Rice basmati edges up on scattered demand
New Delhi, Aug 31 Rice basmati
prices rallied up to Rs 150 per quintal at the wholesale grains market today on
mild demand in restricted activity.
However, other grains traded in a
tight range in limited deals and pegged at the last levels.Traders attributed
the rise in rice basmati prices to some demand from stockists and retailers.
In the national capital, rice
basmati common and Pusa- 1121 variety settled higher at Rs 6,400-6,600 and Rs
5,100-5,200 from previous levels of Rs 6,300-6,500 and Rs 5,000-5,050 per
quintal, respectively.
Following are today's quotations
(in Rs per quintal):
Wheat MP (desi) Rs 2,100-2,350,
Wheat dara (for mills) Rs 1,755-1,760, Chakki atta (delivery) Rs 1,760-1,765,
Atta Rajdhani (10 kg) Rs 260-300, Shakti Bhog (10 kg) Rs 255-290, Roller flour
mill Rs 950-960 (50 kg), Maida Rs 990-1,000 (50 kg)and Sooji Rs 1,030-1,040 (50
kg).
Basmati rice (Lal Quila) Rs
10,700, Shri Lal Mahal Rs 11,300, Super Basmati Rice Rs 9,800, Basmati common
new Rs 6,400-6,600, Rice Pusa (1121) Rs 5,100-5,200, Permal raw Rs 2,150-2,175,
Permal wand Rs 2,200-2,225, Sela Rs 2,300-2,400 and Rice IR-8 Rs 1,825-1,850,
Bajra Rs 1,205-1,210, Jowar yellow Rs 1,425-1,475, white Rs 2,800-2,900, Maize
Rs 1,320-1,325, Barley Rs 1,460-1,470
https://www.outlookindia.com/newsscroll/rice-basmati-edges-up-on-scattered-demand/1135820SEPTEMBER 14, 2017 / 12:38 PM / UPDATED 3 HOURS AGO
Nagpur
Foodgrain Prices Open- Septmember 14, 2017
Reuters
Staff
Nagpur
Foodgrain Prices – APMC/Open Market-September 14
Nagpur,
Sept 14 (Reuters) – Gram and tuar prices firmed up again in Nagpur Agriculture
Produce
and
Marketing Committee (APMC) here on good buying support from local millers amid
weak supply
from
producing regions. Fresh rise on NCDEX, upward trend in Madhya Pradesh pulses
and enquiries
from
South-based millers also jacked up prices.
About
500 of gram and 150 bags of tuar were available for auctions, according to sources.
FOODGRAINS & PULSES
GRAM
* Desi gram recovered in open market on goo
seasonal demand from local traders.
TUAR
* Tuar varieties ruled steady in open market
here matching the demand and supply
position.
* Jowar varieties reported weak in open
market on lack of demand from local traders
amid good supply from producing belts.
* In Akola, Tuar New – 4,100-4,300, Tuar dal
(clean) – 6,100-6,300, Udid Mogar (clean)
– 8,300-9,000, Moong Mogar (clean)
6,800-7,100, Gram – 5,700-5,900, Gram Super best
– 8,300-8,700
* Wheat, rice and other foodgrain items
moved in a narrow range in scattered deals and
settled at last levels in thin trading
activity.
Nagpur foodgrains APMC auction/open-market
prices in rupees for 100 kg
FOODGRAINS Available prices Previous close
Gram Auction 5,000-5,765 4,800-5,765
Gram Pink Auction n.a. 2,100-2,600
Tuar Auction 3,600-4,120 3,500-4,100
Moong Auction n.a. 3,900-4,200
Udid Auction n.a. 4,300-4,500
Masoor Auction n.a. 2,600-2,800
Wheat Mill quality Auction 1,600-1,682 1,572-1,614
Gram Super Best Bold 8,500-9,000 8,500-9,000
Gram Super Best n.a. n.a.
Gram Medium Best 7,600-8,000 7,600-8,000
Gram Dal Medium n.a. n.a
Gram Mill Quality 5,900-6,000 5,900-6,000
Desi gram Raw 6,050-6,200 6,000-6,150
Gram Kabuli 12,000-13,000 12,000-13,000
Tuar Fataka Best-New 6,500-6,800 6,500-6,800
Tuar Fataka Medium-New 6,100-6,400 6,100-6,400
Tuar Dal Best Phod-New 5,800-6,000 5,800-6,000
Tuar Dal Medium phod-New 5,400-5,700 5,400-5,700
Tuar Gavarani New 4,350-4,450 4,350-4,450
Tuar Karnataka 4,700-4,900 4,800-5,000
Masoor dal best 5,200-5,500 5,200-5,500
Masoor dal medium 4,800-5,000 4,800-5,000
Masoor n.a. n.a.
Moong Mogar bold (New) 7,000-7,500 7,000-7,500
Moong Mogar Medium 6,500-6,800 6,500-6,800
Moong dal Chilka 5,500-6,200 5,500-6,200
Moong Mill quality n.a. n.a.
Moong Chamki best 7,000-8,000 7,000-8,000
Udid Mogar best (100 INR/KG) (New)
8,500-9,500 8,500-9,500
Udid Mogar Medium (100 INR/KG) 6,500-7,500 6,500-7,500
Udid Dal Black (100 INR/KG) 6,000-7,000 6,000-7,000
Batri dal (100 INR/KG) 5,100-5,600 5,100-5,600
Lakhodi dal (100 INR/kg) 2,900-3,100 3,000-3,200
Watana Dal (100 INR/KG) 2,900-3,100 2,900-3,100
Watana Green Best (100 INR/KG) 3,800-4,400 3,800-4,400
Wheat 308 (100 INR/KG) 1,900-2,000 1,900-2,000
Wheat Mill quality (100 INR/KG) 1,750-1,850 1,750-1,850
Wheat Filter (100 INR/KG) 2,100-2,300 2,100-2,300
Wheat Lokwan best (100 INR/KG) 2,200-2,400 2,200-2,400
Wheat Lokwan medium (100 INR/KG) 1,900-2,100 1,900-2,100
Lokwan Hath Binar (100 INR/KG) n.a. n.a.
MP Sharbati Best (100 INR/KG) 3,300-3,800 3,300-3,800
MP Sharbati Medium (100 INR/KG) 2,200-2,800 2,200-2,800
Rice BPT best (100 INR/KG) 3,300-3,400 3,300-3,400
Rice BPT medium (100 INR/KG) 2,800-3,200 2,800-3,200
Rice Luchai (100 INR/KG) 2,600-2,900 2,600-2,900
Rice Swarna best (100 INR/KG) 2,500-2,600 2,500-2,600
Rice Swarna medium (100 INR/KG) 2,300-2,400 2,300-2,400
Rice HMT best (100 INR/KG) 3,800-4,000 3,800-4,000
Rice HMT medium (100 INR/KG) 3,500-3,800 3,500-3,800
Rice Shriram best(100 INR/KG) 4,800-5,200 4,800-5,200
Rice Shriram med (100 INR/KG) 4,500-4,700 4,500-4,700
Rice Basmati best (100 INR/KG) 9,500-13,500 9,500-13,500
Rice Basmati Medium (100 INR/KG) 5,000-7,500 5,000-7,500
Rice Chinnor best 100 INR/KG) 4,800-5,000 4,800-5,000
Rice Chinnor medium (100 INR/KG) 4,300-4,500 4,300-4,500
Jowar Gavarani (100 INR/KG) 2,000-2,100 2,000-2,200
Jowar CH-5 (100 INR/KG) 1,700-2,000 1,800-2,000
WEATHER
(NAGPUR)
Maximum
temp. 31.7 degree Celsius, minimum temp. 23.5 degree Celsius
Rainfall
: 5.2 mm
FORECAST:
Generally cloudy sky with one or two spells of rains or thunder-showers.
