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Tuesday 17th January 2012
Sarah Mikesell Senior Editor
Nutrition Enhancement, Population Drive Need for Increased Yield
Last week was our inaugural issue of TheCropSite newsletter, so for those newbies who just signed up, Welcome! We're here to provide premium crop and agricultural news that will help you make better management decisions.
Today, I wanted to share with you a few comments from a Monsanto presentation given this past fall at Farm Progress Show in Illinois, USA. Rob Fraley, Monsanto's chief technology officer, reminded farmers of the statistics we've all been hearing concerning global population and food demand - we have ~7 billion people now and our global population will continue to increase dramatically.
The interesting thing he pointed out was the part of the equation that economists missed - how much world wealth has increased. There are 200 million middle-class consumers in India, 300+ million in China, plus many millions more in the US. As our global middle-class upgrades their diet to include more meat and calories, the demand for nutrition enhancement is as great as the demand from population growth.
Most say grain quantities will have to double over the next 20 to 30 years to meet the food demand of an expected 9 billion people.
Fraley expects a little bit more land will go into production in Brazil and the Black Sea, but when you cut out farmland lost to global urbanization, the amount of land we will have to farm in the future is the same as we have today.
Fraley said the key for Monsanto is to invest in technology that will develop seed with higher yield potential because seed will play a major role in supporting global demand and feeding our rapidly increasing population.
CME Economist Upgrades 2012 US Economic Outlook
ANALYSIS - According to the CME Group's Chief Economist, Blu Putnam, US economic improvements in 2012 will start with real
GDP forecast to grow around 3.5 per cent to 4.0 per cent, writes Sarah Mikesell, TheCropSite senior editor.
Agricultural Ammonia Emissions Can Be Reduced
In Denmark, approximately 3,400 people die annually due to air pollution, according to an article in the daily newspaper Morgenavisen Jyllands.
Corn Silage Test Plot to Increase Profitability, Reduce Erosion
Corn silage is harvested from about 1.8 per cent of Iowa corn acres. Most corn silage is grown in the northeast and northwest portions of the state where the majority of dairy herds are located and is critical to the nutrition needs of these animals.
Morocco Grain, Feed Update: Positive Despite Late Start to Season
The 2011/12 grain planting season in Morocco had a late start, with the first significant rainfalls arriving towards the end of October, but despite the delay in planting, agricultural experts remain hopeful for a good grain harvest, according to the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service.
Cellulosic Biomass Could Meet California's Transportation Fuel Needs
Cellulosic biomass, a structural material in plants that can be converted into ethanol, is the only large-scale sustainable resource for producing alternative liquid fuels that can be integrated with our existing transportation infrastructure.