mills-seek-exemption-from-gst/article7229426.ece

Balance of rice supply and demand key to food security' PETCHANET PRATRUANGKRAI

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Daily Global Rice e-Newsletter THE NATION May 21, 2015 1:00 am

COOPERATION among rice-producing and -importing nations is crucial to ensuring global food security as the world is challenged by a rapidly rising population, climate change, low-quality soil and reduced water sources for growing cereal crops, the "Thailand Rice Convention" heard yesterday.At the convention, held in Bangkok and chaired by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, speakers said the world needed to cooperate in balancing supply and demand, so that neither farmers nor consumers suffered from imbalances or fluctuating rice prices.Prayut said that as the world's leading rice producer, Thailand did not want to see skyrocketing prices, as they would hurt both consumers and farmers in the long run.

The key to ensuring global food security and making rice-producing countries like Thailand and others in Asean happy is to cooperate in balancing supply and demand, so that rice prices are stable, he stressed.The world is being challenged by its rising population and higher rice consumption, he said, adding that the rice market had expanded to all regions of the globe, no longer limited largely to Asia as it was increasingly recognised as a high-nutrition cereal."Already, more than 3 billion people consume rice as their staple food, causing many countries to turn their attention to developing rice varieties and optimising the capacity of rice cultivation and trade.

The next 20 years "In the next 20 years, the world's population will increase by 20 per cent, and that implies more rice consumption. Therefore, every nation should cooperate more in the form of research and development in rice production and trading," said the prime minister.Within Asean, Thailand will strive to forge closer cooperation to ensure stable rice prices in the world market, while farmers will get stable and better incomes in the long run, he said.To promote rice-industry growth, Prayut said the government would focus on promoting the production of quality rice, at a higher volume, and with less intervention in the market.

The government aims to increase the yield for Thai rice by 25 per cent in the next five years, while lowering production costs by 20 per cent over the same period, he said.Prayut said the focus on non-chemical rice production, and on premium rice grains and varieties, would be promoted in the Kingdom.Jeremy Zwinger, president and chief executive officer of The Rice Trader industry report in the US, said every nation needed to be more concerned about food security because of rising population numbers, as well as reduced sources of water for the cultivation of crops."Food is critical.

The world should focus on adopting high technology to produce more rice grains, and increase supply of rice to ensure price stability," he said.Zwinger said global rice trading now took place in a highly competitive environment, especially in Asia, where most of the major supply nations

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Daily Global Rice e-Newsletter are located.Along with lower oil prices, high stockpiles of rice in Thailand have caused a fall in prices in recent times, although they could fluctuate and increase in the future as fuel prices rise, rice stocks decline in many countries, and exchange rates fluctuate, he told the convention.Chookiat Ophaswongse, honorary president of the Thai Rice Exporters Association, said the key for sustainable development of the Thai industry was to introduce zoning for rice cultivation, while no government should intervene in the trading mechanism. http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/Balance-of-rice-supply-and-demand-key-to-food-secu30260563.html#sthash.YS5MqFGl.dpuf

Nagpur Foodgrain Prices Open- May 21 Nagpur, May 21 Gram and tuar prices showed weak tendency in Nagpur Agriculture Produce and Marketing Committee (APMC) here on poor demand from local millers amid release of stock from stockists. Downward trend in Madhya Pradesh pulses also affected prices in weak trading activity, according to sources. *

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FOODGRAINS & PULSES GRAM * Gram mill quality and desi gram raw showed weak tendency in open market here in absence of buyers amid ample stock in ready position.

TUAR * Tuar varieties ruled steady in open market here matching the demand and supply position. * Major wheat varieties moved down in open market here on poor buying support from local traders amid poor quality arrival from producing regions like Punjab and Haryana. * In Akola, Tuar - 7,200-7,500, Tuar dal - 9,900-10,300, Udid at 9,100-9,600, Udid Mogar (clean) - 10,700-11,100, Moong - 9,000-9,200, Moong Mogar (clean) 10,700-11,100, Gram - 4,100-4,400, Gram Super best bold - 6,000-6,200 for 100 kg. * Rice and other commodities remained steady in open market in poor trading activity, according to sources.

