Corn Crisis

Once again the State interferes in the marketplace and prices jump on commodities exchanges.

In the U.S. George Bush announced subsidies for bio-fuels not once but twice in State of the Union addresses.

And while he talked about switchgrass and other waste material based biomass, no funding opportunities have been created to subsidize this.

Instead bio-fuel announcements have fed the monopoly agribusiness oligopolies like ADM, who specialize in corn and wheat based ethanol production.

In Canada part of the Governments Green Plan and its efforts to undermine the Wheat Board was to announce subsidies for ethanol production.

While the only existing wheat straw based bio-fuel company in the world with new technology, remember that new technology that the government talks about is going to solve the global warming crisis, can't find anywhere to pedal its technology in Canada and is looking for investors. Just as its American counterparts are.

Meanwhile in Mexico tortilla prices have skyrocketed on ethanol speculation as corn is transformed from a basic food stuff into a fuel for financial speculation.

In Canada and the United States the increase in corn speculation has led to higher costs for pig farmers.

Bio-fuels are not a green solution, in fact they are not ecological at all, but a way to subsidize big Agribusiness like ADM and the financial markets. The only green about them is greenbacks.

And their impact on climate change and global warming will be minimal since they only blend with existing fossil fuels not replace their use.

Last year Mexico had the largest corn harvest in its history – more than twice as much as in 1980. Yet the price of tortillas has doubled and in some regions tripled over the past few months.

Corn is a key ingredient in poultry feed because of its high energy yield and increasing demand for ethanol has nearly doubled the price of corn over the past year. Corn futures on the Chicago Board of Trade traded in the $2.20-per-bushel range one year ago; now they go for over $4.00. Corn is also an important component in hog feed. However, Hormel was able to keep costs in check in this area because it uses outside farmers to raise hogs, unlike its turkey operations, which are in-house. This deflected some of the higher costs to the contractors, explained Agnese

An explosion in U.S. production of corn-based ethanol has strained supplies of the grain for human and animal consumption. Making ethanol from inedible feedstocks such as bagasse, grasses, and agricultural waste could be a better way, but commercial success has been elusive despite years of efforts.

In fact, in the fall of 1998, Celunol, then called BC International, announced plans to build a cellulosic ethanol plant in Jennings with Department of Energy assistance. The plant was never built, a spokesman says, because the company wasn't able to secure the rest of the financing.

Today, Celunol has competition in the race to build the first cellulosic ethanol plant. The enzymes company Iogen operates a small wheat-straw-based facility in Canada and is scouting locations for a larger plant.

Kansas became America’s top wheat grower, regularly producing close to one-fifth of the country’s total harvest. With their sheaves of wheat, called shocks, stacked upright everywhere in the fields to dry, wheat became so ingrained in the Kansas mind-set that Wichita State University adopted the name Shockers for its mascot.

But in the last two decades, farmers have increasingly turned to corn and soybeans, which need nearly twice as much water.

“That part of the state is going to be out of water in about 25 years at the current rate of consumption,” said Mike Hayden, the secretary of the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks and a former Kansas governor.

See

Real Costs of Bio-Fuels

Conrad Black and ADM

Bio Fuels = Eco Disaster

GMO News Roundup

BioFuel and The Wheat Board

The Ethanol Scam: ADM and Brian Mulroney

ADM

Wheat Board

Farmers

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GrainVi$ion

Just googling around and I found this little item about the Wheat Board from the folks that want to kill it. It was addressed to Ralph Goodale and is from 2005. Clearly what the Liberals would not grant them Chuck Strahl has. And if you notice from the signatories, they are all Joe and Jane prairie family farmer. Not.

They really should have called their lobby GrainVi$ion. And why would these folks like to dismantle the Wheat Board well...Wheat Board Kicks 1.6 Billion Into Economy Annually And wouldnt that money be better in these guys pockets. They think so.

GrainVision

The CWB has recognized that changes are coming and has begun an internal restructuring
review. GrainVision maintains that it is essential that everyone with a stake in the industry
participate in restructuring decisions in the industry. A fundamental in-depth review of the grain marketing system in Western Canada needs to occur and cannot only include, or be led by, the CWB. We cannot support closed-door, internal, and unilateral CWB reforms that do not considerthe needs and views of the entire industry.

Substantial deregulation is necessary to ensure the industry’s long-term prosperity and sustainability.

The federal government must play a key role in guiding and implementing the
transition to a more commercial and flexible system that fits within the trading environment of the future.

This is particularly relevant in light of the government’s Smart Regulation initiative
that recognizes that we cannot continue to do things as they have always been done.
GrainVision signatories (attached) urge your Government to immediately initiate broad based, transparent, comprehensive, and inclusive consultations on the transition to a marketing system that:

a) Can adapt to a new trading environment;
b) Encourages the development of value added processing, niche marketing, and
closed loop identity preservation systems; and
c) Fosters innovation, investment, and development.

