Friday, October 30, 2015

29th October,2015 Daily Global Regional and Local Rice News E-Letter by Riceplus Magazine

Rice News Headlines...

ü  World's first 'Sustainable Rice' standard launched
ü  Farmer trampled
ü  UCD, Pakistan launch $17M food, ag partnership
ü  CBI books basmati firm on fraud charge
ü  The Philippine Order of Sikatuna is bestowed on IRRI’s director general
ü  Low rice prices irk growers, dealers
ü  Mars announces sustainable rice partnership
ü  Farmers worried as Pusa 1121 rates hit 5-year low
ü  Drought wrecks havoc on Indonesian rice planting
ü  Philippines: Philippines considering options for add'l rice importation
ü  Tanzania's rice farmers boost production
ü  The Sushi Project: Farming Fish And Rice in California's Fields
ü  House Passes 2-year Budget Deal, Promises to Reverse Cuts to Crop Insurance
ü  USA Rice Gets Greater FAS Funding for 2016 International Promotion Programs     
ü  Rice States Must Begin Section 18 Emergency Exemption Requests for AV-1011 
ü  Weekly Rice Sales, Exports Reported 
ü   
ü  APEDA Rice Commodity News from India
ü  Nagpur Foodgrain Prices Open-Oct 29
ü  Arkansas Farm Bureau Daily Commodity Report

News Detail...

World's first 'Sustainable Rice' standard launched

 

UNEP-backed rice sustainability standard launched, as food giant Mars commits to sourcing 100 per cent of its rice from sustainable sources by 2020

A newly launched sustainable rice standard is hoping to slash the impact of one of the world's most popular food commodities on the environment, after food giant Mars pledged to source all its rice from suppliers who comply with the standard by 2020.
The Sustainable Rice Platform (SRP), an initiative started by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in 2011, this week laid out a set of criteria and performance indicators for sustainable rice cultivation designed to provide a benchmark for farmers who have taken steps to reduce the environmental footprint of rice production.
Alongside the launch of the new standard, Mars - a corporate partner of the SRP - committed to sourcing 100 per cent of its rice sustainably by 2020.
Mars Food said it will use the standard to assess its rice supply chains and has already begun piloting the scheme with rice farmers in Pakistan and India.
Fiona Dawson, president of Mars Food, called the standard a "truly mutual solution" that would benefit rice farmers and consumers.
"Through the global standard, we hope to create benefits for all involved from the farmers to our consumers," she said in a statement. "The benefit for us is that we are ensuring premium quality rice, whilst also ensuring a higher income for farmers, and a better environment for current and future generations."
Rice cultivation is hugely resource intensive, using 34 to 43 per cent of the world's irrigated water and contributing five to 10 per cent of anthropogenic greenhouse gases, according to the SRP. However, it is also a daily staple for over half the world's population, many of whom are food insecure, while one fifth of global population depends on rice cultivation for their livelihood.
The SRP reports that the demand for rice is projected to grow by 50 per cent by 2050. But both yields and area for cultivation are shrinking due to land conversion, salinisation,and increased water scarcity. Consequently, campaigners argue there is a compelling economic, as well as environmental case, for embracing best practices that enhance yields and improve water efficiency.
While the new Sustainable Rice Standard is the first sustainability standard to be launched by major companies for rice, there are already multitude of sustainability standards for foods including palm oil, soy, sugar and cocoa, which are designed to help farmers curb environmental impacts while allowing food companies to better promote the green credentials of their products.
Farmer trampled
October 29, 2015

When two elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers.”–African proverb.
In Pakistan, it is worse. The elephants, PML-N and PTI are fighting in fields where farmers are harvesting their crops. The farmer is being trampled by the elephants and economically slaughtered by making distress sale of paddy.Farmers are in deep distress. The morale of the farmer is at the lowest. He is suffering in silence. When will the silent volcano erupt I don’t know. The government hasn’t seen the real anger of the farmers yet, and is assuming they will never see. They may not always be right, as they feel, the farmer can be handled by the DPO, DCO, SDO, SHO.The words that come out of farmers mouth after a bumper harvest, but miserable price for his paddy as that “The government has killed us”. Majority of the people in the rice farming and business were under the false impression that Iran rice market will open up, in a big way, in beginning of October. It did not happen.
In my last article dated September 18, 2015, in The Nation, I had pleaded, to both government and opposition to join hands to find a marketing solution to the paddy crisis. A joint delegation of government and opposition to Iran and China would have done the job. The farmer is the loser in the battle of the giants as focus is out of agriculture and totally on electioneering.I am positive on Iran buying in large quantities, but not before January 2016. Farmers total paddy crop will be harvested by end of November. I talked to a lot of people in the rice business for the way out of the present rice crisis. All agreed on one point, buying of rice by the government. Pakistan has to fight back to recapture its lost markets to Indian trade. The whole rice chain is charged up to fight back.
I met a paddy supplier a few days back at Hafizabad. He informed me of the death of several rice dealers in the last couple of month most, probably because they could not take the shock of business loss. In this season the rice miller or dealer is buying paddy dirt cheap. He will definitely recover his past losses.For the farmer this harvesting season is even worse than the last one. The only thing keeping the farmers alive is the courage of the heart, but for how long? The real loser in the rice fiasco is the rice farmer from the traditional rice belt of Punjab. He has no options but to grow rice as he sees no other financially viable crop option.
The crisis of paddy price collapse at harvest time did not happen overnight. It took years in the making. I wrote an article in The Nation dated August 23, 2004 titled: New Seeds of Hope. In that I gave my vision and forewarned of excess paddy production:
“Apparently it seems rice farmers never had it so good. No government support for the last couple of years and even then the prices the market has offered them has been rewarding for their hard work. In fact now rice farming is stretching out in nontraditional areas due to the high returns and cash payments received by the farmers. The above trend may end up in a collapse of prices at harvest time.The above scenario has come about with a very heavy price, water tables have drastically fallen and soils have been degraded due to salts pumped out from ground water. Weeds have increased exponentially due to monotonous paddy/wheat rotation.
Organic matter has further gone down as farmers are forced to grow same crops each year due to favorable returns of paddy/wheat as compared with multiple cropping with legumes-oilseeds and green manuring crops to increase the organic matter in the soils.Acreage has to be taken out of paddy/wheat rotation to be replaced by alternate crops like pulses and oilseeds. Sugarcane like paddy is a water guzzler and the increase in acreage in them must be definitely discouraged. We are an arid country but not behaving like one. Any future planning has to keep this fundamental fact in mind before going for long term strategies.”In short, our present dilemma is that, we are producing, in excess, water guzzling and soil exhausting crops with no place to export, or consume and importing crops that are water efficient and soil building.
The Kissan package given by the government is an outcome of bad agriculture policies, and not due to depressed commodity prices in the international market. For example, a policy that led to flooding of our market with subsidized cheap Indian vegetables and milk powder.

