TheCropSite Newsletter - 4 September 2012

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Tuesday 4th September 2012.

Sarah Mikesell
Senior Editor

Editorial: Welcome to TheCropSite Newsletter

Last week I had an amazing time at the Farm Progress Show in Boone, Iowa, USA with two 5m colleagues based in Sheffield, England. It's always interesting to go to a show and see it through someone else's eyes - especially from another country.

If you've never attended this show, which rotates annually between Iowa and Decatur, Illinois, it's a really valuable experience for farmers because the whole crop industry is there in full force.

So not only can you talk to a sales rep about that new piece of John Deere equipment you wanted to buy, but you can hop inside it and then go over to the Case IH and New Holland booths and sit in their version of the equipment. And then, you can go out to the demonstration fields and actually see it in action.

Of course, the show isn't just about equipment (or kicking tires, as we say in the US). Many companies were there to showcase their latest information and innovations.

New this year was Raven Slingshot, a wireless connectivity platform designed to bring high-speed internet connectivity straight to the field. With this new technology, farmers are now connected to markets and weather as well as having access to apps.

Bayer CropScience focused on their One World to Grow On theme, illustrating their passion for working alongside growers to develop an understanding and answers to today's most pressing agricultural issues. The One World to Grow On booth experience walked farmers through pivotal decision-making times from harvest to planting, where the right decisions lead to better outcomes.

Wyffels Hybrids rolled out 29 new products at the show, including 12 new base genetics, for 2013. The new products include conventional hybrids, as well as hybrids featuring Genuity^® VT Double PRO^®, Genuity^® VT Triple PRO^®, Genuity^® SmartStax^®, and Roundup Ready^® Corn 2 traits. Hybrids with Genuity VT Double PRO and Genuity SmartStax traits are available as Wyffels Refuge in Bag (RIB). The new Wyffels RIB products are a single-bag blend of 95 per cent traited hybrid with 5 per cent refuge seed, removing the need for a separate, structured refuge.

On the information front, Sterling Liddell, Rabobank vice president, Food and Agribusiness Research, said commodity prices and low interest rates have been pushing land values higher very rapidly over the last five years in the US, EU and Australia to some degree. Commodity price increases have been driven by several supply and demand factors, including biofuels and the emergence of China as a major importer of commodities.

"This has put enough demand pressure on the market to force a situation where we don't have a lot of room for error in production," he said. "When we do have an error, we get tighter stocks than we have had in the past and we see prices move to record levels. With this continuing over the last five years, land values have been naturally appreciating. Where land values are now is fairly consistent with their fundamental values, which is their ability to produce revenue."

Syngenta said a hot topic in the Midwest continues to be corn rootworm. As the industry is hitting the three or four year mark of growing corn-on-corn in some areas, corn rootworm levels are ratcheting higher and higher and controlling rootworm is becoming a bigger issue. They are recommending using a soil-applied insecticide like Force.

I will also note that this isn't just a show for US farmers - there was a huge international contingency at the show. Monsanto said they were hosting over 800 international visitors this year.

Have a great week!

This Week's Articles and Analysis

2012 Drought: Yield Loss, Revenue Loss, Harvest Price Option
Despite the reduction in yield caused by the drought, per acre revenue is higher in August than in February for the average US acre of corn and soybeans.

Ideal Conditions for Stalk Rots in 2012
The 2012 growing season, with mid-season conditions that favored kernel set followed by conditions that favored plant stress, was ideal for the development of stalk rots, said University of Illinois extension educator Angie Peltier.

Rice Water Depth Management at Microspore
The microspore stage in rice is when the pollen cells start to form in the anthers. Low temperatures at this stage disrupt the movement of sugars into the microspores, reducing the number of viable pollen produced, leading to floret sterility, write Rachael Whitworth, District Agronomist, Griffith and Brian Dunn, Research Agronomist, Yanco for the New South Wales Department of Primary Industries.

Soybeans Susceptible to Man-Made Materials in Soil
Researchers contend that manufactured nanomaterials--now popular in consumer products such as shampoos, gels, hair dyes and sunscreens--may be detrimental to the quality and yield of food crops, as reported in a paper in the online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Rice Straw as a Bioenergy Resource
The cultivation of rice results in two types of residues – straw and husk – having attractive potential in terms of energy. Rice husk, the main by-product from rice milling, accounts for roughly 22 per cent of paddy weight, while rice straw to paddy ratio ranges from 1.0 to 4.3.

Market Reports

USDA GAIN: Brazil Biofuels Annual 2012
USDA GAIN: Morocco Grain and Feed Update July 2012
USDA Crop Progress - 27 August 2012

Global Crop Industry News