This is an urgent matter, as adjustments must begin without delay. GrainVision representatives
would like to meet with you within the next two months to discuss these important issues.
We will be contacting you shortly to arrange meetings.

Signatories
Agricore United
Alberta Barley Commission
Alberta Chambers of Commerce
Alberta Grain Commission
Alberta Rye and Triticale Association
Canadian Chamber of Commerce
Canadian Federation of Independent Business
Cargill Canada Inc.
Grain Growers of Canada
Graminae of Canada
Hayhoe Mills
Husbands Foods
Inland Terminals Association of Canada
James Richardson International Ltd.
John DePape Ltd.
Linnet - The Land Systems Company
North East Terminal Ltd.
Pike Management Group
Pioneer Hi-Bred Limited
Prairie Pasta Producers
Rahr Malting Canada Ltd.
Saskatchewan Canola Growers Association
Western Barley Growers Association
Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association
Western Pasta Growers
Weyburn Inland Terminal Ltd.
Winnipeg Commodity Exchange Inc.

See:

Wheat Board

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Wheat Boom

Wheat prices have gone through the roof.

Wheat prices have broken through all-time record levels, fuelling concern consumers could soon be paying even more for bread, baked goods, beef, chicken, eggs, beer and a range of products exposed to grain prices.

As has barely and it had nothing to do with the Harpocrites phony plebiscite to break up the Wheat Board.

Prices for barley — a major livestock feed and a key ingredient in beer — also continue to break records.

Jason Craig, acting senior trading manager with WA grain group CBH, said yesterday forward cash prices for the coming barley harvest had swept to $325 a tonne for feed barley and $336 for malt barley this week.

That is a jump of nearly $20 since Tuesday and $70 in the past three weeks, mainly due to problems in Ukraine, a big supplier to Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest feed barley importer.

“We have never seen prices like this,” Mr Craig said. “This is unknown territory.”

The global harvest of summer wheat has begun while spring wheat planting begins. But production estimates are down. Meaning an increase in prices.

Farmers in western Canada may harvest their smallest wheat crop since 2002 because of reduced planted acreage and unfavorable weather, a government survey shows.

Production of all varieties of wheat by farmers in the four western provinces may be 18.7 million metric tons, 16.5 percent less than the 22.4 million tons harvested last year, Statistics Canada said today. The report is based on a survey of 17,300 farmers between July 27 and Aug. 5.

Wheat is all set to see a price rise following the International Grains Council’s announcement that the carryover stock of the cereal is bound to witness a fall in 2007-08.

According to a report by the council, global 2007-08 wheat carryover stocks will fall to a 28-year low of 111 million tonnes.

Global wheat output this year is seen at 607 million tonnes, up 16 million tonnes from last year, but down 7 million tonnes from the council’s previous estimate due to lower output in European Union and Canada, the report issued said.

Lower output has pushed up global wheat prices, leading to lower consumption of the cereal as feed. As a result, global wheat demand is also seen lower at 614 million tonnes, down 3 million tonnes from the Council’s last estimate in July.

Although much of the reduction in the world crop estimate is offset by lower consumption, forecast of wheat stocks at the end of 2007-08 are placed 2 million tonnes lower than previously, at 111 million tonnes, the smallest since 1979-80, with those in the five major exporters (Argentina, Australia, Canada, the EU and the US) expected to be especially tight, the report said.

And even the Commodities markets; including wheat and barley, were affected by America's sub-prime meltdown. Far more than by Chuck Strahl's illegal plebiscite on barley.

Also supporting prices was a slowdown in the selling by investors that had been prompted by declines in global equity markets, McDougall said. Investors sold commodity futures last week to cover losses in other markets on concerns that tightening credit might slow economic growth.

Wheat and barley shortfalls have affected prices more than the Harpocrites illegal attempt to strip malt barley sales from the Wheat Board. Which they contended was the case for the increase in the barely price. Which it wasn't.



SEE:

Death of the Family Farm

Slap Upside The Head

Barley B.S.

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BioFuel and The Wheat Board

Is there a connection between the Harper announcement promoting bio-fuels and the push to kill the Wheat Board. Why of course there is. Its called Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) who is a shareholder in Agricore the Alberta based Wheat and Barley exchange, and they are the largest processor of bio fuels. They also have Brian Mulroney as a board member. This article is from the U.S. but note the conclusion

Ethanol's roots in ADM lobbying

Grist features the origins of U.S. government subsidies for ethanol fuels and their benefits to Acher Daniels Midland (ADM) and its former CEO Dwayne Andreas (the man who provided the $25,000 for the Watergate 'plumbers'). Includes links to the 1995 Cato Institute study of Carter administration support to ADM, as well as this year's study by the International Institute for Sustainable Development, Biofuels - At What Cost? (Oct. 25, 2006).