Maximum and
minimum
temperature would be around and 31 and 23 degree Celsius respectively.
Note:
n.a.--not available
(For
oils, transport costs are excluded from plant delivery prices.
Rice price spirals out of control
Rozina Islam | Update: 16:04,
Sep 13, 2017 |
Rice prices have spiralled out of control,
following a drastic fall in the country’s food reserves.
Traders
fear prices will go up further.In the last one month, the price of fine rice
increased by Tk6 per kg while the price of medium and coarse rice rose between
Tk 3 and Tk 4.
The
price of fine rice exceeded Tk 60 per kg which was normally below Tk 50 the
corresponding period in previous years.
BR-28, a
medium quality rice, is being sold between Tk 52 and Tk 54 while coarse rice is
being sold between Tk 46 and Tk 48.
In
comparison to the corresponding period of last year, this year the price of
fine rice increased by Tk 10 per kg while coarse rice by Tk 13.
The
warehouse of the Food Directorate is supposed to contain at least 600,000
tonnes of rice, but it contains only 325,000 tonnes.
The
government failed to increase the stock even after signing agreements with rice
mill owners and different countries.
The
government formulated a law in 2013 to coordinate the rice reserves with rice
mill owners and traders. According to the law, the ministry should keep a
monthly stock of rice, but it could not do so in the last four years.
Speaking
to Prothom Alo, the food minister and the secretary said they did not know the
stock.
In view
of rising rice prices every week, the food ministry and the commerce ministry
are blaming each other. Denying its own responsibility, the food ministry is
blaming the commerce ministry, claiming that the rice price increased due to
lack of monitoring by the commerce ministry.
Commerce
secretary Shubhashish Bose said there is no reason of this price hike. The
commerce ministry is regularly monitoring the market, he added.
"Letters
were sent to deputy commissioners to control the price of rice," the
commerce secretary said.
Owner of
Agro Food Abdur Rashid said, "The rice mill owners have suggested that the
government imports large quantities of rice to reduce the prices."
According
to economists and civic organisations, the traders generally raise the price of
rice when the government stock falls.
Speaking
to Prothom Alo, Consumer Association of Bangladesh (CAB) president Ghulam
Rahman said the traders took advantage of the government’s incompetence.
He said
the traders raised the price as the stock in the government warehouse has
fallen.
Ghulam
Rahman also said the traders will raise prices until the stock is between 1m
and 1.2 million tonnes.
Food
minister Quamrul Islam said there is no reason of hiking prices as rice is
available in the market. It is the responsibility of the commerce ministry to
monitor the market, he added.
"I
personally asked the divisional commissioners to strengthen the
monitoring," the food minister said.
According
to the food ministry, 363,000 tonnes of rice were imported till 26 August.
Before
Eid, the government reduced duty on rice import to 2 per cent from 28 per cent.
But this has had no impact on the market.
Director
general of Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) KAS Murshid said
the blame game between the food ministry and the commerce ministry will not
resolve the crisis.
He said
the operations of the mobile court may have a negative impact.
The
government has to increase stock while the open market sale (OMS) programmes
have to be expanded, he suggested.
Meanwhile,
the government is facing a crisis with its social safety net programmes. The
food ministry has delayed the pro-poor programme of selling rice for Tk 10 per
kg by one month
Rice inventory
declined to 2.02 MMT in August
September 12, 2017
THE country’s rice inventory as of August 1 declined by 3.38
percent to 2.028 million metric tons (MMT), from 2.098 MMT recorded a year ago,
according to the latest report of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
Despite the decline, the PSA said
total rice inventory during the period would be enough to supply the
rice-consumption requirement of Filipinos for 60 days.
“Stocks in the households would
be enough for 22 days, those in commercial warehouses for 34 days and those in
NFA depositories for three days,” the PSA said in its monthly report, titled
“Rice and Corn Stocks Inventory August 2017”, published on September 11.
Of the rice inventory as of
August 1, the PSA said 36.9 percent were with the households, 57.74 percent
were in commercial warehouses and 5.36 percent were in NFA depositories. About
69 percent of NFA stocks consisted of imported rice.
PSA data showed that NFA stocks
during the period reached 108,690 MT, while commercial warehouses accounted for
1.170 MMT. Households accounted for 748,340 MT.
“Compared with the previous year,
rice stocks in households and in commercial warehouses grew by 8.56 and 88.38
percent, respectively,” the report read.
“However, stocks in the NFA
depositories dropped by 86.21 percent,” it added.
On a monthly basis, rice stocks
across all sectors were lower compared to the July record.
The PSA said stocks in the
households went down by 24.78 percent, while stocks held by commercial
warehouses declined 2.26 percent. Rice stocks in NFA depositories fell by
nearly 30 percent month-on-month.
PSA data showed that the NFA’s
rice stockpile of 108,690 MT was the lowest held by the food agency since
February 1996, when inventory reached 140,600 MT.
Data from the government
statistical agency also showed that the 2.028-MMT inventory was the lowest
since October 2016, when national stockpile hit 2.286 MMT.
The government periodically monitors
rice inventory to determine whether it would need to import the staple to boost
local stocks.
PSA data also showed that total
corn-stock inventory more than doubled to 696,460 MT, from last year’s record
of 40,140 MT. However, the corn-stock inventory as of August 1 was 1.88 percent
lower than the 683,620 MT recorded in July.
The PSA said the bulk of
corn-stock inventory in August, or 87.29 percent, was in commercial warehouses,
while households accounted for 11.99 percent. NFA depositories accounted for
only 0.72 percent.
Corn stocks in commercial
warehouses amounted to 607,960 MT, 83,480 MT in households and 5,540 MT in NFA
warehouses.
“Corn stocks in all sectors
increased compared with their levels the previous year. Stocks in the
households grew by 107.99 percent, in commercial warehouses by 118.81 percent,
and in NFA depositories by 4,638.68 percent,” the report read.
“Month-on-month, corn stocks in
the households increased by 28.80 percent. On the other hand, commercial
warehouses and in NFA depositories decreased by 0.87 percent, and 9.36 percent,
respectively,” it added
https://businessmirror.com.ph/rice-inventory-declined-to-2-02-mmt-in-august/
RDB extends
deadline for rice-storage bidding
Wed, 13 September 2017
The government-run Rural
Development Bank (RDB) has extended the deadline to receive proposals from
registered Cambodian agricultural firms to develop rice storage and drying
facilities after receiving a tepid response to its finance offer, a bank
official said yesterday.
Kao Thach, chief executive of
RDB, said firms would be given until September 22 to submit their proposals,
adding that only four companies had submitted bids by the initial September 8
deadline.
“We did not receive enough
proposals for the bidding process so we need to extend the deadline . . . in
order to give millers or investors more opportunities to submit their
applications,” he said.
RDB announced last month that it
would provide up to $15 million in low-interest loans for companies with strong
track records in rice milling and storage to build and operate rice storage
warehouses and rice-drying facilities.
The proposed facilities would be
constructed in Kampong Thom, Prey Veng and Takeo provinces, each with the
capacity to store 50,000 tonnes of paddy rice and dry approximately 1,500
tonnes of rice daily.
The project’s warehouses and
drying facilities are intended to be operational in time for the next rice
harvest in January.
RDB received proposals from four
companies, it said in a press release. The bank indicated that two companies –
Amru Rice and Anduriz Cambodge Seal & Monita Trading Import Export –
applied to build and operate facilities in Kampong Thom province, while Khmer Food
Group applied to develop facilities in Prey Veng province. No valid
applications were received for Takeo province.
