3 BIG THINGS TODAY, MARCH 23

CORN, SOYBEANS LOWER IN OVERNIGHT TRADING; FED RATE HIKE ODDS NOW AT 93%.

1. CORN, SOYBEAN LOWER AS IMPORTERS SEEN SHIFTING TO SOUTH AMERICA

Corn and soybeans were lower in overnight trading on concern that very large South American crops are beginning to take business from the U.S.

The Department of Agriculture last week raised its outlook for Brazilian corn production to 91.5 million metric tons from 86.5 million. It also increased its projection for soybean output in the country to 108 million tons from the previous month’s outlook of 104 million.

With such large crops in Brazil, it’s likely the U.S. will see a seasonal decline in export sales and shipments, analysts said.

Corn futures for May delivery fell 1¢ to $3.60 a bushel in overnight trading on the Chicago Board of Trade.

Soybeans declined 4¾¢ to $10.01¼ a bushel in Chicago. Soy meal lost $2.30 to $328.60 a short ton, and soy oil added 0.10¢ to 32.22¢ a pound.

Wheat futures rose a tick to $4.30¾ a bushel, and Kansas City wheat was unchanged at $4.42¾ a bushel.

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2. FED RATE HIKE SEEMINGLY A FOREGONE CONCLUSION WITH ODDS OF INCREASE AT 93%

It’s pretty much a foregone conclusion that the U.S. Federal Reserve will raise interest rates at a meeting this week with the CME Group’s Fed Watch Tool, putting the odds of a hike at 93% this morning, up from 89% yesterday.

The Fed is expected to increase its Federal Funds Rate to a target of 0.75% to 1%, the first increase in 2017, after it raised the rate in December 2016 and December 2015 after leaving it unchanged for seven years. Many analysts believe this will be the first of three rate hikes this year.

The government tends to increase rates when the economy is showing strength. Last week’s nonfarm payroll report showed companies added 235,000 jobs in February, topping expectations for about 200,000, and that the unemployment rate was little changed at 4.7%. Wages have increased about 2.8% in the past year, which is a good sign, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said.

Employment gains increased in construction, manufacturing, health care, and mining, all but ensuring the Federal Open Markets Committee would raise rates at its meeting, which runs for the next two days. Its decision will be announced tomorrow afternoon in Washington, D.C.

An increase in rates likely would have an impact on loans for large-ticket items such as farming equipment or land purchases, economists have said.

It also will have an impact on the prime rate, which is the base borrowing rate that banks extend to their customers. Credit card interest is based on the prime rate, with banks often referring to the rates and ‘prime rate plus’ and then adding a number to it to get the actual interest rate a borrower would pay.

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3. LARGE STORM HAMMERING NORTHEASTERN U.S.; SCHOOLS CLOSED, TRADING IMPACTED

A very large storm is hitting the northeastern U.S. this morning, closing schools in New York and Boston and affecting trading on Wall Street.

New York City is expected to get as much as 16 inches of snow with several inches already falling, according to the National Weather Service. Federal offices in Washington are expected to open three hours later than normal.

The storm is widespread, stretching from northern Ohio up through Maine into Nova Scotia in Canada. The entire northeastern U.S. will be affected.

Elsewhere, a freeze warning is in effect for a very large patch of land stretching east to west from extreme eastern Kansas through the Atlantic Coast in Georgia and north to south from northern Missouri almost to the Alabama Gulf Shores.

Temperatures are expected to fall into the mid-20s and lower teens this morning and overnight into Wednesday morning, the NWS said, which will harm uncovered winter wheat plants and peach trees.

WOMEN IN AG: AGRICULTURE TAKES CARE OF ITS OWN

Agriculture takes care of its own.

 

Fires have devastated parts of Texas, Colorado, Oklahoma, and Kansas. Thousands of livestock have been killed. Human lives have been lost, with at least four of those deaths a direct result of people trying to save livestock from the flames. Fences are destroyed, pastures are scorched, homes and barns have been reduced to ashes.

 

During and after the fires, my social media news feed has been filled with images of the destruction and loss. Stories about the people who lost their lives. Stories from farmers who found surviving livestock, only to have to put them down because the animals were too badly injured to survive. Stories of cows looking for their calves who perished. Stories of calves that are now orphans. Stories of the firefighters, many of them volunteers and some who are farmers, who fought the flames that also threatened their own homes. 