The latter estimates federal support for ethanol to total between $5.5 billion and $7.3 billion each year, and the benefits to ADM which (according to the article) contols about 1/3 of the ethanol market.

The article suggests that the federal government could do more to fight greenhouse gases (GHG) if it used the money to buy carbon offsets. Of course, that's not the administration's goal in supporting ADM and ethanol, is it?

How cash and corporate pressure pushed ethanol to the fore | By Tom Philpott | Grist | Main Dish | 06 Dec 2006

Also check out this World May Be Facing Highest Grain Prices in History

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Which Priority Is This?

The destruction of the Canadian Wheat Board.

"Canada's new government campaigned on the idea that western Canadian wheat and barley producers should have a choice about whether to market their products through the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB). AAFC: Ministerial Statement Following a Meeting with Farmers

Oh really which priority was that?! There was no such a debate. There has been the Reform/Alliance front to destroy the Wheat Board. Creating a dual marketing situation will leave Wheat and Barley farmers to face this;BSE halts US plans to boost Canada beef imports



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Death of the Family Farm

As I have written here before, the push to end the Wheat Board comes not from Johnny and Janey Canuck the family farmer who goes to work in order to keep their farm afloat, but from the corporate millionaire farmer the modern face of agri-business.

His neighbours are not fellow farmers, they are competition he would like to eliminate.

"Nearly all large scale-farmers would say take away the monopoly," says Gary Pike, a Calgary-based agricultural consultant whose clients include many of the country's most successful growers. "There's a fundamental belief [among the public] that the board is bringing a big premium for farmers, but full-time farmers can pick off opportunities much better than the wheat board," he said. "They can take their marketing into their own hands."

Mr. Doerksen is a good example of what he's talking about. Something of a rarity today, Mr. Doerksen is a prosperous farmer. At a time when more than half of prairie farmers are either losing money or barely breaking even, the 32-year-old university graduate has annual revenues in excess of $1-million and takes three holidays a year. Last winter, he took his family to Costa Rica.

He has a degree in agriculture and regards his farm as a business as opposed to a livelihood. He's at home in the arcane world of agricultural futures, and he's equally adept at building relationships with customers. He recently bought a fleet of trucks as a way to provide better service to the food companies that buy his lentils and other non-wheat board crops.

The corporatization of farming in Canada continues supported by the Harper government.

Long-term farming decline continues

Thousands more farms and farmers disappeared through the first half of this decade, continuing a steady long-term decline that began six decades ago.

But thanks to increases in efficiency, the size of farms and government support, the value of their produce has increased, and increased more than their costs.

Those are among the key findings of Statistics Canada's "Snapshot of Canadian Agriculture" from its 2006 census, released Wednesday, that also revealed there are more "million dollar" farms than when the previous census was conducted in 2001 but also more farmers working off the farm to supplement their farm incomes, especially in the economically booming Western provinces.

Farms, meanwhile, got bigger, with the average size increasing eight per cent to 295 hectares from 273, leaving the amount of land devoted to farming in Canada virtually unchanged at just over 67.6 million hectares.

While Canadians often think of Canada as a major agricultural nation, Statistics Canada noted that a comparison with seven other countries that have conducted a farm census over the past decade revealed that Canada "despite its size has by far the smallest proportion of total land that is agricultural at only 7.3 per cent, mainly because of soil quality and the nature of the Canadian climate and terrain."

And Canada had the third-smallest amount of land devoted to farming of the eight, which included the U.S., Britain, France, China, Brazil, Australlia, and Argentina.

Still, Canada's farmland was increasingly productive.

Meanwhile, the proportion of farms with inflation adjusted gross receipts of $1 million or more increased to 2.6 per cent of all farms in 2006 from 1.8 per cent, and those "million-dollar" farms accounted for more than a third of all farm receipts.

Hog farms were the most likely to be "million dollar" farms, with 18 per cent of them falling into that category, followed by poultry and egg farms. In contrast, only two per cent of field crop farms, which are the most common in Canada, were.

Two-thirds of farms, or most, had gross receipts of between $250,000 and $1 million.

However, just 55.8 per cent of farms earned enough to cover their costs.

"Million dollar" farms were the most likely to cover their costs - 86 per cent did. However, more than one quarter of the smallest, with receipts of less than $25,000, also did, mostly fruit and vegetable farms, or greenhouse, nursery and floriculture operations, and many of them located in urban areas.

Still, nearly half of all farm operators also worked other jobs or businesses, up from just under 45 per cent in 2001, with 20.2 per cent working more than 40 hours in other jobs. Slightly fewer were working full time on the farm - 46.7 down from 47.7.

