Farming minister promotes corn growth

[webfact]

Farming minister promotes corn growth

By The Nation

 

File photo: Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Grisada Boonrach

 

Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Grisada Boonrach has set up district-and tambon-level teams nationwide to encourage rice farmers to grow corn for animal feed after their rice harvest to meet a target of 2 million rai of corn plantation.

 

"We need to explain to farmers that they will earn a better profit per rai from growing corn for animal feed compared to rice-growing because corn is in high demand.

 

"The government will implement incentives, including financial aid at Bt2,000 per rai, a three-year debt suspension period for farmers with loans and support in terms of production and machines via the co-operative system and help to find a market for corn," the minister said on Wednesday. More measures include a produce insurance system and buying price guarantee, he added.

 

The district and sub-district agriculture officials were also to educate the interested rice farmers - who registered with the Department of Agriculture Extension for the project - about how to grow corn and related issues.

 

The teams would emphasise a recent survey of corn for animal feed price at Ubon Ratchathani's Pibul Mangsahan district which is hailed as the successful model with 27,000 rai of corn plantations yielding 1,100kg of corn per rai or a total of over 27,000 tonnes.

 

The corn is sold at Bt7.5-Bt9.6 per kg, depending on the level of moisture, compared to its production cost of Bt2.9 per kg, he said.

 

Off-season rice-growing would yield around Bt1,980 in gross profit per rai, while corn for animal feed would yield Bt5,000 in profit per rai, he said.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30352714

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-08-22

[Esso49]

Thai logic.

 

Grow rice, we need it and you get a good price.  Outcome - everyman and is dog grows rice and oversupply causes the market value of the product to slump.

 

Next brainwave.

 

Grow pineapple, we need it and you get a good price.  Outcome - everyman and is dog grows pineapples and oversupply causes the market value of the product to slump.

 

Latest brainwave

 

Grow corn we need it and you get a good price.  Outcome - everyman and is dog grows corn and oversupply will most certainly causes the market value of the product to slump.

 

I mean to say these government ministers should be locked away. But dig a bit deeper and you will unravel the truth possibly. 

 

 We all know that certain Thai families with "connections" are the ones that pull the strings here with the sole purpose of enriching themselves further.  One company who can not be named for defamation reasons, but quite close alphabetically,  is one such family owned company.  They of course are one of the main suppliers of animal feed in Thailand.   Therefore if farmers follow the advice of the minister,  prices for corn will plummet and of course this company will be able to buy corn at a significantly lower cost than they currently  do today.  Their products I am sure will never be reduced in price to reflect the low feedstock cost so hence profit margins increase greatly.  Thank you Junta for recommending that and you can visit my families holiday home in St Vincent at our expense any time that you wish,

 

 

[coulson]

24 minutes ago, webfact said:

More measures include a produce insurance system and buying price guarantee, he added.

 

Sounds like a pledge to me

[Small Joke]

Coming to a government near you,  the 'corn pledging' scandal. ?

[Small Joke]

The one thing they could make serious money from.  Is of course illegal. 

The whole world is FUBAR. 

Although a few places are finally waking up to smell the weed.  It only took 90 years for the science to replace the racist fear mongering and moral panic of reefer madness.  God help us all... 

[CGW]

34 minutes ago, Esso49 said:

Next brainwave.

You omitted the sugar cane crops that they now buy for pennies to keep their profits high! ? 

The majority of corn grown is now GMO - great news ? 

[PatOngo]

47 minutes ago, Small Joke said:

Coming to a government near you,  the 'corn pledging' scandal. ?

Hopefully after which the PM will do a runner!

[attrayant]

The majority of corn grown is now GMO - great news [emoji20] 

That is great news, because it means zero pesticide applications on the crop.

[CGW]

14 minutes ago, attrayant said:

That is great news, because it means zero pesticide applications on the crop.

 

Fantastic?  - the pesticide is in-bedded in the seed, now you will definitely be eating them - like it or not ? 

[zzaa09]

A simple inquiry as to why might be pertinent. 

 

The rhymes and reasons might not have a place.

[Thakkar]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

Farming minister promotes corn growth

Great. Now I know who to blame my corn growth on.

[DrTuner]

Every time they do this, the next thing is there's a huge surplus of whatever they were promoting and the prices plummet. Knee jerk doesn't work with long term and Thais don't do long term so rinse & repeat.

[djayz]

I'm no expert on the topic, but would corn even grow here in this climate? 

In the 9 years I've lived here and the 6-7 before that that I spent here on holidays, I've never once seen corn growing. 

[BuaBS]

Grow more corn for human consumption and plants to turn it in cheap cornflakes and popcorn.

[Becker]

9 hours ago, djayz said:

I'm no expert on the topic, but would corn even grow here in this climate? 

In the 9 years I've lived here and the 6-7 before that that I spent here on holidays, I've never once seen corn growing. 

http://www.sjonhauser.nl/corn-or-maize-essential-crop-for-millions-of-thai-farmers.html

[islandguy]

17 hours ago, attrayant said:

 

That is great news, because it means zero pesticide applications on the crop.

 

GMO corn is designed to withstand huge amounts of toxic and expensive applications of pesticides/herbicides rather than not needing any

[attrayant]

16 hours ago, CGW said:

Fantastic?  - the pesticide is in-bedded in the seed, now you will definitely be eating them - like it or not ? 

 

We've done this to death.  Bt is a natural soil-resident pesticide, and is even used in organic farming.  There are only very specific kinds of organisms that are affected.  Just like theobromine in chocolate is a dog poison, but we can eat it with no problems.

 

Are you worried about scopolamine in potatoes? Tomatine in tomatoes?  Nicotine in bell peppers?  Try not to be alarmed.

[attrayant]

1 minute ago, islandguy said:

GMO corn is designed to withstand huge amounts of toxic and expensive applications of pesticides/herbicides rather than not needing any

 

It seems like you're unclear on the concept of engineering the pesticide into the crop.  The whole point for engineering Bt corn (and cotton and brinjal) is to create a crop that doesn't need to be treated with pesticide - it's naturally resistant.  From Nature:  Use & Impact of Bt Maize:

 

Reduced Use of Insecticides

 

Bt maize offers both economic and environmental advantages and grower responses indicate an awareness of both types of these benefits. Many growers cite unique opportunities to protect yield and reduce handling (and use) of insecticides to explain their rapid adoption of Bt maize (Pilcher et al.2002). Brookes and Barfoot (2010) estimated that from 1996 to 2008 the cumulative decrease in insecticide active ingredient (a.i.) use on Bt maize was 35% (29.9 million kg) globally. Much of the reduction in insecticide a.i. was probably due to coleopteran-active Bt maize, as insecticides used against Diabrotica spp. comprise 25–30% of the global total in maize (James 2003, Rice 2004).

 

 

Also from Nature: Bt cotton cuts pesticide poisoning

 

Over the past ten years that farmers in India have been planting Bt cotton – a transgenic variety containing genes from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis making it pest resistant – pesticide use has been cut by at least half, a new study shows.

 

The research also found that the use of Bt cotton helps to avoid at least 2.4 million cases of pesticide poisoning in Indian farmers each year, saving US$14 million in annual health costs. (See Nature’s previous coverage of Bt cotton uptake in India here.)

 

I don't know why it's so hard to accept that biotech is a good thing.  Do you really think farmers are standing in their fields saying "thank god for all this Bt corn, now I can spray more pesticide!"

[brain150]

23 minutes ago, attrayant said:

 

It seems like you're unclear on the concept of engineering the pesticide into the crop.  The whole point for engineering Bt corn (and cotton and brinjal) is to create a crop that doesn't need to be treated with pesticide - it's naturally resistant.  From Nature:  Use & Impact of Bt Maize:

 

Reduced Use of Insecticides

 

Bt maize offers both economic and environmental advantages and grower responses indicate an awareness of both types of these benefits. Many growers cite unique opportunities to protect yield and reduce handling (and use) of insecticides to explain their rapid adoption of Bt maize (Pilcher et al.2002). Brookes and Barfoot (2010) estimated that from 1996 to 2008 the cumulative decrease in insecticide active ingredient (a.i.) use on Bt maize was 35% (29.9 million kg) globally. Much of the reduction in insecticide a.i. was probably due to coleopteran-active Bt maize, as insecticides used against Diabrotica spp. comprise 25–30% of the global total in maize (James 2003, Rice 2004).

 

 

Also from Nature: Bt cotton cuts pesticide poisoning

 

Over the past ten years that farmers in India have been planting Bt cotton – a transgenic variety containing genes from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis making it pest resistant – pesticide use has been cut by at least half, a new study shows.

 

The research also found that the use of Bt cotton helps to avoid at least 2.4 million cases of pesticide poisoning in Indian farmers each year, saving US$14 million in annual health costs. (See Nature’s previous coverage of Bt cotton uptake in India here.)

 

I don't know why it's so hard to accept that biotech is a good thing.  Do you really think farmers are standing in their fields saying "thank god for all this Bt corn, now I can spray more pesticide!"

Maybe you should learn something about your own immune system !

Your body KNOWS the difference between "natural" and GMO - or why do you think auto-immune diseases are spreading like wild fires ???

 

... just take a look who the SPONSORS of "Nature" are - not so much about "nature" at all !!!

[worgeordie]

As the Rice godowns empty,they will be filled with the glut of Corn (Maize) 

that's where the real money is made, build a warehouse to store the current

 glut of produce the Government is promoting.

regards worgeordie

[CGW]

29 minutes ago, brain150 said:

just take a look who the SPONSORS of "Nature" are - not so much about "nature" at all !!!

Folks would have to be pretty naive to believe anything the main "pusher" of biotec tells us, was it not them that have been saying for years that glyphosate is safe?

With their bottomless PR budget some will always be convinced, their in it for the money, not the good of "society".

Believing we can improve on nature is audacious at best, believing in a company that produced Agent orange ................................. ?

[Lobber]

19 hours ago, Esso49 said:

Thai logic.

 

Grow rice, we need it and you get a good price.  Outcome - everyman and is dog grows rice and oversupply causes the market value of the product to slump.

 

Next brainwave.

 

Grow pineapple, we need it and you get a good price.  Outcome - everyman and is dog grows pineapples and oversupply causes the market value of the product to slump.

 

Latest brainwave

 

Grow corn we need it and you get a good price.  Outcome - everyman and is dog grows corn and oversupply will most certainly causes the market value of the product to slump.

 

I mean to say these government ministers should be locked away. But dig a bit deeper and you will unravel the truth possibly. 

 

 We all know that certain Thai families with "connections" are the ones that pull the strings here with the sole purpose of enriching themselves further.  One company who can not be named for defamation reasons, but quite close alphabetically,  is one such family owned company.  They of course are one of the main suppliers of animal feed in Thailand.   Therefore if farmers follow the advice of the minister,  prices for corn will plummet and of course this company will be able to buy corn at a significantly lower cost than they currently  do today.  Their products I am sure will never be reduced in price to reflect the low feedstock cost so hence profit margins increase greatly.  Thank you Junta for recommending that and you can visit my families holiday home in St Vincent at our expense any time that you wish,

 

 

very true, but the "sheep" will follow what he says , and be in deep poo in 3 years time , ..

[attrayant]

4 hours ago, brain150 said:

 just take a look who the SPONSORS of "Nature" are - not so much about "nature" at all !!!

 

Oh no, a conspiracy theory.  Let me guess - the Rothschilds?  The trilateral commission?  Alien shape-shifting lizard people?

 

Nature is a non-profit publishing house.  They don't do any research.  They publish the research of others so that it can be subject to rigorous peer review.  That's the system we have in place.  If you don't like it, what do you suggest, letting everyone push their pet theories on the internet, and then whichever one gets the most likes get to be true?

 

Nature is one of the most well-respected peer-reviewed journals in existence.  It's not predatory - it doesn't charge researchers for submitting their papers.  It funds itself by providing subscription to libraries, research houses and government agencies.  These agencies pay subscription fees because they want to have access to the latest scientific research.  It is, indirectly, funded by tax dollars because populations can improve their quality of life when they know scientific facts like the benefits of water sanitation, fluoridation or the hazards of asbestos.  

 

Anyone is free to refute these studies, if they can.

 

3 hours ago, CGW said:

Folks would have to be pretty naive to believe anything the main "pusher" of biotec tells us, was it not them that have been saying for years that glyphosate is safe?

 

Why don't you name who you're talking about, because I really don't know.  Not only "them", but every regulatory body on Earth tells us that glyphosate is safe.  If you have any evidence to counter all those organizations, why don't you present it in this discussion, where it'll at least be on topic: Monsanto ordered to pay $289 million in world's first Roundup cancer trial.  Please drop the hijack in this discussion with your conspiracy theories.

[islandguy]

I was referring not to what you are calling Bt corn, but to what Monsanto markets as ‘Roundup Ready’ crop seeds. They test these where I used to live. I stand by my post.

[brain150]

40 minutes ago, attrayant said:

 

W Monsanto ordered to pay $289 million in world's first Roundup cancer trial.  Please drop the hijack in this discussion with your conspiracy theories.

Isn't it interesting that the court ruling was only allowed AFTER Monsanto was taken over by Bayer ???

 

You are so naive [like many many others] - it really put tears into my eyes and makes the outlook for the future a rather dark one .

[IAMHERE]

Farmboy 101 is that to fatten animals, feed them corn. Thailand doesn't need all that much more corn from what I see.

[islandguy]

One positive change locally would be to use corn stalks to make silage. This is chopped up corn plants that are then fermented and fed to ruminants (cows and other animals with multiple stomachs). Unfortunately it doesn’t work for pigs, and takes a lot of work/space/machines. Instead, the corn stalks have become one of the major sources of the annual smoke crisis up North.

[attrayant]

32 minutes ago, islandguy said:

I stand by my post.

 

Your post still has some problems.

 

Quote

I was referring not to what you are calling Bt corn, but to what Monsanto markets as ‘Roundup Ready’ crop seeds.

 

Firstly, glyphosate has been off patent for 18 years.  Numerous companies make pesticide-tolerant seeds.  I am curious as to why you're particularly annoyed by Monsanto's trademark.  

 

Quote

They test these where I used to live.

 

Okay, and?

 

To bring this back to the topic as best I can, people who bemoan the application of pesticide to crops need to explain what else farmers are going to use if glyphosate formulations go away.  Shall we go back to the days of DDT?  Urea?  Lead arsenate (yes - they actually used a lead-arsenic compound on crops that people are supposed to eat).  These legacy pesticides are hundreds or thousands of times more toxic than glyphosate.

 

It might not sound like it, but I'm very concerned about the environment.  I heavily criticize my Thai inlaws for tossing batteries into the garbage.  I have set up composting bins behind the house and showed them how to make compost, to their utter delight.  People who know me personally have called me a tree-hugger, although I think that's a stretch.  I want farmers to use a little pesticide as possible. Where it's needed, I want them to use the safest, most environmentally-friendly one available.  If you think the farmers of the world are all doing it wrong, then you tell me: which pesticide should they use?

[happy chappie]

Oh no I'm going to get months of black ash raining down over my property and in my pool.also the chance to smoke my lungs out.why don't the minister just say plant rice,cassava and a whole lot of other crops and confuse the farmers and then not have food mountains every year that can't be sold and farmers crying out for being in so much debt.

[islandguy]

8 hours ago, attrayant said:

 

 

1 hour ago, attrayant said:

 

Your post still has some problems.

 

 

Firstly, glyphosate has been off patent for 18 years.  Numerous companies make pesticide-tolerant seeds.  I am curious as to why you're particularly annoyed by Monsanto's trademark.  

 

 

Okay, and?

 

To bring this back to the topic as best I can, people who bemoan the application of pesticide to crops need to explain what else farmers are going to use if glyphosate formulations go away.  Shall we go back to the days of DDT?  Urea?  Lead arsenate (yes - they actually used a lead-arsenic compound on crops that people are supposed to eat).  These legacy pesticides are hundreds or thousands of times more toxic than glyphosate.

 

It might not sound like it, but I'm very concerned about the environment.  I heavily criticize my Thai inlaws for tossing batteries into the garbage.  I have set up composting bins behind the house and showed them how to make compost, to their utter delight.  People who know me personally have called me a tree-hugger, although I think that's a stretch.  I want farmers to use a little pesticide as possible. Where it's needed, I want them to use the safest, most environmentally-friendly one available.  If you think the farmers of the world are all doing it wrong, then you tell me: which pesticide should they use?

 

And your post likewise has problems. Transgenetic cotton with BT genes doesn’t sound so bad, but why not use BT in the soil? The bigger problems that concern me are the deceitful, harmful, and very monopolistic practices of the agribusiness giants, which work against the interests of consumers and farmers. On the island of Kauai, which is where I used to live, their political dirty tricks (midnight legislative initiatives at the state legislature to disempower the local county rulings on disclosure, impressive sounding experts in their employ, endless lawering) were employed in full force. For once, it was a community with a lot of local resources to combat the myriad ways that big business can exert its will upon the political process. These seeds are patented, even if the pollen from them drifts into your crop of original varieties, they can and will sue you for patent infringement for planting the seeds you grew yourself from your land. Ensnaring the farmers with cheap loans and advances only to find out (like my neighbor here in Thailand) that your soil gets so depleted and lifeless that it won’t grow much anymore and that every year you need more and more chemicals that cost more and more. Here in Thailand there is also a widespread lack of understanding of what is considered by proponents to constitute safe use (estimates here in Thailand are that farmers often use 4 times recommended dosage), health problems like necrotizing fasciitis (thread on TV)......

 

While your point about the impossibility of growing enough food organically makes sense on the face of it, if we poison the environment past a certain point we will be having to grow our food inside because the outside will be in such bad shape. We need much better answers than trusting agribusiness and the politicians they have co-opted to make considered decisions that help farmers and consumers.