Earlier this year RDB awarded a
$15 million low-interest loan to Thanakea Srov (Kampuchea) Plc, the operator of
the Cambodian Rice Bank, to expand its rice storage warehouse in Battambang
province and develop the first privately-owned centralised storage facility.
The new facility will have capacity to store 200,000 tonnes of wet paddy rice
and to process 3,000 tonnes of paddy rice daily.
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/rdb-extends-deadline-rice-storage-bidding
Growth in food grain production
likely to be lower this year: Report
PTI
NEW DELHI, SEPT
12:
Growth in food grain production
is expected to be much lower this year in the country as less progress has been
made in the sowing of summer (kharif) crops than last year, says a Nomura
report.According to the Japanese financial services major, the land area sown
has fallen across all other crops: rice, pulses, coarse cereals, oilseeds and
jute.
“Overall, with less than three
weeks left in the monsoon season (June-September), the current crop sowing
progress suggests growth in food grain production will be much lower this
year,” Nomura said.
The report noted that slow
progress on crop sowing means that there could be downside risks to its
agriculture GVA growth forecast.
“While there could be offsets
such as higher horticulture output, higher yields or higher winter crop output,
current evidence suggests there are downside risks to our agriculture GVA
growth projection of 3.3 per cent in 2017-18 (year-end March 2018),” Nomura
said.
According to the report, the drop
in the sowing of summer crops is a result of two factors — decline in prices
and weather conditions.
In the case of pulses, oilseeds
and jute, the decline in crop sowing was a response to low prices, it said,
adding WPI inflation in pulses, oilseeds and raw jute declined to (—) 33 per
cent, (—) 14 per cent and (—) 35 per cent year-on-year respectively, in July
2017.
“Thus there is little incentive
for farmers to plant these crops as realisations are expected to be low — a
typical cobweb cycle response,” the report said.
The other major reason for
decline in crop sown area is weather related.
“The spatial distribution of
rains has been uneven with the NorthWest and Southern regions receiving below
normal rains, while floods have hurt standing crops in many other states,” the
report said
Pakistan.
Fruits worth US$19.493mn, vegetables US$10.330mn exported
12.09.2017
| UkrAgroConsult
About 24,393 metric tons of fresh fruits worth US$ 19.483 million
was exported during the first month of current financial year as compared the
exports of the corresponding period of last year.According the data of Pakistan
Bureau of Statistics, during month of July, 2017 about 32,702 metric tons of
vegetables valuing US$ 10.330 million exported.
During the period under review fruit exports decreased by 16.10
percent, where as vegetables exports increased by 26.80 percent respectively,
it added.Meanwhile, wheat exports from the country also grew by 100 percent as
353 metric tons of the commodity worth US$ 730,000 exported as compared the
same month of last year.
The country exported 58,555 metric tons of sugar valuing US$ 27.584
million in first month of current financial year as against the same month of
last year.During first month of financial year 2017, rice export grew by 28.49
percent as about 200,995 metric tons of rice valuing US$ 107.896 million
exported.
In month of July exports of basmati rice increased by 18.96 percent
as about 30,951 metric tons of basmati rice worth US$ 32.990 million exported.It
may be recalled that food group exports witnessed 34.74 percent growth in first
month of current financial year and stood at US$ 250.860 million as compared
the same month of last year.
There is much more in ‘Research’ than meets the eye!
Islamabad :Let me start with the
‘unconditional apology’ first, which I extend to the ‘Non-Governmental
Organisations’ (NGOs) operating in the country. Be those the ‘National’ or the
‘International’ ones. I have no biases against these organisations. In fact I
actively take part in activities of some of these organisations.
But in the past Pakistan’s economy
has been hit hard when the ‘international donors’ funded some local
Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), to specifically target country’s major
export-based industries.
The over enthusiastic employees of
those selected NGOs launched an offensive, first against the football industry
and then switched to hand-knotted carpet industry of Sialkot in Pakistan. The
issue raised was employment of child labour in both these industries.
As a result both the industries
suffered when a large number of international importers not only banned import
of these items from Pakistan, especially footballs, but there were reports that
many orders in the pipeline were cancelled too.
Similar situation sprung up a
decade or so ago when some reports emerged in international media regarding
high level of contamination in the sea waters within Pakistan’s limits. As a
result the fisheries industries suffered a great blow and the best quality fish
and prawn were found being sold at throw away prices throughout the country,
mainly in Karachi, because the international orders were cancelled.
I would avoid mentioning the use of
‘Polio Campaign’ to find elusive terrorists! However, this time a report
submitted by a Pakistani researcher, funded by a French Professor, published in
the ‘Science Advances’ Journal is likely to lend a serious blow to the
agricultural exports from Pakistan, especially rice!
And now as if our own government’s
‘cruelties’ towards the farmers were not enough to destroy the agricultural
sector, which once had been the backbone of national economy, this scientist
has come up with a research article in this international magazine, raising
concerns regarding presence of arsenic in water way above the acceptable levels
set by the WHO.
If substantiated further and
exploited by those who are always looking for a flaw to hit our interests, this
offers an excellent opportunity to exploit as by using this report they can hit
Pakistan’s agricultural and fruit exports, especially rice, which obviously
needs a lot of water.
But there are some shocking aspects
in this research, published by Syed Ali Musstjab Ali Akbar Shah Eqani. He drew
his conclusions and put some 6 million people all over the country at ‘high
risk’ on the basis of only 1,148 water samples collected and tested from all
over Pakistan!
As against it, there is another
similar survey underway, being conducted by Dr Abida Farooqi, the Assistant
Professor with the Department of Environmental Sciences of the Quaid-e-Azam
University (QAU).
The focus of this survey by Dr
Abida Farooqi is the province of the Punjab alone. And her team has collected
16,000 samples from selected districts, declared vulnerable, so far. The
results of her survey, so far, show that 80 per cent of samples are safe while
20 per cent have shown presence of arsenic in those.
She says that out of these 20 per
cent, in which arsenic is found, 10 per cent carry 10 micro grams of arsenic,
which is declared safe in accordance with the standards laid down by the World
Health Organisation (WHO).
She also claimed that the level of
contamination up to 50 micro grams is considered safe in the developing and
underdeveloped countries. She is sceptical as to why this Pakistani researcher
has published such a research paper in an international magazine which will
raise serious concerns about water contamination in Pakistan.
“The research paper published by
him will not help the people of Pakistan but will definitely reflect adversely
on Pakistan’s agri exports,” Dr Abida was of the opinion. Just like most of the
young children, who were working in the football and carpet industry, learning
skills and earning at the same time, were kicked out of the factories and were
left to beg in the streets and roads or get engaged in some other industry as
unskilled labourers!
We heard that the Senate of
Pakistan has already taken up the matter and has rejected the findings of the
research report published in the ‘Science Advances’ journal. But the matter is
of far serious concern for the whole country and needs much more than just a
rejection of the Upper House of the Parliament.
How about setting up an inquiry
committee to investigate the matter, not only to confirm the authenticity of
the ‘Research’ and the methods used for the purpose as well as the motives behind
carrying out such a research in such a hasty manner?
https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/229609-There-is-much-more-in-Research-than-meets-the-eye
Fragrant basmati rice adds floral component to
eastern dishes
MICHELE ANNA
JORDAN
FOR THE PRESS DEMOCRAT | September 12, 2017,
12:27PM
Basmati rice, grown primarily in India and Pakistan, is one of the world’s most
fragrant rices, a quality that blossoms during a year of post-harvest aging.
Oliver’s Markets carries a brand of this rice
from India, called Himalayan Pride. It comes in a 5-pound reusable cloth bag.
This long-grained rice cooks up perfectly fluffy, is delightfully fragrant and
is delicious on its own, in congee, and as a foundation for some of the world’s
best rice dishes, such as India’s biryani.