Report highlights

LIVESTOCK
- Hog farming accounts for only 2.6 per cent of all farm operations but 18 per cent of hog farms report gross receipts of more than $1 million.
- The number of beef farms declined even though the number of head of cattle increased. BSE knocked many farms out of business while surviving farms had to keep cows longer since they could not be exported.
- Fewer chickens are laying more eggs to meet consumer demand.
- Turkey farming increased and birds are getting bigger.

CROPS
- The census found a shift from annual crops like wheat and barley to perennial crops such as alfalfa.
- Wheat, hay and canola are the top three crops grown in Canada.
- Blueberries beat out apples as the biggest fruit crop for the second consecutive census.
- Grape production for use by wineries grew by almost 15 per cent
- The area used for vegetable production decreased nearly 7 per cent.
- Sweet corn is the most popular vegetable, grown in almost one quarter of the total vegetable area.
- For the first time, maple sap was produced west of Ontario.

ORGANIC FARMING
- The census counted both organic farms and for the first time farms transitioning to organic, which is why the numbers jumped from 2,230 to 15,511 farms or 6.8 per cent of all farms.
- Field crops are the dominant organic product.

See:

Global Farmers Fight Back

Farmers Reject Phony Plebiscite

Farmer John Exploits Mexican Workers

Corn Crisis

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Bio-Fuel B.S.

Another excellent post on the real story behind bio-fuels.

Biofuels: The Five Myths of the Agro-fuels Transition

The agro-fuel transition closes a 200-year chapter in the relation between agriculture and industry that began with the Industrial Revolution. Then, the invention of the steam engine promised an end to drudgery. However, industry’s take-off lagged until governments privatized common lands, driving the poorest peasants out of agriculture and into urban factories. Peasant agriculture effectively subsidized industry with both cheap food and cheap labor. Over the next 100 years, as industry grew, so did the urban percentage of the world’s population: from 3% to 13%. Cheap oil and petroleum-based fertilizers opened up agriculture itself to industrial capital. Mechanization intensified production, keeping food prices low and industry booming. The next hundred years saw a three-fold global shift to urban living. Today, the world has as many people living in cities as in the countryside. [10] The massive transfer of wealth from agriculture to industry, the industrialization of agriculture, and the rural-urban shift are all part of the “Agrarian Transition,” the lesser-known twin of the Industrial Revolution. The Agrarian/Industrial twins transformed most of the world’s fuel and food systems and established non-renewable petroleum as the foundation of today’s multi-trillion dollar agri-foods complex.

The pillars of the agri-foods industry are the great grain corporations, e.g., ADM, Cargill and Bunge. They are surrounded by an equally formidable phalanx of food processors, distributors, and supermarket chains on one hand, and agro-chemical, seed, and machinery companies on the other. Together, these industries consume four of every five food dollars. For some time, the production side of the agri-foods complex has suffered from agricultural “involution” in which increasing rates of investment (chemical inputs, genetic engineering, and machinery) have not increased the rates of agricultural productivity—the agri-foods complex is paying more and reaping less.

Agro-fuels are the perfect answer to involution because they’re subsidized, grow as oil shrinks, and facilitate the concentration of market power in the hands of the most powerful players in the food and fuel industries. Like the original Agrarian Transition, the present Agro-fuels Transition will “enclose the commons” by industrializing the remaining forests and prairies of the world. It will drive the planet’s remaining smallholders, family farmers, and indigenous peoples to the cities. It will funnel rural resources to urban centers in the form of fuel, and will generate massive amounts of industrial wealth.

See

Real Costs of Bio-Fuels

Conrad Black and ADM

Bio Fuels = Eco Disaster

GMO News Roundup

Lost and Found

Boreno is Burning

Agribusiness

Desertification

BioFuel and The Wheat Board

The Ethanol Scam: ADM and Brian Mulroney

ADM

Wheat Board

Farmers


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Ban Me Too

Funny that the Federal Department of Agriculture is banning progressive bloggers, while a staff member at the Alberta Government Department of Agriculture was caught emailing nasty "you're all commie pinkos" comments to the Canadian Wheat Board.

Of course progressive bloggers have been defending the Wheat Board, and we wouldn't want our blogs subverting federal civil servants.




SEE:

Slap Upside The Head

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Real Costs of Bio-Fuels

The Green Party strongly supports the development of biofuels

But at what cost? The death of the Wheat Board so that the big agribusiness corporations that are producing bio-fuels, like Archer Daniels Midlands, can gain more state subsidies

And increase the profits they make as the market price for grain increases in response to market speculation on state funding of bio-fuels.

Not for farmers of course, but for the big agribusiness buyers and sellers, who also dominate the bio-fuels market.

"The Wheat board's marketing efforts are worth $500 million a year to farmers,"
said Green Party leader Elizabeth May. "The question is why is Stephen Harper so intent on selling out Canadian farmers to agricultural conglomerate like Cargill and ADM?"