Pakistan has the lowest import duty on milk powder i.e. 20%. Turkey to safeguard its dairy industry increased duty to 180%. Iran our traditional rice market of more than 1.0 million tonnes a year was surrendered to India.Well if Pakistan could import electricity from Iran during the sanctions and India could export Rice to Iran during this period, Pakistan could also have found a way to supply rice to Iran, during the sanctions.
The agriculture package given by the government is basically focusing on supply side and combining with payment of direct cash to the farmer. A much better alternative would have been total focus on the marketing side that would have resulted in far greater reward to the farmer.
A new agriculture policy with sustainable vision is what the agriculture sector needs. A policy, that will give the first right of domestic consumer to the local producer.A policy that will focus, on export highways for our agriculture crops, especially meeting our friendly neighbor country requirements.A policy, that will give handsome incentives to grow import substitution crops like oil seeds lentils and pulses which also fix nitrogen in soil and are water smart.A policy that makes livestock and dairy farming viable on a smaller scale.
A policy that discourages import of agriculture commodities and milk powder.A policy that scraps the sweet heart deals given to fertilizer units in form of low gas rate in the name of farmer support.A policy that will discourage small and marginal farmer’s sons to sell their one or two acres of land to go to Europe or middle east, and work as laborers, if they survive the dangerous journey.A policy that will prepare us to meet the challenge of climate change by giving numerous options to the farmer to grow crops depending on the forecast of weather.A policy that will result in farmers financing agriculture research, as they see the positive impact of research on their farms.A policy that will encourage family farms instead of corporate or cooperative farms.A policy where courts do not form a committee to address climate change but government is pro active themselves.
A policy that will make agriculture sustainable practices mandatory to be taught in village schools with practical demonstration.A policy that results in small and marginal farmers becoming a viable unit by making small dairy and soil building crops growing attractive financially.A policy that finds avenues for work close to their farms, for small and marginal farmer’s sons and daughterA policy that will result in agriculture policy becoming the corner stone of our foreign policy and not houbara bustard hunting.
A policy, that gives respect to the farmer.One word for all the above policies is called food sovereignty. Food and food sovereignty for every citizen has to be incorporated in our constitution as recently done by Nepal.Pakistan has no option but to practice good sustainable agriculture practices instead of unsustainable mono-cropping agriculture.Our soils are sick. If we follow the traditional method of agriculture with crop rotation a must, it will result in our sick soils getting healthier.Once soils get healthy, then it will take much less fertilizer, to get the same output as it does from a sick soil, resulting in cost of production going down .I assure you it is doable, only political will and a change of vision is required.

CBI books basmati firm on fraud charge

The Central Bureau of Investigation has registered a case against REI Agro Ltd., said to be the largest basmati rice processing and marketing company in the world, and its directors for allegedly causing a loss of Rs. 3,814.39 crore to a consortium of 15 nationalised banks led by UCO Bank.
“The case of alleged conspiracy, cheating and forgery has been registered against the company and its directors, Sanjay and Sandeep Jhunjhunwala, N.K. Gupta and K.D. Ghosh. It is alleged that the firm operated through a web of shell companies for conducting fraudulent transactions in rice trade. Suspected diversion of funds raised through bank loans is being probed,” said a CBI official.
On Tuesday, CBI teams conducted searches on the premises of the company and its directors in Kolkata and Delhi, and also at its three rice processing units at Rewari in Haryana.
The action has been taken on the basis of a complaint lodged by UCO Bank alleging that 2013 onwards, the company had taken loans to the tune of Rs. 3,814.39 crore from the consortium of nationalised banks through fraudulent means.
Set up in 1994, the company was a co-sponsor of Delhi Daredevils cricket team in the Indian Premier League-2013 tournament.
Once listed in the London and the Singapore stock exchanges, the firm ran about 400 super stores under the brand 6TEN in India, said the official, adding: “It allegedly defrauded banks in India and abroad. The company was also sued by Singapore-based leading global financial services company Credit Suisse for recovery of $80 million,” said the official.
The case is understood to be part of the CBI’s action against private firms which allegedly duped nationalised banks.
The agency had recently registered a corruption and criminal conspiracy case against liquor baron Vijay Mallya and the chief financial officer of Kingfisher Airlines for alleged default of Rs. 900-crore loan in connivance with unknown officials of IDBI Bank.
Another such case was filed against Surat-based fleet operator firm Siddhi Vinayak Logistics Ltd. and Bank of Maharashtra for alleged default of Rs. 800 crore.

