Are US Crops Progressing Normally?

Last week's Crop Progress report indicated more or less normal gains in corn planting for the previous week and said that soybean planting is off to a pretty normal start as well.

Corn planting has been completed on 19 per cent of acres as of last Sunday.

That is well below the 25 per cent average from 2010-2014 but is actually a bit ahead of last year’s 17 per cent as of the last Sunday in April - continue reading.

Huge crop losses expected after Nepal earthquake

The recent earthquake in Nepal has very likely caused high livestock and crop losses, impacting heavily on food security. 

Some $8 million is urgently needed to help disaster-struck Nepalese farmers rapidly recover lost agricultural inputs and resume preparations for the imminent rice sowing season.

Farmers who miss the planting season that is expected to start late May onwards will be unable to harvest rice – the country’s staple food - again until late 2016 - continue reading.

Also this week...

A significant drop in commodity prices across the board is a major factor in causing a fall in the overall profitability of the farming sector in 2014, the National Farmers Union has said.

Total Income from Farming (TIFF) figures released by Defra show that, in real terms, the headline figures for 2014 fell by 4.4 per cent to £5.4 billion.

However, farming’s contribution to the UK economy, in terms of its Gross Value Added (GVA), has risen once again to reach almost £10 billion - continue reading.

~ Gemma