WORLD – According to reports from the Climate Prediction Center, there is a greater than 90 per cent probability that the current El Niño will continue until the end of the year, and 85 per cent probability that it will persist into early next year. In Central America, the phenomenon has caused severe droughts in … Read more
US – In theory, grain sorghum should yield just as much as corn in Kansas, given the same amount of fertilizer and with substantially less water, according to Kansas State University agronomist Tesfaye Tesso. In practice, this has not yet happened consistently. New experimental lines in advanced testing at K-State are about to change that, … Read more
ERITREA – Harvesting of the 2014 main season crops is expected to start at the beginning of November and, according to satellite-based monitoring, production prospects in main agricultural areas of Debub, Maekel, Gash Barka and Anseba zobas are favourable. The 2014 “kiremti” rainy season had a timely onset at the end of June and, especially … Read more
BANGLADESH – Harvesting of the 2014 Aman season rice crop is expected to start in early November and continue until mid-December. Overall, rainfall between June and mid-October has been near-average over the main rice-producing areas benefiting sowing activities and crop development. However, heavy rains during the second dekad of August over northwestern and northeastern parts … Read more
SOUTH KOREA – Harvesting of the 2014 rice crop is almost complete. FAO forecasts the 2014 rice production (in paddy terms) at 5.5 million tonnes, 2 percent below last year’s good outcome. Assuming average yields, the anticipated decrease is attributed to a 2 percent contraction in plantings. The area planted to paddy has been declining … Read more
ANALYSIS – The 2012 Doane Outlook conference focused on global trends, policy and production agriculture, writes Sarah Mikesell, TheCropSite senior editor, live from the conference in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. “It’s all about China” – that was the key message of Rich Pottorff, Doane chief economist. He said without a doubt, demand from China is … Read more
GLOBAL – The global market for glyphosate is forecast to reach 1.35 million metric tons by the year 2017. Major factors driving growth in the global glyphosate market include lack of a substitution to glyphosate, growing adoption/planting of glyphosate-ready Genetically Modified (GM) crops, rising use of no-till or minimum-till systems, and expected increase in bio-fuel … Read more