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Bucckwheat Admin Not Good For Farming

Mike

Well-known member
"The drop in farm income over the past three years is the steepest decrease since the Depression," says Tanner Ehmke, CoBank senior economist covering, the grains, oilseeds and ethanol, and farm supply sectors. "Producer incomes have fallen more than 50% from 2013 to today and their debt-to-income ratio is on the rise.”
 

Brad S

Well-known member
Under Barry, yes the EPA expanded into odious enforcement tactics. I'm not sure Barry is culpable for good weather and increases in South American production. Sure, one of the pathetic lies of the left is "on his watch" but I'm not sure how Barry is responsible for record corn production year after year.
 

Mike

Well-known member
Denny said:
$7 corn is the real reason for the down turn

Maybe long term.................but those $7.00 days were welcomed as the costs for planting crops continues to escalate.

Row crop farming down here is all but dead. For example: Cotton seed is about $300-$350 per acre. Equipment costs have risen past ridiculous.
 

Steve

Well-known member
On the other side of the coin,.. Trump seems intent on forcing china to the trade table.

I doubt China will live up to their end on accepting Beef imports, but they will certainly send some more dang tainted chicken products.

China and US reach agreement on beef, poultry, natural gas

Beijing will open its borders to U.S. beef, while cooked Chinese poultry is closer to landing on American supermarket shelves under a U.S.-China trade agreement.

Among other things, the deal enables U.S. companies to export liquefied natural gas to China. It will also lower long-standing barriers that have affected matters ranging from agriculture to the operation of American financial firms in China.

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross hailed the agreement, coming on the heels of President Donald Trump's April meeting with President Xi Jinping, as "a herculean accomplishment." "This is more than has been done in the whole history of U.S.-China relations on trade," Ross told reporters Thursday evening at the White House.

The beef exports and electronic payments in the agreement have long been promised by China. "The challenge is selling manufactured goods into China — there isn't anything in this deal to suggest China is going to become more open to U.S.-manufactured exports,"

"The key in these negotiations is specifics that are enforceable — literally, the devil is in the details,"

Under the agreement, the United States is inviting Chinese companies to import U.S.-produced liquefied natural gas. The Energy Department has authorized natural gas shipments of 19.2 billion cubic feet per day to China and other interested countries that lack a broader free trade agreement with the United States, the Commerce Department said.

China is turning more to natural gas as a way to reduce its dependence on coal and combat the country's extensive air pollution. The move would allow China to diversify its supply and provide a major market for American suppliers, though the expansion could lead to higher prices for U.S. consumers.

The agreement would also ease import restrictions on agricultural goods, including ending China's ban on beef imports, which was imposed in 2003 after a case of mad-cow disease. In exchange, the U.S. would allow the sale of cooked Chinese poultry — a move Ross said could be done safely. By mid-July, U.S. beef producers will have broader access to Chinese markets, while America will move forward on allowing the import of cooked poultry from China

one positive step is the beef market has a date, and we will quote move forward on allowing chicken imports..

action required by chinea, while we look into thier request, is smart negotiating, they can drag thier feet on imports of beef and we can look into moveing forward on allowing chicken imports at the same slow pace.

Beef, Poultry

The deal reaffirms a September agreement to reopen China to U.S. beef exports. This time, China promised to allow American beef into the country after one more round of technical consultations, and no later than July 16, according to the joint statement.

It also paves the way for China to export cooked poultry to the U.S. The U.S. will publish a proposed rule by July 16 to help jump-start the imports, it said.

So expect cooked chicken crap on a stroe shelf by the 17th of July. :?
 

Traveler

Well-known member
Steve said:
On the other side of the coin,.. Trump seems intent on forcing china to the trade table.

I doubt China will live up to their end on accepting Beef imports, but they will certainly send some more dang tainted chicken products.

China and US reach agreement on beef, poultry, natural gas

Beijing will open its borders to U.S. beef, while cooked Chinese poultry is closer to landing on American supermarket shelves under a U.S.-China trade agreement.

Among other things, the deal enables U.S. companies to export liquefied natural gas to China. It will also lower long-standing barriers that have affected matters ranging from agriculture to the operation of American financial firms in China.

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross hailed the agreement, coming on the heels of President Donald Trump's April meeting with President Xi Jinping, as "a herculean accomplishment." "This is more than has been done in the whole history of U.S.-China relations on trade," Ross told reporters Thursday evening at the White House.