There is a perception that brown rice is always
preferable — especially nutritionally — to white rice, but not everyone agrees.
Brown rice is harder to digest than white and has a pronounced nutlike flavor
that is delicious but not suited to all dishes, which is to say that it is not
a good idea to simply substitute brown rice when white rice is called for, no
matter how many web recipes tell you it’s just fine. It’s not.
Brown rice, which requires much longer cooking
than white rice, should be appreciated for its own qualities and seasonings and
other additions should support these characteristics. It is not quite the blank
canvas that white rice can be.
Tune in next week for an exploration of brown rice,
red rice and black rice.
___
Although there are a lot of ingredients in this
dish, it is not difficult or particularly time-consuming to make, especially if
you are not in a rush.
It’s not the sort of dish you want to throw
together on a busy weeknight — but if you like to cook on Sundays, you can
enjoy it on Monday and maybe even Tuesday if you’re not feeding more than a
couple of people. It keeps well.
If you are feeding a larger group, this makes
an excellent contribution to a potluck, especially one where there will be a
lot of vegetarians.
Vegetable Biryani
Serves 6 to 8
1 cup small cauliflower florets
1 cup small broccoli florets
1 small sweet potato, peeled and cut into thin
half rounds
2 medium carrots, preferably white or pale
yellow, peeled and cut into thin half rounds
5 tablespoons clarified butter
— Kosher salt
1 teaspoon white mustard seeds
1 large onion, peeled, trimmed and grated on
the large blade of a box grater
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
2 teaspoons ground turmeric
½ to 1 teaspoon ground cayenne or other ground
hot chili, to taste
1 tablespoon coriander seeds, crushed
1/2 teaspoon cardamom
— Black pepper in a mill
1 14-ounce can coconut milk, to taste
5 cups cooked basmati rice (from about 11/2
cups raw rice), cooled
½ cup raisins
¼ cup diced dried apricots
½ cup roasted and salted cashews
4 tablespoons fresh mint, very thinly sliced
4 tablespoons fresh cilantro leaves, minced
— Several saffron threads
½ cup vegetable stock, preferably homemade
1 cup plain whole milk yogurt or raita (see
Note below)
— Homemade or commercial chutney of choice
Preheat
the oven to 350 degrees.
Put the
cauliflower, broccoli, sweet potato and carrots into an ovenproof pan, drizzle
with about 2 tablespoons of the clarified butter, toss, season with salt and
set in the oven. Roast until the vegetables are just tender when pierced with a
fork or bamboo skewer, about 20 minutes. Remove from the heat.
Meanwhile,
put the remaining clarified butter into a heavy skillet set over medium heat,
add the mustard seeds to the skillet, cook 2 minutes, add the onion, reduce the
heat and cook until soft and fragrant, about 10 minutes.
Add the
garlic and sauté 2 minutes more. Season lightly with salt, stir in the ginger,
turmeric, cayenne, coriander, cardamom and several generous turns of black
pepper.
Stir in
the coconut milk, cover the pan and simmer 15 minutes, until the coconut milk
has thickened.
Fold in
the roasted vegetables.
If the
coconut milk has not thickened, simmer uncovered over high heat for 3 to 5
minutes.
Put the
rice in a large bowl and use a fork to fluff it. Add the raisins, dried
apricots and cashews and toss gently but thoroughly. Add half the mint and half
the cilantro leaves and toss again.
Put the
saffron into a small bowl and pour the stock over it; set aside briefly.
Spread
the rice over the bottom of a baking dish, spoon the vegetables on top and
drizzle stock over everything. Cover the dish tightly with aluminum foil and
bake until it is sizzling hot, about 20 minutes.
Remove
from the oven and let rest, covered, for about 10 minutes.
To
serve, divide among individual plates and garnish with the remaining mint and
cilantro. Serve immediately, with yogurt or raita and chutney alongside.
Note:
Raita is a common condiment in India and is very easy to make at home. It can
be as simple as minced cucumbers, salt, pepper and plain yogurt. For raita
recipes, visit “Eat This Now” at pantry.blogs.pressdemocrat.com.
___
This
dish, a long time favorite, is inspired by a Turkish dish I came across many
years ago in a tiny basement restaurant on the Upper East Side of New York
City.
It was
so delicious that I returned to the restaurant the night after my first visit
to enjoy it again and to attempt to deconstruct it. This version comes quite
close.
Minted Rice with Lamb & Chickpeas
Serves 4 to 6
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small yellow onion, minced
4 garlic cloves, minced
1½ pounds lamb meat, cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes
— Kosher salt
— Black pepper in a mill
2 cups meat stock, boiling hot
1½ cups basmati rice
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 cup boiling water
1 cup cooked chickpeas
— Zest of 1 lemon
3/4 cup fresh spearmint leaves, cut into very
thin strips
¼ cup minced fresh Italian parsley leaves
¼ cup minced fresh cilantro leaves
1
cup plain, whole milk yogurt
Heat the olive oil in a large heavy sauté pan
set over medium-low heat, add the onion and sauté until soft and fragrant,
about 15 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté 2 minutes more. Transfer the onion
mixture to a small bowl, increase the heat to medium and brown the lamb evenly
on all sides.
Season with salt and pepper, add the meat
stock, reduce the heat to low and simmer the lamb very gently until it is
tender, about 40 minutes.
Stir in the cooked onions and garlic, the rice,
the red pepper flakes, and the boiling water, cover the pan, and simmer until
the rice is almost tender and nearly all of the liquid has been absorbed, about
10 minutes.
Stir in the chickpeas and the lemon zest, cover
the pan and continue to cook until the liquid is completely absorbed and the
rice is fully tender.
Remove from the heat and let sit, covered and
undisturbed, for 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork, stir in the spearmint, parsley
and cilantro, taste, adjust the seasonings and transfer to a serving platter.
Garnish with lemon wedges and enjoy right away,
with yogurt alongside.
Michele Anna Jordan hosts “Mouthful, Smart Talk
About Food, Wine & Farming” on KRCB FM on Sunday evenings at 6 p.m. Email
her at michele@micheleannajordan.com.
http://www.pressdemocrat.com/lifestyle/7399140-181/fragrant-basmati-rice-adds-floral?artslide=0
Hybrid
rice scientists from China arrive to train local scientists
ISLAMABAD
(APP): A group of Chinese agriculture experts, comprising 12 hybrid rice
scientists, arrived here Tuesday to train local scientists and farmers on
hybrid rice cultivation technologies to improve per acre crop productivity. The
Chinese scientists are scheduled to train 30 Pakistani agriculture scientists,
selected from all the four provinces. Besides, they will also impart training
to the members of the provincial field extension departments on hybrid rice
cultivation. They would also organize road-shows and field visits across the
rice-growing areas to address the issues and challenges in promotion of hybrid
rice seed. In this regard, a ceremony was held at National Agriculture Research
Center, which was attended by the Special Assistant to Prime Minister, Nasir
Iqbal Bosal, Agriculture and Economic Councilor of Chinese Embassy Dr Wang and
Chief Executive Officer of Yaun Longping Hi-tech Company limited China.
The
Ministry of Commerce Peoples Republic of China is the main sponsor of the
initiative, where as Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC) and
Agriculture Innovation Programme are also collaborating in promoting the hybrid
seed technologies.
Addressing
the event, Chinese Agriculture and Economic Councilor said that it was the
first bilateral initiative, aiming to enhance per acre rice yield by promoting
hybrid rice techniques in Pakistan.
Under
the programme, he said that private sector companies of both the countries
would cooperate to promote the hybrid rice production that would almost double
the per acre crop yield.
He
further said that hybrid rice technologies would help to enhance per acre crop
output, besides increasing farm income and reduce the poverty.
