USDA DATA SEEN AS NO BIG SHAKEUP FOR FARM MARKETS.

DES MOINES, Iowa — Yes, today’s USDA U.S. old-crop soybean ending stocks estimate is lower than a month ago, but not far enough for investors.

Also, the South Americans keep growing larger crops, putting pressure on the farm markets.
As a result, the Wednesday CME Group’s futures prices jumped briefly then turned mixed, reacting to the USDA May Supply/Demand and WASDE Reports.

At the close, the July corn futures finished 7¼¢ higher at $3.73¾, and December futures ended 6½¢ higher at $3.91½.

July soybean futures closed 3¾¢ lower at $9.70¼; November soybean futures finished ¾¢ lower at $9.66¾. July wheat futures closed 2¼¢ higher at $4.31¾. July soy meal futures finished $0.80 per short ton lower at $317.70. July soy oil futures finished 0.61¢ lower at 32.28¢ per pound. In the outside markets, the Brent crude oil market is $1.39 per barrel higher, the U.S. dollar is higher, and the Dow Jones Industrials are 39 points lower.

U.S. Ending Stocks 2016/2017

In its monthly report, USDA pegged the U.S. 2016/2017 soybean ending stocks at 435 million bushels vs. last month’s estimate of 445 million and the average trade estimate of 438 million.
For corn, the old-crop ending stocks were estimated at 2.29 billion bushels vs. the average trade estimate of 2.32 billion bushels and the USDA’s April estimate of 2.32 billion.

The 2016/2017 U.S. wheat ending stocks estimates came in at 1.15 billion bushels vs. the average trade estimate of 1.16 billion bushels and the government’s April estimate of 1.15 billion bushels.

U.S. Ending Stocks 2017/2018

In its May report Wednesday, USDA pegged the U.S. 2017/2018 soybean ending stocks at 480 million bushels vs. the average trade estimate of 555 million.

For corn, the old-crop ending stocks were estimated at 2.11 billion bushels vs. the average trade estimate of 2.12 billion bushels.

The 2016/2017 U.S. wheat ending stocks estimates came in at 914 billion bushels vs. the average trade estimate of 1.01 billion bushels.

World Crop Production

The USDA/WASDE sees the 2016/2017 soybean production, in Brazil, growing to 111.60 million metric tons, compared with the average trade estimate of 111.3 million metric tons and the USDA’s April estimate of 111.0 mmt.

Brazil’s corn crop is pegged at 96.0 mmt. vs. the average trade estimate of 94.2 mmt. and the USDA’s April estimate of 93.5 mmt.

In its report, USDA/WASDE pegged Argentina’s soybean crop at 57.0 mmt. vs. its estimate last month of 56.0 mmt. and the average trade estimate of 56.1 mmt.

Argentina’s corn crop is pegged at 40 mmt. vs. the average trade estimate of 38.4 mmt. and the USDA’s previous estimate of 38.5 mmt.

Trade Response

Jack Scoville, The PRICE Futures Group’s Senior Market Analyst, says that the soybean market has turned lower, though domestic estimates came in about as expected.

For corn, why USDA is putting exports next year so low must mean that they believe South America’s corn crop is coming back, Scoville says.

“Even so, corn exports estimate seems pretty extreme.  No real problem with the old crop data,” Scoville says.

Wheat prices are hanging in there, today. I think this has as much to do about ideas that the damage seen in the last week or so are not here. And, even so, these are pretty decent numbers with ending stocks for next year showing a very solid drop as they should,” Scoville says.

Mike North, President Commodity Risk Management Group, says that the USDA’s corn projections held close to pre-report guesses.

“Soybeans saw limited growth in domestic supplies, as projected exports continue to build into the next marketing year.  However, the offset to this friendly story comes in the fact that Brazil and Argentina have continued to add to their record production numbers,” North says.

North add, “With that information in hand, we essentially have not changed the story for traders seeking something more robust to move markets outside of the existing range.”