The beef exports and electronic payments in the agreement have long been promised by China. "The challenge is selling manufactured goods into China — there isn't anything in this deal to suggest China is going to become more open to U.S.-manufactured exports,"

"The key in these negotiations is specifics that are enforceable — literally, the devil is in the details,"

Under the agreement, the United States is inviting Chinese companies to import U.S.-produced liquefied natural gas. The Energy Department has authorized natural gas shipments of 19.2 billion cubic feet per day to China and other interested countries that lack a broader free trade agreement with the United States, the Commerce Department said.

China is turning more to natural gas as a way to reduce its dependence on coal and combat the country's extensive air pollution. The move would allow China to diversify its supply and provide a major market for American suppliers, though the expansion could lead to higher prices for U.S. consumers.

The agreement would also ease import restrictions on agricultural goods, including ending China's ban on beef imports, which was imposed in 2003 after a case of mad-cow disease. In exchange, the U.S. would allow the sale of cooked Chinese poultry — a move Ross said could be done safely. By mid-July, U.S. beef producers will have broader access to Chinese markets, while America will move forward on allowing the import of cooked poultry from China

one positive step is the beef market has a date, and we will quote move forward on allowing chicken imports..

action required by chinea, while we look into thier request, is smart negotiating, they can drag thier feet on imports of beef and we can look into moveing forward on allowing chicken imports at the same slow pace.

Beef, Poultry

The deal reaffirms a September agreement to reopen China to U.S. beef exports. This time, China promised to allow American beef into the country after one more round of technical consultations, and no later than July 16, according to the joint statement.

It also paves the way for China to export cooked poultry to the U.S. The U.S. will publish a proposed rule by July 16 to help jump-start the imports, it said.

So expect cooked chicken crap on a stroe shelf by the 17th of July. :?
Certainly would be nice to be able to identify it.
 

mrj

Well-known member
I have no confidence in ANY purchased chicken, especially processed and cooked 'chicken'. The only chicken I've eaten 'out' has been on salads at Culvers. The whole chickens from Millerdale Colony in SD are the only chicken I've bought in years. They are just too easy to tamper with, from growing to cooking and serving in stores and eating places. Name Brand labels with names of producer through all hands on it MIGHT make a difference to me. NO generic 'country of origin' label offers me any encouragement to purchase a product, especially not poultry.

mrj
 

Traveler

Well-known member
mrj said:
I have no confidence in ANY purchased chicken, especially processed and cooked 'chicken'. The only chicken I've eaten 'out' has been on salads at Culvers. The whole chickens from Millerdale Colony in SD are the only chicken I've bought in years. They are just too easy to tamper with, from growing to cooking and serving in stores and eating places. Name Brand labels with names of producer through all hands on it MIGHT make a difference to me. NO generic 'country of origin' label offers me any encouragement to purchase a product, especially not poultry.

mrj
But unfortunately, chicken is now the protein of choice for the majority of Americans, and it's doubtful that most of them will even give a second thought to the possibility that it comes from China. Truth be told, how many adults of at least average intelligence would actually feed anything produced in China to their children and grandchildren. In a major "big box" store we look the labels over very carefully and don't buy any of the fish or sea food if there's any indication it came from China, and appreciate that much of that is labeled.
 

Faster horses

Well-known member
I tell everyone I can. that Tyson sends their chickens to China to be processed, then ship them back here for consumption. I wish we had names of other companies that did that.
 

Traveler

Well-known member
Faster horses said:
I tell everyone I can. that Tyson sends their chickens to China to be processed, then ship them back here for consumption. I wish we had names of other companies that did that.
Kudos to you for doing that. We have so much consumer deception by omission going on. I don't have respect for any aspect of that practice or those defending arguments.
 

Steve

Well-known member
China Is Making a Major Play for American Farms and Farmland.

In an effort to cut out the middleman, foreign buyers are trying to circumvent the American farmer. Instead of buying food from farmers who work their own land, some foreign buyers want to own and operate these American farms themselves—as well as the livestock barns and slaughterhouses. Between the 2013 purchase of pork processor Smithfield by a Chinese holding company and ChemChina’s pending $43 billion offer for the agrichemical company Syngenta, the world’s most populous country is making a major play to buy the proverbial American farm—and U.S. politicians are lending a helping hand.

Pork processors like Smithfield, which owns a plant employing more than 2,000 in Crete, Nebraska, will soon be able to vertically integrate their operations. Instead of buying hogs from numerous independent farmers, farmers will contract with processors like Smithfield for the privilege of selling their pork.

It’s a big concern for farmers who worry the pork industry will be swallowed up by contract farming, like the chicken industry. This is one area where pork producers don’t want to be “the other white meat.” Chicken “growers” are paid to raise the birds on their land as well as pay for expensive poultry houses, labor, and maintenance. But it’s the major poultry companies who own the chickens—as well as the hatcheries, slaughterhouses, and feed.

