Dar’s ‘leveling up’ vision: Will it work?
By
February 20, 2020
Anybody traveling through the
Elliptical Road of Quezon Memorial Circle will not miss the giant tarpaulin
blurb erected by the Department of Agriculture: “Ang Bagong Pananaw sa
Agrikultura”. Espoused by DA Secretary William Dar, the “new thinking” in
agricultural development has the following policy thrusts:
· Modernization
must continue.
· Industrialization
of agriculture is key.
· Promotion
of exports is a necessity.
· Consolidation
of small- and medium-sized farms.
· Infrastructure
development would be critical.
· Higher
budget and investment for Philippine agriculture.
· Legislative
support is needed.
· Roadmap
development is paramount.
According to Secretary Dar, the
foregoing are the Department’s 8-point response to the age-old problems facing
the agriculture sector, namely: low farm productivity, lack of labor,
unaffordable and inaccessible credit, limited use of technology, limited
farmland diversification, undeveloped agri-manufacturing and export, severe
deforestation/land degradation, aging farmers and fisherfolk, and climate
change.
Through the above “new thinking”,
Secretary Dar expects a “levelling up” in agricultural development, meaning
arresting the continuous downward decline of the agricultural sector. Per Dar’s
reckoning, the sector accounts for one-fourth of the country’s labor force and
yet contributes only nine percent of the GDP. Poverty is also a countryside
phenomenon given the failure of the sector to create decent jobs and
incomes for the rural masses. Dar blames the terrible collapse of agriculture
to the failure of the average Filipino small farmer “to access low cost
finance for inputs”, “limited links to the value chain and retail markets”, and
“no access to better inputs and modern technologies”.
We sympathize with Secretary Dar
on his advocacy of the foregoing “new-thinking” measures. However, we
hasten to add that these policy proposals are not new and certainly not
enough. Dar’s proposals had been fleshed out earlier in the Agriculture
and Fisheries Modernization Act of 1997, a law enacted by Congress to
strengthen the sector’s capacity to adjust to the greater integration of the
economy in the world market due to Philippine membership in the World Trade
Organization in 1994-1995. The AFMA law was given huge annual billion-peso
budgetary outlays in the late 1990s and in the first decade of the millennium.
And yet, AFMA failed to deliver agricultural modernization and economic
well-being to the rural population.
As documented by the Integrated
Rural Development Foundation (see Rebuilding a Damaged Agricultural
Sector, 2016), the desolation of the agricultural sector was due to
the following:
· Aimless,
mindless global integration. Unlike Fortress Europe or protectionist
America (with its subsidy-focused US Farm law), the Philippines embraced
agricultural liberalization/deregulation under a globalized economic order
without any clear global integration strategy, without any clear adjustment and
safety nets for the weak economic players such as the small farmers, and
without giving ample technical/modernization and extension service
assistance to the farming population. The Philippines simply embraced
aimless liberalization (courtesy of the IMF-World Bank’s structural adjustment
program of the 1980s-1990s), agricultural tariffication (commitment to the WTO)
and endless programs to open up the agricultural market (via various bilateral
and regional free trade agreements, e.g., ATIGA of Asean).
· Mangled
implementation of agrarian reform. The Philippine AR program is one of the
longest in the world’s history. It is supposed to be comprehensive and
yet it is subverted by various legal and bureaucratic loopholes (e.g., stock
options) developed by the rich and anti-reform forces. There is also no clear
program to transform the AR beneficiaries into modern and progressive farmers;
instead, in many places of the country, the AR beneficiaries have been
transformed into poor lessors of land managed by the rich (such as the AVA
system in the banana sector of Mindanao).
· Corruption
in the DA and other agriculture-related agencies under the various
administrations. So much has been written about this.
· Environmental
degradation. The Secretary is correct in pointing out the gravity of this
problem.
· Policy
incongruence. There are many cases such as lack of DA-DAR and DA-DENR
coordination on agricultural development. The most urgent at present is
the absence of a comprehensive and just national and local land use
policy. At present, the absence of such policy allows big city realtors
and developers to convert thousands of agricultural land into cemented land,
even “land banking” some of them for speculative purposes.
In summary, a levelling-up
program for the agricultural sector requires an honest-to-goodness inquiry on
the root causes of the collapse of the sector.
Secretary Dar has to confront
also the pivotal issue: small farmer first or big trader/importer first? In the
first year of the badly-crafted Rice Tariffication Law, which Secretary Dar
opposed before his appointment because he favored a graduated approach, the Department’s
role was reduced to fire-fighting. He inveigled LGUs in rice-growing
provinces to support higher prices for the palay farmers. Eventually,
President Duterte himself got into the act by providing extra funds to the NFA
so that it can buy more.
And yet, there was no positive
response from the DA on the proposal of farmer organizations to stop the flood
of rice imports through the application of temporary tariff safeguards,
which the WTO allows. Nor were there any positive response from DA on the
demand of farmer organizations for a review/repeal of the rice tariffication
law and an inquiry on who among the big rice importers/distributors are
“gaming” the rice sector at the expense of the palay farmers and domestic
millers and viajeros.
Finally, Secretary Dar has been
citing Singapore as an example of a food-secure country even if this city state
has no agricultural land. The implication of this statement is that food
security cannot be equated to self-sufficiency or capacity of the Philippines
to produce its own food requirements. Does this mean giving up the
program of building up the food production capacity of the country and
embracing instead the neo-liberal proposal to focus agri development on the
production of more agricultural exports and non-food high-value crops?
On this policy issue, Secretary
Dar needs to dialogue with the farmer organizations that have been painting
anti-RTL slogans below his giant tarpaulins on “new thinking”. Farmer
organizations such as the IRDF have been contesting the false premises of
the neo-liberals that food security is secured when a country can import
all the products its money can afford. More on this in the next
issue.
Chinese tariff rate quota policy severely impacted
U.S. wheat exports, study shows
·
Marianne Stein College of ACES
The
U.S. and China recently agreed to a phase one trade deal that aims to resolve
the current trade war between the two countries. But that is just the latest
development in longstanding and complicated U.S.-Chinese trade disputes.
China
has consistently used tariff rate quotas to restrict grain imports, and in 2016
the U.S. launched a complaint to the World Trade Organization (WTO) over
China’s implementation of tariff rate quotas on wheat, corn and rice. In their
report, issued in April 2019, WTO sided with the U.S., but did not provide an
assessment of the effect on U.S. exports.
