kickstart

It is like I said the big growers, a guy we know has 500 rie of cane brought a machine, so I was told, from our local sugar mill ,1.5 million baht, another grower I know he has 50 rie gets the big growers in to cut and haul his cane to the mill they own machine and truck to haul the cane this year they are charging 380 baht/ton ,he is getting about 1050 baht /ton, depending on sugar contain . They are some subsidies the mill will pay an extra 50-baht ton on top of the basic price, for the past 2 years the government has paid an extra 100 baht/ton on top of basic price, but so far not this year. Remember world crude oil prices are still volatile, the government will want all the cane it can get, the by-product molasses is used to make ethyl alcohol,our local mill has plant that makes it, that makes gashole for all our vehicles, the more gashole produced less crude oil imports. better balance of payments ,I cannot see things changing overnight. By the way it is the owners of the crop that burn the cane, not the cutters, they just do the job, and get paid as well.

The alternative a sugar cane harvester, in our area we have a lot, and no cane is burnt before machine cutting, as the op said they are expensive secondhand import 2million, the big grower buys them, then they contract out to the smaller farmers charging per ton rate to cut and haul to the mill. In our area they are becoming more common give it a few more years they will be all around the country. Where you get raw cane leftovers from, I do not know they is none, the only left over is the leaves that the cutter leave, or the machine leaves around here and a few other areas it is baled, our straw goes to the mill where it is used for fuel to boil up the molasses, our farmers this year are getting 900 baht/ton for baled straw.

Are you sure you got the noughts in the right place 20k . Go by regular bus Pattaya , Morchit ?Bangkok,not certin think you can go from Ecamar Easten Bus Terminal up Sukhumvit Road, Bangkok>Arayprathet. Since Covid not done a lot of bus traveling in Thailand, things have changed, check with The Transport Co, call center 1490, should be able to do it in a day, a long one, should be change from 2500 baht .

Aziz Abdullah: Uyghur asylum-seeker death heaps pressure on Thailand - BBC News I was wondering if AN would run this article, the link is from the BBC, from 4 days ago. This being typical of Thailand, the second to last paragraph sums it up, cannot upset the masters.

Must be getting old just remembered, closer to Bangkok Banbung Dairy co-op, Chonbur,i 038-056248.

As far as I know they are no dairy farms in Bangkok, the reason most farms are small with no milk cooling facilities for they milk, so all dairy farms are within about 25 km radius of a milk center, farmers milk the cows twice a day, and twice a day milk is taken from their farm to the milk center for cooling and storage, from their it will go by tanker to factory's about the area or to Bangkok.

If the op wants some unpasteurized milk in living in Bangkok the nearest place would be Vehang Dang in Salabuir province, that is a dairy co-op . or Pattananikom in Lopbuir province near the Passak Dam, about 5 milk centers they, that would be 140km from you, a long way or just a few litas of milk, you would need to get they at about 4pm, when the milk from farms arrives at the milk centers.

Your professor's research using Leucaena leucoleph,or Gratin, the tree legume is interesting, the photo is from near me one of the many goat farms that feed Gratin to their goats,for most goat farms it is they only feed, all cut from our area, we also cut and feed it to our cattle. As you say it is a tree legume, fast growing drought tolerant. In this area we have many soil types, it seems to like our black land more than our light land, it is drought restraint but even on our light land in the dry season it does not grow so well. I can remember TV's grass Goure Michal Hare saying it does not grow well in Issan, soil to light? dries out to quickly in the dry season. The other side of the coin it does not like water logging, as I said we feed it, seed's drop on the floor we put all our cow muck on our Nappier grass, needless to say the Gratin grows well, then last year and the year before we had some floods Nappier grass under water for a couple of weeks, about all the gratin, 90% died, but I would say once it gets going about year old water logging should not be a problem. The reason I said that if rice farmers are looking for some diversification, growing Gratin on their rice fields for biomass they will have to get rid of the water first, with some major subsoiling, and that might not be cheap.

We grow Nappier grass and a few farmers in the area grow it as well ,I would say they figures are a bit out 70-80 ton with 5-6 cuts/year at 60 day ,that is 11 ton/rie at 60 days growth ,I would say no way during the dry season it would have to be irrigated ,and the fertilizer that would have to be used urea and the price, as you know Thai land is not over fertile to start with ,can not see farmers making any money just growing Nappier for the plant Looking at that photo you posted of Nappier grass, that looks about 60-70 days old, no way would that yield 11 ton/rie ,again you know what sugar can do 11 ton/rie, a lot in our area this year has done that, compare a crop of sugar to that Nappier photo, that at a guess would do 2-3 ton/rie?, you are right sugar out preforms Nappier. With that big bunker that have they could get a good few tons of cane straw in they roll it with a tractor, like you would with silage you could get a good few hundred ton in there. How cane straw would compare to Nappier grass in a digester I would not know, in this area a lot of cassava waist is feed to dairy cattle, that could go into a digester, probable do more good in a digester than as a cattle feed.

Selling tickets with 3 numbers on will not make the underground lottery sellers happy. that is how they make their money selling just the 3 numbers. Tucksin tried when he tried to digitize the system but that fell through. Some say? the big, big players of the underground lottery leaned on him, knowing they would lose out, see what happens this time.

Good point did not think of that it has been cool for a good few weeks up to last week. The second block they have is near us the soil is old volcanic land with tiny pieces lava and stones, as you say not fertile at the best of times soon dries out one guy tried growing cane on that land a few years ago did not make a lot of money if any. I thought about the amount of fertilizer used, that I would not know, even if they used the right amount with the poor soil and cool weather it would not have done a lot of good.

Interesting post FJ, pity I live so far from you I would like to have gone with you. Those engines I would say would not be cheap coming from Germany. but saying that well maintained they should last a good few years. The plant can produce 3 MW any idea, to put it in to perspective how many homes /buildings that could provide power for. Those choppers for the Nappier grass look like the type some of our farmers use to cut Nappier grass or maize, single and double rows. The price of 450 baht/ton seems cheap to me, the Nappier they use will probably be well grown yielding 2-3 ton /rie ,how they would get on this time of year without any irrigation I would not know and taking that machinery over wet fields during the wet season could leave the field in a mess with ruts and poaching.

Our local big farming company growing some irrigated maize, this block is about 50 rie ,about 3 km away is another block of about 50 rie . Someone at the company does not know a lot about growing corn, this is about 3-4 foot high and in flower, chances of it producing any cobs is about nil, not even enough to cut for maize silage, just plough it in for green manure. The money they have invested in this crop they are watering it most days, a bit like they whole operation they rent all the land 1000 baht/,rie plus, some blocks they have drilled bore holes all they own equipment, they seem only to get one crop a year. We think they days are numbered they might have all the equipment; they have another 4-5 irrigation reels like this one, but they seem to lack the management skills. I know most of their land is 20-30 km up the road, not certain what that is like, but I would it is the same as here.

The Yanks had to fire two missiles at one balloon, as one missile missed, how many will the Thai air force use. Or use Somchia and his catapult.

Recycling plastic is big business's lot of people almost make a living out of it, picking up plastic bottles etc. from beside the roads, then un-like our country they sell it to a recycling company, and it is them that sell it on for recycling. That is where the problem is if they cannot get a good price for, they plastic they will not do it the price goes up and down, we have a place near here that buys in plastic bottles etc. put them in to big bales and sells it on, they yard is full of these bales, a low price at this time. We save all our plastic glass bottles etc. guy end of our Soi buys them, the last lot the wife sold was the lowest price she has got in a long while. For this to work the government will have to help out, with some form of subsidy, as that will not happen things will just carry on as before.

I see you have got some scalloped discs on their do they help to cut though the rubbish, we have a few farmers that that use them on they 3-disc ploughs, mainly for ploughing in cane straw/stubble. Do you really want to watch the cricket ..........may be ( yesterday) in NZ.????

Yes, FJ is right, I said no cane is burnt in our area, the reason is that this year 70% +? is now cut by machine, no cane is burnt when it is cut by machine, with a machine, a second hand import costing 2 million baht, it needs big growers to that can afford to buy one, and run one, grower we know said his fuel bill to cut 120 rie of cane was 100 000 baht, he has a total of 500 rie. Not all areas are the same as ours but given time they will be.

It already has, for some years they are various plants about Thailand making Ethanal Alcohol, from molasses. And have you noticed how much cassava is grown now, when I first come to my area 20 odd years ago, they were no cassava grown now it is alongside corn/maize, and cane, the reason that it is fermented down in to Ethanal Alcohol, and yes, a lot is still dried and exported, China and Rotterdam are big markets.

Lopburi, and we have 3 mills in the area, this is the second year of baling cane straw. Also, our local plant makes enhylal alcohol from Molasses, which will go on to make gashol fuel for all our vehicles.

Wifes family have just had two motorbike bike accidents over the past month, with Thai 3ed party insurance it only covers you up to 30 000 baht in hospital bills, one case the car driver who so we were told, was at fault and paid the extra hospital bill, not all accident victims are so lucky.

Do what they do in my area and some others, bale it to big bales, it goes for biomass, or at our local mill gets used as fuel for boiling molasses. No cane is burnt in our area, so it can be done

You can get limes this big there is a verity known as Mano Yat มะนาวย์ก in Thai, we have two bushes in the garden, and they bear fruit this size. We have had large limes on the normal lime trees in the past, they normally do well with the amount of cow manure that is put on them they should grow well. The wife says what do I do with limes this size one of these would keep me going for a few days cooking, I said quite easy make them into marmalade, which we do, and very nice it is to.

This was on Thai TV today, he made it she was still there, and they gave each other a very big hug. for the cameras? let's see how it unfolds over the next few days.

Cane is burnt in the late evening when it is dark, reason, very little wind/ breeze, compared to during the day and it can be seen to keep it under control. Will plans fly at nighttime at very low level, no.

They already do. the sugar cane mill will deduct money from burnt sugar cane sent to the mill, and farmers know that. I see Lopburi province is on the list of provinces with a lot of burning, in our area no cane is burnt, and we have 3 mills and a lot of cane. {were dose the op get their facts from.} Another reason cane is burnt, and a big one it makes the job easier for the cutters, as all the work is done on piece work, more you cut more money you earn, most cutter are Cambodians, Burmese and Laos, and as cutters are getting more difficult to find growers will burn cane. In our area most cane is cut by machine, but not so in all areas with a secondhand imported machine costing 2 million baht plus not cheap, and a grower near here has spent almost 100 000 baht on diesel for his machine this year @ 35 baht liter just to cut 120 rie the engine on a cane harvester is 250 hp, hardly environmentally friendly.