Sal Gilbertie,  Teucrium Trading owner, says the biggest takeaway from this report is the lowering of global ending stocks, mainly for the U.S. and China, for the 2017/18 marketing year, due to lower production and increased use.

“Corn production is forecast down from a year ago, with the largest declines in China and the United States. Partly offsetting are larger crops projected for the EU and Canada. Global corn use is up 9 million tons (1 percent), while global corn imports are projected to increase 7 million tons,” Teucrium pointed out from the WASDE Report summary.

The immediate upward response in corn prices to this report is a reflection of simple supply/demand fundamentals, Gilbert says.

“The USDA predicts that the world will use more corn but produce less corn in the coming year. The official first-of-the-season report predicts that the world’s two largest producers of corn are projected to produce less corn than last year, but global corn demand is expected to be up by 1% from last year,” Gilbert says. Corn is king, which means other markets will look to corn for price direction.”
Overall, grain prices are sitting at multi-year lows due to four years of record global production, but this report could be a warning shot of changing fundamentals moving forward into the new growing season, Gilbert says.

“It’s still very early and planting progress reports are still evolving with a few more weeks to go before markets get some actual clarity. Right now, end-user complacency with regard to grain prices could be a risky path to take,” Gilbert says.

Jason Roose, U.S. Commodities grain analyst, says that farm markets are finding support today from the USDA’s 2017-18 data.

“The lower 2017/2018 corn world ending stocks and a continuing strong ethanol demand gave initial support to the corn market. Plus, the larger crush and lower ending stocks gave soybeans initial support,” Roose says. BY MIKE MCGINNIS.

NORTH DAKOTA FARMER JOE BREKER'S LIFETIME OF CONSERVATION DISCOVERY.

Joe Breker says almost everything he’s learned in his 38 years of farming in the northern prairie was born of necessity. “It really is the mother of invention,” says the conservation fanatic from Havana, North Dakota.

His farming career breaks down into three learning periods.

1. Learning no-till.

At North Dakota State University in the late 1970s, Breker had his first “aha” conservation moment. “A soils professor told us about this new thing called no-till, and encouraged us to check it out.”

Breker did more than that: He found and picked the brains of pioneer no-till farmers, then took it home and tried it on a few fields in 1979. “The next year, we went the whole way, growing every field of corn, soybeans, and cereal grains with no-till,” he recalls. “It made our neighbors wonder what in the world we were thinking.”

They didn’t wonder for long as the 1980s turned dry, and no-till proved its worth in conserving both soil and moisture.

2. Learning cover crops.

Then the 1990s turned wet, and the problem flipped from conserving moisture to getting rid of it. Some people reverted to a chisel plow. Not Breker.

“I was especially struggling with cereal grains,” he says. “We have that long fallow period in the fall, with nothing growing to use up the water. We decided we needed more plants and started trying cover crops.”

He tried vetch, sorghum, sunflowers, and others. But the one that impressed most was field peas. “It uses up a lot of water, and we can get up to 2 tons of vegetation an acre,” he says. “It makes good cattle feed.”

3. Learning cover crop options.

It took several more years for Breker to discover another class of cover crops called the brassicas – turnips, radishes, and a few others. “They’re deep-rooted, fast-growing, water-using, and cold-tolerant,” he says. “They grow in a variety of soil conditions.” In essence, they give more options.

Now, he often seeds turnips and radishes on wheat stubble in preparation for a corn crop the next year. They leave behind a seedbed that’s mellow and porous.

In the last 10 years, Breker has adopted an advanced cover crop system first developed by Kelly Cooper, the manager at the Conservation Cropping Systems Project Farm at Forman, North Dakota. That system alternates strips of brassicas and field peas on 30-inch centers. Using GPS-guidance, corn is planted directly over the brassica strips. It’s like strip-tillage without the tillage; they call it bio strip-till.

Breker says the net result of his no-till and cover crop journey is that he’s better managing moisture while building crop nutrients and soil organic matter. “The soil compaction created by 80 years of tillage is gone. We’ve kicked the soil health up a notch,” he says.

