GRAINS-WHEAT JUMPS 2 PCT TO HIT SIX-WEEK HIGH ON FROST DAMAGE FEARS

* Cold weather threatens U.S. production
* Corn firms 1 percent
* Soybeans rally more than 0.5 percent
By Colin Packham
SYDNEY, May 1 (Reuters) - U.S. wheat futures rose more than 2 percent on Monday as frost across key

growing regions stoked fears of widespread production losses, pushing prices to a six-week high.
Corn rose more than 1 percent, drawing support from wheat, while soybeans rallied more than 0.5
percent.

   The most active wheat futures on the Chicago Board Of Trade rose as much as 2.5 percent to $4.43
a bushel, the highest since March 10. Wheat was trading up 2.3 percent at $4.42-1/4 a bushel by 0442 GMT,
after rising 0.2 percent on Friday.

   "With frost through Kansas, Colorado and even stretching through to Oklahoma, the market is concerned

about how much of the crop has been damaged," said Andrew Woodhouse, grains analyst at Advance Trading
Australasia.

   Frost threatens rapidly maturing hard red winter wheat crops, with Kansas the biggest producing state
in the United States.
In Kansas, the largest U.S. wheat state, 82 percent of the winter wheat had reached the "jointing"
stage of growth by April 23, and 25 percent of the crop was in the "heading" stage, the U.S. Department of
Agriculture said, leaving it vulnerable to freeze injury.
The cold weather in the U.S. adds to a spate of unfavourable weather that threatens to curtail global
production.
Farming agency FranceAgriMer on Friday reported a sharp decline in crop conditions for wheat, with the
amount of soft wheat rated good/excellent falling to 78 percent from 85 percent in the week to April 24.
The most active corn futures rose 1.2 percent to $3.70-3/4 a bushel, having closed down 0.8
percent in the previous session.
The most active soybean futures rose 0.84 percent to $9.64-1/4 a bushel, having closed down 0.1
percent on Friday.
Analysts noted some support for corn amid recent delays to plantings, which may force some farmers to
switch to soybeans.
While rains fell across the Midwest, forecasts call for drier weather for much of the week.
Grains prices at 0442 GMT
Contract Last Change Pct chg Two-day chg MA 30 RSI
CBOT wheat 442.25 10.00 +2.31% +2.55% 438.47 65
CBOT corn 370.75 4.25 +1.16% +0.41% 368.16 50
CBOT soy 964.25 8.00 +0.84% +0.73% 968.24 47
CBOT rice 9.54 $0.12 +1.22% +1.11% $10.13 24
WTI crude 49.24 -$0.09 -0.18% +0.55% $50.21 35
Currencies
Euro/dlr $1.089 $0.000 -0.04% +0.17%
USD/AUD 0.7481 0.000 -0.04% +0.27%
Most active contracts
Wheat, corn and soy US cents/bushel. Rice: USD per hundredweight
RSI 14, exponential. BY COLIN PACKHAM.

CHALLENGES FACING BEGINNING FARMERS.

The dynamic winds of agriculture drive producers in divergent directions in a single-minded pursuit of growing opportunities. New crops – industrial hemp, low-linolenic oil soybeans, vineyards, and wind energy – beckon from the horizon. Old crops – corn and soybeans – test new geographic boundaries, and many farmers experiment with double-crop field peas and cover crops. Yet, the greatest challenge for agriculture today may be nurturing its fragile crop of beginning farmers.

Between 2007 and 2012, the number of beginning farmers identifying themselves as primary operators grew by about 1,000. Of principal operators on family operations, 18% started in the last 10 years, based on the 2012 Ag Census.

Barriers to entry are predictable. Access to capital for operating equipment and crop inputs poses significant headwinds. The average U.S. farm acre sells for over $4,100; it’s double that amount in Midwest states. Although record commodity prices have declined, elevated land values, cash rents, and crop inputs contribute to balance-sheet turbulence.

“Younger and beginning cash grain farmers are very vulnerable to the current downturn in the ag economy,” says Michael Boehlje, Purdue University ag economist. “If they’ve been aggressive in cash-renting land, they may run out of cash and liquidity, and confront debt service problems.”
Frayne Olson, North Dakota State University, is working with Ryan Larsen to run the financial numbers of a cross-section of North Dakota farmers. They’re using the results to update financial stress test models this fall for ag bankers.