Smithfield was purchased in 2013 by Chinese-based and state-owned holding company Shuanghui International Holdings Ltd.[3] Shuanghui Group[4] is the world's largest pork producer and processor. Smithfield sells its products under a variety of brand names, including Cook's Ham, Gwaltney, John Morrell, Krakus Ham, Patrick Cudahy, Smithfield, and Stefano's.

“An acquisition like Syngenta by ChemChina really allows them [China] to have this major foothold in feed production as well,”
Based on past behavior, allowing the deal with Syngenta to go through raises the possibility that China could use its new acquisition to gain an unfair advantage over the global seed market.


China is in dire need of both food and farms. While the country looks huge on a map, only 11 percent of Chinese land can be farmed. More than 40 percent of China’s existing arable land has been degraded by pollution, acidification, and reduced fertility, China’s official news agency, Xinhua, reported in 2014. Chinese researchers have estimated a need for a 30-percent increase in rice-harvest productivity to feed the population.

As a result, China is investing in the best agricultural technology and best farmland—regardless of where it lies—to keep its people fed. The United States, with six times more arable land per capita, is the perfect contract farmer.
http://www.takepart.com/article/2016/02/22/china-syngenta-smithfield

Their price may be to hard to pass up now, but once they control the market they control the price. While it may be difficult now, avoiding Chinese owned corporations will pay off in the future.
 

Mike

Well-known member
ALL pork feeding is vertically integrated down here now. With Tyson mostly as the pig & feed supplier.

Just.
Like.
Chickens.

Back some years ago, I read an article that said Smithfield owned over 600,000 sows.
 

Traveler

Well-known member
Mike said:
ALL pork feeding is vertically integrated down here now. With Tyson mostly as the pig & feed supplier.

Just.
Like.
Chickens.

Back some years ago, I read an article that said Smithfield owned over 600,000 sows.
And to basically reiterate what Steve posted.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Website http://www.smithfieldfoods.com
Smithfield Foods, Inc., is an American meat processing company.
Headquartered in Smithfield, Virginia, it runs facilities in 26 U.S. states, including the largest slaughterhouse and meat-processing plant in the world, located in Tar Heel, North Carolina.[2] It also has operations in Mexico and in 10 European countries, with a global total of over 46,000 employees and an annual revenue of $14 billion.[1] Smithfield was purchased in 2013 by Chinese-based and state-owned holding company Shuanghui International Holdings Ltd.[3] Shuanghui Group[4] is the world's largest pork producer and processor.[2] Smithfield was founded in 1936 by Joseph W. Luter and his son as the Smithfield Packing Company, now its largest subsidiary. From 1981, it began to purchase companies such as Eckrich, Farmland Foods of Kansas, Gwaltney of Smithfield, John Morrell, Murphy Family Farms of North Carolina, and Premium Standard Farms.[5] It was able to grow as a result of its highly industrialized pig production, raising the animals using a vertical integration system of production that enables the company to control their development from conception to packing. Thousands of livestock are housed together in barns with metal roofs, known as concentrated animal feeding operations, where they are permanently confined.[6]
The company raises around 15 million pigs a year and processes 27 million, producing over six billion pounds of pork.[7] It was the top pig slaughter operation in the United States in 2007, at 114,300 pigs a day, and along with three other companies slaughtered 56% of the cattle processed there until it sold its beef group in 2008.[8] Smithfield sells its products under a variety of brand names, including Cook's Ham, Gwaltney, John Morrell, Krakus Ham, Patrick Cudahy, Smithfield, and Stefano's. Kenneth M. Sullivan is the president and chief executive officer.[9]
 

mrj

Well-known member
It does seem odd to me that the Chinese would choose USA as the place to expand. Surely our land is more expensive than many other countries.....not to mention that our people are so independent minded, unlike people in nations where government is very controlling of the citizens activities, the lower income citizens, that is. Realizing most countries do have an 'upper class' elite who control much of the wealth, it still seems China might find it easier and less costly to find 'under-developed' government owned land in some countries other than the USA........maybe.

Wonder what happened to those Japanese who were 'buying up our ranches' in the western USA several years ago????

mrj
 

Steve

Well-known member
China has made advances in Africa to obtain farmland,.. I know in the past they were buying old scrap tractors for top dollar around here. I was amazed at the shear number piled up in the Port of Baltimore on one of my deliveries to it. It was amazing to see the old iron lined up for loading. The Russian I worked with at Staten Island said he had to turn down the freight back then as they just had to much and he has to stage it and that takes to much space.

here is an old article about Africa.
Contrary to reports that Chinese firms were buying or leasing millions of hectares of prime African farmland, Chinese investors have acquired only about 240,000 hectares, according to a book published on Monday.