The answer is Bio Fuels, which the Green Party supports. The problem is that they are not economical, without massive state subsidies. And the Green Party knows that.

Major food processors like Cargill and Archer Daniels Midland Company are investing heavily in biofuels. On the energy front, Chevron and BP are pouring millions into biofuels production or processing.

Ethanol is the best reference biofuel when discussing options for biodiesel support. In the last 3 years, Canadian ethanol capacity has grown from 175 million litres to 1.2 billion litres. To initiate the rapid growth of a Canadian ethanol industry, the government of Canada provided $123.9 million in capital subsidies to corporations during the first two rounds of the Ethanol Expansion Program ethanol production has increased as a direct result of the capitalization assistance

"Ethanol Production Update"

Currently, 110 grain ethanol biorefineries have the capacity to produce more than 5.3 billion gallons of ethanol ethanol. An additional 79 (81 according to their latest update of their list) construction projects are underway that will add nearly 6 billion gallons of new ethanol production capacity.

Archer Daniels Midland remains the largest producer with 1,070 mgy of capacity at six sites and 275 mgy under construction or planned. VeraSun comes in second and US Bioenergy third, each with less than half of ADM's capacity.

And the biggest critcs of the biofuel hoax are environmentalists, not political opportunists like May and her Party.

Biomass for biofuel isn't worth it

Although Pimentel advocates the use of burning biomass to produce thermal energy (to heat homes, for example), he deplores the use of biomass for liquid fuel. "The government spends more than $3 billion a year to subsidize ethanol production when it does not provide a net energy balance or gain, is not a renewable energy source or an economical fuel. Further, its production and use contribute to air, water and soil pollution and global warming," Pimentel says. He points out that the vast majority of the subsidies do not go to farmers but to large ethanol-producing corporations.

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Consultation

What do the Income Trusts and the Wheat Board have in common? The New Conservative Government failed to consult the stakeholders involved before deciding to take arbitrary action; taxing the Income Trusts and dismantling the Wheat Board. Repeat after me; open, transparent, accountable.



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SANCTIONS, WHAT SANCTIONS?!

India considers wheat imports from Russia at discount to calm prices-sources


Aftab Ahmed and Rajendra Jadhav
Thu, August 17, 2023

*

India may seek up to 9 mln tons of Russian wheat-source

*

Russia offering discounted wheat price - source

*

Indian wholesale wheat prices at 7-month high


NEW DELHI/MUMBAI, Aug 17 (Reuters) - India is in talks with Russia to import wheat at a discount to surging global prices in a rare move to boost supplies and curb food inflation ahead of state and national elections next year, according to four sources.

The imports would allow New Delhi to intervene more effectively in the market to drive down wheat prices that stoked inflation to a 15-month high in July.

"The government is exploring the possibility of imports through private trade and government-to-government deals. The decision will be made cautiously," one of the sources told Reuters, when asked about wheat imports from Russia.

India has not imported wheat through diplomatic deals in years. The last time India imported a significant amount of wheat was in 2017, when private traders shipped in 5.3 million metric tons.

The government's plan to import Russian wheat is one of the supply-side measures being considered to bring down prices of key commodities like fuel, cereals and pulse along with an extension of rural schemes to ease the impact of inflation on the poor, two of the sources with knowledge of the matter said.

Sources did not want to be named as the discussions are private and the final decision might be weeks away. India's finance, trade and government spokespersons did not reply to emails and messages seeking comment.

Last month, Sanjeev Chopra, the most senior civil servant at the federal food ministry, said there was no proposal to import wheat from Russia.

LOW WHEAT STOCKS

Although India needs only 3 million to 4 million metric tons of wheat to plug the shortfall, New Delhi might consider importing 8 million to 9 million tons of wheat from Russia to have a far bigger impact on prices, another source said.

Since the war in Ukraine last year, Russia has become India's second biggest seller of goods mainly on account of discounted oil purchases by New Delhi.

"Russia has indicated its willingness to offer a discount on prevailing market prices. There are no restrictions on the export of food commodities from Russia," one official said.

India is also importing sunflower oil from Russia and settling payments in U.S. dollars and is planning to use the same approach, the official added.

"India can easily secure a discount of $25 to $40 per ton from Russia. This will ensure that the landed cost of wheat remains significantly below local prices," said a dealer based in Mumbai with a global trade house.

Wholesale wheat prices in India surged around 10% over two months to a seven-month high in August on limited supplies.

Wheat stocks at government warehouses were at 28.3 million tons on Aug. 1, 20% below the 10-year average.

Last year, India banned wheat exports due to lower output, and this year's crop is also expected to be at least 10% lower than the government's estimate.

