Scientists use rice cultivation to preserve soil in Florida’s everglades agricultural area
Rice was grown in the Everglades Agricultural Area for a brief period in the 1950s, but it was limited to about 2,000 acres (800 hectares).
Then came the discovery in Florida of a rice virus called hoja blanca, or white leaf, which stunts the plants or even kills them. This virus was first reported in the late 1950s in Colombia and Venezuela.
Rice made a comeback in Florida in 1977 after growers in the Everglades Agricultural Area demonstrated that it could be grown in sugarcane fields during the summer fallow period from May to August – when it is too hot and wet in South Florida to grow vegetables. By this point, the hoja blanca disease was under control, and new resistant varieties of rice had been developed.
| Pakistan: area, seed requirement and seed availability (Metric Tonnes) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crop | Sowing Area (000 Hectare) | Total SeedRequirement | Seed Availability* | |||
| Public | Private | Imported | Total | |||
| Wheat | 8,923 | 1,101,991 | 49,330 | 462,049 | 0 | 511,379 |
| Cotton | 2,077 | 41,048 | 386 | 25,601 | 0 | 25,986 |
| Paddy | 3,070 | 45,618 | 1,940 | 45,641 | 4,448 | 52,029 |
| Maize | 1,337 | 33,012 | 9 | 7,141 | 17,521 | 24,676 |
| Pulses | 1,185 | 42,674 | 681 | 6,017 | 0 | 6,699 |
| Oilseeds | 830 | 4,100 | 9 | 1,305 | 367 | 1,681 |
| Vegetables | 280 | 8,400 | 13.3 | 89 | 2,160 | 2,262 |
| Fodders | 2,038 | 61,140 | 0.5 | 12,068 | 16,304 | 28,372 |
| Potato | 166 | 415,000 | 0 | 0 | 2,807 | 2,807 |
| Total | 19,905 | 1,752,983 | 52,369 | 559,916 | 43,606 | 655,891 |
Wheat spreading on production adjustments
Wheat showing losses in the winter wheat contracts at midday, with spring wheat feeling some strength. Chicago SRW futures are down 5 to 7 cents. Kansas City HRW contracts are down 7 to 9 cents. MPLS spring wheat futures are posting 1 to 3 cent gains following a production cut.
USDA’s Crop Production report from this morning showed a drop to overall US wheat output of 26 million bushels to 1.982 billion bushels. Most of that was due to a smaller spring wheat crop, down 34 mbu from the July report, with durum down 13 mbu. Winter wheat production was up 20 mbu from the previous month, mainly from HRW and white.
Overall, the tighter crop did shrink the US balance sheet by 28 mbu to 828 mbu. On the world side, the carryout was down 0.62 MMT, as a 2 MMT reduction to the EU production was offset by a 2.1 MMT increase to Ukraine and 1 MMT to Australia.
OPEC’S oil output jumps by 185,000 bpd
OPEC’s crude oil production jumped by 185,000 barrels per day (bpd) in July compared to June as top producer Saudi Arabia boosted output, Iraq continued to pump well above its quota, and Iran also raised supply, the monthly OPEC report showed on Monday.
Total crude oil production from all 12 OPEC members averaged 26.75 million bpd last month, up by 185,000 bpd from June, with output rising in the Middle Eastern producers Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Iran, according to OPEC’s secondary sources which the cartel uses to track output from individual states.
OPEC’s crude oil output was estimated by the Reuters monthly survey early this month at 26.70 million bpd in July, up by 100,000 bpd from June, due to higher Saudi supply and small increases from other producers, including Iraq.
U.S. natural gas producers to cut production
Major U.S. natural gas producers are preparing to further curtail production in the second half of 2024, after prices sank nearly 40 percent over the past two months.
U.S. natural gas output will average around 103.3 bcfd this year, the Energy Information Administration said in its August edition of the short-term energy outlook report.
Milk production may lead to more human infections of bird flu
Public health officials continue to monitor the spread of bird flu, with it passing from chickens to cows to humans.
A new study found the virus can linger on milking equipment for up to an hour, putting farmworkers at risk. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention described the risk to humans as low, given the absence of human-to-human transmission but the new study suggested dairy workers are particularly vulnerable to infection.
A handful of those working near cows have become infected but there have not been any positive cases in the Badger State.
India’s imports of pulses likely to fall in fy25 on good monsoon
After climbing to the highest level in more than five years to 4.7 million tonnes in FY24, India might import fewer quantities of pulses this financial year at 4-4.5 mt on the back of good monsoon and higher domestic production, Bimal Kothari, chairman of India Pulses and Grains Association (IPGA), said here on Friday.
Kothari was addressing reporters on the sidelines of a seminar on pulses titled “Bharat Dalhan-2024”.
Though imports this year might decline as compared to FY24, experts said that unless the current policies are changed, overall import of pulses might double to around 8-10 mt in the next five years.