He’s always been quick to share his hard-earned knowledge with other farmers. His best advice: Throw a cover crop onto fields wherever you can to give erosion control (both wind and water), build organic matter, and save on fertilizer expenses.

“My favorite part of farming is watching stuff grow, and cover crops give more chances for that. It’s kind of cool to have our neighbors stop in the fall and ask if they can pick a few of our Jackhammer radishes.” BY GENE JOHNSTON.

EROSION:TREAT THE PROBLEM, NOT THE SYMPTOMS.

Beauty and the beast. A tale as old as time. This story has nothing to do with love. It’s all about erosion and what can be done to transform overworked, abused soil into healthy, productive soil teeming with life.

The situation is grim across the Midwest. Soil is eroding around a rate of 5 tons per acre per year, with severe cases losing closer to 100 tons per acre, says Jerry Hatfield, director of the USDA-ARS National Laboratory for Agriculture and the Environment located in Ames, Iowa. These numbers are above the rates of soil restoration, so soil will continue to be lost.

“Erosion rates are dependent upon the year,” says Hatfield. “It’s all rainfall driven.”

Intense weather events in the spring are becoming the norm across the Midwest. There is more precipitation in the spring – a time of year with little or no crop to use that water, says Hatfield.
Since there’s no vegetation to use the water or break up the raindrop energy, it leads to increased runoff and erosion, causing concern over how much erosion rates will increase across the Midwest. You battle this beast yearly. As of January 2017, 23.5 million acres were reportedly enrolled in the CRP across the U.S. Voluntary participation has helped to improve water quality and reduce soil erosion.
But is it enough?
“You protect land from erosion and reduce the amount of sediment you put into streams with these practices,” says Chad Watts, executive director of the Conservation Technology Information Center in West Lafayette, Indiana.

The bottom line: You need less soil disturbance and more residue and cover crops.Your soil is more than just the medium in which you grow plants,” says Watts. “The downfall of many civilizations was when they degraded their soil to the point that it was no longer productive. When soil degrades to the point of no return, that’s when civilizations begin to fail. It behooves you to protect your soil.”

The Curse

The practice of tillage has conservationists exasperated.
“There is no agronomic or economic reason for tillage to be justifiable anymore,” says Doug Peterson, NRCS Iowa and Missouri regional soil health specialist. “It destroys everything that restores soil function.

“The practice of tillage is more ingrained in most people than their religion,” he says.

After all, passed down from generation to generation was the thought that tillage was required to make soil function, but that is not the case. Instead, tillage causes a loss in aggregate stability, explains Peterson. Root exudates in the soil act like glue and hold together soil particles. Erosion occurs when one piece of soil breaks loose from another aggregate.

Sediment loss, nutrient loss, and water availability are the main conservation concerns for Hatfield. “We’ve induced more and more field variability over time,” he says.

“If you have good root exudates coming from year-round plant roots and a healthy biology, you have a better aggregated soil,” says Peterson.

The slake test is a good visual demonstration of what is happening in the field. The slake test consists of two clear containers full of water. A clod of soil from a tilled field is placed in one container, while a clod from a no-till field is placed in the other.  “The tilled soil dissolves rapidly,” says Peterson. “In the presence of rain, without the glues or exudates, the soil particles in the aggregates break loose, and they are very susceptible to erosion.”


That’s not the case for the no-till field, which remains intact. A field with poor soil health doesn’t allow for as much water infiltration as a healthy soil. Maintaining soil structure is important to help with infiltration, explains Hatfield.

“It’s not how much rain you get in the rain gauge that matters; it’s how much you get in the soil. Your job should be determining ways you can capture rain and store it better,” says Hatfield.
It’s not just a problem with water – there’s an issue with oxygen, as well.Those roots growing in the soil are really oxygen-dependent,” says Hatfield.


Having nonfunctioning soil biology is akin to having COPD. The soil needs to have an oxygen exchange – that’s limited in soil without a healthy biology.