A
new study from University of Illinois, published in Agricultural Economics,
quantifies those effects and shows that China’s tariff quota administration
significantly affected U.S. grain exports, particularly for wheat.
“Our
analysis shows that if China hadn’t used trade policies to restrict trade,
wheat imports from the U.S. could have been more than 80% higher in 2017.
That’s a value of around $300 million,” says Bowen Chen, a postdoctoral
research associate in the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics at
U of I. Chen is lead author on the study, which was conducted as part of his
doctoral dissertation.
The
dispute concerns China’s administration of tariff rate quotas (TRQ), a policy
instrument intended to regulate imports. Tariff rate quotas establish two tiers
of tariffs, with a lower tariff for in-quota imports and a much higher tariff
for out-of-quota imports. Chinese tariffs for grain commodities were 1% for
in-quota and 65% for out-of-quota imports.
The
system is intended to allow some access for imports at a low tariff rate, while
the second-tier tariffs provide protection for domestic commodities. Under the
TRQ agreement, China is obligated to import certain quantities of grain at the
low tariff level. However, the U.S. contended that these obligations were not
fulfilled, and that China’s imports of corn, wheat and rice were far below
in-quota quantities.
Chen
and his colleagues analyzed trade and price data to assess the impact of
Chinese TRQ policies on U.S. grain exports. They also sought to explore the
rationale behind the grain quota administration in order to better inform
policy initiatives and trade negotiations.
The
researchers obtained monthly trade data for grain commodities from 2013 to
2017, using information from a United Nations database and the Ministry of
Commerce in China. They also looked at domestic price data published by the
Chinese Ministry of Agriculture. Using the trade and price data, they estimated
the import demand elasticities for corn, wheat and rice.
“We
estimate how the prices would have been reduced if China was not imposing the
tariffs. Then we simulate how the quantities would change based on the price
and elasticity,” Chen says.
Overall,
the researchers concluded that China’s 2017 grain imports could have been $1.4
billion or 40% higher. Wheat imports from the U.S. could have been $324 million
or 83% higher without the restrictive policies. Corn and rice imports were
affected to a lesser extent.
Chen
cautions that those results are contingent on Chinese domestic prices being
equal to world prices, assuming that China would not maintain high prices to
support domestic production.
“If
China liberated their import policy and reduced domestic price support, such
market policy reforms would alleviate pressure from trading partners,” Chen
says. “However, they may not be interested in full trade liberalization at this
time.”
Chen
explains that China has used TQR as a trade policy instrument to stabilize
domestic prices and restrict imports, and his research can help understand why
they engage in this practice.
“These
restrictions will make foreign commodities more expensive and give more
incentive for domestic producers, so China can eat more domestically produced
food,” he says.
“China
wants to feed itself and be less dependent on other suppliers. Furthermore,
China has huge grain stocks and want to use them. Finally, international prices
are volatile, so for food security reasons they don’t want prices to fluctuate
too much. They want to have stable food prices so people can feel safe, buying
the same food with the same budget.”
Chen
says the study can have implications for trade negotiators and policy makers,
both in the U.S. and China, by showing the effect the TQR policy has on trade.
The
new phase one trade deal stipulates that tariff rate quota administration not
be used to prevent the full utilization of agricultural tariff rate quotas. The
implementation of the trade deal will likely benefit U.S. grain exports to
China, Chen notes.
Soybean
trade is an important part of the trade negotiations between the U.S. and
China, and that will be the topic for Chen’s next research project.
“We
will quantify the impact on U.S. soybean exports to China, calculating how
exports have been reduced by the trade war in the last year. That’s what I’m
currently working on,” he says.
The
paper, “Tariff quota administration in China’s grain markets: an empirical
assessment,” is published in Agricultural Economics. [https://doi.org/10.1111/agec.12549]
Authors
are Bowen Chen, Department of Agricultural Economics, College of
Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois;
and Nelson Villoria and Tian Xia, Kansas State
University.
At 292 mt, country set to reap bumper harvest
in 2019-20
Our Bureau New Delhi | Updated
on February 18, 2020 Published
on February 18, 2020
Agri
Ministry’s 2nd Advance Estimates predict record rice, wheat production
India can expect a record foodgrains
output this year, helping the government tame the spiralling food inflation.
According to the Second Advance
Estimates of foodgrains production, released by the Agriculture Ministry on
Tuesday, a record harvest of both rice and wheat should push up the country’s
food output to an all-time high of 292 million tonnes (mt) in 2019-20, which is
6.7 mt more than the previous crop year’s 285.21 mt.
While the rice output is expected
to be 117.47 mt (against 116.48 mt in 2018-19), that of wheat is slated to hit
best-ever 106.21 mt (103.60 mt).
Oilseeds on a
high
Good performance of all three
major oilseeds — soyabean, mustard and groundnut — has helped raise the
cumulative oilseeds output by 8.6 per cent to around 34.2 mt, from 31.52 mt in
2018-19. While the output of groundnut is expected to go up to 8.24 mt (6.73 mt
in 2018-19), that of soyabean and mustard is seen at 13.62 mt (13.27 mt) and
9.26 mt (9.11 mt), respectively.
Coarse cereals
Similarly, at 45.24 mt, coarse
cereals production is projected to be 5 per cent more than previous year’s
43.06 mt. While jowar output is slated to go up by nearly 1 mt to 4.38 mt,
maize is set for yet another bumper year with its production set to cross 28
mt.
Pulses: Rabi
crop makes up
Even though excess rains and
floods during the monsoon impacted pulses production during the kharif season,
the expected increase in pulses output during the rabi season, particularly
that of gram, is not only estimated to make up for the loss, but increase the
output to 23.02 mt, which is nearly 1 mt higher than the previous year’s crop.
The production of gram is
expected to cross 11 mt as against 9.94 mt in 2018-19.
Drop in cane
output
Sugarcane production, on the
other hand, is expected to drop by 13 per cent to 353.8 mt against 405.4 mt in
the previous year.
Cotton impresses
Among non-food crops, impressive
would be the output of cotton, which is projected at 34.9 million bales (of 170
kg each), nearly 25 per cent more than last year’s 28 million bales.