The
hybrid rice technology would also bring revolution in Pakistani Basmati rice
production, which was famous all over the world for it taste and aroma.
Addressing
the event CEO of Yaun longping High-Tech Agriculture Company Limited China said
that the training course was designed in accordance with the requirements of
local farmers. She said that the training course would include lectures and
field visits for active participation of local farming community for the better
results.
Speaking
on the occasion, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on National Food Security
said that government was determined to promote agri sector of the country. He
informed that rice crop was cultivated over 2.7 million hectares and was the
second major staple food crop of the country, adding that the Chinese expertise
would help to enhance the local crop output significantly.
He
hoped that the bilateral cooperation in agri-sector would bring the positive
results and further enhance the crop output by minimizing the inputs.
Chairman
PARC stressed the need for bringing innovation and introducing mechanized
farming to make the local produces more competitive in international markets.
Meanwhile,
Member Plant Sciences Dr Anjum Ali informed that the aim of the training course
on hybrid rice was to educate the local farming community about the hybrid
technology and seed selection for achieving maximum per acre yield
http://nation.com.pk/business/13-Sep-2017/news-brief
Sushi-making
robots a sweet success
A machine dispenses sushi at the Suzumo Machinery Co factory in
Kawashima, Saitama prefecture, Japan.
SEP 13, 2017, 5:00 AM SGT
TOKYO • Mr Kisaku Suzuki, creator
of the world's first sushi robot, once ran a company that made candy- wrapping
machines. And he was angry.
Why had the Japanese government
embarked on a policy to limit rice production, effectively paying some farmers
to keep their paddy fields idle? For Mr Suzuki, rice was the sacred heart of
the country's economy. He started to think about how to make the staple food
more popular so that Japan had no reason to restrict the crop.
And that was when it came to him:
He would use his firm's knowledge of candy-packaging machines to develop the
robot. The idea, while off-the-wall in the mid-1970s, had a simple premise.
If he could lower the cost of
making sushi by mechanising parts of the process and reducing the need for
highly paid chefs, he could bring the previously elite Japanese dish to the
masses and, in doing so, increase the demand for rice.
Four decades later, Suzumo
Machinery Co's robots are used by about 70,000 customers around the world,
ranging from sushi chains to factories, and account for about 70 per cent of
the market for the equipment at restaurants, according to Suzumo's estimates.
Kaiten sushi, also known as
conveyor-belt sushi, has become a US$6-billion (S$8-billion) industry in Japan
alone, partly thanks to Mr Suzuki's invention.
Cheap sushi "couldn't have
happened without our machines", says Mr Ikuya Oneda, who succeeded Mr
Suzuki as Suzumo president in 2004, a year before the founder died.
When Mr Suzuki started to create
his robot, he met resistance. In 1976, sushi was still largely a food for
special occasions. It was mostly sold through a legion of small restaurants,
where artisan chefs dispensed morsels with no price tags and charged what they
saw fit.
Not surprisingly, those chefs
were up in arms when they heard about Suzumo's plan. In their view, it took 10
years to train someone to make sushi. No machine could possibly do the job.
Suzumo asked some of the people
it was trying to depose to give their opinions on the prototype. "They
said, 'This is no good, this is terrible, I don't know what this is,'"
said Mr Oneda, 73, who became chairman of the company this year.
After three years, Suzumo was
nowhere near its goal and running out of cash. Company officials feared
"the company would go down the tubes", Mr Oneda said. "We
thought about quitting."
Suzumo stuck with the task and,
two years later, the sushi chefs said the machine was usable. In 1981, the
company completed its first robot, which formed sushi rice into balls called
nigiri. These days, it offers 28 different sushi machines.
"What they've done is allow
kaiten restaurants to democratise and make good Japanese food affordable and
accessible," says Mr Robin Rowland, chairman and chief executive officer
of Yo, a British sushi chain with almost 100 restaurants globally. "We
serve seven million guests a year. You're talking about 500 to 600 dishes on
our belts in Britain. It's a lot of food. You need to automate some of
that."
But so many years later, the
machine debate still rages on. For purists, if you use robots, it just is not
the same."It's an entirely different genre," says chef Yoshikazu Ono,
son and heir of Jiro Ono, the chef featured in the 2011 documentary Jiro Dreams
Of Sushi.
"Sushi isn't just balls of
rice. The process is the most important thing. It requires relentless practice
to make just one piece of sushi rice - things like how you select, prepare and
cook the rice. You can't get that from a robot."
Already, about three-quarters of
Japanese say when they eat sushi, it is from a conveyor belt, according to a
survey published by fishery company Maruha Nichiro Corp in March. Almost half
of them choose which restaurant to go to based on price.
Michael Booth, a food writer
whose latest book, The Meaning Of Rice, is set for publication next month, sees
room for both types.
"I want everyone to get a
chance to taste what amazing sushi from Jiro is like because it's a different
experience," Booth says. "But then again, cheap, mass-produced sushi
is like the entry drug into the sushi world and that can be a good thing too."People
are exposed and may become curious as to what great sushi tastes like.
http://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/food/sushi-making-robots-a-sweet-success
REI Agro goes
in for liquidation
REI Agro claims to have 22 per cent
share in the world's basmati rice market
REI Agro, a firm that claims to have
22 per cent share in the world’s basmati rice market, has gone in for
liquidation after the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) ordered it to do so.
The company, which sells Rain Drops basmati rice, said in a BSE filing that
insolvency professional Anil Goel is the official liquidator of the
company.
It said the board and key managers
have lost their powers and all employees have been discharged of their duties.
REI Agro’s insolvency case had been admitted by the Kolkata bench of the NCLT
in March. The NCLT can order liquidation if a firm fails to bring to the table
a resolution plan within six months of admission of the case.
The company ended FY16 with losses of Rs
1,076.13 crore. Its standalone turnover for that year was Rs 521.79 crore.
According to the annual report, it owed 22 banks an amount of Rs 4,745.24 cr.
It has also not provided interest on loans availed from banks and financial
institutions. The firm’s slowdown started when it began facing liquidity
crunch. Due to the shortage of working capital funds, processing units were
running with marginal capacity and production was suspended in many plants
during the year under review.
The annual report also showed that it
attempted to restructure itself. However, banks rejected the plan proposed by
the company. It also said several banks had initiated action against the
company under the SARFAESI Act.In 2015, it became a sick company after it filed
an application with the Board of Industrial and Financial Restructuring.
http://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/rei-agro-goes-in-for-liquidation-117091400032_1.html
International Rice Leadership Class Announced; Heading South
STUTTGART, ARKANSAS -- The Rice Leadership
Development Program recently selected the 2017 International Rice Leadership
class. To be eligible for the international class, applicants must have
completed the traditional two-year Rice Leadership Program and be active
members of the rice industry. "One very important factor in the
selection process is how the Leadership Development alumni have put their
leadership training to use in serving the rice industry since graduating,"
said Charley Mathews, an alumnus of the program and the current chairman of The
Rice Foundation, the organization overseeing the Leadership Development
Program. "The number and quality of applicants this year was great
and shows the graduates' engagement and commitment to the industry."
"This year's international session will be held in
November in Nicaragua and Colombia, the first is a once large market for us
that we would like to see return, and the second a thriving market that is an
excellent example of what happens when effective trade policy and promotion
converge," said Mathews.
Class members are: Jonathan Hobbs from Jefferson, LA; Mike Martin
from Bernie, MO; Christian Richard from Kaplan, LA; Dr. Tim Walker from
Memphis, TN; and Fred Zaunbrecher from Duson, LA.
The Rice Leadership Development Program is sponsored by John
Deere Company, RiceTec, Inc, and American Commodity Company through The Rice
Foundation and is managed by the USA Rice Federation.
