And yes, it is quite possible that we will need to pull some bioengineered rabbits out of our hats to get through this, but don’t put too much faith in your interests being coincident with the very large companies behind this, especially here in Thailand.

On 8/22/2018 at 11:28 PM, 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. 

Are you for real? You say you live in Isaan and have never seen corn growing ?

11 minutes ago, Windynoi said:

Are you for real? You say you live in Isaan and have never seen corn growing ?

When I initially read the article, I assumed it was corn, the cereal crop like wheat, barley, etc. It wasn't until after I posted the above comment that I realized it was about maize. 

Yes, I live in Isan - so what? 

20 hours ago, djayz said:

When I initially read the article, I assumed it was corn, the cereal crop like wheat, barley, etc. It wasn't until after I posted the above comment that I realized it was about maize. 

Yes, I live in Isan - so what? 

Are you like me coming from the UK? where as you say corn is wheat barley ect, it is the others from the other side of the big pond that call maize corn.

That out of the way, they will not be warehouse full of maize, like the  in rice-buying scheme ,they are 2 big feed mills near me that produce all types of livestock feed including one that produces dog food ,all use some imported maize ,you can see ques of trucks waiting to tip they loads ,most are maize that has come up  from the port ,

 

Thailand cannot produce enough maize, hence the imported corn last month on tv was an article about wheat and barley being imported into Thailand, so undercutting Thai grown maize, where I am, central plains, big maize buyer are buying in maize from Cambodia, again undercutting local markets.

.So, do not worry about another rice scheme,can not see it happening. 

As for the bottom falling out of the market due to oversupply, this year the price around here is 5.50 -6.00 baht/kg,a low price, not a lot of profit in that, been like this for the past 2-3 years, our local farmers reading in the morning papers about prices of 7.5-9.6 baht/kg, will be chocking on they  fried rice  ,that price will soon drop soon as the publicity dies down ,and no big feed company will pay  over 10 baht /kg for they raw ingredients ,they will say to the middlemen drop your price or we go elsewhere.or truck in from other parts of the country.

If the price drops to much farmers will just go back to rice, and then we will all be back at square one. 

On 8/22/2018 at 4:52 PM, CGW said:

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

 

Do you know what that pesticide is?  It's Bacillus thuringiensis, or Bt.

 

Bt expresses proteins that are toxic only to certain pests.  And if anyone thinks a toxin can't be harmful to one species while harmless to another, just remember what happens when dogs eat chocolate. Bt has been used in so-called organic farming for more than fifty years.

 

Enough scare-mongering.  Farmers aren't trying to kill you.

 

 

Edited December 15, 20187 yr by attrayant
[edit - just noticed the post I quoted was made in August.  Not sure why I just got a notification about it, making me think it's current.]