Deborah Brautigam, director of the China Africa Research Initiative at Johns Hopkins University, analysed media reports that Chinese investors had leased up to six million hectares of farmland across Africa for her book "Will Africa Feed China?"

"As we looked at these cases, we found that most never happened," Brautigam told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. "The original visions (of investors and African governments) were wildly optimistic."

Her research showed that by the end of 2014, Chinese investors had acquired about 240,000 ha of farmland in Africa, Brautigam said.

But when companies realized the poor state of infrastructure in countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo or Ethiopia, and the fact that small farmers held customary tenure over land they thought they were leasing, most firms either massively reduced their plans or pulled out entirely, she said.

"There were protests in some countries (over large-scale Chinese investment plans)," she said. "But in most countries (investments) didn't get to a point where anything happened, so protests didn't happen either."

Last year, China imported $2.9 billion worth of agricultural products from sub-Saharan Africa, she said, up from $2.7 billion in 2013. Mozambique, Cameroon and Ethiopia saw some of the largest actual Chinese investments, mostly in sugar and rubber plantations, she added.

Rather than buying land outright, or leasing huge African tracts for long periods, many Chinese investors have shifted to a form of contract farming where companies provide small growers with seeds, training and a guaranteed market in exchange for their products, she said.

It seems polluted land is an issue in China.
From an economic standpoint, Chinese investment in farmland has impeccable logic. One oft-cited statistic is that China has 20% of the world's population and just 9% of its arable land.

China suffers from chronic drought and desertification, and has compounded its problems in recent decades by polluting the land or paving it over in a headlong rush toward economic development. The Ministry of Land and Resources in December revealed the results of a five-year study (previously kept secret): 8 million acres of farmland, or roughly 2% of the country's arable land, is too polluted for farming. (one report claims more then 10% of the land is polluted by Chinese standards.)

From exploding watermelons to cadmium-tainted rice, both the result of excessive fertilization, domestic food scandals have made foreign-grown foods more popular in China.

"We want to bring American sunshine, land and water back to China," said Zhang Renwu, a businessman who owns two farms in Utah growing alfalfa to feed dairy cows.

Chinese companies are acquiring farmland where they can — many countries ban the sale of land to foreigners — or forming partnerships with farming enterprises overseas.

When China's largest pork producer, Shuanghui International Holdings, last year paid $4.7 billon for its U.S. counterpart, Smithfield Foods Inc., it also acquired more than 100,000 acres of farmland in Missouri, Texas and North Carolina. (Virginia-based Smithfield didn't disclose how much farmland was covered by the purchase, but just one subsidiary had reported it owned more than 100,000 acres in the three states.)

These investments are contentious both at home and abroad. The Chinese government is sensitive to criticism that it has allowed too much farmland to be paved over for apartments and shopping malls and that it has dragged its feet on long-overdue changes to modernize agribusiness.

Communist Party doctrine maintains that the country should provide itself with 95% of its own grain, and Mao Tse-tung preferred to let people starve in the 1960s rather than import food. Although President Xi Jinping has backed away somewhat from quotas for grain self-sufficiency, the underpinning ideology remains.

Smaller Chinese entrepreneurs have leased farms across the border in Russia as part of a deal with Moscow. Unlike in Africa, where the employees are local, Chinese have crossed the border into Russia as well. At least 30,000 Chinese farmers were reported to be working last year in Birobidzhan, the Siberian region carved out in the 1930s by Josef Stalin as a Jewish Autonomous Region.

the main issue is the inefficiency of farming in China today. According to figures compiled by his association, imported rice, corn, wheat and soybeans are all less expensive than the China-grown crops.

"Farming in China is backward. Most farmers are over 50 years old, poorly educated and trying to earn a living on 10 mu [1.65 acres] of land,"

Although China's agricultural output is the largest in the world, only about 15% of its total land area can be cultivated. China's arable land, which represents 10% of the total arable land in the world, supports over 20% of the world's population. Of this approximately 1.4 million square kilometers of arable land, only about 1.2% (116,580 square kilometers) permanently supports crops and 525,800 square kilometers are irrigated.[21] The land is divided into approximately 200 million households, with an average land allocation of just 0.65 hectares (1.6 acres).


1.6 acres isn't much more then a large garden... that sounds more like liberal organic farming then anything that could ever be considered profitable.
 
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