aliasinkhorn's favorite agriculture pages, page 1

Online nowAliasinkhorn: .Ink. is a single guy from Huntington, New York, USA.; Likes 3,860 pages, 78 videos, 338 photos • 187 fans • Received 43 reviews; Member since Nov 01, 2007

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The New York Times & Log In: Jun 5, 12:07am 1 review agriculture, food, investment
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/05/business/05farm.html; The Food Chain - Food Is Gold, and Investors Pour Billions Into Farming - Series - NYTimes.com Emergent Asset Management A cattle farm in South Africa is among the holdings of Emergent Asset Management. From the page: "Huge investment funds have already poured hundreds of billions of dollars into booming financial markets for commodities like wheat, corn and soybeans. But a few big private investors are starting to make bolder and longer-term bets that the world's need for food will greatly increase -- by buying farmland, fertilizer, grain elevators and shipping equipment. One has bought several ethanol plants, Canadian farmland and enough storage space in the Midwest to hold millions of bushels of grain. Another is buying more than five dozen grain elevators, nearly that many fertilizer distribution outlets and a fleet of barges and ships. And three institutional investors, including the giant BlackRock fund group in New York, are separately planning to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in agriculture, chiefly farmland, from sub-Saharan Africa to the English countryside. "It's going on big time," said Brad Cole, president of Cole Partners Asset Management in Chicago, which runs a fund of hedge funds focused on natural resources. "There is considerable interest in what we call `owning structure' -- like United States farmland, Argentine farmland, English farmland -- wherever the profit picture is improving." These new bets by big investors could bolster food production at a time when the world needs more of it."

Afghans swap poppies for wheat as food costs soar | World news | The Guardian: May 13, 4:18pm 1 review agriculture, afghanistan, poppies, wheat, commodities
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/may/13/afghanistan; Etna volcano rumbles back to life in Sicily An farmer sifts dust out of harvested wheat near Kabul, Afghanistan. Photograph: Ahmad Masood/Reuters From the page: "Afghan farmers hope to capitalise on soaring food costs by growing wheat instead of poppy crops, with the fall in heroin prices further fuelling the switch. The price of a tonne of wheat in Afghanistan has almost trebled this year, causing acute food shortages. A changeover of crops has begun in key agricultural regions, said Tekeste Tekie, country representative for the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation. He said a significant increase in wheat crops is expected from next year's harvest. "The high price of commodities has encouraged farmers to switch from poppy cultivation to wheat. In fact, we are already seeing evidence of this happening, for instance in the Bamian region, where some farmers have planted half wheat and half poppy crops," Tekie said. The growing season runs from November to June in Afghanistan. If wheat prices stay near their current level, supported by regional subsidies, an Afghan farmer can make up to a third more on wheat than poppy by next year's harvest, according to figures from the Ministry of Agriculture."

Climate change will boost farm output | The Australian: May 11, 5:01pm 1 review agriculture, weather, global-warming, climate-change, farming
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23681267-11949,00.html; Climate change will boost farm output AUSTRALIAN agricultural output will double over the next 40 years, with climate change predicted to increase, rather than hinder, the level of production. From the page: "In fact, Mr Keogh says, if global warming does occur, some areas such as southeast Queensland will receive more rain, and as a result will greatly benefit. Recent research has shown increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere lifts plant production by up to 30 per cent in a phenomenon known as carbon fertilisation." Which ever the discussion goes on Climate Change, there's continual news that is good as well as bad. This article is on the side of good news. Read the whole article to be sure.

The Associated Press: Vog _ volcanic smog _ kills plants, casts a haze over Hawa…: May 7, 10:41am 3 reviews agriculture, volcano, active-volcano, vocanic-eruption
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gAZ8zB9AM756uRRnvQ9xTzpBRRfQD90FOQV00; Vog _ volcanic smog _ kills plants, casts a haze over Hawaii From the page: "Kilauea on the Big Island has been erupting continuously since 1983. But in mid-March, a new vent formed at the summit, giving Kilauea two large sulfur dioxide outlets instead of one. Sulfur dioxide, a pollutant that is also generated by burning coal and oil, can lead to asthma and other respiratory illnesses and aggravate lung and heart disease. When combined with dust and sunlight, it makes vog. Mixed with atmospheric moisture, it produces acid rain. Exceptionally thick gray-white vog has hovered over parts of the Big Island for weeks, particularly those areas downwind of the crater. The wind has blown vog to Oahu, some 200 miles to the north, bathing Honolulu in a light haze. (The vog is no threat to the U.S. mainland, some 2,500 miles away.) Some crops are doing fine. Coffee and macadamia nuts, two of the Big Island's mainstays, appear unaffected. Koa and ohia trees are healthy, but eucalyptus leaves are turning brown, as are Asiatic lilies."

Newsvine - Biggest grain exporters halt foreign sales. By Javier Blas in London,…: Apr 16, 1:35pm 1 review agriculture, sales, kazakhstan, export, wheat, grain
http://larryh.newsvine.com/_news/2008/04/16/1434074-biggest-grain-exporters-h...; Biggest grain exporters halt foreign sales. "The global food crisis intensified on Tuesday as Kazakhstan, one of the world's biggest wheat exporters halted foreign sales and rice prices shot to a record high after Indonesia stopped its farmers from selling the grain abroad."

USA 2008: The Great Depression - Americas, World - The Independent: Apr 1, 6:58pm 15 reviews agriculture, food, us, food-stamps, price-index
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/usa-2008-the-great-depressio...; The handwriting was on the wall. A great power turned its back on the hard earned lessons of its grand-parents' era - and pampered and babied itself beyond its means. A nation of intelligence became a country of stooges. From the page: "Food stamps are the symbol of poverty in the US. In the era of the credit crunch, a record 28 million Americans are now relying on them to survive - a sure sign the world's richest country faces economic crisis." And as the price of everything goes up, and budgets strain, the Congress is waiting to increase taxes after the the elections.