Published
on February 18, 2020
Rice
buffer stock good for more than three months – NFA Aklan
Wednesday, February 19, 2020
NFA-Aklan’s
rice buffer stock can last up to more than three months, according to National
Food Authority-Aklan Provincial Manager Benilda Fidel.
KALIBO, Aklan – The current buffer
stock of palay in this province remains
sufficient and is expected to last more than three months, according to
National Food Authority (NFA) Aklan Provincial Manager Benilda Fidel.
She said that NFA-Aklan opted to
lease an additional private-warehouse for the extra storage of unmilled rice
due to the high volume of its deliveries and stocks in its warehouse in
Barangay Linabuan Sur, Banga, Aklan.
NFA-Aklan has exceeded its
current warehouse capacity of 70,000 bags procured from local farmers.
The food authority now has a
total of 83,000 bags of palay and 3,600 bags of
locally-milled rice.
The Rice trade liberation law or
Republic Act No. 11203 requires the food agency to source its buffer stock from
domestic farmers in order to meet the mandated buffer stock level for at least
15-30 days.
Fidel said that the buying
stations are strategically located across this province to allow local farmers
the ease of buying and selling of rice.
The NFA-Aklan Grains Center in
the town of Banga, Farm Level Grains Center warehouse in the town of Ibajay and
mobile palay procurement teams
directly buy from the farmers.
“NFA is expecting influx of local
farmers to sell their palay during the harvest
season at a higher price compared to private rice traders,” she said.
Currently, NFA is buying clean
and dry palay from local farmers at
P19 per kilogram with 14-percent moisture content and 100-95 percent
purity.
The NFA local rice is sold
wholesale at P25 per kilo and P27 per kilo to consumers by accredited
retailers. The retail price of regular milled rice ranges from P32 to P38 per
kilo, while the well milled rice is at P40 to 44 per kilo.
“May imported rice but we have
a minimal inventory… local rice from domestic farmers is available in the
market,” Fidel stressed.
She added that government
agencies like the Bureau of Fire Protection, Philippine National Police, Bureau
of Jail Management and Protection, Department of Education and the Department
of Social Welfare and Development are purchase rice at a wholesale price.(With a
report from Akean Forum/PN)
Rice Prices
as on :
14-02-2020 11:10:42 AM
Arrivals in tonnes;prices in Rs/quintal in domestic market.
|
Arrivals
|
Price
|
|||||
|
Current
|
%
change |
Season
cumulative |
Modal
|
Prev.
Modal |
Prev.Yr
%change |
|
|
Rice
|
||||||
|
Puranpur(UP)
|
30.00
|
-14.29
|
1541.00
|
2540
|
2570
|
6.72
|
|
Sehjanwa(UP)
|
25.00
|
11.11
|
1452.50
|
2530
|
2440
|
17.13
|
|
Jambusar(Kaavi)(Guj)
|
1.00
|
NC
|
41.00
|
3200
|
3000
|
10.34
|
Published
on February 14, 2020
TOPICS
S. Korea to send 950 tons of rice to Philippines in humanitarian
aid
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SEJONG, Feb. 19 (Yonhap) -- South Korea said Wednesday it will
send 950 tons of rice as emergency aid for the victims of natural disasters in
the Philippines.
The rice will depart from the southern port city of Busan on
Thursday and arrive in different regions in the Philippines from end-February
to early March, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Rural
Affairs.
The shipped rice will be distributed to some 235,000 residents in
the Southeast Asian country who suffered from earthquakes and typhoons last
year.
The rice will be delivered under the ASEAN Plus Three Emergency
Rice Reserve (APTERR), which is operated by members of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations, as well as South Korea, China and Japan.
Since 2017, South Korea has donated a combined 14,050 tons of rice
to Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos.
South Korea's participation in the agreement is also part of the
country's schemes to deal with a chronic oversupply of rice in the country
stemming from a sharp drop in rice consumption.
The physics behind tossing fried rice
FEBRUARY 20, 2020
Fried rice is a 1500-year-old
dish that is prepared using wok tossing, a technique that enables food to
undergo temperatures of 1200°C without burning. Tossing of the heavy wok at
high speed may be one contributor to shoulder pain, which is reported by 64.5%
of Chinese restaurant chefs.
Be that as it may, what is the
physics included, and is it the reason for shoulder pain in chefs?
To find out, a pair of
scientists, including Hungtang Ko and David Hu from Georgia Institute of
Technology, used high-speed cameras to capture the action at several Chinese
restaurants in China and Taiwan. They even have disentangled the physics behind
the ideal method to toss fried rice while it is cooking.
Scientists observed the video in
slow motion. They found that all chefs use the same tossing patterns. Also, the
chefs very rarely lifted the woks off the stove—instead, tossing was achieved
by pivoting the pans on parts of the stove.
Figure 1. Kinematics of tossing fried rice. (a) Wok
tossing at the Chin Chin restaurant in Atlanta, GA, USA. Photo credit: Candler
Hobbs. (b–e) Image sequence showing the wok tossing process. The coloured
points show several points tracked in the video. Note that the left rim travels
in a clockwise circle and the right rim in a counterclockwise circle. Both
trajectories are marked in blue while the trajectory of the wok centre is
marked in red. Our two-link pendulum model is overlaid on top of the image
sequence to show the evolution of the model variables θ1 and θ2.
The woks were made to emulate
pendulums utilizing a point on the bottom of the pan as one support and a
contact point between another part of the wok and the stove as the other. This
allowed the chef to move the wok back and forth, even as they maintain a
see-saw motion.
The video also showed that the
technique used by the chefs required a degree of skill to heft the rice into
the air at just the right height and to keep it from spilling out of the pan.
It also showed that, on average, the chefs tossed the rice in their woks 2.7
times per second.
Scientists noted, “It was
not just the tossing that accounted for the special taste of fried rice—other
factors such as ingredients and sauce preparation played a role, as well.”
“The constant tossing of the rice
in the wok likely led to shoulder pain in 64.5 percent of chefs they spoke
with. The simulations of the process indicate that a robot could very likely
perform the whole process.”
The paper describing the
study is published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface.
Genetically modified,
insect-resistant Bt crops do not have harmful effects on beneficial bugs in
farmers’ fields, two new scientific papers published this week have shown.
These add to the environmental case
for GM technology, because by controlling crop pests in a very targeted way
using insecticidal proteins (Bt) expressed
in plant tissues, farmers can reduce broad-spectrum insecticide sprays and thus
protect wider farm-scale biodiversity.