 

I didn’t see any of this on my local news. It wasn’t on the national news. The news spread from farmer to farmer, from community to community, from agriculture network to network. 

 

Agriculture takes care of its own.

 

It wasn’t long before my news feed was filled with photos of hay on the way to the devastated areas. Truckers are offering to haul hay or to move surviving livestock. People are opening their barns and pastures to house surviving animals. 4-H groups and veterinarians are housing and feeding orphaned calves.  Companies are offering free medicine to treat burned animals. Churches are putting together lists of people affected by the fire and their needs.   

 

One thread even focused on trucking laws so that those driving hay and other supplies to the areas hit would not be stopped and ticketed for their efforts.

 

Agriculture takes care of its own.

 

I didn’t grow up in agriculture. Four months after I started working as an agriculture Extension agent in 1999, Hurricane Floyd hit North Carolina. While I wasn’t in an area hit hard, I did have two cattle farmers with pastures bordering the river, and they were flooded. Days after the storm, donated hay was on the way to those farms.

 

Agriculture takes care of its own.

 

We see it again and again. Response to a blizzard, hurricane, tornado, or other natural disaster. Neighbors helping harvest the fields after a farmer’s death or so a farm family could mourn the loss of their child. Raising money to cover the funeral costs of young people who rode into the fire to try and save the lives of livestock. 

 

Agriculture takes care of its own. 

 

We are doing it without front-page coverage of this tragedy. Without being the lead item – or any item – on the evening news. Without a telethon with phones manned by celebrities. Without any aid from groups claiming to care about the welfare of animals. Without government assistance.

 

Agriculture takes cares of its own. 

GEMS4 conducts pilot test for tomato transportation

Nigerian farmers have new reasons to leap for joy as GEMS4 has embarked on a pilot test of using Returnable Plastic Crates (RPCs) for transporting tomatoes.

The pilot test which involves a train fully loaded with 585 Returnable Plastic Crates of tomatoes is being undertaken by ConnectRail services but at the instance of the GEMS4 DFID project. The train has left Kano state and is expected to arrive at Iddo train Lagos state by 5pm.

According to the Group Intervention Manager, Agri-business GEMS4 Project, Mr. Richard Ogundele, the project seeks to infuse Good Handling Practices (GHP) into the tomato value chain with a view to stemming the high incidence of losses and also to guarantee the income of farmers and marketers of tomato while generating employment.

“Notice greenish yellowish more that the red ones, that’s the application of colour code chart to ensure tomato is still in ripening process and can stand rigors of handling and journey to final market. At least they need about five to seven days to be fully ripe”, he said.

Ogundele expressed that the design of the crates will help retain the freshness of the produce, hence the retailer has more time to preserve the produce which will also increase the bargaining power of both the farmer and the retailer.

Speaking further, he noted that the adoption of this technology will provide jobs at collection centres for as people will be needed to sort the tomatoes upon harvest and pack into crates.

Also speaking with AgroNigeria, Mr. Kabir Lawal, who is supervising the transportation from the north, stated that formerly,  raffia baskets  which were woven  in such a way that limited aeration, were used.

“The baskets were covered with paper and stacked on one another sitting directly on the produce and this increases the risk of spoilage. However, the use of this plastic crates prevents squashing as the crates though placed on each other do not seat directly on the produce. They also allow for more ventilation and retain the fresh state of the produce” he explained.

Poisonous drinks: stakeholders reject NBC’s defence

Stakeholders in the agriculture and food industries, have berated the Nigerian Bottling Company for defending itself over the levels of benzoic and sunset additives, found in Fanta and Sprite.

A Lagos High Court had in a judgement held that excessive levels of benzoic acid and sunset additives were found in Fanta and Sprite. The implication of that was that the drinks were poisonous when consumed alongside Vitamin C.

The trial judge, Justice Adedayo Oyebanji, while awarding a cost of N2 million against the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) had berated the agency for declaring, as fit for human consumption, products discovered by tests in the United Kingdom as turning poisonous when mixed with ascorbic acid (popularly known as Vitamin C).      

 The judge had further ordered  NAFDAC to compel the Nigerian Bottling Company (NBC) Plc to put a written warning on Fanta and Sprite bottles stating that both soft drinks are poisonous when consumed along with Vitamin C.