The Philippine Order of Sikatuna bestowed on IRRI’s director general


 29 October 2015—In the ceremonial Hall of the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila, Robert S. Zeigler, director general and chief executive officer of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), received the Order of Sikatuna, the highest award that the Philippine Government can give to a foreign national. Zeigler was conferred the Rank of Datu (Grand Cross, Gold Distinction) in appreciation of his “... continuing support in mitigating poverty through the promotion of long-term food security for the Philippines.” Previous recipients include former U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, Asian Development Bank (ADB) President Haruhiko Kuroda, and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) President Sadako Ogata.
Acting Secretary of Foreign Affairs Jesus I. Yabes conferred the award on behalf of President Benigno S. Aquino III. During the citation ceremony, Mr. Yabes said that the award recognizes Dr. Zeigler’s extraordinary service in nurturing IRRI’s special relations with the Philippines in the 17 years of his residency in the country (10 at the helm of IRRI and 7 as an IRRI scientist in the late 1980s and early 1990s). During this period, particularly in the last decade as DG and CEO, the nation benefitted significantly. He added, “IRRI projects undertaken and completed under Dr. Zeigler’s term contributed to the country’s long-term food security, rice yield growth and rise in incomes and productivity of Filipino farmers. Equally significant was Dr. Zeigler’s sustained advocacy for farmers’ rights and welfare which helped improve the lives of rural communities.”
The U.S. native, who is retiring in December, is a plant pathologist with extensive knowledge and experience in plant breeding, forest ecology, and soil science. During his career, he has obtained distinction in the fields of agricultural research, development management, and governance in Asia, Africa, and the Americas.
In accepting the Order of Sikatuna, Dr. Zeigler said, “This is a tremendous honor and indeed humbling to receive this very, very important honor from the President of the Philippines. It is truly a moving experience personally and it is something that reminds me of the importance of IRRI. Although this honor is bestowed on me, it is really a recognition of the extreme importance of the work that all of our colleagues at IRRI and our partner institutions in the Philippines to advance the interest of not only Philippine farmers but also of all Filipinos. It is with great honor, and I must say considerable personal pleasure, that I accept this recognition. Thank you very much.”
Established in 1953, The Order of Sikatuna is a diplomatic merit for exceptional and meritorious contributions to the Philippines conferred on diplomats, officials, and nationals for fostering, developing, and strengthening relations with the country. The Gold Distinction (Katangiang Ginto) is the highest distinction under the Rank of Grand Cross (Datu), awarded exclusively to crown princes, vice presidents, senate presidents, house speakers, chief justices, foreign ministers or other cabinet officials, ambassadors, undersecretaries, assistant secretaries, or other individuals of similar or equivalent rank.
irri.org/
Low rice prices irk growers, dealers
October 29, 2015
SIALKOT
The condition of growers and dealers is aggravating with every passing day in Sialkot region due to huge stocks of rice that have not been exported by the government while the arrival of fresh rice in the markets has started .
It has resulted in 50 percent decline in the prices of rice, causing great financial loss to the growers, stockists and dealers.
The arrival of fresh paddy yields in the markets of Sialkot, Daska, Sambrial, Uggoki, Satrah, Siraanwali , Mianwali Bangla, Chawinda, Badiana, Pasrur, Zafarwal, Baddo Malhi, Noor Kot, Shakargarh, Narowal and surrounding areas remains unable to bring traditional hustle bustle of the growers and dealers.
The price of rice 386 is Rs600 to 650 per mound in the local markets now a days, while it had been at Rs1,300 per mound during the last year. The rice experts were of the view that the prices of the 386 rice would reduce to Rs1,100 to 1,200 per 40kg this year than the last year's rate of Rs2,300 to 2,400 per mound.
The situation is worsening day by day putting the financial crisis beaten growers and dealers into hot waters. They were of the view that the situation had now become unbearable for them, as they had become forced to sell out their agricultural lands after giving up their profession. They said that they were unable to do it because the cost of production had become too much high and unaffordable for them. They said that they were forced to sell out their agricultural land to pay back their agricultural and other loans. The situation had resulted in the sinking of millions of rupees of the investors due to the three-year aggregating rice crisis while the other investors were reluctant to invest in the business, they said.
Meanwhile, the local growers started supply of the fresh yield of Super Basmati to the local rice markets, where the price of Super Basmati is Rs1,070 to 1,100 per 40kg, with hopes that the rate of rice would be Rs1,800 to 2,000 per 40kg in the markets.
On the other hand, local middlemen Sheikh Nasir, Sheikh Qaisar, Sheikh Ilyas, Rana Tariq, Abdul Majeed Butt, Sarwar, Arif Mehmood, Jamil, Iqbal, Arshad Warraich, Boota and Ghulam Hussain said that the business of rice had been falling down day by day for the last four consecutive years. They said that the rice exporters had already stopped to pick rice from the local rice markets after the decline in their rice exports. They said that those invested in the rice businesses had been suffering great losses due to the circumstances.
They said that the huge stocks of the previous years' rice had been lying unattended into the local markets where the fresh arrival of rice had already started.
They said that the fresh arrival of paddy 386 in the local rice markets had also dropped paddy prices by about 50 percent in local markets, due to which millions of rupees of investors have sunk. It is continuously falling day by day due to lack of support from the government for the paddy growers and dealers.
Agriculture Department officials said that the maximum rates of 386 rice would be at Rs 1,200 per 40kg and Super Basmati at Rs2,000 per 40kg in the local markets and there were no chances of increase in rates during the current season, they added.
http://nation.com.pk/national/29-Oct-2015/low-rice-prices-irk-growers-dealers
Mars Food Announces First Global Rice Sustainability Standard in Partnership with the Sustainable Rice Platform
MANILA, Philippines, Oct. 26, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Mars Food, in partnership with the Sustainable Rice Platform, (SRP), a global alliance of agricultural research institutions, agri-food businesses, public sector and civil society organizations convened by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), today announced the first global standard for sustainable rice at the 5th Annual Plenary Meeting and Assembly here.
As the leading corporation with the SRP and owner of the world's largest rice brand, UNCLE BEN'S®, Mars Food played a pivotal role in developing the standard. Mars Food also announced today its commitment to sustainably source 100 percent of its rice by 2020 using the SRP standard.
"Caring for our environment as well as our entire supply chain from end-to-end is more than usual corporate responsibility. It's an imperative for Mars Food," said Fiona Dawson, President of Mars Food. "Through the global standard, we hope to create benefits for all involved from the farmers to our consumers.  The benefit for us is that is that we are ensuring premium quality rice, whilst also ensuring a higher income for farmers, and a better environment for current and future generations. It is a truly mutual solution."
The SRP standard consists of a set of criteria for sustainable rice cultivation that can be used across the globe to reduce the environmental footprint of rice production and improve the lives of rice farmers. The standard consists of 46 requirements organized under eight broad topics, including productivity, food safety, worker health, labor rights, and biodiversity. Rice plays a critical role in global food security, providing livelihoods for over 140 million smallholder farmers in developing countries and is a staple food for nearly half of the world's seven billion people.
Mars Food will use the standard as a benchmark against which to assess its rice supply chains – identifying where there are gaps and developing strategies to improve sustainability. Mars Food has already begun piloting implementation of the standard with rice farmers in two countries – Pakistan and India. A controlled farming program in Pakistan, in partnership with Rice Partners, LTD, IRRI and Bayer CropScience, has grown from 31 smallholder farmers in 2011 to 400 farmers in 2015 who produce Basmati rice grown with the correct application of chemicals and harvested with practices to improve food safety and water quality. In India, Mars is embedding new learnings while also piloting the SRP standard.
The standard complements and builds upon the company's Purpose – Better Food Today. A Better World Tomorrow – and the Mars Mutuality Principle, which demonstrate the company's commitment to helping rice farmers improve yields while reducing water use and greenhouse gas emissions and improving socioeconomic conditions in the communities where high-quality rice is grown. 
About Mars Food
Mars Food is a fast-growing food business, making tastier, healthier, easier meals for all consumers to enjoy.
Headquartered in Brussels, Belgium, Mars Food is a leader in producing great tasting products.  Our portfolio includes the following brands: UNCLE BEN'S®, DOLMIO®, SEEDS OF CHANGE®, MasterFoods®, SUZI WAN®, EBLY®, ROYCO®, KAN TONG® and RARIS®.  In 2013, global sales were approximately $2 billion. 
Our ambition is to become a model business in the areas of health and nutrition and sustainability, as expressed by our purpose: Better Food Today.  A Better World Tomorrow.
Mars Food is a segment of Mars, Incorporated.
About Mars, Incorporated
Mars, Incorporated is a private, family-owned business with more than a century of history and some of the best-loved brands in the world including M&M'S®, PEDIGREE®, DOUBLEMINT® and UNCLE BEN'S®. Headquartered in McLean, VA, Mars has more than$33 billion in sales from six diverse business segments: Petcare, Chocolate, Wrigley, Food, Drinks and Symbioscience. More than 75,000 Associates across 73 countries are united by the company's Five Principles: Quality, Efficiency, Responsibility, Mutuality and Freedom and strive every day to create relationships with stakeholders that deliver growth we are proud of as a company.

Farmers worried as Pusa 1121 rates hit 5-year low

Amaninder Pal Sharma  
PATIALA: After widespread damage to cotton crop and distress sale of Pusa Basmati 1509 variety, rates of widely grown Pusa 1121 basmati have hit a five-year low in Punjab. Random queries in the grain markets of the region revealed that Pusa 1121, which would fetch almost double the normal paddy till last year, was fetching rates in the range of Rs 1,700-1,850 per quintal.