In the first paper, an
international team led by Chinese scientists reported that after conducting
field experiments lasting several years, they found no significant differences
in the spider communities populating Bt rice fields as compared to a non-Bt
control rice crop.
On the other hand, as expected,
when both types of fields were treated with chemical insecticide sprays,
populations of spiders were significantly reduced. Spiders play an important
role in controlling agricultural pests.
The scientists write in Plant Biotechnology Journal:
“These results suggest that Bt rice has no long term impacts on the structure
of the spider community, whilst chemical insecticides exhibit negative
impacts.”
The second paper looked at the
potential impact of Bt maize in Brazil on a tiny parasitic wasp called Trichogramma
pretiosum. This insect occurs naturally in the country, and because
it feeds on the eggs of fall armyworm moths and other agricultural pests it is
highly valued as a biocontrol agent by farmers.
If the insecticidal proteins
expressed inside Bt maize crops — which have proven extremely effective in
targeting lepidopteran pests — were also harming beneficial insects like T.
pretiosum, that would be a serious concern for farmers and
ecologists alike.
Fortunately, that appears not to be
the case. As reported by Brazilian scientists in the journal Biocontrol Science and Technology:
“All Bt hybrids [of maize] evaluated were harmless to T.
pretiosum.”
The authors add: “All the Bt
proteins evaluated in this study target lepidopterans specifically, and do not
have deleterious effects on T. pretiosum, even when
extreme exposures produced under laboratory conditions have been tested.”
The findings of both papers are
important because they strengthen the case for the use of Bt crops in
integrated pest management (IPM) farming approaches. One of the techniques of
IPM is to nurture populations of natural enemies of insect pests — such as
lacewings, wasps, ladybugs and spiders — to reduce the necessity for chemical
sprays.
These studies, which add to a widespread consensus that Bt crops do
not harm non-target organisms, mean that Bt crops can be used as part of a
broad array of IPM techniques. This is important also to try to forestall the
evolution of resistance to Bt proteins among the pest species.
One recent review paper concluded: “In
summary, the available body of literature provides evidence that insecticidal
proteins used in commercialized Bt crops cause no direct, adverse effects on
non-target species outside the order (i.e., Lepidoptera for Cry1 and Cry2
proteins) or the family (i.e. Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae for Cry3 proteins) of
the target pest(s).”
Good news for spiders and wasps is
also good news for farmers and the environment, it seems.
Stopping
prednisone can be challenging
Feb.
19, 2020 at 6:00 am
Q: Why haven’t you recommended elderberry extract against the
flu? As I understand it, tests have proven it to be better than Tamiflu.
I never get flu shots, even though almost everyone else in my
retirement community gets them. Several still catch the flu.
At the first sign of a throat tickle, I start taking elderberry
extract. I haven’t had even a sniffle.
A: There is some evidence suggesting that elderberry has
antiviral activity. One meta-analysis found that elderberry supplements
(Sambucus nigra) can reduce upper respiratory symptoms such as congestion and
cough (Complementary Therapies in Medicine, February 2019). Scientists have
also found that a compound in elderberry, cyanidin 3-glucoside, acts in several
ways to inhibit influenza infection (Journal of Functional Foods, March 2019).
Q: I add sliced ginger to my coffee. It helps my arthritis
and lowers my blood pressure as well. Can you tell us all about its many health
benefits?
A: Not everyone would appreciate the flavor of ginger in
coffee, although many people like it in tea. Ginger has been used for centuries
to ease nausea, heartburn and other digestive difficulties.
In animal studies, ginger has shown cardiovascular benefits (Natural
Product Research, September 2018). It also can lower blood pressure and improve
insulin sensitivity. Ginger has long been a favorite cough remedy and has been
used experimentally to prevent migraines.
Q: Late in 2016, I began taking red yeast rice to lower my
total cholesterol and LDL. My glucose level in March 2017 was 118. My doctor
recommended nutritional counseling for a “prediabetic condition.”
When I told the counselor I was taking red yeast rice, she told
me to stop taking it, as it can raise blood glucose levels. I did so, and the
following year my blood glucose was 105. This year it was 95. Does red yeast
rice raise blood sugar just like a statin drug?
I am a healthy 63-year-old who exercises daily. I have no
history of heart disease or stroke and a 4% lifetime risk of heart attack
according to the ACC/AHA calculator. I would rather have high cholesterol than
become a Type 2 diabetic with all its attendant risks.
A: Red yeast rice does contain statin compounds, and it
therefore can produce some statin-type side effects. The best study we found to
answer your question was conducted recently in Taiwan, where red yeast rice is
a popular prescription remedy (Diabetes, Metabolic Syndrome and Obesity:
Targets and Therapies, Jan. 9, 2020).
The researchers compared 34,000 people prescribed RYR to 34,000
prescribed lovastatin. None of these people had diabetes to start with. Those
taking lovastatin were more than twice as likely as those on RYR to develop
diabetes over the next five years.
In their column, Joe and Teresa
Graedon answer letters from readers. Write to them in care of King Features,
628 Virginia Drive, Orlando, FL 32803, or email them via their website:
www.PeoplesPharmacy.com. Their newest book is “Top Screwups Doctors Make and
How to Avoid Them.”
Unraveling the physics behind tossing fried rice
FEBRUARY 19, 2020 REPORT
Kinematics of tossing fried rice. (a) Wok tossing at
the Chin Chin restaurant in Atlanta, GA, USA. Photo credit: Candler Hobbs.
(b–e) Image sequence showing the wok tossing process. The coloured points show
several points tracked in the video. Note that the left rim travels in a
clockwise circle and the right rim in a counterclockwise circle. Both
trajectories are marked in blue while the trajectory of the wok centre is
marked in red. Our two-link pendulum model is overlaid on top of the image
sequence to show the evolution of the model variables θ1 and θ2. Credit: Journal
of The Royal Society Interface (2020). DOI: 10.1098/rsif.2019.0622
A pair of researchers at the
Georgia Institute of Technology has unraveled the physics behind the optimal
way to toss fried rice while it is cooking. In their paper published in Journal
of the Royal Society Interface, Hungtang Ko and David Hu describe filming
chefs in Chinese restaurants cooking fried rice and what they learned about the
physics involved.