(Reporting by Aftab Ahmed and Rajendra Jadhav; Additional reporting by Mayank Bhardwaj; Editing by Sonali Paul)

Ukraine reports new attack on grain silos but cargo ship sets sail

By Pavel Polityuk
Updated Wed, August 16, 2023

KYIV (Reuters) -Ukraine said Russia had attacked its grain storage facilities overnight, but a container ship left the Black Sea port of Odesa on Wednesday despite Moscow's threat to target shipping after it abandoned an export deal.

In the Russian capital, five sources said authorities were considering reimposing stringent capital controls as the rouble showed the strains of Russia's invasion of its neighbour, which has brought huge military spending and Western sanctions.

The departure from Odesa of the Hong-Kong-flagged Joseph Schulte, trapped in the port since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24 last year, followed the latest Russian attack on the country's grain export infrastructure.

Overnight air strikes damaged silos and warehouses at Reni on the Danube river, a vital wartime route for food exports, Ukrainian officials said. They posted photos of destroyed storage facilities and piles of scattered grain and sunflowers.

There was no comment from Moscow. An industry source said the port was continuing operations, tempering a rise in benchmark wheat prices in Chicago off their two-month low.

Russia has made regular air strikes on Ukrainian ports and grain silos since mid-July, when it pulled out of the U.N.-backed deal for Ukraine to export grain.

Moscow has threatened to treat any ships leaving Ukraine as potential military targets and on Sunday its navy fired warning shots at a ship travelling towards Ukraine.

Despite the threats, Ukraine last week announced a "humanitarian corridor" in the Black Sea to release cargo ships that have been trapped in its ports by a de facto Russian blockade, pledging to make clear they were serving no military purpose.

"A first vessel used the temporary corridor for merchant ships to/from the ports of Big Odesa," Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said on Facebook.

Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM), which owns the ship jointly with a Chinese bank, confirmed that the ship was en route to Istanbul.

Kubrakov said it was carrying more than 30,000 metric tons of cargo in 2,114 containers, adding that the corridor would primarily be used to evacuate ships from the Black Sea ports of Chornomorsk, Odesa and Pivdennyi.

Moscow has not indicated whether it would respect the shipping corridor, and shipping and insurance sources have expressed concerns about safety.

Ukraine is a major grain and oilseeds exporter and the United Nations says its supplies are vital to developing countries where hunger is a growing concern. Neither Kubrakov nor the shipping company specified the cargo on board the Joseph Schulte but grain is rarely carried in containers.

BATTLEFIELD GAIN

The attacks on Ukraine's grain followed its launch of a Western-backed counteroffensive in early June to try to dislodge Russian forces from territory they occupy in the south and east.

Extensive Russian fortifications and minefields along the front line have made it hard for Ukrainian forces to break through, but they announced they had retaken another village on Wednesday, the first settlement they have declared recaptured since June 27.

"Urozhaine liberated," Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar said on Telegram. "Our defenders are entrenched on the outskirts."

Ukrainian soldiers raised the country's flag above a broken war memorial in video released by the military and geolocated by Reuters to the village. It was not clear when it was filmed.

Russia's defence ministry did not confirm losing the settlement but said its artillery and war planes were attacking Ukrainian forces in the Urozhaine area.

The village's recapture would indicate Ukraine is pressing ahead with an offensive drive towards the Sea of Azov just over 90 km (55 miles) to the south, aiming to cut Russian forces occupying its southeastern coastline in half.

Inside Russia, the FSB security service said it had foiled an attempt by Ukrainian saboteurs to cross the border into Bryansk region for a second day in a row.

The conflict and accompanying sanctions have stretched Russia's finances, forcing the central bank to raise interest rates to 12% on Tuesday after the rouble dropped below 100 to the dollar. It firmed on Wednesday after the sources said officials were considering obliging exporters to sell their foreign currency revenues.

DANUBE PORTS

Ukraine turned to its Danube river ports after Russia pulled out of the international deal that had allowed Ukraine to export grain through the Black Sea, seeking better terms for exports of its own food and fertilizer.

The river ports, which had accounted for around a quarter of grain exports, have since become the main route out for Ukrainian grain, which is also sent on barges to Romania's Black Sea port of Constanta for shipment onwards.

Earlier this month, Russia attacked Izmail - Ukraine's main inland port across the Danube River from Romania, sending global food prices higher as it ramped up its use of force to prevent Ukraine from exporting grain.

Turkey, which brokered the grain deal alongside the United Nations, has expressed hope that Russia will rejoin it this month.

A senior U.N. official emphasised that the deal was vital to stabilise food prices on global markets to protect the most vulnerable, saying all efforts were being made to restart it.

"It's difficult," Rebeca Grynspan, Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development told a news conference in Nairobi. "And obviously the bombardment of or shelling of grain infrastructure is not helping the markets."