Experts said that rates of Pusa 1121 were the lowest since the variety was introduced in 2007-08 when it sold at Rs 1,300-1,400 per quintal. In 2013, rates of Pusa 1121 were in the range Rs 3,500-4,000 per quintal.

"In the grain markets of Patiala and Sangrur districts and markets of Haryana bordering Punjab, Pusa 1121 variety is being procured at Rs 1,800-1,850 per quintal. This is the maximum price. Farmers are getting only Rs 1,600-1,650 for the crop cut with combine harvesters," said rice exporter Naresh Goyal of Patran Foods Private Limited.

"This is the worst price index we are witnessing for Pusa 1121 in the past five-six years. There is hardly any chance that its prices will increase in the coming days. A huge quantum of Pusa 1121 is still lying unsold with the exporters," Goyal added.

Expecting that prices may increase in the coming days, many farmers are reluctant to sell their produce. "If I sell my crop at Rs 1,800 per quintal, it will hardly return the input cost, leave alone profits. So I have no other option but to wait for next couple of weeks hoping that prices may see some surge," said Gurmit Singh, farmer from Bhatiwal Kalan village of Sangrur.

Area of basmati cultivation in Punjab this year is 7.63 lakh hectares as against the total paddy acreage of 28 lakh hectares.

Table:

Average rates of Pusa 1121 per quintal

Year Price range

2015Rs 1,600-1,850

2014Rs 2,700-3,000

2013Rs 4,000-4,500

2012Rs 3,000-3,500

                          http://article.wn.com/view/2015/10/29/Farmers_worried_as_Pusa_1121_rates_hit_5year_low/


Drought Wrecks Havoc On Indonesian Rice Planting

October 29, 2015 - Severe dry conditions in Indonesia's Java hampers seasonal rice production and threatens an increase in prices. Julie Noce reports.
From: https://www.youtube.com/user/ReutersVideo
PHL considering options for add'l rice importation
he Philippines is again considering its options to whether or not import additional rice given the impact on agriculture not only of El Nino but Typhoon Lando as well.During the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines (FOCAP) forum Tuesday, President Beningno Aquino III said they already approved the importation of 500,000 metric tons of rice, which was earlier approved to address the impact of the dry spell.However, with the flooding caused by Typhoon Lando, which ravaged most of Luzon last October 14-24, the President said this will negatively impact on the December cropping season.He said the issue of the dry spell was somewhat addressed by the rains brought by the typhoon but it also lessened supply of some commodities.
"We would like to err on the side of caution. We want to ensure that the public --- there will be sufficient supplies of the staple at reasonable prices," he said.Aquino said they are currently reviewing debt of the National Food Authority (NFA) to see if they can still import additional supply.
"So it seems to be a win-win solution that we are promoting on where we have approved and we are considering whether or not there is need to increase the 500,000 metric tons," he said.The President, however, declined to say when the decision to import or not would be made."The data is being studied currently. It is a very delicate balancing act," he added. (PNA)
Tanzania's rice farmers boost production
Tanzania’s government wants to improve living conditions for small farmers. Their aim is to produce more food, to cover growing needs in the future. Betrida Kayega has joined such an initiative in the Kilombero Region.


The Sushi Project: Farming Fish And Rice in California's Fields

nnovative projects in California are using flooded rice fields to rear threatened species of Pacific salmon, mimicking the rich floodplains where juvenile salmon once thrived. This technique also shows promise for growing forage fish, which are increasingly threatened in the wild.

by jacques leslie

The idea of rearing salmon in fallowed rice fields started in a duck blind. Huey Johnson, California’s Secretary of Resources in the 1970s and at age 82 widely considered the “grand old man” of California environmentalists, is an avid hunter, who has spent hundreds of hours in Central Valley duck blinds. It is perhaps a testament to the contemplation induced by extended
Resource Renewal Institute
Aerial view of a “Fish in the Fields” site, where small forage fish are being raised in flooded, fallow rice fields.
time spent in blinds that Johnson, surrounded by winter rice fields flooded to decompose rice straw, began wondering what else could be done with all that water. His answer: Grow fish. With two environmentally minded investors, Johnson formed a company called Cal Marsh & Farm Ventures that in 2011 acquired a Northern California rice field to carry out fish experiments.

As it happened, in the late 1990s two scientific teams — one led by Ted Sommer, a floodplain biologist in California’s Department of Water Resources, and the other by Peter Moyle, a University of California, Davis, biologist and leading inland fish expert — had begun carrying out similar experiments in the Central Valley. They sent juvenile salmon downstream across floodplains instead of via rivers, where predators were more numerous. Their work showed that juvenile salmon diverted from the Sacramento River’s main channel and retained in its adjacent floodplain for a few weeks grew more than twice as fast as fish that stayed in the river. 

In 2012 Cal Marsh & Farm Ventures and the scientists joined forces in the
Nigiri Project, named after a kind of sushi because both combine rice and fish, 
There is persuasive evidence that salmon benefit greatly by lingering in flooded rice fields.
to use rice fields to promote salmon restoration. The scientists have since compiled persuasive evidence that salmon benefit greatly by lingering in flooded rice fields, while Johnson has started another enterprise that uses rice fields to grow forage fish for protein. 

The salmon project is likely within a year or two of overcoming the last bureaucratic obstacles keeping it from operating as a government-sanctioned method of mitigating environmental harm. Though less-developed, the forage fish venture offers the prospect of global impact by taking pressure off of wild fish stocks. Both projects suggest the rising influence of "reconciliation ecology," which argues for the reconfiguration of human-dominated landscapes to include other species as the only way left to sustain most ecosystems. 

Two centuries ago the Central Valley was largely a marshy wetland. When the Sacramento River flooded, juvenile salmon beginning their journey downstream to the ocean were cast onto its floodplain, where they stayed for months, fattening themselves on plankton and insects that were part of the floodplain’s biological cornucopia. But the construction of ever-higher levees in the 19th century, vividly described in Robert Kelley’s 1989 classic
California Dept. of Fish and Wildlife/Yale e360
The Sacramento River Valley, site of initiatives to raise salmon and other fish in flooded rice fields.
Sacramento River history,Battling the Inland Sea, separated the Sacramento from its floodplain. 

The result was that salmon were hurtled down the river’s main channel, reaching the Sacramento-San Joaquin River delta and the Pacific Ocean too early, when they were underweight and unprepared for predators. Combined with dams, gold mining, and water diversions for agriculture and municipal consumption, the river’s isolation from the floodplain has reduced three of the Sacramento’s four salmon runs to 
endangered levels. 

Southeast Asians have raised fish in rice fields for many centuries, but they do it while the rice is growing, using fish suited to the paddy water’s warm temperatures. What distinguished Johnson’s idea from the traditional Asian practice was that he wanted to grow salmon in the winter, after rice was harvested and water temperatures were low enough for salmon. This wasn’t even possible until the early 1990s, when California’s clean air laws placed tight restrictions on burning rice straw, the farmers’ preferred method of eliminating rice residue. 

Farmers then began flooding their fields starting in the late summer or fall, inadvertently producing a simulacrum of the vast 4-million-acre Central Valley wetlands that had existed two centuries ago. Winter-flooded Central Valley rice fields now cover a larger area — 250,000 to 300,000 acres — than the 200,000 acres of original valley wetlands that remain. 

The switch to flooding has generated a huge resurgence of the Pacific Flyway, as millions of migratory birds desperate for water in the increasingly drought-prone valley began using the rice fields as way
Rearing fish could add to the rice farmers’ environmental credentials while adding to their incomes.
stations. Politically vulnerable because of their high use of water in an increasingly water-scarce state, rice farmers found themselves cast as environmental heroes, and embraced the herons, egrets, ducks, geese, sandpipers, and other birds that thronged to their fields. Rearing fish could add to the rice farmers’ environmental credentials while supplementing their incomes with mitigation fees paid by the state’s water users. 

The production of rice and fish on the same field is a prime example of reconciliation ecology, first articulated in a 2003 book called 
Win-Win Ecology: How the Earth’s Species Can Survive in the Midst of Human Enterprise. The author, Michael L. Rosenzweig, a University of Arizona ecologist, argues that humans have so thoroughly transformed the earth’s surface that environmental restoration is impossible on virtually all of it, and the few areas set aside as natural reserves aren’t big enough to sustain many species. Instead, he says, the only way to ward off mass extinctions is to convert working landscapes to support other species while continuing to fulfill human needs. 

Reconciliation ecology represents a shift among environmentalists from focusing on a particular place, such as a nature reserve, to a natural process. “We invest a lot of money in postage-stamp, high-profile conservation efforts that really are just a blip on the larger landscape,” Jacob Katz, the Nigiri Project’s lead scientist, said. “Instead, we should be thinking about how water flows across the entire landscape and managing those natural processes so that basically the habitat takes care of itself.” The juvenile salmon reared in the Nigiri Project may benefit rice fields as much as rice fields benefit them, while both foster the resurgence of the floodplain food web. Floodplains are much richer, more varied biological environments than rivers; reconnecting floodplains to rivers infuses downstream basins with life. Flooded rice fields awaken dormant plankton in the soil, insects flourish on the plankton, and the fish dine on both. In turn, the fishes’ presence reduces insects, weeds, and diseases that may harm rice. 

Rice farming is often criticized for its sizable water use, but it’s the only crop that flourishes in the Sacramento Valley’s clayey soils. The clay holds back the water from percolating deeper into the soil and contains it in the
If farming forage fish increases, it could reduce pressures on overfished ocean stocks.
fields until they’re drained in March. As the water, now laden with nutrients and fertilizing fish excrement, makes its way down the basin and back into the river, it enriches the downstream environment all the way to the estuary, benefiting native fish there. Once the river reconnects with the floodplain, the Sacramento’s dwindling stock of wild salmon regains an edge over hatchery salmon, which scientists say could enable a resurgence of the genetically superior wild salmon. 

A major liability of rice is that it’s the only agricultural crop whose production causes methane emissions, a process that was intensified by the use of Green Revolution chemical fertilizers. For that reason, the cultivation of rice, the staple of 3 billion people worldwide, is the leading agricultural source of greenhouse gas emissions. But fish in paddies reduce the need for chemical fertilizers without lowering rice productivity. Accordingly, as the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization reported in 2012, “Rice-fish farming reduces the emission of methane by almost 30 percent compared with traditional rice farming.” 

In 2010 Cal Marsh & Farm Venture’s managers — environmental land manager David Katz and rice farmer John Brennan — began what has been a five-year struggle to make floodplain restoration a key part of the management of the Sacramento River-San Joaquin River Delta. The project research so far has taken place in a Sacramento River floodplain known as the Yolo Bypass, through which water is diverted to avoid flooding Sacramento. First, Katz and Brennan encountered resistance from Yolo County officials, who feared that the project would destroy agriculture in the Bypass floodplain. As more and more pieces of the project’s biological research confirmed that rice fields benefited from fish, Katz and Brennan held hundreds of meetings with Yolo County rice farmers to explain it, and eventually won them over. The pair overcame similar opposition from duck hunters. 

Their last barrier, bureaucracy, may be the most formidable, for they’ve found that the regulatory zeal of government officials often stifles innovation. Though the project has no outright opponents and support from surprising places, including the Los Angeles Metropolitan Water District and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, it still needs state approval. Instead, Katz said, when project scientists applied to acquire hatchery
Resource Renewal Institute
Juvenile fish such as these thrive in the nutrient-rich environment of flooded rice fields.
salmon for the experiments, “Some government bureaucrat said, ‘Your people are not qualified under the permit to handle these fish.’ They said that to California’s leading salmon scientists! It was ludicrous!” 

Despite that, the project is now a featured part of
California EcoRestore, the state’s stripped-down proposal, announced last April, for restoring the severely impaired Sacramento-San Joaquin River delta. EcoRestore is less than the sum of its parts, for most of the projects it trumpets were started before the plan was even devised. The notable exception is the Nigiri Project. 

“Here is a restoration effort which has the lowest uncertainty and highest return on investment of them all,” said Jeffrey Mount, an emeritus University of California, Davis, geomorphologist and a senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California. “The research that shows the use of the floodplain as rearing and spawning habitat for native fishes like the salmon is as solid evidence as you’re ever going to get — period.” 

Johnson grew so frustrated with the bureaucratic obstacles that he turned over operation of the salmon project to Katz, Brennan, and CalTrout, a San Francisco-based nonprofit that supports research to help wild fish. Then he launched another fish-rice project, called “Fish in the Fields,” that attracts far less government scrutiny than the Nigiri Project, partly because its focus is unheralded forage fish, not charismatic salmon. 

Johnson plans to use winter rice fields to grow small, non-native forage fish that can be harvested when the fields are drained. Then the fish can be turned into bait, livestock and poultry feed, pet food, fertilizer, dietary supplements, and food for humans. The fish would never reach the floodplain, let alone the river or ocean, but if plentiful enough they could generate another kind of environmental benefit, by reducing the intensifying pressures on overfished ocean stocks of sardines, anchovies,
With record drought and warming waters due to climate change, scientists are concerned that the future for Chinook salmon — a critical part of the state’s fishing industry — is in jeopardy.
herring, and mackerel. At the same time, the project offers the possibility of an additional source of protein without requiring any more land, at a time when human demand for protein is growing and land-use conflicts are multiplying. 

Johnson started his experiments in 2013 with 45,000 Arkansas golden shiners, a hardy minnow variety that grew prodigiously in early rice field experiments. Last month he finished building the nation’s first golden shiner hatchery in a rice field eight miles northeast of Marysville, California, and hopes to harvest its fish next spring. Because the fish are harvested much closer to consumers than the trawlers that collect ocean forage fish, they could be a cheaper and less-carbon-intensive source than the oceans. Johnson hopes his pilot project will prompt rice farmers around the world to enter the $5.6-billion global forage fish market. 

“You essentially have new ecosystems that we’ve never had around before,” said Moyle, the dean of California fish biologists. “That makes them difficult to manage, but it’s also pretty exciting. You have to find ways to make working landscapes benefit fish and wildlife. It means everybody has to give up something, but in the long run everybody is better off.” 

Also, rice is now an arsenic-laden crop. This has been written about, I think maybe, even on this website. Lundberg had to stop using it for baby food because of the arsenic content. How will this be reflected in the fish?




The salmon are in the fields during the winter (after the harvest) when the water is the correct temperature (http://caltrout.org/regions/central-california-region/the-nigiri-concept/). 

As for the arsenic, the fish don't eat the rice, so they don't acquire it the way we do. If the arsenic is water soluble and in the soil, they might pick it up as the water runs over their gills. 

House Passes 2-year Budget Deal, Promises to Reverse Cuts to Crop Insurance

Oct 29, 2015
WASHINGTON, DC – Yesterday afternoon, the U.S. House of Representatives approved the Bipartisan Budget Agreement of 2015 which raised the debt ceiling until March 2017 and increased federal spending by $80 billion over two years.  Fortunately for agriculture, the previously reported $3 billion cut to federal crop insurance will be reversed during the Appropriations process later this fall. 

Thanks to hundreds of calls to Capitol Hill this week by the farm sector, 57 Members of the House of Representatives officially pledged to oppose the legislation if the cuts to crop insurance weren’t addressed.  Outgoing Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) had no choice but to work with other leadership to come to an agreement to secure the bill’s passage. 

USA Rice Vice President of Government Affairs Ben Mosely said, “I’m pleased that the agriculture community around the country was able to successfully coordinate the defense of one of our key safety net programs.  Reopening the Farm Bill at this point would directly go against everything that we stand for.”

Mosely added, “I’d really like to thank the rice industry for their engagement as 11 of the 57 Members that pledged to stand up for crop insurance also represent rice-growing Congressional Districts.  That participation is a direct effect of the calls our growers made to legislators on Tuesday and Wednesday.”

The Bipartisan Budget Agreement of 2015 now heads to the Senate where it will be taken up as early as next week.  Earlier today, Senate Republican leaders also vowed to restore the cuts to crop insurance.  It remains unclear where the $3 billion in offsets will be found.
http://usarice.com/blogs/usa-rice-daily/2015/10/29/house-passes-2-year-budget-deal-promises-to-reverse-cuts-to-crop-insurance

USA Rice Gets Greater FAS Funding for 2016 International Promotion Programs      
WASHINGTON, DC -- USA Rice received notification this week of the budget awarded by FAS for Fiscal Year 2016.  Under the Market Access Program (MAP) USA Rice received an allocation of $2,485,000, a 1.2 percent increase from FY2015.  Under the Foreign Market Development (FMD) the USA Rice budget will be $1,877,000, a 6.1 percent increase from the prior year.  In total, USA Rice received a budget allocation of $4,362,000, an increase of $136,000 or 3.2 percent more than in 2015. 

"We believe this increased budget reflects well on the quality and effectiveness of the International Promotion programs that are implemented by USA Rice to maintain and/or increase exports of U.S. rice," stated John Valpey, chairman of the USA Rice International Promotion Committee. 

"With an export dependent industry like rice, these added funds could not have come at a better time to support our promotion and trade policy efforts worldwide," said USA Rice President & CEO Betsy Ward.
 Contact:  Jim Guinn (703) 236-1474

USA Rice Daily
Rice States Must Begin Section 18 Emergency Exemption Requests for AV-1011    

Don't delay
WASHINGTON, DC -- Departments of agriculture in states with rice producers affected by bird consumption of rice seed need to begin applying for Section 18 Emergency Exemption Requests for AV-1011 (anthraquinone) bird repellent as soon as possible in order to have approvals from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in a timely fashion. Section 18 of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) authorizes EPA to allow an unregistered use of a pesticide for a limited time if EPA determines that an emergency condition exists.
 The EPA will have extensive data requests on bird damage from previous years and commercial handlers will need time to treat seeds with AV-1011 before they are delivered to farms.
 USA Rice is working closely with all parties, including EPA, to facilitate the use of AV-1011 by rice growers.
 Contact:  Steve Hensley (703) 236-1445
USA Rice Daily
Weekly Rice Sales, Exports Reported  
WASHINGTON, DC -- Net rice sales of 112,600 MT--a marketing-year high--for 2015/2016 were up 68 percent from the previous week and up noticeably from the prior four-week average, according today's Export Sales Highlights report. Increases were reported for Costa Rica (22,400 MT), Mexico (20,900 MT), Honduras (16,000 MT), Haiti (13,500 MT), and Japan (12,400 MT). 

Exports of 78,300 MT, up 29 percent from the previous week and 19 percent from the prior four-week average, were reported to Iran (32,000 MT), Haiti (18,500 MT), Japan (13,000 MT), Mexico (3,500 MT), and Canada (2,700 MT). 

This summary is based on reports from exporters from the period October 16-22, 2015.


CME Group/Closing Rough Rice Futures   
CME Group (Prelim):  Closing Rough Rice Futures for October 29
Month
Price
Net Change

November 2015
$11.535
+ $0.135
January 2016
$11.820
+ $0.135
March 2016
$12.085
+ $0.135
May 2016
$12.340
+ $0.120
July 2016
$12.590
+ $0.120
September 2016
$12.205
+ $0.110
November 2016
$12.205
+ $0.110

USA Rice Daily

APEDA Rice Commodity News from India
International Benchmark Price
Price on: 28-10-2015
Product
Benchmark Indicators Name
Price
Apricots
1
Turkish No. 2 whole pitted, CIF UK (USD/t)
4875
2
Turkish No. 4 whole pitted, CIF UK (USD/t)
4375
3
Turkish size 8, CIF UK (USD/t)
3625
Sultanas
1
Australian 5 Crown, CIF UK (USD/t)
2945
2
South African Orange River, CIF UK (USD/t)
2575
3
Turkish No 9 standard, FOB Izmir (USD/t)
2200
White Sugar
1
CZCE White Sugar Futures (USD/t)
816
2
Pakistani refined sugar, EXW Akbari Mandi (USD/t)
541
3
Thai VHP, FOB Thailand (USD/t)
460
Source:agra-net
For more info
Market Watch
Commodity-wise, Market-wise Daily Price on 28-10-2015
Domestic Prices
Unit Price : Rs per Qty
Product
Market Center
Variety
Min Price
Max Price
Rice
1
Manjeri (Kerala)
Other
2800
3800
2
Vadodara (Gujarat)
Other
3000
3300
3
Samsi (West Bengal)
Fine
2790
2820
Wheat
1
Bangalore (Karnataka)
Local
2600
3100
2
Kota (Rajasthan)
Other
1510
1708
3
Sangli (Maharashtra)
Other
2000
2850
Mousambi
1
Manjeri (Kerala)
Other
2500
2700
2
Solan (Himachal Pradesh)
Other
4000
4500
3
Sirhind (Punjab)
Other
2000
3300
Cabbage
1
Palayam (Kerala)
Other
900
1200
2
Mumbai (Maharashtra)
Other
600
800
3
Shillong (Meghalaya)
Other
1300
1500
For more info
Egg
Rs per 100 No
Price on 28-10-2015
Product
Market Center
Price
1
Hyderabad
310
2
Mysore
351
3
Nagapur
320
Source: e2necc.com
Other International Prices
Unit Price : US$ per package
Price on 28-10-2015
Product
Market Center
Origin
Variety
Low
High
Onions Dry
Package: 40 lb cartons
1
Atlanta
Peru
Yellow
26
26.75
2
Chicago
California
Yellow
31.50
32.50
3
Miami
Nevada
Yellow
27.50
27.50
Cucumbers
Package: cartons film wrapped
1
Atlanta
Canada
Long Seedless
18
18.25
2
Baltimore
Spain
Long Seedless
14
15
3
Miami
Honduras
Long Seedless
10
10
Apples
Package: cartons tray pack
1
Atlanta
Virginia  
Red Delicious 
24
24
2
Chicago
Washington
Red Delicious 
26
26.50
3
New York
Washington
Red Delicious 
27
27
Source:USDA
Nagpur Foodgrain Prices Open-Oct 29
thu Oct 29, 2015 2:17pm IST
Nagpur, Oct 29 Gram prices today moved down in Nagpur Agriculture Produce and
Marketing Committee (APMC) here on lack of demand from local millers amid high moisture content
arrival. Downward trend on NCDEX and easy condition in Madhya Pradesh gram prices also pulled
down prices here, according to sources.

    FOODGRAINS & PULSES
    GRAM
   * Gram varieties reported down in open market here on poor demand from local traders
     amid good supply from millers because government raids fear.

     TUAR
   * Tuar varieties showed weak tendency in open market here on poor demand from local
     traders. Reports about increased overseas arrival also pulled down prices.

   * Wheat mill quality reported down in open market on poor demand from local
     traders amid good arrival from producing regions like Punjab and Haryana.
                                                                                         
   * In Akola, Tuar - 11,500-11,800, Tuar dal - 18,200-18,400, Udid -
     12,900-13,300, Udid Mogar (clean) - 15,900-16,500, Moong -
     11,000-11,200, Moong Mogar (clean) 12,100-12,400, Gram - 4,700-4,900,
     Gram Super best bold - 6,400-6,700 for 100 kg.

   * Other varieties of wheat, rice and other commodities remained steady in open market
     in weak trading activity.
      
 Nagpur foodgrains APMC auction/open-market prices in rupees for 100 kg

     FOODGRAINS                 Available prices     Previous close  
     Gram Auction                4,000-4,300         4,100-4,400
     Gram Pink Auction            n.a.           2,100-2,600
     Tuar Auction                n.a.                8,000-9,500
     Moong Auction                n.a.                6,000-6,400
     Udid Auction                n.a.           4,300-4,500
     Masoor Auction                n.a.              2,600-2,800
     Gram Super Best Bold            6,400-6,800        6,600-7,100
     Gram Super Best            n.a.            n.a.
     Gram Medium Best            6,100-6,300        6,400-6,700
     Gram Dal Medium            n.a.            n.a
     Gram Mill Quality            5,000-5,300        5,200-5,300
     Desi gram Raw                4,900-5,000         5,000-5,100
     Gram Filter new            5,700-6,000        5,750-6,050
     Gram Kabuli                5,800-7,100        6,000-7,000
     Gram Pink                        6,200-7,000        6,500-7,200
     Tuar Fataka Best             18,000-18,500        18,100-18,600
     Tuar Fataka Medium             17,000-17,300        17,100-17,400
     Tuar Dal Best Phod            16,500-17,000        16,600-17,100
     Tuar Dal Medium phod            15,500-15,900        15,600-16,000
     Tuar Gavarani New             11,800-12,400        11,900-12,500
     Tuar Karnataka             12,900-13,100        13,000-13,400
     Tuar Black                 18,800-19,300        18,900-19,400
     Masoor dal best            8,600-8,800        8,600-8,800
     Masoor dal medium            8,300-8,500        8,300-8,500
     Masoor                    n.a.            n.a.
     Moong Mogar bold            12,400-12,900       12,400-12,900
     Moong Mogar Med            11,600-11,800        11,600-11,800
     Moong dal Chilka            10,000-10,300        10,000-10,300
     Moong Mill quality            n.a.            n.a.
     Moong Chamki best            12,300-12,700        12,400-12,800
     Udid Mogar Super best (100 INR/KG)    16,300-16,800       16,300-16,800    
     Udid Mogar Medium (100 INR/KG)    15,500-15,700        15,500-15,700   
     Udid Dal Black (100 INR/KG)        10,800-12,200        10,800-12,200    
     Batri dal (100 INR/KG)        5,600-5,900        5,600-5,900
     Lakhodi dal (100 INR/kg)          4,300-4,500         4,300-4,500
     Watana Dal (100 INR/KG)            3,600-3,700        3,600-3,700
     Watana White (100 INR/KG)              3,400-3,600           3,400-3,600
     Watana Green Best (100 INR/KG)    3,500-3,700        3,500-3,700  
     Wheat 308 (100 INR/KG)        1,600-1,700        1,600-1,700
     Wheat Mill quality (100 INR/KG)    1,550-1,750        1,750-1,850  
     Wheat Filter (100 INR/KG)         1,550-1,750        1,550-1,750
     Wheat Lokwan best (100 INR/KG)    2,500-2,650        2,500-2,650   
     Wheat Lokwan medium (100 INR/KG)   2,300-2,400        2,300-2,400
     Lokwan Hath Binar (100 INR/KG)    n.a.            n.a.
     MP Sharbati Best (100 INR/KG)    3,400-3,800        3,400-3,800   
     MP Sharbati Medium (100 INR/KG)    2,700-3,100        2,700-3,100          
     Rice BPT best (100 INR/KG)        3,000-3,400        3,000-3,400   
     Rice BPT medium (100 INR/KG)        2,600-2,800        2,600-2,800   
     Rice Parmal (100 INR/KG)         1,600-1,800        1,600-1,800
     Rice Swarna best (100 INR/KG)      2,100-2,200        2,100-2,200  
     Rice Swarna medium (100 INR/KG)      1,800-1,900        1,800-1,900  
     Rice HMT best (100 INR/KG)        3,400-3,800        3,400-3,800   
     Rice HMT medium (100 INR/KG)        3,100-3,300        3,100-3,300   
     Rice HMT Shriram best(100 INR/KG)    4,200-4,600        4,200-4,600   
     Rice HMT Shriram med.(100 INR/KG)    3,600-4,100        3,600-4,100   
     Rice Basmati best (100 INR/KG)    8,000-10,000        8,000-10,000    
     Rice Basmati Medium (100 INR/KG)    7,000-7,500        7,000-7,500   
     Rice Chinnor best(100 INR/KG)    5,200-5,400        5,200-5,500   
     Rice Chinnor medium (100 INR/KG)    4,600-5,000        4,700-5,000   
     Jowar Gavarani (100 INR/KG)        1,900-2,200        1,900-2,200   
     Jowar CH-5 (100 INR/KG)         1,700-1,900        1,700-1,900