Indonesian rice
miller dreams of better days
“Ahok has nothing to do with us Medan Chinese.
Our city has always been safe and harmonious. Even in 1998, yes, we had some
incidents, but nothing like Jakarta. We all live peacefully here.” Pak Darwin,
a Chinese Indonesian, is a 48-year old rice miller in Sunggal, a suburb of the
North Sumatran capital.
Speaking in Bahasa Indonesia with a
spattering of Hokkien, the Teochew businessman is unsentimental when referring
to the controversial, jailed former Governor of Jakarta, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama
(“Ahok”).
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I point out the incredible progress
made in cities like Jakarta under Ahok and Surabaya in East Java under its
dynamic mayor Tri Rismaharini but Pak Darwin responds blandly: “The Javanese
are easier to manage. Here in Medan, you have Bataks, Melayus, Javanese,
Chinese, Indians. How are you supposed to handle them all?” With more than 2
million residents, Medan is Indonesia’s fourth-largest city and the most
populous outside of Java. It is also one of the most diverse places in the
Republic, with a 34% Batak (most of them Christian), 33% Javanese, 10.65%
Chinese, 8.6% Minangkabau, and 6.59% Malay ethnic breakdown. This diversity has
meant that uniting Medan’s different communities can be a daunting task.
Indeed, despite its substantial
population, North Sumatra lacks the political weight of similarly-sized
Javanese provinces (Banteng and Jakarta). With its fractured populace, the
region’s leaders have often found it difficult to lobby for development funds.
These challenges are glaringly evident in the city’s terrible roads and
infrastructure issues.
Pak Darwin’s family has been milling rice in
Medan for three generations. Their operation may not last for a fourth. “My
grandfather came from China and bought this land for a rice mill. My father
continued the business and then passed to me. This land is my family’s
heritage.” Pak Darwin is a man of few words. With his signature lime-green hat
and towel around his neck, Pak Darwin (or “Ah Kheng” as he is called by his
friends) walks me through the rice production process. “You start by buying
paddy from the ‘tengkulak’ (agent), who collects it from farmers all over. We
buy it at IDR4200 a kilo.”
“Then you dry the rice in this
machine for 10 hours. If the dryer is full, we leave the paddy out in the sun
to dry”, he explains, gesturing towards a hulking machine two storeys tall.
“The dried paddy is then sent to another machine, which removes the husks.
Then, a sifter separates the rice and husks into different containers. We keep
the husks to give to farmers as fertilizer.” “Finally, we take the rice and
package it into sacks of 5,10,15, or 30 kg each, then sell it to distributors
at IDR9000 a kilo.
Vendors sell it at the market at IDR9500 a
kilo.” Walking around the factory, I am struck by the cacophony of sounds.
There is the constant hum of whirring machinery, bags of rice slamming against
the hard floor, shuffling as the rice gets sifted, and Pak Darwin’s occasional
shouts to his 15 workers. It’s a bustling place and more than once I had to
swerve to avoid a rushing worker pushing a wheelbarrow of rice.
Producing 30 tons of rice a day, working from
8:00am to 5:00pm, the end product is delivered to markets all around Medan and
within a 150km radius of the city. It all seems very impressive, but Pak Darwin
still feels increasingly left behind. “I can’t compete with the big players.
They have so much capital and they can hold huge stocks of rice and wait out
the market. People are also buying a lot more imported rice from Thailand and
Vietnam nowadays. Their rice tastes better and is cheaper”, he says
matter-of-factly.
A father of two daughters, Pak Darwin has
begun to think about the future. He has 4 sisters and a 30-year-old younger
brother who helps him with the business. I ask him what hopes he has for his
children. “It’s up to them. But not this. There is so much ash and dust in the
factory. It’s hot, stuffy, and hard labour.” “It’s important for me to give
them education. I send my two daughters to private school so they can learn
English and Mandarin every day. These two languages are equally important, so
they can have a future outside of this mill.” What happens then to the mill, to
their family heritage?
“I would rather give my daughters
money than pass them the business. Let them do what they want, not work in a
mill. It’s been in my family three generations now, but…” His words trail off
and he doesn’t finish his sentence. I get a sense however, that if he could,
Pak Darwin would stay with the familiar. Pak Darwin doesn’t dream of traveling
to far-off lands or escaping the factory life. He tells me that he’s happy
here, like his father and grandfather before him. But the world around him is
changing rapidly.
His sanguine outlook is perhaps
reflected North Sumatra’s relatively slow progress over the years. Traveling to
the rice mill in Sunggal from my hotel, I was struck by the city’s backwardness.
While Medan has a toll road from the main Kualanamu airport all the way to
Tebingtinggi, it’s easy to forget all that as I navigate the bumpy congested
roads. As multimillion dollar projects like renovations to the Medan port and a
refurbished airport in nearby Silangit dominate the news, it’s important to
remember people like Pak Darwin in Sunggal, who still struggle with basic
infrastructure woes.
A local journalist explains: “There
is a serious lack of public transport. If the situation continues, in 10 years
Medan will have worse traffic than Jakarta. The capital's transport system is
improving every day with many new projects, while in Medan, the government
hasn’t paid much attention to basic infrastructure and facilities." With
gubernatorial elections looming next year, can Medan and by extension North
Sumatra shake off its political funk? As the infrastructure improves
significantly in Java, this once-thriving corner of the Republic could fall
behind forever unless things change.
http://news.abs-cbn.com/blogs/opinions/09/14/17/indonesian-rice-miller-dreams-of-better-days
The Cranberry Marketing Committee
and USA Rice Announce the Next Great Cranberry-Rice School Foodservice Recipe
Leadership is an overused word, and is often misused. We like
this definition.
Director of Nutrition for
Jackson County, GA Wins $500 National Recipe Concept Contest
Wareham, MA (PRWEB) September 13, 2017
The Cranberry Marketing
Committee (CMC) and USA Rice collaborated at the 2017 School Nutrition
Association Annual Nutrition Conference in Atlanta to seek out the next great
cranberry-rice foodservice recipe. After receiving numerous unique and trendy
recipe ideas, the CMC and USA Rice are excited to announce that Debra Morris,
director of nutrition of Jackson County Schools in Jefferson, GA, has won the
$500 recipe contest grand prize for her black bean, cranberry and rice shaker
salad recipe.
Representing two American food staples, the CMC and USA Rice
challenged foodservice professionals at the conference to think outside the box
and share their most creative recipe concepts combining these two versatile
ingredients.
“We were thrilled to see the diverse and imaginative entries we
received this year,” said CMC Executive Director Michelle Hogan. “Cranberries are
America’s Original Superfruit® and are a healthful addition to school menus
year-round. With cranberries and rice being on the USDA’s Foods Available List,
both are easily accessible by foodservice professionals to incorporate in their
school menus.”
Morris has been working in foodservice for five years and loves
the joy that comes from knowing that she played a pivotal role in promoting
lifelong healthy eating habits for children and their families. “Rice and
cranberries have always been a staple in our household and both add delicious
taste and texture,” said Morris. “The tangy, yet sweet taste of cranberries is
a perfect complement for rice.”
Morris will also serve as a consultant in developing her concept
into a tested, creditable school foodservice recipe.
“We were excited to partner with the Cranberry Marketing
Committee because cranberries and rice make a perfect combination that isn’t
always top-of-mind,” said USA Rice Director of Domestic Promotion Katie Maher.
“From savory pilafs to sweet rice puddings, the possibilities of combining rice
and cranberries are endless and who better to hear from than those on the front
lines of planning and preparing school lunches.”