“The impact is most heavy on those least able to weather the storm,” Olson says. “Those who are younger and have entered agriculture in the last several years have had to compete for land, and they tend to have a higher cost structure. They have less equity and financial reserves. They’re canaries in a coal mine.”

Buffeted by high-pressure zones
Only 7.8% of farmers are under 35 years old; 5.4% of primary operators fall into that category. Virtually all of today’s young farmers are closely tied to established producers. Yet, they often suffer losses or earn only small profits as they launch their businesses. Most rely on off-farm jobs or custom work to supplement their on-farm incomes.

A 2011 National Young Farmers Coalition (NYFC) survey reinforced that lack of capital remains a real barrier. Those who start farming without help from family are even more vulnerable to economic downdrafts. High-value crops or direct-marketed products are a good fit, such as natural meats, certified organic produce and grains, or grass-based milk.

In 1964, only 4% of farmers had a college degree. By 2011, 25% had a four-year college degree (compared with 28% for nonfarmers). In 2014, an NYFC survey of 700 young farmers revealed another less obvious, but very real barrier, to entry: student loans. Respondents reported an average student loan debt of $35,000. A total of 53% were farming but admitted difficulty in making student loan payments. Another 30% weren’t pursuing farming because their earnings wouldn’t cover student loan payments. BY CHERYL TEVIS.

UK COMPANIES INVITED ON 5DAYS INVESTMENT TOUR OF GHANA.

THE UK Ghana Chamber of Commerce (UKGCC) will host a multi-sector business trip to Accra for British companies, investors, exporters, importers and SMEs, in October.

The five-day Ghana Investment Tour (GIT) will focus on showcasing collaborative and investment opportunities in Ghana’s technology, tourism and agriculture sectors, and provide a platform for UK firms, SMEs and investors to communicate with key regulators, potential local partners, and leading private sector players in the country.

The UKGCC, officially launching in Accra today (Sept 1), is set up to facilitate and promote trade and commercial relations between the UK and Ghana, and act as the voice for British businesses looking to access and engage with the Ghanaian market, whilst providing assistance to Ghanaian companies investing in the UK.

UKGCC’s CEO Tony Burkson, based in Accra, said: “Ghana remains an exciting prospect for British companies due to its historic trading relationships with the UK. British expertise and innovation is highly sought after in Ghana and the wider West Africa region.”

He said the tour was “an opportunity for British companies to meet decision makers, regulators and potential business partners in Ghana”.

The UK is one of the largest foreign investors in Ghana, and several British brands already operate in the West African country, including Barclays, Standard Chartered, Vodafone, Tullow, Blue Skies, British Airways, G4S, Prudential, GlaxoSmithKline, and Diageo. Ghana is also a favoured choice for SME’s making their first steps exporting into Africa, with benefits such as skilled and trainable labour, immediate access to all the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) markets, and a large consumer base with a growing middle class.

GIT aims to give new, business-focused entrants to Ghana a packaged opportunity to research and act-upon their business and investment interests in the country, alongside a friendly team of UK and Ghanaian experts and professionals.

The tour, which will run from October 17-21, is supported by the Development of International Trade (DIT) in Ghana (formerly UKTI) and is organised in partnership with AB2020, a British company that connects and highlights investors, businesses, projects and entrepreneurs operating in Ghana, and sub-Saharan Africa.

AB2020 Creator and UK-born Ghanaian Akosua Annobil, based in London, added: “From traditional investors and angel networks, to tech start-ups and the Africa Diaspora, we’ve seen a healthy rise in appetite to do business in Ghana over the past year. However, we’ve also found that due to misconceptions, lack of connections, and perhaps a limited understanding of the diverse opportunities and cultures in the country, many are unsure of how to start and where to navigate.

“As a UK-based company with a Ghana focus we aim to ease those anxieties, which is why we’re excited to be partnering with the UKGCC on a series of Ghana Investment Tours for the British business community in October this year, and in to 2017.”