In Chinese restaurants, chefs use
their woks to toss fried rice as it cooks. As part of their
training, they are taught to toss the rice in a certain way—this allows for
cooking at very high temperatures without caramelizing and burning. But what
are the physics involved, and is it the cause of shoulder pain in chefs? To
find out, the researchers received permission to use high-speed
cameras to capture the action at several Chinese restaurants in
China and Taiwan.
In slowing down the video, the
researchers observed that all of the chefs used nearly identical tossing
patterns. They found that the chefs very rarely lifted the woks off the
stove—instead, tossing was achieved by pivoting the pans on parts of the stove.
The woks were made to mimic pendulums using a point on the bottom of the pan as
one fulcrum and a contact point between another part of the wok and the stove
as the other. This allowed the chef to move the wok back and forth, even as
they maintained a see-saw motion. The video also showed that the technique used
by the chefs required a degree of skill to heft the rice into the air at just
the right height, and to keep it from spilling out of the pan. It also showed
that on average, the chefs tossed the rice in their woks 2.7 times per second.
The researchers also noted that
it was not just the tossing that accounted for the special taste of fried
rice—other factors such as ingredients and sauce preparation played a role, as
well. They conclude that the constant tossing of the rice in the wok likely led
to shoulder pain in 64.5 percent of chefs they spoke with. They note that
simulations of the process indicate that the whole process could very likely be
performed by a robot.
Chinese tariff
rate quota policy severely impacted U.S. wheat exports, study shows
The U.S. and China recently
agreed to a phase one trade deal that aims to resolve the current trade war
between the two countries. But that is just the latest development in
longstanding and complicated U.S.-Chinese trade disputes.
China has consistently used
tariff rate quotas to restrict grain imports, and in 2016 the U.S. launched a
complaint to the World Trade Organization (WTO) over China’s implementation of
tariff rate quotas on wheat, corn and rice. In their report, issued in April
2019, WTO sided with the U.S., but did not provide an assessment of the effect
on U.S. exports.
A new study from University of
Illinois, published in Agricultural Economics, quantifies those effects and
shows that China’s tariff quota administration significantly affected U.S.
grain exports, particularly for wheat.
“Our analysis shows that if China
hadn’t used trade policies to restrict trade, wheat imports from the U.S. could
have been more than 80% higher in 2017. That’s a value of around $300 million,”
says Bowen Chen, a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of
Agricultural and Consumer Economics at U of I. Chen is lead author on the
study, which was conducted as part of his doctoral dissertation.
The dispute concerns China’s
administration of tariff rate quotas (TRQ), a policy instrument intended to
regulate imports. Tariff rate quotas establish two tiers of tariffs, with a
lower tariff for in-quota imports and a much higher tariff for out-of-quota
imports. Chinese tariffs for grain commodities were 1% for in-quota and 65% for
out-of-quota imports.
The system is intended to allow
some access for imports at a low tariff rate, while the second-tier tariffs
provide protection for domestic commodities. Under the TRQ agreement, China is
obligated to import certain quantities of grain at the low tariff level.
However, the U.S. contended that these obligations were not fulfilled, and that
China’s imports of corn, wheat and rice were far below in-quota quantities.
Chen and his colleagues analyzed
trade and price data to assess the impact of Chinese TRQ policies on U.S. grain
exports. They also sought to explore the rationale behind the grain quota
administration in order to better inform policy initiatives and trade
negotiations.
The researchers obtained monthly
trade data for grain commodities from 2013 to 2017, using information from a United
Nations database and the Ministry of Commerce in China. They also looked at
domestic price data published by the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture. Using the
trade and price data, they estimated the import demand elasticities for corn,
wheat and rice.
“We estimate how the prices would
have been reduced if China was not imposing the tariffs. Then we simulate how
the quantities would change based on the price and elasticity,” Chen says.
Overall, the researchers
concluded that China’s 2017 grain imports could have been $1.4 billion or 40%
higher. Wheat imports from the U.S. could have been $324 million or 83% higher
without the restrictive policies. Corn and rice imports were affected to a
lesser extent.
Chen cautions that those results
are contingent on Chinese domestic prices being equal to world prices, assuming
that China would not maintain high prices to support domestic production.
“If China liberated their import
policy and reduced domestic price support, such market policy reforms would
alleviate pressure from trading partners,” Chen says. “However, they may not be
interested in full trade liberalization at this time.”
Chen explains that China has used
TQR as a trade policy instrument to stabilize domestic prices and restrict
imports, and his research can help understand why they engage in this practice.
“These restrictions will make
foreign commodities more expensive and give more incentive for domestic
producers, so China can eat more domestically produced food,” he says.
“China wants to feed itself and
be less dependent on other suppliers. Furthermore, China has huge grain stocks
and want to use them. Finally, international prices are volatile, so for food
security reasons they don’t want prices to fluctuate too much. They want to
have stable food prices so people can feel safe, buying the same food with the
same budget.”
Chen says the study can have
implications for trade negotiators and policy makers, both in the U.S. and
China, by showing the effect the TQR policy has on trade.
The new phase one trade deal
stipulates that tariff rate quota administration not be used to prevent the
full utilization of agricultural tariff rate quotas. The implementation of the
trade deal will likely benefit U.S. grain exports to China, Chen notes.
Soybean trade is an important
part of the trade negotiations between the U.S. and China, and that will be the
topic for Chen’s next research project.
“We will quantify the impact on
U.S. soybean exports to China, calculating how exports have been reduced by the
trade war in the last year. That’s what I’m currently working on,” he says.
The paper, “Tariff quota
administration in China’s grain markets: an empirical assessment,” is published
in Agricultural Economics. [https://doi.org/10.1111/agec.12549]
Authors are Bowen Chen, Department of Agricultural Economics, College of Agricultural,
Consumer and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois; and Nelson Villoria and Tian Xia, Kansas State University.
Researchers develop portable test to detect deadly mushrooms
Edible or toxic? That is the question.
February 19, 2020 10:45 AM PST
·
Some toxic mushrooms look a lot like some edible mushrooms.
Candace Bever, ARS-USDA
Springtime amanita mushrooms are delicious, but they look a lot
like toxic death cap mushrooms. For foragers, knowing the difference is
critical. It's also key for doctors working to diagnose patients with mushroom
poisoning.
Researchers with the United States Department of
Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service (ARS) have
developed a portable test that can detect trace amounts of amanitin, the class
of toxin found in some of the world's most deadly mushrooms.
