Artisanal Grain Mill & Background on AB1616

Nan Kohler tells about plans for a Los Angeles artisanal grain mill and Mark Stambler tells how California's Homemade Food Act AB1616, came to be. Basic how-tos of becoming a Cottage Food Operator.

Ottevanger Milling Engineers English

Ottevanger Milling Engineers is one of Europe's leading companies in the design and manufacturing of equipment and complete plants for the grain processing and compound feed industry. Our plants and machinery are in daily use worldwide. More information at www.ottevanger.com

China to receive first corn shipments from the US

Feed mills in China bought around 120,000 metric tons of corn from the US this week, reported Bloomberg. The first purchases this year as prices recede said two industry executives with direct knowledge of the matter.

Two cargoes, each weighing 60,000 tons, are for delivery in September and October, and are priced between US$290 (€221.152) a ton and US$300 (€228.778) a ton, said the executives, who asked not to be identified as the deals are private. More sales may have taken place, the executives said, citing conversations with other traders. Read more...

Prices skyrocket on Argentinean soybeans

Argentinean corn and soybean growers have suffered irreversible damage from hot, dry weather, scuppering the country’s harvest prospects and more than likely adding fuel to the grain market rally that skyrocketed prices to multi-year highs, according to Rabobank.

Recent rainfall brought some relief to extreme dry areas, Argentina’s crops are still expected to fall short of expectations, Rabobank analysts led by Luke Chandler said in a recent report. Smaller harvests in Argentina, the world’s second biggest corn exporter behind the US, “places increased pressure on already-tight global supplies,” Rabobank said in the report. Read more...

Ukraine: Feed crops damaged by bad weather

Up to 800,000 hectares of Ukrainian winter grain crops, were destroyed by severe weather and may have to be reseeded this spring, reported the representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture.  ”Drought in autumn and a freezing winter have damaged crops in the Crimea, Sumy, Chernihiv and Kherson regions,” Tetyana Adamenko, head of the state weather forecasting centre’s agriculture department, reported.

“Two thirds of the crops killed were winter barley and one third is winter wheat,” she said. Winter wheat accounts for about 95 percent of Ukraine’s total wheat planting area. A senior agriculture ministry official said last week that no more than 400,000 hectares of winter grain crops, or up to 5 percent of the sown area, were likely to be reseeded this spring against 1.5 million hectares in 2012. Read more...

AFIA to Host FAMI-QS Awareness in Feed Safety Workshop

The American Feed Industry Association will host the workshop FAMI-QS Awareness in Feed Safety Program: Solutions for the Specialty Feed and Mixture Industry April 17-18, 2013, in Des Moines, Iowa. The program will offer useful information that will immediately impact decision-making in day-to-day operations for feed industry stakeholders.

In response to the current state of the feed industry, the task of understanding and keeping up with new regulatory requirements can be challenging. This interactive, comprehensive training course covers the regulations of the FAMI-QS program in an easy-to-understand format that will help companies achieve certification. AFIA’s International Safe Feed/Safe Food Certification Program, a third-party-verified program for ingredient facilities, also works under the same rules and scope of FAMI-QS. Read more...

Smartphone app’s new function provides daily variable rate recommendations to optimise corn yield

An agronomy firm whose smartphone application uses GPS soil testing data and National Weather Service rainfall data to estimate corn yield and determine the most limiting factor will launch a new function on the app.

The new "Solver" function from Advanced Ag Solutions LLC can provide growers and crop advisers the ability to download daily recommendations that can be used to control product rates in the field. It is part of the company's Optimiser 2.0 app, which is a finalist in the Innovation of the Year category of the 2013 TechPoint Mira awards.

Company President Daryl Starr said Solver automatically provides new variable rate recommendations every night.

Farmer & Crop Duster Perry Galloway: Monty's Agrihance on soybeans, wheat, corn, rice

General Mills sourcing program

General Mills and Häagen-Dazs today announced an initiative designed to foster greater economic vitality for smallholder vanilla farmers in Madagascar and ensure the availability of high quality vanilla for future generations.

Häagen-Dazs, the world's leading brand of super-premium ice cream, with the General Mills Foundation, will invest $125,000 over two years to benefit villages in Madagascar's Sava region, home of the world's highest quality vanilla. The commitment builds upon General Mills century-long history of working closely with farmers around the world to promote sustainable agriculture.

US Feedlots close as droughts cause ripple effect

After years of severe drought, the US the beef industry with feedlots and meatpacking plants are closing due to lack of cattle in the US. Some feedlots in the nation’s major cattle-producing states have already been dismantled, and others are sitting empty. Operators say they don’t expect a recovery anytime soon, with high feed prices, much of the country still in drought and a long time needed to rebuild herds.

The closures are the latest ripple in the shockwave the drought sent through rural communities. Most cattle in the US are sent to feedlots for final fattening before slaughter. The dwindling number of animals also is hurting meatpacker’s, with their much larger workforces. For consumers, the impact will be felt in grocery and restaurant bills as a smaller meat supply means higher prices. Read more...