Brazil: The World’s 21st Century Breadbasket

Brazil has for centuries been known as a leading producer and exporter of the world’s breakfast foods – orange juice, coffee, sugar and cocoa. But over the past 2-1/2 decades since the opening of the economy to foreign investment, Latin America’s largest economy has also become a leading producer of important grains and meats, through

U.S. Must Lead Fight Against Hunger — Bill Gates

Billionaire Bill Gates knows how to end the poverty and hunger that afflicts nearly one billion people worldwide – help them grow more food. At a food security conference May 24, Gates called for U.S. leadership in a global campaign to expand food production. Agriculture ministers of the Group of 20 major developing and emerging


Emerging Fast-Food Nation Indonesia Props Up Wheat Market

Indonesia will be crowned top Asian wheat importer this year, as higher incomes turn Southeast Asia’s largest economy into a fast-food nation and help to keep global prices on the boil. As affluent Indonesians turn away from rice, their country is vying with Japan to be Asia’s leading wheat buyer, while the latter battles economic

Carrying Capacity Is Not Just About Numbers

Assessing the carrying capacity of your pasture is about more than just stocking rate. Calculating the carrying capacity of the land will help you stock to a level that maintains the health and productivity of both the land and the animals that feed on it. But how do you make that calculation? The 13 participants


U.S. Hog Farms Drive Growth With Genetics, Husbandry

U.S. hog producers are using genetics, modern farm housing, and animal husbandry to maximize pork production without greatly expanding costs for feed and barn construction, industry sources said. With global demand for food growing quickly and production land limited or even shrinking, pressures are mounting to produce more with the same or less throughout agriculture.

The Business Of Sustainability In Dairy

Sustainability may be the new buzzword in agribusiness, but it’s not a simple subject. Dairy Farmers of Canada guest panellists provided delegates to the annual conference held in Winnipeg July 12 and 13 with three perspectives on sustainability. According to Petra Kassun- Mutch, founder of Fifth Town Artisan Cheese Company in Ontario, sustainability isn’t just


Tight Year-End Stocks Forecast

Canada’s Agriculture Department slashed its production forecast for wheat, but raised its canola outlook July 5, while warning that overall crop stocks will drop to a record low this summer. Agriculture Canada cut its harvest estimate for all wheat to 24 million tonnes from June’s forecast of 25.5 million tonnes. Canola production rises to a



Crop Report – for Jul. 14, 2011

SOUTHWEST REGION There was minimal rainfall in the southwest region over the past week. Producers took advantage of the drier weather to plant greenfeed and spray unseeded land. Winter wheat crops are heading and majority of fungicide applications have been completed. The crop looks to be average. Fall rye is heading and looks to be

Subsidies, New Methods Lift Zambian Farm Yields

Peasant farmer Joseph Mhlanga proudly points to the pile of maize or corncobs in his modest house: a good crop for him that is part of Zambia’s bumper harvest this year. “This is my maize from this year. I plan to start shelling it soon,” said Mhlanga, a spry 76-year-old retired schoolteacher who farms a