WEATHER (NAGPUR) 
Maximum temp. 33.0 degree Celsius (91.4 degree Fahrenheit), minimum temp.
20.8 degree Celsius (69.4 degree Fahrenheit)
Humidity: Highest - n.a., lowest - n.a.
Rainfall : nil
FORECAST: Partly cloudy sky. Maximum and minimum temperature would be around and 33 and 20
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/2015/10/29/nagpur-foodgrain-idINL3N12T3F420151029
Arkansas Farm Bureau Daily Commodity Report

A comprehensive daily commodity market report for Arkansas agricultural commodities with cash markets, futures and insightful analysis and commentary from Arkansas Farm Bureau commodity analysts.
Noteworthy benchmark price levels of interest to farmers and ranchers, as well as long-term commodity market trends which are developing. Daily fundamental market influences and technical factors are noted and discussed.
Soybeans
High
Low
Cash Bids
902
842
New Crop
918
868


Riceland Foods


Cash Bids
Stuttgart: - - -
Pendleton: - - -
New Crop
Stuttgart: - - -
Pendleton: - - -


Futures:
High
Low
Last
Change
Nov '15
885.00
873.25
878.75
-2.75
Jan '16
886.50
875.50
880.25
-2.50
Mar '16
890.00
879.25
883.25
-3.25
May '16
894.75
885.00
889.00
-2.75
Jul '16
900.75
890.50
894.50
-2.75
Aug '16
898.25
891.00
893.25
-2.50
Sep '16
892.25
884.25
886.25
-2.50
Nov '16
891.00
880.75
884.50
-2.75
Jan '17
890.00
-2.50

Soybean Comment

Soybeans close lower today as the market continues to worry about South American weather. Weather forecast continue to point towards needed showers across major growing years in Bra-zil. While today's export sales report was again good for soybeans the market right now is wor-ried about the large global supplies.


Wheat
High
Low
Cash Bids
496
496
New Crop
512
431


Futures:
High
Low
Last
Change
Dec '15
517.50
505.00
515.00
+9.00
Mar '16
522.00
510.25
519.50
+7.75
May '16
525.50
515.00
523.50
+7.00
Jul '16
526.50
517.25
525.00
+6.25
Sep '16
534.00
525.75
533.00
+5.75
Dec '16
546.75
537.75
544.75
+5.25
Mar '17
555.00
552.75
554.75
+4.75
May '17
556.00
+6.00
Jul '17
543.75
+6.00

Wheat Comment

Wheat prices closed higher today. We continue to see speculative buying in wheat after last week's report showed speculators heavily short in the market. While sales today were a little better, shipments remain weak. The U.S. again failed to get an Egyptian tender as other coun-tries beat out the U.S. again. Price remain in a sideways attar between support at $5 and re-sistance at recent highs near $5.31.


Grain Sorghum
High
Low
Cash Bids
386
310
New Crop
386
330



Corn
High
Low
Cash Bids
391
351
New Crop
403
373


Futures:
High
Low
Last
Change
Dec '15
380.50
375.50
380.00
+4.00
Mar '16
390.25
385.25
389.75
+3.75
May '16
396.00
391.00
395.75
+3.50
Jul '16
400.00
395.50
400.00
+3.50
Sep '16
399.75
395.50
400.00
+4.00
Dec '16
406.75
401.75
406.50
+4.50
Mar '17
416.25
413.50
416.25
+4.50
May '17
422.00
+4.25
Jul '17
425.00
424.00
425.75
+3.75

Corn Comment

Corn prices closed hired today despite another poor export sales report. The market continues and choppy trade as prices continue to find support near 370 but they stiff resistance near four dollars. The market likely remain in the sideways pattern as are my little pressure or support to move prices outside of this current trading range.


Cotton
Futures:
High
Low
Last
Change
Dec '15
62.92
62.16
62.32
-0.35
Mar '16
62.58
62
62.21
-0.25

Cotton Comment

Cotton futures were a bit higher, with December holding above 62 cents. Technical selling in the face of overbought indicators has resulted in the downturn of the past two weeks. The crop is 42% harvested nationwide, but behind schedule in the eastern costal states that are still waiting for fields to dry out to be able to evaluate the condition of the crop and get the pickers rolling.


Rice
High
Low
Long Grain Cash Bids
- - -
- - -
Long Grain New Crop
- - -
- - -


Futures:
High
Low
Last
Change
Nov '15
1153.0
1131.5
1153.5
+13.5
Jan '16
1186.0
1155.0
1182.0
+13.5
Mar '16
1200.0
1185.5
1208.5
+13.5
May '16
1234.0
+12.0
Jul '16
1245.0
1245.0
1259.0
+12.0
Sep '16
1220.5
+11.0
Nov '16
1220.5
+11.0

Rice Comment

Rice futures opened a bit lower but turned around to close higher. Recent price action signals a move to the 62% retracement level of $11.18. Global production problems have helped support the market since the summer, however, disappointing U.S. yields have likely been built into prices at this point.


Cattle
Futures:
Live Cattle:
High
Low
Last
Change
Oct '15
140.825
138.925
140.000
+0.325
Dec '15
144.725
142.400
142.750
-0.850
Feb '16
145.975
143.975
144.275
-1.100
Apr '16
144.450
142.500
143.000
-1.325
Jun '16
134.900
132.975
133.750
-1.150
Aug '16
132.175
130.125
130.975
-1.125
Oct '16
133.825
132.200
132.925
-0.975
Dec '16
134.800
133.375
134.000
-0.900
Feb '17
133.825
132.825
133.725
-0.675
Feeders:
High
Low
Last
Change
Oct '15
193.725
193.100
193.150
-0.350
Nov '15
194.125
190.825
191.925
-0.325
Jan '16
185.950
183.175
183.900
-0.750
Mar '16
182.375
179.825
180.275
-1.200
Apr '16
183.000
180.475
181.025
-0.950
May '16
182.800
180.450
180.975
-0.875
Aug '16
183.500
181.050
181.750
-0.975
Sep '16
182.000
180.300
180.925
+0.925
Oct '16
180.100

Cattle Comment

Livestock prices failed to hold yesterday's gains. After being shocked by a strong boxed beef and cash cattle prices, markets failed to find major support to help prices continue the rally.

Hogs
Futures:
High
Low
Last
Change
Dec '15
61.725
59.275
59.275
-2.125
Feb '16
64.400
62.500
62.500
-2.000
Apr '16
68.350
66.700
66.875
-1.650
May '16
73.000
71.725
72.125
-1.225
Jun '16
76.200
74.950
75.125
-1.350
Jul '16
75.825
74.600
75.025
-1.175
Aug '16
75.125
73.850
74.250
-1.250
Oct '16
66.050
64.600
65.175
-1.100
Dec '16
63.675
62.500
63.000
-1.025

Hog Comment



Shell Eggs

National Turkeys

Delmarva Broilers



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