Morris said shaker salads are a way to appeal to children and
stay up with current food trends. “Shaker salads are very popular in the retail
food circuit and on the home front with the popularity of mason jars,” she
said. “In school nutrition, we are constantly looking for ways to offer trendy
and familiar items on school menus.”
Hogan added, “We couldn’t be more excited to work with
foodservice professionals directly and are excited to add this new delicious
recipe to our dedicated foodservice website for schools across the nation to
use on their menus.”
The full creditable recipe will be available on
CranberryFoodserviceUSA.com later this year.
About the Cranberry Marketing
Committee (CMC)
The CMC was established as a Federal Marketing Order in 1962 to ensure a
stable, orderly supply of good quality product. Authority for its actions are
provided under Chapter IX, Title 7, Code of Federal Regulations, referred to as
the Federal Cranberry Marketing Order, which is part of the Agricultural
Marketing Agreement Act of 1937, as amended. This Act specifies cranberries as
a commodity that may be covered, regulations that may be issued, guidelines for
administering the programs, and privileges and limitations granted by Congress.
For more information about the CMC, visit http://www.uscranberries.com.
Follow @USCranberries on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.
About USA Rice
As the global advocate for all segments of the U.S. rice industry, USA Rice’s
mission is to ensure the health and vitality of a unified U.S. rice industry by
advocating on behalf of farmers, millers, merchants, and allied businesses. USA
Rice conducts programs here and around the world to educate lawmakers,
policymakers, consumers, and foodservice professionals about sustainably-grown
U.S. rice. Each year, U.S. rice farmers produce approximately 18 billion pounds
of short, medium, and long grain rice, as well as organic and specialty
varieties including jasmine, basmati, and Arborio among others.
Modern Trukai
rice mill nears completion
•
BY: Carolyn Ure
09:58, September 14, 2017
Trukai Industries’ long-term plans for a sustainable commercial
rice industry in PNG have taken a leap forward as a new state-of-the-art paddy
rice mill in Lae nears completion.
With the Trukai Industries rice mill maintenance team working
alongside Vietnamese industrial & agricultural machinery company, Bui Van
Ngo, installation of the Paddy Rice Mill is now in full swing, with expected
completion before the end of September.
In recent months, the rice mill maintenance team has been preparing
the area for construction, including upgrading services, installing infeed
equipment, ensuring good manufacturing practice standards, organising the
fumigation area and refurbishing office space for the new rice mill.
The mill has a maximum production capacity of an incredible 240 ton
per week, though output will be limited by how much rice can be grown at this
stage.
Trukai has laid down their blueprint to grow the local rice farming
industry exponentially over the next decade and beyond.
Trukai Industries general manager for agriculture, Jarrod Pirie,
said the new rice mill was another foundation being laid to establish a genuine
local rice industry.
“The mill is being developed to be future-ready for when local
farmers are producing rice at a greater rate than at present, which will
happen,” he said.
“Year-on-year that growth is being displayed on the ground through
the industry’s investment in technology and training with local farmers,” Pirie
added.
Food ‘Moonshot’ Steers Future of Research
Wed, 09/13/2017 - 8:37am
Lee-Ann
Jaykus, professor in the department of food, bioprocessing and nutrition
sciences at North Carolina State University, speaks with former Ph.D. student
Hari Dwivedi. Photo: NCSU Communications
The climate is changing. Crops
are becoming more vulnerable to diseases and pests. Natural resources like soil
and water are diminishing. Obesity rates are rising.
These are just some of the most
pressing food and agriculture-related issues the world is currently facing, and
will continue to battle in the coming decades. As these issues continue to afflict
more people, the need for transformative, inter-disciplinary solutions also
becomes even more crucial.
As a result, the National
Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine have called on a diverse group
of scientists to accomplish an ambitious and complex task: identify the
greatest scientific opportunities that will help revolutionize the way food is
grown and consumed.
The initiative, called “Science
Breakthroughs 2030: A Strategy for Food and Agricultural Research,” resembles a
“moonshot” of sorts—it includes a similar concept and methodology as former
Vice President Joe Biden’s “Cancer Moonshot,” which aims to accelerate cancer
research, develop new therapies and find ways to prevent cases of cancer all
together. The basis of both of these moonshots is large collaborations among a
variety of experts to ensure specific challenges are being analyzed from every
possible perspective.
“The goal is to develop a
compelling scientific strategy for food and agricultural research for the next
decade and beyond that would stimulate transformational change in the food and
agricultural system by catalyzing new research directions and partnerships,
attracting new research talent, stimulating entrepreneurial activities,
increasing funding opportunities, and ultimately opening new paths to a safe,
healthful, and sustainable supply of food and fiber,” wrote the National
Academies.
If successful, the Breakthroughs
2030 initiative could act as a catalyst for a Green Revolution 2.0—bringing
new, innovative techniques and tools to food production.
An interdisciplinary approach
The initiative is co-chaired by John Floros, dean of the College of Agriculture
and director of research and extension at Kansas State University, and Susan
Wessler, professor of genetics at UC Riverside and home secretary for the
National Academy of Sciences. In addition to Wessler and Floros, the study
committee is made up of members and study staff that represent about 15
different fields—ranging from economics to nutrition sciences.
The committee has been tasked
with addressing four main questions:
1. What
are the greatest challenges that food and agriculture are likely to face in the
coming decades?
2. What
are the greatest foreseeable opportunities for advances in food and agriculture
science?
3. What
fundamental knowledge gaps exist that limit the ability of scientists to
respond to these challenges as well as take advantage of the opportunities?
4. What
general areas of research should be advanced and supported to fill these
knowledge gaps?
To help accomplish this, the
group has encouraged the public and other researchers around the country to
submit their input, ideas, tools and expertise to a platform called IdeaBuzz.
The committee also has a timeline of meetings set throughout the rest of the
year to discuss the IdeaBuzz submissions, as well as other tasks.
The first committee meeting was
held on June 14, followed by a “town hall” and second committee meeting on
August 8. Both meetings were open to the public. The August meeting discussed
some of the ideas and white pages submitted to the IdeaBuzz discussion
platform.
The next event is scheduled for early October, which is being referred to as a
week-long “jamboree.” About 70 nominated scientists will be invited to
elaborate on their ideas and techniques that could potentially be applied to
help solve the identified food and agriculture challenges.
Following the “jamboree,” there
will be two more study committee meetings, which will be closed sessions.
Once the committee has answered
the four questions, they will produce a consensus report that outlines their
recommendations for future research directions. They will highlight their
recommendations in the context of how these ideas will lead to a sustainable
food supply, improved public health, strengthened natural resource base, and
creation of new jobs. It will be anonymously peer-reviewed before being
released to its sponsors and the public.
The final report is expected to
be released in the spring 2018.
‘Realistic, but ambitious’
The $1.2 million initiative is funded by the SoAR Foundation and the Foundation
for Food and Agriculture (FFAR), with the support of the National Institute of
Food and Agriculture of the USDA, as well as nearly 20 other organizations.
Lee-Ann Jaykus, professor in the
department of food, bioprocessing and nutrition sciences at North Carolina
State University, and scientific director of the USDA-NIFA Food Virology
Collaborative (NoroCORE), identified some of the reasons why this initiative is
needed now.
She noted that the funding
climate nationally for science is changing, and researchers are facing less
funds and more competition for science in general, not just agriculture.
“This is timely in terms of
promoting the fact that research is necessary for many aspects of our lives,
but in this case for the sustainability of agriculture and a healthy, safe food
supply,” Jaykus told Laboratory Equipment.
According to Robert Easter, SoAR
Board Member, USDA research funding has declined 18 percent since 2003.
Jaykus also reiterated a similar message as what is stated in the mission of
Breakthroughs 2030—the emergence of new issues in food and agriculture is
multi-faceted, and will likely only get worse over time.