It’s a Beast

You see these areas with washes get filled in by tillage. The answer to this type of erosion is to manage water better, explains Watts.

The ideal system is a continual no-till with cover crops, which builds soil aggregates and allows more air and water movement through the soil.

The following three steps will help you manage your soil for the future.
1. Adjust your strategy. Leave residue. Material left on the soil surface is an impediment to water movement. Cover crops or a grass waterway help deflect that water, resulting in more infiltration and less runoff.

Gully erosion, a concentrated flow of water that cuts deep channels, is different from other types of erosion because you notice it right away. Other types don’t appear to be a significant problem – yet, looks can be deceiving. Sheet erosion (the uniform removal of soil in thin layers by raindrops and overland flow) and rill erosion (the removal of soil by concentrated water through small channels) are the types that cause the most soil loss.“If you lose .10 inch of soil a year, you don’t notice it,” says Watts. “You’re losing more than you think. A tenth of an inch over 40 acres adds up – it’s just less noticeable.”


Don’t think this is affecting you? Losing the thickness of one sheet of paper across an acre is equivalent to losing 5 tons of soil, says Peterson. If you have perfectly clear water in your field after a rain event, then you didn’t have much sheet erosion, he explains.

2. Fix it right. Available programs with cost sharing have made it easier to fix issues, says Watts. Over the years, farmers have done a pretty good job addressing the critical areas with waterways. “For example, if you get a gully, you don’t get a lot growing. You’re money ahead to fix it and fix it right rather than try to farm with it,” he says.

Growers are certainly headed in the right direction. “Even more than 10 years ago, protecting your soil is part of the conversation. As you talk about being sustainable, soil has to be part of that conversation,” Watts says.

When considering conservation practices, it’s key to think of the context of how it fits into your production system.

There’s a direct tie between conservation and your production system. There are enough options within conservation that you can protect soil while being productive and profitable, says Watts.
3. Treat the problem, not the symptoms. An emphasis has been placed on buffers in past years, but they should be considered the last line of defense.

“If you have water, it’s going to move some soil,” says Watts. “Some movement is inevitable.”
In-field management should be the answer instead of relying on capturing soil, nutrients, and water leaving the field.

“Edge-of-field practices (such as buffers) slow down water movement and stop those sediment and nutrient runoffs before they get too far,” says Watts. While valuable practices, they only treat symptoms – not the problem – and should only be half of the system.

“When you get to the point where you have a big gully, you need to pinpoint why you can’t fill it in with tillage,” explains Watts. “Look up the hill to see what’s happening.”In-field management gives you an opportunity to address the problem. “The beauty is that there is an opportunity to tie conservation practices to production,” says Watts. “Cover crops build organic matter, and there are production benefits that go along with building organic matter.”

The Beauty of Transformation

The conversation needs to move from no-till to never-till.  “Any time you make a tillage pass, you begin to break down aggregates,” says Peterson.

Water infiltrates the pore spaces in the aggregates, and tillage passes destroy those spaces in the aggregates. Ultimately, this destroys the ability of the water to infiltrate the soil. That’s not all it harms. It also slashes the earthworm habitat.

“The more active the biology, the more you’re going to get out of the system,” says Peterson.
Take nutrient cycling, for example. In a tilled environment, only about 30% to 50% of nutrients make it into the plant, says Peterson. However, with no-till, 70% to 90% of nutrients will be accessed by the plant. This may improve yield, and it lowers the risk of nutrient loss.

Producers have installed a lot of practices without understanding that they’re treating only symptoms of the problem instead of the root cause, says Peterson.

The goal of a bioreactor is to trap nitrates that leave the field and prevent them from going into a river or stream. Even if it’s just $10 to $30 per acre in nitrates leaving the field, that’s a $10 to $30 investment going unutilized because the soil couldn’t hold the nutrients. It’s an investment you can’t get back, he says.

“Historically, the problem hasn’t been understood. The soil wasn’t functioning properly. Those edge-of-field practices may function really well, but it’s still costing you,” he says.Cover crops combined with no-till could be the answer. Cover crops add organic matter to the soil, while no-till builds aggregate stability, he says. “Neither practice is as effective by itself.”


Together, the combination can help build healthier soil, resulting in less need for conservation practices that merely treat the symptoms.

Watts believes having organic matter and healthy soils will result in a reduction in the amount of tillage.

That’s why cover crops are gaining ground. “A lot of people are realizing they can make them work in their system,” Hatfield says. “More and more producers are beginning to see the value of that, but they need to figure out how to work it into their systems.”
This age-old tale may just have a new, sustainable ending. BY KACEY BIRCHMIER.

CHINA 2017/18 CORN PLANTING AREA TO DROP 2.5%.

BEIJING, May 10 (Reuters) - Chinese farmers are expected to sow 35.84 million hectares of corn this year, down 2.5% from last year, the agriculture ministry said on Wednesday, as Beijing looks to boost alternative crops to reduce its corn glut.

In its first estimate for the 2017 crop, the ministry said China is expected to produce 213.19 million tonnes of corn, down 2.9% from a year ago.

The planting forecast in the monthly report on Chinese Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (CASDE) shows a smaller percentage decline than predicted by China's National Bureau of Statistics last month.

The bureau forecast China’s planned corn acreage would fall by 4% this year, based on a survey of 110,000 Chinese farmers.

Beijing is sitting on close to 250 million tonnes of corn, equal to more than a year of consumption, after a near decade-long stockpiling system. The glut prompted Beijing to include cutting corn areas and raising soybean planting in a five-year government plan issued last year.

The CASDE report said soybean imports by China, the world’s top buyer of the oilseed, were expected to jump 4.2% from last year to 93.16 million tonnes, as hog production recovers and demand for soy meal increases.

China imported 8.02 million tonnes of soybeans in April, a fourth consecutive month when imports set a record for that month, data from the General Administration of Customs of China showed on Monday.

China’s 2017/2018 soybean acreage was seen at 7.9 million hectares, up 10%, while soybean output was expected to rise 12% to 14.1 million tonnes, the CASDE report said.
(Reporting by Hallie Gu and Dominique Patton; editing by Richard Pullin). BY HALLIE GU.

BIOMIN MYCOTOXIN SURVEY INDICATES HIGHER MYCOTOXIN RISKS IN CORN AND FEED IN 2017.

Mycotoxin-related threats to livestock production have risen in most regions of the world over the first quarter of 2017.


More than 14000 analyses were conducted on 3715 finished feed and raw commodity samples sourced from 54 countries from January to March 2017 as part of the BIOMIN Mycotoxin Survey.
The main trends of the survey are; recent rise in mycotoxin contamination levels observed for corn, finished feed and soy; deoxynivalenol (DON), detected in 80 per cent of samples, is the most prevalent mycotoxin worldwide, followed by fumonisins (FUM), found in 71 per cent of samples; 76 per cent of feed and raw commodity samples contained two or more mycotoxins.


Reported mycotoxin occurrence data has shown that contamination levels in corn and finished feed samples have risen considerably in Europe and throughout the Western hemisphere. Risk levels in Asia remain elevated.


“Corn, or maize, constitutes a major proportion of animal feed and so trends in finished feed risk tends to match corn risk over time,” explained Dr Timothy Jenkins, Mycotoxin Risk Management Product Manager at BIOMIN.


The most prevalent mycotoxin in world feed is deoxynivalenol, a type B trichothecene produced by Fusarium graminearum and F. culmorum. Easily observed symptoms include reduced feed intake and feed refusal. Two-thirds of samples contained deoxynivalenol in excess of 150 parts per billion (ppb): the risk threshold for effect on sensitive animals.


47% of samples contained F. verticillioides-produced fumonisins above 500 ppb: the risk threshold for effect on sensitive animals. Research has shown the combination of deoxynivalenol and fumonisins severely impair vaccine response and gut health.


More than three-quarters of samples contained two or more mycotoxins. Multiple mycotoxin contamination of feed presents additional problems, as certain combinations of mycotoxins are known to have synergistic effects that aggravate the negative consequences for animals.


“The main Fusarium mycotoxins are frequently related to subclinical symptoms which arenot very obvious on the surface but usually have a greater economic impact for the industry.” observed Dr Jenkins. “The presence of several mycotoxins at low levels can silently impair productivity with poorer feed efficiency and low growth rates,” he added. 


“Avoidance of contaminated feed and attention to feed storage conditions are logical approaches to reducing the mycotoxin risk,” stated Dr Jenkins.


“However, mycotoxin contamination of feedstuffs occurs despite the most strenuous efforts on prevention. The most reliable approach is to combine prevention and detection with regular application of additives proven to adsorb or deactivate toxins in the intestinal tract of animals,” he advised. SOURCE- BIOMIN.

COTE D'IVOIRE TO HOST AFRICAN GREEN REVOLUTION FORUM 2017.

Côte d’Ivoire has been announced as the host of this year’s African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) (AGRF.org), hailed as premier continental agriculture gathering, to be held on 4-8 September 2017.

The West African nation, a leading agricultural powerhouse and a hub of expertise in improving smallholder farming, will be the first francophone African country to host the annual Forum. Chosen for its leadership in placing agriculture at the heart of its economic transformation, Côte d’Ivoire is among a few select African countries that have made the biggest investments in agriculture resulting in sizeable increases in both farm productivity and overall economic performance.


Under the leadership of President Alassane Dramane Ouattara, the AGRF 2017 will focus on “Accelerating Africa’s path to prosperity: growing economies and jobs through African agriculture.”
Mamadou Sangafowa Coulibaly, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Côte d'Ivoire, emphasised his country’s commitment to continually improve the agricultural sector which is key to its economic development.


“Five years of significant investments through the National Agricultural Investment Plan have enabled the country to empower farmers and place them at the heart of Côte d'Ivoire's economic transformation. The first phase of the NAIP contributed to a significant boost in our agricultural production, with more than 17 million tons of food crops in 2015 compared to 11,886 million? Tons in 2012. We are delighted to see that our efforts are being recognized internationally. We are confident that Phase 2 of the NIP, based on a more integrated approach that includes water resources management, health, electricity and education, will help to lift farmers out of poverty and further stimulate our economy. Côte d'Ivoire is committed to developing its agricultural economy, this needs to be consolidated.”


Agriculture is the backbone of Côte d’Ivoire’s economy and its robust growth is driven by sustained investment in agriculture and smallholder farmers. The sector contributes 26 percent of GDP, 40 percent of all export revenue, close 75 percent of non-oil export revenue and employs close to 60 percent of the population. The 2016-2020 National Development Plan (PND) aimed at guiding the country into emerging nation status by 2020, considers agriculture as a key pillar and specifically calls for an increase in agricultural output. NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD.

DANGOTE COULD BECOME WORLDS LARGEST RICE EXPORTER.

President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Dr Akinwumi Adesina, has predicted that home-grown African brand, Dangote, may become the largest exporter of rice in the world by 2021.
Speaking at the Mo Ibrahim Forum in Morocco, Adesina said that Africa must focus on agriculture to drive growth and create jobs on the continent.


Akinwumi, who was Nigeria’s agriculture minister when Dangote was the largest importer of rice into the country, recounted how Dangote had once walked into his office and resolved to switch from import to home-based production and export of rice few years ago.


Dangote has recently signed an agreement with Sokoto State government to create 16,000 jobs for out-grower rice farmers in the north-western part of the country.


Speaking on his plans to Dangote said, “In the next three years we want to produce one million tons of quality rice and make it available and affordable to the people. We hope to do 150, 000 ha and when we are done, Nigeria will not have anything to do with importation of rice,” Dangote said.


He also pointed out that Nigeria consumes 6.5mn tonnes of rice, which costs the nation over US$2bn annually. According to him his investments into the rice sector was largely due to the genuine interest of the Federal government to revive agriculture as the mainstay of the economy, and reduce importation of foods that could be produced locally. NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD.

SYNGENTA AND USAID INVEST US$1.8MN TO HELP SMALL HOLDER FARMERS IN ZAMBIA.

Global agribusiness company, Syngenta, has partnered with the Feed the Future Partnering for Innovation, a United States Agency for International Development (USAID) programme implemented by Fintrac Inc, to help smallholder farmers in Zambia gain access to high-quality, disease-free horticultural seedlings, giving them the opportunity to become commercially viable vegetable farmers.

The programme aims to build a sustainable seedling distribution model for hybrid vegetables, provide access to market information and linkages, train farmers on good agricultural practices and business management and introduce new technologies to help smallholder farmers dramatically improve their yields.

Syngenta will establish 20 seedling production sites, each owned and operated by an entrepreneurial young plant raiser (YPR) in 20 districts across Zambia. The YPR will provide business and technical training, as well as facilitate market linkages for the benefit of 12,000 smallholder farmers. Although the primary focus of the project will be on tomato and cabbage seedlings, Syngenta will also conduct trials and testing regarding the commercial viability of other crops with a high potential in Zambia such as kale (rape), cauliflower, broccoli, carrot, and potato.

Furthermore, Syngenta will help in promoting a pilot programme for YPR’s “Vegetable in a Bag” concept, where a small portion of YPR seedlings will be sold in reusable packaging, with no ground soil and minimal water, making them suitable for urban and peri-urban use. NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD.

USAID PROMOTES GREATER INVESTMENT IN GHANAS AGRICULTURAL SECTOR.

The aim of the event is to spotlight Ghanaian agribusinesses and link them with viable private investment opportunities

On 4 May, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), through the U.S. government’s Feed the Future Initiative, hosted the 4th Annual Ghana Agribusiness Investment Summit to showcase investment opportunities in Ghana’s agribusinesses. The event brought together business service providers, financial institutions, agribusinesses, farmers, development partners and the Ghanaian government under the theme “Mobilising strategic investment for agriculture.”

At the summit, the Deputy Minister for the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Honorable George Oduro, and U.S. Chargé d'Affaires Melinda Tabler-Stone stressed the importance of leveraging financial opportunities for Ghanaian agribusinesses.

“Today’s summit is a call to action,” remarked Chargé d'Affaires Tabler-Stone. “It is a call for private, public, and development partners to re-strategise and increase investment in agriculture, so that we can achieve sustainable and broadly shared economic growth. Let me assure you that the U.S. government is committed to working with the Ghanaian government and our partners to boost economic growth and reduce poverty.”

The aim of the event is to spotlight Ghanaian agribusinesses and link them with viable private investment opportunities. The event featured panel discussions on opportunities in the agriculture sector, the importance of forming strategic partnerships to enhance agricultural productivity, risk-sharing agricultural lending, and alternative sources of financing for agribusiness. The summit offered participants business-to-business sessions where they were given the opportunity to network and forge partnerships.

This annual event was organized by Feed the Future with support from USAID. In Ghana, Feed the Future has mobilised more than US$115mn in private sector investment for Ghana’s agriculture sector and works to improve agricultural productivity, boost incomes, and link farmers to market and trade opportunities. NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD.

KUKI GALLMAN, I DREAMED OFAFRICA AUTHOR IS SHOT IN KENYA

Over the past few days, Mrs. Gallmann, one of Kenya’s most famous conservationists and the author of the best-selling book “I Dreamed of Africa,” sent me a flurry of increasingly distressed text messages. Heavily armed pastoralists had invaded her ranch in northern Kenya and were edging closer and closer to her house.

“Pokot militia openly carrying firearms,” she wrote in one message. (The Pokot are an ethnic group in northern Kenya.) “Not just herders. Group of armed men without livestock. 13 firearm spotted.”