Nagpur foodgrains APMC auction/open-market prices in rupees for 100 kg FOODGRAINS

Available prices

Previous close

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Daily Global Rice e-Newsletter Gram Auction 3,500-4,440 3,600-4,530 Gram Pink Auction n.a.

2,100-2,600 Tuar Auction 5,700-7,490 5,780-7,570 Moong Auction n.a.

6,000-6,300 Udid Auction n.a.

4,300-4,500 Masoor Auction n.a.

2,600-2,800 Gram Super Best Bold 6,300-6,500 6,300-6,500 Gram Super Best n.a.

Gram Medium Best 6,000-6,200 6,000-6,200 Gram Dal Medium n.a. n.a.

Gram Mill Quality 5,250-5,450 5,300-5,500 Desi gram Raw 4,500-4,650 4,550-4,700 Gram Filter new 6,050-6,150 6,050-6,150 Gram Kabuli 5,100-6,900 5,100-6,900 Gram Pink 6,300-6,500 6,300-6,500 Tuar Fataka Best 10,500-10,800 10,500-10,800 Tuar Fataka Medium 10,000-10,300 10,000-10,300 Tuar Dal Best Phod 9,500-9,800 9,500-9,800 Tuar Dal Medium phod 9,000-9,350 9,000-9,350 Tuar Gavarani New 7,750-7,850 7,750-7,850 Tuar Karnataka 7,900-8,000 7,900-8,000 Tuar Black 10,700-11,000 10,700-11,000 Masoor dal best 8,100-8,300 8,100-8,300 Masoor dal medium 7,500-7,800 7,500-7,800 Masoor n.a. n.a.

Moong Mogar bold 11,000-11,500 11,000-11,500 Moong Mogar Medium best 10,200-10,600 10,200-10,600 Moong dal Chilka 9,200-9,750 9,200-9,7050 Moong Mill quality n.a. n.a.

Moong Chamki best 9,600-9,900 9,600-9,900 Udid Mogar Super best (100 INR/KG) 11,200-11,600 11,200-11,600 Udid Mogar Medium (100 INR/KG) 9,900-10,600 9,900-10,600 Udid Dal Black (100 INR/KG) 8,500-8,900 8,500-8,900 Batri dal (100 INR/KG) 4,300-4,500 4,300-4,500 Lakhodi dal (100 INR/kg) 3,150-3,300 3,150-3,300 Watana Dal (100 INR/KG) 3,200-3,450 3,200-3,450 Watana White (100 INR/KG) 2,450-2,625 2,450-2,625 Watana Green Best (100 INR/KG) 3,700-4,800 3,600-4,800 Wheat 308 (100 INR/KG) 1,400-1,600 1,500-1,800 Wheat Mill quality(100 INR/KG) 1,500-1,600 1,800-1,900 Wheat Filter (100 INR/KG) 1,400-1,600 1,500-1,700 Wheat Lokwan best (100 INR/KG) 2,200-2,450 2,250-2,550 Wheat Lokwan medium (100 INR/KG) 1,800-1,950 2,000-2,150 Lokwan Hath Binar (100 INR/KG) n.a. n.a.

MP Sharbati Best (100 INR/KG) 3,100-3,700 3,200-3,750

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Daily Global Rice e-Newsletter MP Sharbati Medium (100 INR/KG) 2,800-3,000 2,800-3,100 Wheat 147 (100 INR/KG) 1,400-1,500 1,400-1,500 Wheat Best (100 INR/KG) 2,000-2,200 2,000-2,200 Rice BPT New(100 INR/KG) 2,500-2,800 2,500-2,800 Rice BPT (100 INR/KG) 3,000-3,300 3,000-3,300 Rice Parmal (100 INR/KG) 1,600-1,800 1,600-1,800 Rice Swarna new (100 INR/KG) 2,100-2,400 2,100-2,400 Rice Swarna old (100 INR/KG) 2,500-2,700 2,500-2,700 Rice HMT new(100 INR/KG) 3,300-3,700 3,300-3,700 Rice HMT (100 INR/KG) 4,000-4,400 4,000-4,400 Rice HMT Shriram New(100 INR/KG) 4,200-4,500 4,200-4,500 Rice HMT Shriram old (100 INR/KG) 4,600-5,200 4,600-5,200 Rice Basmati best (100 INR/KG) 8,000-10,000 8,000-10,000 Rice Basmati Medium (100 INR/KG) 6,000-7,500 6,000-7,500 Rice Chinnor new (100 INR/KG) 4,600-5,200 4,600-5,200 Rice Chinnor (100 INR/KG) 5,600-6,000 5,600-6,000 Jowar Gavarani (100 INR/KG) 2,200-2,300 2,100-2,200 Jowar CH-5 (100 INR/KG) 2,400-2,550 2,300-2,450 WEATHER (NAGPUR) Maximum temp. 47.0 degree Celsius (116.6 degree Fahrenheit), minimum temp.

29.3 degree Celsius (84.7 degree Fahrenheit) Humidity: Highest - n.a., lowest - n.a.

Rainfall : nil FORECAST: Mainly clear sky. Maximum and minimum temperature would be around and 48 and 30 degree Celsius respectively.

Note: n.a.--not available (For oils, transport costs are excluded from plant delivery prices, but included in market prices.) http://in.reuters.com/article/2015/05/21/nagpur-foodgrain-idINL3N0YC39320150521

Prayut spells out rice game plan 21 May 2015 at 00:30 NEWSPAPER SECTION: BUSINESS | WRITER: PHUSADEE ARUNMAS

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha on Wednesday visited Thaifex World of Food Asia, which runs through Sunday at Impact Muang Thong Thani. (Photo by Pattanapong Hirunard)

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Daily Global Rice e-Newsletter Thailand will focus on premium varieties and reduce off-season farming in the face of greater global competition in rice.Addressing the Thailand Rice Convention, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said the government would accelerate the restructuring of rice production management.Plans call for designated rice-farming areas suited to each variety, adequate production to meet market demand and a reduction in off-season rice production to keep supply at an appropriate level.

Gen Prayut said farmland consolidation among rice farmers would be encouraged to cut production costs.Gen Prayut: Grow, market higher-value riceThe government will provide support for R&D, assist in improved rice production and quality and promote production of specific rice for niche markets.The prime minister said the state would place emphasis on developing rice varieties with better quality, higher yields and lower cost, while promoting the use of organic fertilisers and biofertilisers to maintain quality standards and safety in plant food.Additionally, the government will encourage production of high-quality local rice with outstanding properties such as organic rice, germinated brown rice, rice burry and Khao Leum Pua.State agencies will provide a stringent system to monitor the quality of rice at each stage of the process and encourage mill operators to make improvements to meet good manufacturing standards, Gen Prayut said.A onestop standardised inspection and quality assurance operations centre is in the works to provide better supervision of the rice trading system and ensure each grain of Thai rice meets the various international standards of partner countries.

To attain pricing competitiveness, improvements in the domestic transport system will also help to ease costs.The government is committed to promoting international cooperation, especially between Thai exporters and major foreign trade partners, as a means of encouraging Thais to enter new markets, especially in Asean members.Back at home, the government plans to set up a special economic zone for adding value to rice and other agricultural products of Thailand and neighbouring countries, with this country acting as a hub for value-added management and distribution of products from Asean to the world.Commerce Minister Chatchai Sarikulya said despite sluggish global demand, the government was maintaining its forecast for rice exports of 10 million tonnes this year.

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