(Additional reporting by Lidia Kelly, Gus Trompiz, Matthias Inverardi, Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber and Anna Magdalena Lubowicka; writing by Philippa Fletcher; editing by Angus MacSwan)

PAKISTAN

Scores held in Punjab for protesting govt’s ‘unfair’ wheat policy

Amjad Mahmood 

DAWN

Published April 30, 2024 

• Farmers claim hundreds detained across Punjab, police say 46 people in custody

• Kissan Ittehad leader announces plans to block highways across province; PTI lends support

• Punjab likely to unveil wheat policy in assembly today

LAHORE: As farmers from across the province thronged The Mall to record their protest against what they believe to be an unfair wheat procurement policy, a heavy contingent of Punjab police in anti-riot gear rounded up scores of their number, on Monday.

The farmers had taken to the streets against an inordinate delay in the purchase of grain and the decision to reduce the provincial procurement quota from over 4 million tonnes to 2.3m tonnes.

Lahore: A protesting farmer is bundled into a prison van by police, on Monday night. —Murtaza Ali / White Star

The protesters, led by Kissan Ittehad Pakistan, managed to assemble at the GPO Chowk on The Mall and attempted to march towards the Punjab Assembly, where a heavy contingent of police intercepted them. Police not only blocked the road by placing containers, but also arrested several protesters.

Kissan Ittehad Pakistan General Secretary Mian Umair Masood, who led the demonstration, told Dawn that more than 250 farmers were arrested by police in Lahore. He, however, managed to evade arrest himself.

There were reports that arrests were also made in Rahim Yar Khan, Khanewal, Vehari, Kasur, Multan, Sadiqabad, Pakpattan, Muzaffargarh, and Sahiwal districts. Police sources, however, claimed 46 protesters were taken into custody: 30 from The Mall and 16 from Manga Mandi.

‘Province-wide protests’

Mian Umair said they were planning to block highways across the province with the help of their families and livestock, which would be brought to roads. The protesting farmers have also found their allies in the opposition, particularly the PTI and the Jammat-i-Islami, as well as in lawmakers from the treasury benches who are apprehensive about the procurement policy.

The farming community has found allies in the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and Jamaat-i-Islami, whose farmer wing Kisan Board is scheduled to hold protests on Tuesday (today), while those ruling PML-N MPAs belonging to the countryside have also expressed their concerns at the present procurement policy.

The government, however, continued to play down the issue, with its spokesperson Azma Bukhari claiming that the police had not taken any protest leader into custody from anywhere. She said that the government was in contact with “real representative bodies” of the farmers and accused the workers of a political party of launching the protest for “political purposes”.

Procurement policy faults

Punjab — the bread basket of the country — procured over 4 million tonnes of wheat every season to meet its yearly requirements. But, this year the authorities decided to slash the procurement target by half, claiming that there was a carryover stock of 2.3m tonnes already available.

The caretaker government — tasked with the day-to-day affairs and overseeing the elections — imported around 3m tonnes of wheat, which was more than the province’s needs and led to a huge carryover stock leaving little storage capacity.

Likewise, the government had also changed the procedure for applying to sell wheat to the food department. Unlike in the past when the growers were required to submit written applications to procure gunny bags used to pack and transport wheat to procurement centres, the government launched a mobile application for the purpose, conveniently ignoring the fact that a majority of the rural population is not well-versed in technology.

Even then, over 400,000 growers applied for gunny bags; but the government said it would issue six bags per acre and only to those who owned up to six acres of land.

Mian Umair said the government’s decision was mala fide. “Owners of up to six acres of land rarely sell their wheat to the government because they retain almost half of the produce for domestic use and the rest is meant for the aarti (middlemen), fertiliser, and pesticides dealers from whom they had made purchases for their fields on credit.

Similarly, the procurement campaign has also been unusually delayed this year, crashing the local wheat market with middlemen exploiting the situation by buying wheat from the growers at much less than the officially fixed minimum support price of Rs3,900 per 40kg.

These steps raised many an eyebrow even among the ruling party’s elected representatives. The issue also resonated multiple times in the Punjab Assembly and a general discussion was also held.

‘Above normal moisture’

Without clearly committing when to start the procurement drive, Food Minister Bilal Yasin defended the delay saying due to rains the grain carried above normal moisture up to 18 percent. “After drying up this produce will lose weight causing financial loss to the provincial kitty,” he claimed.

Meanwhile, the government is trying to appease the farming community by feeding information that it is considering a Rs130 billion package and also planning to give a subsidy between Rs400 and Rs600 per 40kg instead of increasing the procurement target.

But Kissan Ittehad leader Khalid Batth voiced his suspicion, saying the government would use this policy “as a ploy to relieve pressure” from the farming community for the time being.

Such dilly-dallying measures are disturbing even for the ruling party members, who are under pressure from their rural electorate. Punjab Assembly speaker Malik Muhammad Ahmed Khan refused to prorogue the ongoing assembly session, which was to be put off sine die on Monday, when the finance and food ministers said the government would give a wheat policy on Tuesday (today). The speaker suspended the proceedings till Tuesday morning, as some MPAs suggested that the government should pay for wheat in phases if funds were unavailable.