A few days later, she sent another message that said, “2 Arsons by herders and shooting reported.” She added in a separate bubble: “Fire ongoing.”

On Sunday morning, Mrs. Gallmann, 73, was driving across her vast ranch to visit a lodge that the raiders had just ransacked. That lodge was one of her most beloved spots, the favorite place of her son, who died years ago from a snakebite. She was being escorted by wildlife rangers.

As she drove back from the lodge in her car, with the wildlife rangers chugging along behind her, she saw a group of raiders on a hill, friends said. Several shots were fired. One bullet flew through her door. Mrs. Gallmann was hit in the hip, and the bullet sliced upward through her torso, leaving her gravely wounded.

Over the next few hours, wildlife rangers, a British Army field medic and doctors in Nairobi, the capital, raced to save her life. By Sunday evening, close friends said, she had emerged from surgery in stable condition but with extensive internal damage. The next few days could be critical, they said.

The attack on Mrs. Gallmann was the latest sign of the chaos and violence ripping through northern Kenya, an area celebrated for its wondrous wildlife but plagued by lawlessness. Thousands of armed pastoralists have swept in from other parts of the country that have been afflicted by drought.

The pastoralists say they need more land to graze their animals, and in recent years they have frequently harassed farmers and ranchers, hoping to push them out. The violence has been worsening and has reached new heights this year.

Last month, herdsmen shot and killed a British rancher in Laikipia, the same ruggedly beautiful area north of Nairobi where Mrs. Gallmann lives. More than a dozen people have been killed in the area, and property damage has run into the millions of dollars.

Gangs of young herders have been stirred by local politicians to invade other people’s land. Several politicians have recently been arrested. But given that official corruption is a crippling problem in Kenya, most analysts do not hold out much hope that any of the ringleaders will be seriously punished.

The Kenyan security services have deployed hundreds of officers to combat the problem, including some who are based on Mrs. Gallmann’s ranch, and recently a Humvee was parked in her front yard. Even so, herders occupy large parts of her land, making it dangerous to venture out. And the Kenyan government is increasingly distracted by national elections scheduled for August.

This past week, violence broke out across Kenya during primary balloting — a worrying sign for many Kenyans, who already dread elections because they often bring out the worst in the country, raising ethnic tensions and leading to bloodshed. Analysts say the violence between herders and landowners is worse in Laikipia this year because of the elections and because of the severe drought that has desiccated much of eastern Africa.

During several long conversations this month, Mrs. Gallmann spoke of her fears with a steely determination.

“There is absolutely no question that I want to stay in this place, die in this place, which could be any minute,” she said.

“My husband and myson are buried in my garden,” she said. “This may not mean much to an American, but it means a lot to Africans, and it means a lot to me.”

Mrs. Gallmann, who said she was a “pampered little girl” when growing up in Italy, has led both a blessed and a cursed life. Her wealth has allowed her to own one of the biggest and most beautiful ranches in Kenya, with about 100,000 acres of lush green land. But tragedy always seems to be lurking.

In her memoir, she recounts her son’s death, and the death of her husband in a car crash. Her book was turned into a feature film starring Kim Basinger.

After Mrs. Gallmann was shot on Sunday morning, wildlife rangers fired back at the raiders, who fled into the bush. The rangers rushed to Mrs. Gallmann, who was bleeding badly. She was taken by helicopter first to Nanyuki, a town south of Laikipia with a large British Army base, and a British field medic there stabilized her. Then she was flown to Aga Khan University Hospital in Nairobi, one of the highest-regarded hospitals in East Africa.

Raiders have tried to kill Mrs. Gallmann before. One evening in 2009, she was driving alone across her property when herders surrounded her and hurled stones, hitting her in the head and hand. She barely escaped.

“It’s more dangerous now,” she said in a recent conversation. “More weapons, more young men without role models, without prospects, without an education, without a future.”

She seemed to sense, even before she was shot, that she was dealing with people who had nothing to lose. BY JEFFREY GENTLEMAN.