The test can work on a mushroom
sample the size of a grain of rice, or it can be used to detect the toxin in
human or dog urine. "We developed the test primarily for mushrooms as food
products. Serendipitously, it was sensitive enough to also detect the toxin in
urine," said ARS microbiologist Candace Bever in
a USDA release on Wednesday. It take about 10 minutes for the test to return a
result.
Consuming toxic mushrooms leads to
over 100 deaths a year globally, according to the USDA. Thousands more are
sickened and require medical care. Mushroom poisoning can lead to severe
gastrointestinal issues and liver and kidney damage.
"Our hope is that doctors and
veterinarians will be able to quickly and confidently identify amatoxin
poisoning rather than having to clinically eliminate other suspected
gastrointestinal diseases first," said Bever.
The test is not currently available
for recreational mushroom hunters, but the USDA said it could be "a
practical and definitive way for mushroom foragers to identify and avoid eating
mushrooms with amanitin toxin if a commercial partner can be found to produce
and market a test kit."
The ARS team published a paper on the test in the journal Toxins this
month.
The USDA cautions that the test
will only identify the presence or absence of the toxin. It can't detect
hallucinogens or determine if a mushroom is edible. Even if it arrives on the
market as a test kit, foragers will still need to know their mushrooms.
Odisha Assembly Speaker asks minister to
fix paddy procurement woes
Updated: February 19th, 2020, 20:21 IST
Bhubaneswar: Speaker S N Patro Wednesday directed Food Supplies and
Consumer Welfare Minister Ranendra Pratap Swain to convene a meeting of the
district officials and MLAs to resolve the problems of paddy procurement.
The Speaker gave the direction after members cutting across
party lines, expressed serious concern during the Question Hour and Zero Hour
about the problems faced by the farmers in selling their paddy due to the
introduction of token system for paddy procurement.
The members alleged that huge quantity paddy was lying in mandis
and it is not being lifted. In the name of FAQ, the paddy procuring agencies
were deducting 5 to 6 kg of paddy for each quintal, they said.
Congress Legislature Party leader Narasingha Mishra said the
paddy is being deducted even though there is no machine to test quality of FAQ
paddy and the farmers were forced to sell their paddy in distress.
Raising the issue during Zero Hour, Bhupinder Singh (BJD) said
all farmers have not been issued token and only 40 quintals of paddy were
procured from the farmers who were issued token.
He further said a farmer is not given a token after the sale of
40 quintals of paddy.
Singh also alleged that procurement of paddy is not being made
till the millers and their agents reached the mandi.
Jay Narayan Mishra (BJP) suggested a meeting of the MLAs and the
district Collector be convened in each paddy procuring district to sort out the
problems.
Kishore Mohanty (BJD) said the farmers were facing problems as
the paddy procuring agencies were not procuring paddy from farmers of
non-revenue villages.
Leader of Opposition Pradipta Kumar Naik said, “The government
should take steps to buy all the surplus paddy from the farmers.”
Earlier, the issue was raised by Mukesh Mahalinga, (BJP),
Nrusingha Sahu and Prasant Kumar Jagdev (BJD) during the Question Hour.
The members said the procurement season will be over within a
month but huge quantity of paddy is yet to be procured. The government, they
said, should take steps to procure paddy from the farmers.
The minister, in his reply, said more paddy was procured this
time due to the introduction of token system.
He said till February 13, 43.39 lakh tonne of paddy was purchased
from registered farmers against the target of 50 lakh tonne during the Kharif
season 2019-20.
Since one more month is there, the government would initiate
steps to buy the paddy from the farmers, he assured the House and said “the
token system was introduced to keep the agents away and buy paddy directly from
the farmers.”
The minister denied distress sale of paddy as alleged by the
members and promised to take action against the officials if they were found
not purchasing paddy from the registered farmers.
Saluja hurls corruption charge
Bhubaneswar: Members of the Congress party Wednesday raked up the issue of
corruption and flouting of prescribed guidelines in the paddy procurement
process in the state during the Question Hour of the Assembly.
Kantabanji MLA Santosh Singh Saluja (Congress) told the House
that rice mill operators are rampantly flouting norms in paddy procurement
process. He also alleged that wrongdoings in the process are undertaken with
the patronage of top officials of the state government.
“I can name the top officials involved in this corrupt practices
and the aggrieved farmers. The guidelines claim that the millers can get access
to the paddy only after procurement but they have intruded into the process
since the beginning while the farmers are distressed,” Saluja told the House.
The leader also accused that the mill owners of bribing
government officials to manipulate the data of farmers and reject a portion of
their produce to ensure their interference in the process. He also asked would
the 5T department come into picture in this corrupt practice existing in the
state.
Reacting to the allegation, FS&CW Minister Ranendra Pratap
Swain said no such reported practice would be allowed. “We will not tolerate
any corrupt practice. We are strictly against any such non-sense behaviour.”
Quikgro develops potato varieties suited to sub-Saharan
conditions
Scientists from the James Hutton
Institute -in collaboration with the University of St Andrews- are supporting
an innovative research project aiming to develop potato varieties suited to the
agronomic and environmental conditions of the Sub-Saharan region.
Typically, in sub-Saharan Africa
potatoes are grown in the cooler, highland areas. The aim of this project is to
expand the area under production by developing varieties able to grow in warmer
conditions found at lower altitudes.
Building on the outcomes of several
research projects, potato scientists aim to combine stress tolerance with the
development of early maturing varieties, which would be able to reach full
maturity in 60-70 days instead of over 100 days for most commercial varieties.
Researchers hope Quikgro potatoes
will produce tubers that bulk quickly in warmer environments, mitigating the
effect of short rainy seasons and droughts, with enhanced disease resistance
and a better rotation fit with other crops such as rice and wheat.
Project leader Professor Lesley
Torrance said: “We are very pleased to receive funding to continue working with
colleagues in Malawi and Kenya to develop potatoes that are more resilient to
the growing conditions in sub-Saharan Africa. Potato is an important food and
cash crop in the region and increased production will contribute to economic
growth and prosperity along the whole potato supply chain.”
Hutton.ac.uk reported how the Quikgro initiative is a
collaboration between the University of St Andrews, James Hutton Institute, the
International Potato Center (CIP), Malawi’s Department of Agricultural Research
Services (DARS) and Kenya’s Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology
(MMUST). It is funded by a Global Challenges Research Fund Foundation award
from Research Councils UK (RCUK).
Publication date: Wed 19 Feb 2020
At Buffalo Tikka House, enjoying well-calibrated heat and exotic
treats
The Chicken 65, sautéed with chile leaves and sauce at Buffalo Tikka
House. (Robert Kirkham/Buffalo News)
Published February 19, 2020|
“Buffalo Tikka House,” my friend said. “What is that, a Polynesian
bar?”
That’s the way it goes in the restaurant business. You can leave
your home country to make a better life for your family. Start as a busboy,
clearing dirty dishes at Jean-Georges in Trump Tower for customers including
Donald Trump.
Use that money to move to Buffalo and drive a taxi for 10 years,
saving to open a restaurant. Then keep it alive while the street out front
is shut down for the first four months of
your existence – only to have people driving by believe you specialize in the
sort of rum cocktails that come with umbrellas.
Which Buffalo Tikka House absolutely does not. This Bangladeshi Indian
restaurant is halal, following Islamic dietary guidelines, which precludes
alcohol. “I only wish to give you healthy things,” said owner Loni Ahmed.
Perhaps the vindaloo has restorative power. Arriving fatigued, I
left through the winter streets with a spring in my step. Part of it was the
fine company. The rest was my joy that downtown Buffalo has a real Indian
restaurant again.
The place is cozy, with about 20 seats in an angled space that was
last the A Street Meatball Market. It’s in the shadow of the Buffalo Niagara
Medical Campus, a half block to the east, which explained why I saw so many
lanyards on customers. Ahmed seems unflappable amid a steady stream of
walk-ins, takeout orders and kitchen trips.
Among appetizers, Chicken 65 ($6.99) was a tidy little helping of
dark meat chicken sent halfway to chile-glazed chicken popcorn, crispy-edged
and sticky, faintly redolent of the breath of the wok.
Bullet naan at Buffalo Tikka House.
(Robert Kirkham/Buffalo News)
Samosas (two for $4.99) were solid examples of the potato-stuffed
fried turnover. Pakoras ($3.99), crunchy little hedgehogs of matchsticked
vegetables in chickpea batter and spices, were eminently snackable.
Samosa chaat ($5.99) was a tasty combination of potatoes,
chickpeas, tamarind sauce, mint chutney and yogurt over a crumbled samosa –
sweet, sour, dairy, herbal and vegetable flavors, but I missed the lighter,
crunchier aspects of other versions I’ve enjoyed.
Tikka are chunks, cooked in the oven or grilled, as opposed to
seekh, which are seasoned ground meat, burger kebabs. We ordered samples of
both, and flipped through the menu trying to discern how Bangladeshi diverged
from Indian.
Tandoori chicken, bone-in fowl tenderized with a long soak in
spiced yogurt, is ubiquitous. Here ($11.99), it emerged on a conspicuously
silent sizzle platter. Still warm, though, and tossed in a semisweet tomato
sauce braced with vinegar – Bangladeshi ketchup – along with the usual onions
and bell peppers.
Tandoori chicken, marinated in
yogurt and spices at Buffalo Tikka House. (Robert Kirkham/Buffalo News)
Chicken seekh kebab ($12.99), sausages cooked in the tandoor on a
spindle, got the same treatment, encouraging diners to spoon it out over fluffy
basmati rice.
Lamb Naga ($13.99) was “really hot,” the menu warned. After an
extended heat level colloquy with Ahmed, including repeated assurances that we
wanted it his way, he smiled, shook his head and suggested medium.
What arrived was a dish that played expertly with the use of chile
as a taste stimulator. Pickled chiles, green bell pepper, mustard seed, potato
and spoon-tender lamb combined for a heady dish that made my mouth water, not
my forehead. Instead of clobbering the palate, it heated and changed it like iron
in the forge. Its smoldering incandescence has returned to mind several times
since.
Another racy favorite was the lamb vindaloo ($13.99), representing
some of the breadth of the Indian palette. Sour with vinegar, it’s a descendant
of the vinha d’alhos (wine with garlic) dishes Portuguese traders brought to
the subcontinent.
Bhindi baji ($9.99), sautéed okra was surprisingly ungreasy. Even
better, it avoided okra’s tendency to become slimy as alien spit.
Achari chicken ($12.99), stewed with intense Indian pickle, was
zippy with preserved green mango, chile and a galaxy of spices.
Fish korma ($12.99) was fried filets braised in aromatic coconut
cream. Shrimp dhansak ($13.99) was pinky-sized crustaceans in a lentil
sweet-and-sour gravy. Both were emphatically sweet, like milk after all the
Frosted Flakes are gone. If seafood desserts become a craving, I know where to
start.
Notable among the made-to-order breads was bullet naan ($3.99),
named for the impact of finely chopped fresh jalapeño embedded in the dough,
its more acrid notes tamed by the heat. Paratha ($3.99) is a pliable layered
bread made of whole wheat and butter, to be torn and used to mop up gravy.
Sometimes this is going to be a one-man show out front. So if you
are in a hurry, call ahead for your food. If you don’t mind waiting, help
yourself to glasses from the counter, a pitcher of water from the cooler, and
settle in for solid Indian food in downtown Buffalo.
The only problem is that the table can get so crowded you might
not have a place to put that last platter of bread fresh out of the tandoor,
studded with fiery green chile and glistening with butter. It’s a naan
in search of new varieties of rice as climate change threatens
crops
Rice is one of the most important
cereal crops in the world and makes up an important part of the human diet.
Rice production in Europe, which currently accounts for two-thirds of the rice
consumed on the continent, is being threatened by the effects of climate
change, while most varieties are severely damaged by salinisation and giant
snails.
Rice (Oryza sativa) is one of the
most salt sensitive crops, and river deltas, where rice is grown in Europe, are
becoming saltier due to rising temperatures, rising sea levels and water
scarcity. Researchers from the EU, Argentina and China are developing
salt-tolerant rice to protect this important crop not only from the effects of
climate change, but also from the apple snail pest. The apple snail represents
one of the worst crop pests of the recent times. It is calculated that the
snails currently cause damage in rice fields worldwide equivalent to the loss
of tens of billions of Euros each year.