“If you’re going to address a
multi-faceted problem, you need to do it in an interdisciplinary manner,”
Jaykus noted. “There are a lot of tools that are emerging in different
disciplines that have not necessarily been embraced by agriculture, but they
have both relevance and potential for high-impact,” Jaykus said. “Part of
our charge is to investigate these new tools—whether they be genomics, big
data, next-generation sequencing—because they could have a really significant
impact in solving these major problems.”
Scientists
from Queensland University of Technology developed a biofortified banana (top)
with orange flesh high in pro-vitamin A. Photo: QUT
Gene editing
Genomics is one field that has been applied to food production for decades now,
but progress has been slow, and consumers have been hesitant to accept modified
products.
Golden rice, for example, has
been touted as a promising way to nourish populations in low-income
nations—particularly in Africa and Asia—where families are not getting enough
iron, zinc, vitamin A and other much-needed nutrients on a daily basis to stay
healthy.
Efforts to grow a sustainable and
nutritious crop in these much-needed areas have been disappointing so far. But
in August, researchers from ETH Zurich announced a breakthrough that could be a
game-changer for nearly half of the world’s population who rely on rice to meet
their daily caloric needs.
Until now, all previous golden
rice varieties had only one micronutrient. But the ETH Zurich team was able to
create a line that has a combination of several micronutrients in one plant.
The plant holds sufficient levels of iron and zinc, plus higher levels of
beta-carotene in the endosperm of the grain compared to normal varieties.
Scientifically, the success was
the engineering of a gene cassette containing four genes for the micronutrient
improvement that could be inserted into the rice genome as a single genetic
locus.
“This has the advantage that
iron, zinc and beta-carotene levels can be simultaneously increased by genetic
crosses in rice varieties of various countries. Otherwise it would be necessary
to cross rice lines with the individual micronutrients to reach the improved
micronutrient content in rice grains,” the researchers explained in a
university press release.
The lines are still in testing
phases, but they will continue to improve and potentially be tested in a field
as early as next year.
Another recent success in editing foods was reported by Queensland University
of Technology researchers in July. A group, led by James Dale, professor at the
Institute for Future Environments, took a gene from a banana that originated in
Papua New Guinea, which is naturally very high in pro-vitamin A, and inserted
it into a Cavendish banana.
Over the course of a decade, the
researchers tested hundreds of different genetic variations in the lab and in
field trials in Queensland, Australia until they achieved optimal results.
The focus of the project, which
received $10 million in funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation,
was to boost the nutritional content of bananas specifically grown in Uganda,
where the fruit is a major dietary staple.
Dale said 650,000 to 700,000
children worldwide die from pro-vitamin A deficiency each year, with another
several hundred thousand going blind. By creating the biofortified banana, the
plant could drastically reduce these statistics.
The “super genes” have been sent
to Uganda in test tubes where they have been inserted into native Ugandan
bananas to see how they handle field trials there.
These types of successes are
encouraging, but typically take decades-worth of trial and error until the
optimal strain is developed. Utilizing new techniques that come out of the
Breakthroughs initiative may expedite the process.
Developing a strategy
The term “transformative” quickly became a resonating theme during discussions
at the first public committee meeting in June. The committee also emphasized
that their system-based approach needs to keep in mind the consumer-behavior
aspect when considering potential solutions to challenges. Scientists may have
an innovative approach, but if consumers aren’t willing to adopt it, the effort
will prove unsuccessful.
“People have been calling for a
10-year vision, or a compelling set of research directions that Congress, the
public and the scientific community could get behind and unify around,” said
Robin Schoen, Director of the Board on Agriculture and Natural Resources at
National Academy of Sciences.
According to Schoen, the study is
not designed to give a review of any research programs, make any organization
or policy recommendations, or even promote more allocated funding—it is devoted
specifically to the science.
“There’s a lot of pressure on the
system at a time when it is expected to produce more,” Schoen told Laboratory
Equipment. “And there’s a thinking that we—as an agriculture
research enterprise—may need to open itself up to the tools that exist in
disciplines that are not traditionally associated with food and agriculture.”
One field Schoen believes may
hold some promise lies within the power of big computing and data science,
which she said will one day be helpful on many different fronts—particularly
for analyzing both natural systems and synthetic ones.
As an example, Schoen explained
that big data could be used to screen soil samples from across the country to
understand how they are changing over time. This could allow researchers to
potentially manipulate the soil to make it better equipped to withstand threats
or toxins. Big data could also help narrow down what types of methods or
compounds would be the most efficient at preventing diseases in cattle and
other animals.
“You have to be thoughtful about
radical change,” said Schoen.
Precision agriculture
Many of these intriguing research avenues can be integrated into a broader
concept referred to as “precision agriculture.”
This customized approach allows
farmers to be more thoughtful about how they plant crops. It also allows
farmers to make educated decisions in preparation for, or in response to,
variables that may affect the growth of their crops, like weather or disease
threats.
The main objective of precision agriculture is to maximize crop yields while
minimizing the environmental impact, and reducing costs. This is done through
real-time data collection that enables better decision-making in regards to
when to plant, fertilize and harvest.
For example, sensors can be
placed throughout fields to measure temperature, humidity and other factors of
the soil and air. Additionally, drones and satellite images can show how an
area has changed over time, or how it responds to certain scenarios. There are
so many variables and unpredictable situations that come into play when
planting and harvesting, and precision agriculture can help farmers be more
proactive in handling these uncertainties.
Agriculture-specific drones,
which have just started to emerge in the last year or two, come equipped with
flight planning software that enables a farmer to outline a specific route the
drone should cover, making the process easy, automated and much more efficient
than ground surveys. Some drones can not only survey crop fields to help spot
problems, but they can also spray fertilizers and pesticides.
Drones can spray with more
accuracy than traditional tractors, and they eliminate the potential hazards of
exposing workers who spray the chemicals manually.
According to Global Market
Insights, the agricultural drone market will exceed $1 billion by 2024.
Some big players in agriculture
are starting to adopt new technologies like drones to boost crop yields, but
there’s still room to improve. And smaller-scaled operations may not
necessarily have the funds to do the same. For example, one of the “elite”
drones on the market is senseFly eBee SQ, which can cost more than $10,000—but
boasts the ability to capture 500 acres of footage in a single flight.
If applied on a larger scale, big
data and data science, robotics and drones and other fields could greatly
improve efficiency in the agriculture field.
“(Breakthroughs 2030) is a
tremendous opportunity to put some excellent scientists together to look at the
system as a whole and use that perspective to come up with creative ways to
address some the most pressing issues that food and agriculture are facing in
the next 10 to 20 years,” said Jaykus.
Agriculture-specific drones allow farmers to conduct
precision agriculture, a customized approach to maximize crop yields while
minimizing environmental impact.
https://www.laboratoryequipment.com/article/2017/09/food-moonshot-steers-future-research
Somewhat
Positive News Coverage Somewhat Unlikely to Affect Amira Nature Foods (ANFI)
Share Price
News headlines about Amira Nature Foods (NYSE:ANFI) have been
trending somewhat positive on Wednesday, Accern Sentiment Analysis reports. The
research group identifies negative and positive news coverage by reviewing more
than twenty million news and blog sources in real time. Accern ranks coverage
of publicly-traded companies on a scale of negative one to positive one, with
scores closest to one being the most favorable. Amira Nature Foods earned a
media sentiment score of 0.14 on Accern’s scale. Accern also gave news articles
about the company an impact score of 46.2635064980095 out of 100, meaning that
recent news coverage is somewhat unlikely to have an effect on the stock’s
share price in the next few days.
Here are some of the news
articles that may have effected Accern’s rankings:
