Tag Archives: university
Dry Farming Grows in West; Alltech, Kentucky State Form Sustainable Agriculture Alliance
September 3, 2013 Drought conditions and hot summer months are pushing many California farmers toward dry farming — and producing more flavorful produce , NPR reports. Happy Boy Farms sales director Jen Lynne says chefs and wholesalers from around the US are increasingly placing orders for the company’s dry-farmed tomatoes, grown near Santa Cruz. She tells NPR that she could sell hundreds of 14-pound cases a day if her 10-acre tomato field could meet the demand. Lynne says dry farming will become a vital sustainable agriculture practice as water becomes less abundant in the future. Whole Foods Market in Sebastopol says customers want dry-farmed tomatoes, NPR reports. However, according to Northern California farmer Stan Devoto, turning off the water does reduce yields. His dry-farmed trees produce 12 to 15 tons of apples per acre per year compared to his irrigated trees, which produce 40 to 50 tons, NPR says. Sonoma Valley winery Old Hill Ranch says dry farming wine grapes produces only slightly lower harvest yields. Winemaker Will Bucklin tells NPR that the grapes are smaller, which means a lower juice-to-skin ratio. Meanwhile, farmers in the Texas Panhandle, squeezed for water by a three-year drought and a declining Ogallalla Aquifer, are experimenting with planting corn without watering the ground first. They are planting later in the season so they can tap the summer rain and switching to pivot sprinklers for more efficient, affordable watering. In other farming news, Nicholasville, Ky.-based animal nutrition company Alltech and Kentucky State University have formed a joint research alliance to develop sustainable farming techniques and modern farming models. Alltech will invest $75,000 per year toward research at KSU and will also provide support for KSU graduate students’ research and for demonstrations in agriculture, food sciences, sustainable systems and related fields. Alltech chief scientific officer Dr. Karl Dawson says the farming alliance aims to position Central Kentucky at the forefront of sustainable agriculture and aquaculture and will have global implications. The Alltech-KSU Sustainable Farming Alliance will operate from the KSU campus and has been established for an initial period of three years. Environmental hazards such as climate change and water scarcity could wipe out as much as $8 trillion in agriculture assets each year, according to a study published last month by the University of Oxford’s Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment. Photo Credit: Happy Boy Farms Continue reading
More Signs Of Land Price Leveling
http://www.agricultu…jpg&type=editor DANIEL LOOKER 08/30/2013 Business Editor A report to be released next week on land prices will mirror a leveling off shown this week by an Illinois study. Rabobank will release its own report, which, like the Illinois survey, will show that land prices this year are up by about 2% to 3% over a year ago, said Sterling Liddell, an economist and vice president for the agricultural lender. A survey by the University of Illinois and Illinois society of Professional Farm Managers shows the first half of 2013 with a 2.5% to 3% year-over-year increase for good to excellent land in that state. “That is consistent with what we’re seeing as well, from both the opinion perspective as well as appraisals,” Liddell told Agriculture.com in a telephone interview Friday. Bank analysts were expecting that to happen last year as well, he said. And good farmland prices were rising at about a 2% to 3% rate until the last quarter of 2012, when concerns by both sellers and buyers over looming federal tax changes added incentives to pay more for land. Sellers wanted to avoid increases in capital gains taxes. Liddell won’t be surprised if the trend continues into 2014. “If we get lower prices on this crop, then we expect to see a leveling off into next year as well,” he said. Prices could actually decline if corn averages less than $4.50 a bushel, he said. Another big factor will be higher interest rates, which will make purchasing land more expensive and also will likely strengthen the U.S. dollar, potentially making U.S. crop exports less competitive against those of Brazil and other competing nations. That would put downward pressure on U.S. crop prices. “If we have strong increases in interest rates, it will have a very negative effect on land values,” Liddell said. That applies mainly to new sales, but a significant percentage of recent land purchases are still financed by floating rate mortgages. Liddell didn’t want to generalize about all farmland loans or disclose Rabobank’s statistics on the amount of farmland mortgages that don’t have fixed rates locked in. It’s less than a majority, he said. “There are more than would make me comfortable,” he said. Mortgages with floating rates have been less costly, but when the Federal Reserve ends its quantitative easing program to hold down long-term rates, that isn’t likely to continue. “That’s something I would recommend, that farmers look at: How do they extend these low rates?” Liddell said. Continue reading
Meeting Booming Asian Pellet Demand: How Competitive Are Regional Play
CMT’s Biomass Pellets Trade & Power summit, put together with support from Premium Sponsor Pellet Association Malaysia (PAM) and Agensi Inovasi Malaysia (AIM), in Seoul, on the 09-12 September, will set the stage for deep analysis of the ground realities in pellet trade patterns, feedstocks uncertainties, sourcing strategy, sustainability initiatives and pricing dynamics in the North East Asian biomass value chain. Asian biomass markets are witnessing profound shifts in trade and feedstocks sourcing with South Korea and Japan setting the pace for China, Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia. The Korean RPS (Renewable Portfolio Standard) and the Japanese feed-in tariffs (FiTs) for biomass have been important enablers of biomass trade in the region. Despite the potential, the Asian biomass market still face an uncertain future due to diverse challenges in cultivation, sub optimal pellet capacities, price volatilities, and cross border trade shifts. Korean and Japan’s demand for bioenergy depends on competitive sourcing of pellets from global sources. Moving forward, global and regional Asian pellet suppliers will have to invent novel supply models to remain competitive. Among the panelists are Chang Joo Ok, President & CEO of Korea East-West Power Co., delivering the keynote address and Timothy Ong, interim Chairman of Pellet Association Malaysia (PAM) speaking on the new initiatives in Malaysian biomass trade. Addressing Biomass pellet trade and development of wood pellets market trends is Prof. Gyu-Seong Han from Chungbuk National University (Forest Product Marketing Center), while global trade dynamics end is covered by Nick Tsirigotis of EDF Trading. Sharing DONG Energy’s experiences in conversion of coal to wood pellets fired power plant is Jens Price Wolf and elaborating on sustainable supply strategies will be Matt Bovelander of Indufor Asia Pacific Ltd. An inside perspective on going biomass-based power generation projects from South Korea’s top power utilities, Korea Southern Power (KOSPO), Korea East-West Power (EWP), Korea South-East Power (KOSEP), Korea Western Power (KOWEPO) and Korea Midland Power (KOMIPO) allows for a rare opportunity to assess the emerging scenario. The modalities of intra-regional alliance models will be explored by JP Jaepil Song, Eco-Frontier while Philippines project status update will be provided by Michael Paik, EnerOne, Inc. Bas Melssen from Agensi Inovasi Malaysia will present an overview of Malaysia’s National Biomass Strategy 2020, International biomass pellet trade shifts will be addressed by Todd G. Bush, Green Circle Bio Energy Inc., and the Russian wood pellet market by Dr. Olga Rakitova, The National Bioenergy Union, Russia. For more information and registration contact Ms Hafizah hafizah@cmtsp.com.sg at +65 63469218 & for more details. http://www.cmtevents.com Continue reading