For years, the measures adopted
to combat the apple snail and stop its spread had failed, but in autumn of
2013, the Autonomous Government of Catalonia explored a new strategy with
agreement of the European Union: flooding fields with seawater. This proved to
be one of the few strategies which managed to curb the presence of the snail,
which does not tolerate high salinity levels, but the residual salinity caused
a loss of productivity of about 30% in some fields.
The NEURICE project is being
funded by Horizon 2020, the biggest EU research and innovation programme, with
€ 4.608.000, in order to bring together experts from diverse fields such as
biotechnology, farming and agriculture development, and salinity monitoring
systems who would try to address this challenge through international
collaborative research.
Scientists are using traditional
breeding methods, crossing European with Asian rice lines. In Asia, there are
some tropical varieties of rice which are highly tolerant to salinity, but
which cannot be grown in the Mediterranean climate. It has recently been
discovered that the salinity tolerance of these tropical Asian varieties is due
to the presence of a chromosome segment called Saltol. Traditional,
non-transgenic improvement techniques are being used to incorporate this
feature into the commercial European varieties. The final plant is mainly
European, but contains a small part of the Asiatic salt-tolerant genome.
The project results have been
better than expected. “We have yet seen that most of the varieties obtained in
the NEURICE project behave better than the original local varieties in salinity
conditions. But surprisingly, some of the varieties behave also better than
local ones in non-salinised fields, although we have to wait for the results of
this second year to confirm this observed trend”, says the project coordinator
and professor of Plant Physiology at the Universidad de Barcelona (UB),
Salvador Nogués.
Agri engineer cited for excellence
February
20, 2020
An
engineer from the Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and
Mechanization (PHilMech) received an award from The Manila Water Foundation for
his inventions at the Manila Water Foundation for Engineering Excellence (The
Prize) Awarding Ceremony held last February 3 at Seda Hotel Vertis North in
Quezon City.
Michael Gragasin from the
Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PHilMech), an
awardee of the Manila Water Foundation for Engineering Excellence. PHOTO FROM
MICHAEL GRAGASIN FACEBOOK PAGE
In
partnership with the Department of Science and Technology and the Philippine
Technological Council, Michael Gragasin of PHilMech was awarded for his
ingenuity and expertise as a science research specialist, along with three
Filipino engineers.
Gragasin
designed and led the development of the compact corn mill and the impeller rice
mill for white and brown rice to help low-income farmers milling their own
crops and earn more profit.
Through
his inventions, farmers can process their own crops and not depend on
commercial millers. The said machines can now increase rice farmers’ income
from P5 per kilo to around P14 to P25 per kilo. Production costs for corn and
rice, which are staple food in the country, are also maintained at a low cost,
making the grains more affordable for Filipino consumers.
Using
the principles of agricultural engineering, the compact corn mill and impeller
rice mill also help address the food security needs of the country.
The
Prize conducts a nationwide search for Filipino engineers who manifest
excellent engineering and scientific competence to honor and help them promote
their technologies.
It
is the only recognizing body in the Philippines that honors engineers who have
made notable contributions in solving development problems in the areas of
water, sanitation, environment and sustainability.
THE
TIMES
31 Silos to Be Built in Punjab Soon: Raosaheb Patil Danve
19 February, 2020 5:44
PM IST By: Abha Toppo
Raosaheb Patil Danve, Union Minister of State for Consumer
Affairs, Food and Public Distribution said that so as to prevent the wastage of
foodgrains in traditional storage system, Centre has decided to construct
thirty one silos in Northern state of Punjab for proper scientific storage of
foodgrains. The minister was at Sangrur to examine the Food Corporation of
India (FCI) godowns and evaluate the public distribution system of foodgrains.Danve said that the procedure for the identification of suitable sites has been started and very soon construction of new silos will begin. The minister added that silo structures follows a scientific process of storing grains where the stored grain is kept dry & aired in order to prevent fungal as well as insect attacks for a longer period of time as compared to traditional methods.
Danve also informed that soon the "one nation, one ration card' policy would be implemented in all states of India as twelve states have already been divided into clusters. He said under this scheme, the beneficiaries of the public distribution will get their share of rations in any state wherein they will be residing. The minister told that leaders of the labour, rice millers & some other unions have highlighted some issues that would also be addressed on priority.
https://krishijagran.com/agriculture-world/31-silos-to-be-built-in-punjab-soon-raosaheb-patil-danve/
Farmers
for a Sustainable Future
By Lesley Dixon
WASHINGTON,
DC -- Today, USA Rice joined with 21 trade groups representing millions of
farmers and ranchers on Capitol Hill to launch Farmers for a Sustainable Future
(FSF), a coalition committed to environmental and economic sustainability.
Members of the coalition discussed the FSF's purpose and principles before an
audience of policy makers and media.
The
mission of this groundbreaking coalition is to share with elected officials,
the media, and the public U.S. agriculture's commitment to sustainability and
the great effort that has already been made to reduce agriculture's
environmental footprint. FSF will serve as a primary resource for lawmakers as
they consider climate-related policies, and provide its guiding principles as a
foundation to further advance the adoption of conservation programs.
Ben
Mosely, vice president of government affairs at USA Rice, spoke at the event
about the rice industry's many accomplishments in sustainability and
conservation, as well as the importance of sustainability in agriculture:
"All in all, the U.S. rice industry is invested in sustainability because
it is personal. Rice farmers live on the land they work, and rice mills are an
important economic driver in their communities."
FSF
supports science-based research, voluntary incentive-based conservation
programs, investment in infrastructure, and solutions that support rural
communities while ensuring a healthy environment. The coalition recognizes what
the rice industry has long known: that U.S. farmers and ranchers are stewards
of the land who are committed to soil health, water conservation, air quality,
and wildlife.
USA
Rice's participation in the coalition is a natural fit, as rice farmers have
made great strides in sustainability and conservation over the last several
decades and continue to achieve higher standards with every harvest, as is laid
out in last year's U.S. Rice Industry Sustainability Report. Joining with other
industry leaders in the FSF will help rice tell its sustainability story,
educate the public, and have a voice in agricultural policies.
"This
is an opportunity to tell the great success story of American agriculture's
sustainability efforts," said Arkansas ice farmer Jennifer James, who
is chair of the USA Rice Sustainability Committee. "Sustainability is the
future of agriculture, and farmers and ranchers are at the forefront of the
movement, putting science, technology, and innovation to work on the land. FSF
will be an invaluable resource for policymakers and the public alike, and USA
Rice is honored to join the group."