But in its reaction the NBC denied that the drinks were poisonous. The company in a statement said that “the UK standards limit benzoic acid in soft drinks to a maximum of 150 mg/kg. Both Fanta and Sprite have benzoic levels of 200 mg/kg which is lower than the Nigerian regulatory limit of 250 mg/kg when combined with ascorbic acid and 300 mg/kg without ascorbic acid and also lower than the 600 mg/kg international limit set by CODEX.

“Both benzoic acid and ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) are ingredients approved by international food safety regulators and used in many food and beverage products around the world.

The defence of NBC was however rejected by stakeholders who were contacted by AgroNigeria. 

A wellness Consultant and Technology Entrepreneur, Adedolamu Sobowale said, ”The last time I checked, neither Benzoic Acid nor Sunset Yellow were foods. These things are chemical dyes and additives presumably added just in the right quantities the body can tolerate without going into immediate convulsion or shutdown. But what’s the sense in it if a few drops of Gamaline 20 were let into even a tank of water. Would I willingly drink it under normal circumstances? The truth is every sip from those colored bottles increases our toxic load and leaves us worse off than we were”.

Another stakeholder, Odumusu Olajide who is a nutritionist said “Most of these chemicals have residual effect on the body after appreciable accumulations result in different kinds of diseases”.

In his own reaction, a stakeholder, Osita Okerie , stated, ” They are talking trash, why did the court ask them to put up a warning sign? They will always wriggle out of any case. This is the time we need to boycott their products. What health benefits do we even derive from drinking these carbonated sugar drinks? Obesity, heart related diseases, Cancer, Low sexual drive (no libido) etc.

The CEO, AgroNigeria, Richard-Mark Mbaram, while making his own reaction, said, “This has given me the confirmation I need, are we now more knowledgeable than the U.K? Please boycott those products if you want to save your life.”

FEPSAN SCALES UP FERTILISER PRODUCTION

Seven  fertiliser blending plants out of the 32 in the country have commenced production and distribution ahead of the 2017 rain-fed farming season under the Presidential Fertiliser Initiative (PFI).

Some of the blending plants which have already been supplied with raw materials including phosphate from Morocco and are blending include Fertiliser and Chemicals Ltd, Kaduna, producing 300,000 metric tonnes; Al-Yuma Fertilizer Company (300,000 metric tonnes) in Madobi-Kano; Kano Agricultural Supply Company, supplying 15 trailers daily and Golden Fertiliser based in Lagos.

Others blending plants have also received raw materials for blending activities. Funtua blending plant has received materials through the rail, the Fertiliser Producers and Suppliers Association of Nigeria (FEPSAN)’s President Thomas Etuh, has said.

The FEPSAN president said the seven active blending companies are under the 1st of 5 batches that would produce 1 million tons of fertiliser under the Presidential Fertiliser Initiative.

Mr Etuh, who stressed that most of the plants have been dominant for over a decade, said they have been revived to participate in the programme, adding that more plants are underway.

“Others are under maintenance and should be joining before the end of April,” he said.

Speaking on the funding for the project, he stated that “N2 billion worth of raw materials with 10% cash is what we give them and then we pay for the overhead and a little profit. It’s like contract blending, they are blending for FEPSAN and then we pay.”

He noted that “the project is a Public Private Partnership (PPP) in which they borrowed N20 billion from the Sovereign Wealth Fund which is then recycled into the next batch.”

But the president, Agro Dealers Association of Nigeria, Alhaji Kabiru Umar Fara, has expressed concern over the supply of urea – a component for blending the NPK fertiliser, and called on the federal government to lift the ban on the import of the input.

The agro-dealers’ president, who spoke with journalists during the Presidential Fertiliser Initiative (PFI) delegation and Fertiliser Producers and Suppliers Association of Nigeria (FEPSAN) monitoring teams’ visit to the Al-YUMA Fertiliser and Chemical Company in Kano, maintained that “while Urea is needed by blending plants to produce NPK, they cannot import it.”

Under the scheme, states that have already indicated interest to key into the programme are encouraged to pick fertiliser from the blending plants and that no individual, institution or organisation under any circumstance could sell above N5,500.

SOURCEDaily Trust