TheCropSite Newsletter - 15 May 2012

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Tuesday 15th May 2012.

Sarah Mikesell
Senior Editor

Editorial: Welcome to TheCropSite Newsletter

Having grown up in the meat and potatoes Midwest, I realize now that I haven't appreciated the significance of rice. But in my editorial role looking at the world of crop, I am beginning to understand the global value that rice brings to the table, literally.

Last week, the US Department of Agriculture released a report indicating that global rice production is forecast at a record 466.4 million tons (milled basis) in 2012/2013.

The bumper crop is the result of expanded area, with Southeast Asia and SubSaharan Africa accounting for the bulk of the expansion. At 159.8 million hectares, global rice area is up 0.9 million hectares from a year earlier.

Here's a peek at what's happening around the world in rice:

China, the world's largest rice-producing country, is projected to produce a record 141.0 million tons of rice in 2012/13.
India's production is projected at a near-record 102.5 million cwt, down 1 percent from a year earlier, with both area and yield forecast to be down.
In nearby Pakistan, production is projected at a near-record 6.8 million tons, a result of both area expansion and a higher yield.
Vietnam is projected to harvest a record 26.5-million ton crop in 2012/13.
Thailand is projected to harvest a record 21.05 million tons of rice.
US production is expected to decline 1 percent to 5.83 million tons, the result of a big drop in area.
Brazil's production is projected to increase almost 2 percent to 11.0 million tons, mostly due to expanded area. Last year, adverse weather was partially responsible for a 13-percent area decline in Brazil.
Australia is projected to produce 720,000 tons of rice in 2012/13, almost 5 percent above a year earlier.
In contrast, Argentina is projected to harvest 910,000 tons of rice in 2012/13, down nearly 5 percent from a year earlier, a result of smaller area.
Egypt is projected to harvest 3.8 million tons of rice in 2012/13, a drop of nearly 11 percent from a year earlier. The Government of Egypt wants to limit rice area to conserve water.

Global ending stocks for 2012/13 are projected at 104.9 million tons, up 0.7 million tons from a year earlier and largest since 2001/02. This is the sixth consecutive year of rising global stocks. Thailand's stocks are projected to increase 29 percent to a record 12.1 million tons, largely due to government policy. Stocks are projected to be slightly higher in 2012/13 in China and India.

Rice. It's a staple - meaning essential to life for not just millions of people, but billions of people. So I'd expect to see countries' stock requirements continue to go up as the global population increases.

Have a great week!

This Week's Articles and Analysis

How Iowa Corn Farmers Explain the Success of Steve Job's Apple
Long before the iPod, iPhone and iPad were a glint in the eye of Steve Job's Apple Corp, a group of researchers at Iowa State University published a series of landmark papers - on purchase patterns of hybrid seed corn amongst post-Depression Iowa farmers - that would help to explain why Apple Corp has become the most successful company in the United States, writes John Carragher for TheCropSite.

Soybean Back as Southern Summer Crop
A farming family in northern Victoria has swung back to growing soybeans due to the crop’s high profit potential and low cost of production.

New Research Reveals Challenges in GM Crop Regulatory Process
A new innovation can completely reshape an industry - inspiring both optimism and debate.

Study Chronicles Rise of Agriculture in Europe
An analysis of 5,000-year-old DNA taken from the Stone Age remains of four humans excavated in Sweden is helping researchers understand how agriculture spread throughout Europe long ago.

Decade to Decade: What's the Status of Our Groundwater Quality?
There was no change in concentrations of chloride, dissolved solids, or nitrate in groundwater for more than 50 percent of well networks sampled in a new analysis by the United States Geological Survey that compared samples from 1988-2000 to samples from 2001-2010. For those networks that did have a change, seven times more networks saw increases as opposed to decreases.

Barley Takes Leaf out of Reindeer’s Book in Land of the Midnight Sun
Barley grown in Scandinavian countries is adapted in a similar way to reindeer to cope with the extremes of day length at high latitudes new research from the John Innes Centre and the Max Planck Institute has found. Researchers have found a genetic mutation in some Scandinavian barley varieties that disrupts the circadian clock that barley from southern regions use to time their growing season.

Market Reports