Asif Chaudhry in Lahore also contributed to this report

Published in Dawn, April 30th, 2024

Wheat protests

Editorial 

DAWN

Published May 1, 2024 

THE crackdown on farmers protesting in Lahore and several other cities against the government’s ‘flawed’ wheat procurement policy and delays in the commencement of the grain’s official purchases in Punjab is deplorable.

Scores of farmers were manhandled and detained by police across the province on Monday, particularly in Lahore and south Punjab. The protesters appeared to have taken to the streets as a last resort after the authorities ignored their calls for help. Wheat rates have plummeted in the market, and are much below the support price of Rs3,900 per 40kg. The recent rains have added to the farmers’ woes.

And yet, the government continues to play down the problem, with its spokesperson dismissing the protests as politically motivated. This is not how governments treat those who grow food for the entire country, and the ruling PML-N may, sooner or later, have to pay a big political price for neglecting the plight of farmers, especially smallholders, who have already announced plans to block highways with the opposition’s support.

Indeed, the provincial administration has valid reasons for streamlining its wheat purchases through digitising the process, slashing the procurement target for the current harvest, and delaying official purchases far beyond the date announced earlier.

There are also no two opinions that the existing policy of excessive government intervention in the wheat market by fixing a minimum support price and procuring a larger portion of tradable surplus brought to the market by farmers each year has run its course and become a burden on the government budget. These interventions are ostensibly to support growers, and ensure price stability and food security.

In fact, they benefit only the middlemen, and flour millers, especially those who operate only for a few months, and that too on subsidised wheat quotas from official stocks. This policy must end.

However, a sudden curtailment of the government’s role will prove harmful for farmers amid collapsing wheat prices resulting from record production and unseasonal rains that are threatening the crop. The government should withdraw from the wheat trade gradually, replacing the existing market support mechanism with an effective new one over the next several years.

Many believe that the previous caretaker set-up’s reckless decision to import over 3.2Mt of grain when the harvest was approaching is responsible for the restricted official purchase target. This is largely true.

If the Punjab government did not have stocks of over 2Mt, it might have raised its procurement target for the ongoing harvest without much fuss to avoid protests. Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal also blames unnecessary wheat imports for the present market volatility. The authorities, therefore, must investigate the motives behind this reckless decision and fix responsibility.

Published in Dawn, May 1st, 2024

Conrad Black and ADM

Along with its connection to Brian Mulroney, Archer Daniels Midland, ADM, the major beneficiary of subsidies for bio-fuels in the United States and Canada has a connection with Conrad Black.

Ethanol's boosters, led primarily by ADM, go to great lengths to screen the
public's knowledge of the facts behind this taxpayer-funded rip-off.
Justifications for the subsidy are draped in histrionics, flawed research
and/or demogogic appeals to patriotism (i.e. "No American soldiers should
die for foreign oil") --- Who would disagree with that ---
but who looks behind the statement to discover its falsehoods?

ADM's de facto monopoly in ethanol and its subjugating influence across wide
swaths of our agro-food system has been accomplished stealthily over decades
and is currently enforced by several largely hidden (but interlocking)
realities:
(1) political contributions and placement of ADM-approved toadies at all
levels of
government, particularly USDA and Congress,
(2) a large phalanx of controlled trade associations, commodity groups, and
related foundations at national, state and local levels and
(3) controlling influence in important media sectors through stock ownership
of newspapers, advertising and holding companies.

Let's illustrate the last point --- Have you been watching the public
destruction of Conrad Black, erstwhile chairman of Hollinger International,
and a member of British House of Lords? Hollinger, which controlled, among
other assets, The Chicago Sun Times, The London Daily Telegraph and dozens
of smaller newspapers, began imploding shortly after ADM's chairman emeritus
Dwayne O. Andreas and another longtime ADM director, Robert Strauss,
resigned their board seats at Hollinger in early 2003.

Other ADM directors and toadies, including former Ambassador Richard Burt and former Illinois governor James Thompson, continued serving on Hollinger's board and helped spark an internal investigation, brought in a former SEC chairman for window dressing and dumped Black amid a swirl of nasty allegations. Having orchestrated Black's ouster, by exposing audits
and other internal revelations of indefensible corporate greed, it would
appear the "Pot (Andreas) can call the kettle (Black)" and get away unscathed --- while simultaneously riding the public's post-Enron indignation.

See:

Bio Fuels = Eco Disaster

Real Costs of Bio-Fuels

BioFuel and The Wheat Board

The Ethanol Scam: ADM and Brian Mulroney

Capitalism Endangers Orangutan

Criminal Capitalism

ADM



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