Ghana is one of the largest economies within ECOWAS, and in terms of investment is currently ranked 70th out of 189 countries in the latest World Bank’s Doing Business Rankings, placing the country as the fifth most favourable place to conduct business in Africa after Mauritius (28th), South Africa (43rd), Rwanda (46th), Tunisia (60th), and the first in West Africa above countries such as Cote d’Ivoire (147th), Togo (149th), Benin (151st), Burkina Faso (167th) and Nigeria (170th).

With a shared history and cultural links, Ghana and the UK have a strong bilateral trade relationship, strengthened by a steady stream of ministerial and diplomatic visits from high profile figures in recent years, including HRH Prince Edward and Adam Afriyie, the UK Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to Ghana. NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD.

THE CARIBBEAN IS RUNNING OUT OF COCONUT.

ARE WE running out of coconuts?

At the worst possible time, the Caribbean is running short of one of its most emblematic products.
Rich-world consumers have never been keener on the coconut. Starbucks wants the tropical fruit’s milk for lattes, Rihanna promotes its water as a trendy sports drink, and the price of coconut oil has jumped more than 50 per cent in the past year.


The Caribbean is practically synonymous with the coconut, so its farmers should be cashing in. For a bunch of reasons, they aren’t. Storms, droughts and the Lethal Yellowing disease, spread by plant-hopping insects, have wiped out entire farms; growers have failed to invest in new trees, or fertilisers to improve yields. Caribbean plantations have shrunk by about 17 per cent since 1994, according to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation.


“It’s fair to say that at this pace, the Caribbean is running out of coconut,” said Compton Paul, coordinator of a regional coconut program at the Trinidad-based Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute.


It’s a problem that nobody saw coming. Two decades ago, international demand was waning amid medical warnings that tropical oils could raise levels of artery-clogging cholesterol.


Coconuts sold for next to nothing in the Caribbean, where they’ve grown for five centuries since being introduced by Europeans traveling from the Indian Ocean. Often, they were just left to rot on their trees. NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD.

TOURISM AND AGRICULTURE WILL HELP JAMAICA, SAYS MINISTER.

JAMAICA’S TOURISM industry offers numerous possibilities for investment, according to Jamaica’s Minister of Tourism, Edmund Bartlett, who was speaking at a community meeting at the Jamaica High Commission in London recently.

“There are numerous possibilities. Tourism has that ability to offer opportunities for wealth creation and entrepreneurship”, Minister Bartlett said adding that the government believes that the private initiative must lead the economy.

“We are encouraging you to invest, because there will be no humungous taxation. There will be no restrictions on the repatriation of profits.

Tourism is an industry in the sense that it’s a production process. It’s a series of moving parts that must converge seamlessly to provide an experience,” he said.

Minister Bartlett highlighted agriculture as one sector in which tourism has the potential to create tremendous growth. He noted that fresh fruits and vegetables have created a demand that is worth $75 billion.

According to the Tourism Minister , with some 88 per cent of all visitors describing good food as an important part of their tourism experience, there is great scope for investment in this area to not only to open new restaurants to also to develop great visitor experiences.

Mr. Bartlett said that agriculture is on the rise and that this sector was set to become the “star performer” of the Jamaican economy. He said the growth in agriculture will continue because of the growth in the tourism sector because; “we are eating more (local produce) than ever before”.

Mr. Bartlett noted that, Agriculture along with Marketing and Services, were three of the pillars of the tourism sector.

The Minister also said that there were opportunities to go into new markets by cooperating with other nearby destinations who might ordinarily be competitors such as Mexico, Cuba and the Dominican Republic.

Mr Bartlett noted that despite the emerging markets of China and India, Jamaica’s tourism still depended heavily on American visitors.

“For us Jamaicans, because of proximity, the US has to be the essential area of consideration,” Mr Bartlett said. “Last year, 63% of stopover arrivals came from the US alone. American visitors are only an hour and a half away in Miami, and just two hours away in New York.”

The Minister also stressed the need to tackle the scourge of crime in Jamaica, and stated that the government was making national security the top priority in the National Budget.

During a question and answer session which followed his presentation, the minister fielded many questions from the audience which included the need for road repairs in some parishes and the acquisition of public space for cemeteries, especially in the south western part of the island. Mr Bartlett promised that these would get attention up on his return. NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD.