TheCropSite Newsletter - 10 July 2012

TheCropSite Weekly Newsletter

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Tuesday 10th July 2012.

Sarah Mikesell
Senior Editor

Editorial: Welcome to TheCropSite Newsletter

I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Dan Jacobi, DuPont Pioneer VP for ACEA (Asia Pacific, China, Europe, Africa), about what's driving DuPont Pioneer's global seed business.

He said the familiar megatrend that says we're going to have 9+ billion people on the planet by 2050 is causing DuPont Pioneer to look at and adjust how they do business.

Between increasing urbanization, rising incomes and uses of crops for other purposes besides just food on a flat base of arable land, DuPont Pioneer believes one part of the solution to feeding our growing global population that they can impact is to double agricultural productivity.

"We see that of the population increases, 90 per cent will come from Africa and Asia," he said. "But today, food production doesn't match that - so in effect, populations are moving east, but food production has not. That's the prime challenge and opportunity we have in front of us."

As for doubling agricultural productivity, Jacobi said that doesn't mean we're going to see 600 bushel per acre corn in the US.

"I think it means we're going to see 100+ bushels per acre in Africa, and we're going to see 150 or 160 bushels per acre in China," he said. "We're going to need all that to get where we're going, plus we are going to have to address waste."

DuPont Pioneer doesn't believe that we can feed the world enough food, and the right kind of food in 2050, by simply improving our yields per hectare.

"We're going to have to increase yields, of course; but we're also going to have to improve infrastructure, sustainability and food quality; we're going to have to address food waste. The philosophical piece is that none of these are mutually exclusive. You have to do them all," he said.

Watch TheCropSite.com over the next several weeks to read my series of articles about DuPont Pioneer's global seed business. The series discusses DuPont Pioneer's opportunities in China, Africa and the Pacific Rim as well as global biotech acceptance.

Have a great week!

This Week's Articles and Analysis

Maintaining Competitiveness with Today's High Grain Prices
The availability of cheap feed grain for many years influenced the structure of the beef cattle industry and the types of production systems used in very fundamental ways. These impacts are only just now being truly recognised as the industry struggles to adapt to an economic environment that appears to have fundamentally changed and the changes appear to be permanent, writes Derrell S. Peel, Professor of Agribusiness and Extension Livestock Marketing Specialist at Oklahoma State University.

Improving Energy Use Key Challenge for World’s Food Systems
Agriculture’s heavy dependence on fossil fuels is undermining the sector’s ability to feed the world, perpetuating poverty and undermining efforts to build a more sustainable world economy, FAO said.

Most New Pesticides Roots Are in Natural Substances
Scientists who search for new pesticides for use in humanity's battle of the bugs and other threats to the food supply have been learning lessons from Mother Nature, according to a new analysis.

Wastewater Reuse, What's Left Behind in Soil
The reuse of treated wastewater has become a valuable resource in arid regions around the world, with water being reclaimed for a variety of purposes including irrigation, surface release, and groundwater recharge.

New Research Finds Unique Crop Diversity, Struggle to Save It
Nestled within the Sierra Juarez Mountains in the Mexican state Oaxaca is the small village of Santa María Jaltianguis, its 600 residents relying on farming as their primary occupation.

Market Reports