The Official Maize and Rotational Crops Thread

[kickstart]

It seems that rent is going up everywhere,around  here  it is 1000 bat /rie ,with some saying some land going for 2000 baht/rie, and that is for growing corn .

Around here land are in blocks of 25 rie ,a cane guy will rent for 4 years,25k /year .100k /4 years all paid as FJ said up front  ,seems a nice way to earn money for nothing .

But when he gets the land back the land will be exhausted,with all the heavy harvesting machinery ,and 30 ton of trucks running over the land ,it will need a good subsoiling to bring it back to life along with a green manure ,which I doubt it will get ,it will probably be growing corn with a reduced yield.

To me that 100k for 4 years does not sound a lot for what a cane crop will do to the land . 

[thoongfoned]

around us the land is bad (clay/large stone) people will rent anything fro 4/5 rai and up.  for years its been 1000 rai, now loads of people have 1 or 2 tractors with trailers ect... can tip and get paid at local weigh station.

pay 1 year at a tine  for 3 years then 4th year is for the land owner.

a lot of rice crops round here will not even give you 200kg per rai.

sell land is what i say to the wife for years now....

[IsaanAussie]

Going to be an interesting wet season this year. Urea prices, WOW... USD/ton

Edited January 8, 2022 by IsaanAussie

[farmerjo]

Today decided to start off loading our rice.

Price up to 10.8 baht/kilo for hom mali.

Passed all the sampling tests as we cleaned it,only dodgy thing was when the guy put it through the moisture meter it read 16% but on the docket it was 1.3.2.% so not sure what went on there but in our favour.Maybe having a grumble to them about putting hooks through our new 8 baht bags to empty them helped.

Told the mrs to take her ag extension green book in case the pledge upgrade was on the cards but was not mentioned and they paid in cash.

Would have liked to hold onto it for another month but the risk out ways the reward.

 

 

 

 

 

.

[thoongfoned]

2.4baht a bag if buy in the 1000's

3.5baht a bag if buy in the 100's is what the wifes sells the 30kg feed bags for. just for info...

 

[kickstart]

3 minutes ago, thoongfoned said:

2.4baht a bag if buy in the 1000's

3.5baht a bag if buy in the 100's is what the wifes sells the 30kg feed bags for. just for info...

 

We have a guy in our area whose business is buying feed bags from the dairy farmers ,he will buy a 50 kg feed bag for 3.50 baht and 30 kg bags for I think 2.50 baht,most he sells on to rice farmers for their crops .
We buy in brewers grains for the cattle ,they come in 30 kg feed bags ,we sell them back  to the grains  seller for 1 baht bag,

[farmerjo]

Sold the last of our rice harvest today,a mixture of hom mali that didn't fit on last truck and a couple of tonnes of kor khor 6 sticky rice.

Looking at the rice exporters site hom mali had gone up about $30 a ton since last time sold but at the millers no price increase,however there was a jump in sticky rice price up to 10.5 baht/kilo which shows the domestic demand is strong.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 17, 2022 by farmerjo

[farmerjo]

Been a quiet month on the farm.(mostly watching cricket)

Had an excavator in to put in a dam at the top of the small rice field section,it only ever grew weeds there so think i can fill it with runoff water from the road which could then in turn gravity feed 18 rai when required.

Have 16 rai prepped and sprayed ready to plant sunn hemp in next week or so.

We have been fortunate to receive 43mm of rain in the past couple of days so now busy with the 4 disc plough turning under rice stubble,after years of no-till some of the land needs breaking up again.

As we know farming has it challenges and one of my worst fears has always been getting a flat rear tyre on the 6610.

It happened after day one of ploughing,i should of changed the tyres last year,well 5 years a go to be honest.

So a trip to town to find a decent 2nd hand 16.9r34 as have one in the shed,no luck but managed to find a couple of old 18.4r34's at two different places and got one of them to come fit them.

Two hours after the guy fitted them and left i heard air coming from the shed,sure enough one was going down without a wheel turned.

Now fair play to him as he was back here at 7 this morning to fix it and i was ploughing again by 8.

Should complete the work in 3 days and say good riddance to the 4 disc plough for another few years.

 

[kickstart]

On 2/16/2022 at 6:54 PM, farmerjo said:

Been a quiet month on the farm.(mostly watching cricket)

Had an excavator in to put in a dam at the top of the small rice field section,it only ever grew weeds there so think i can fill it with runoff water from the road which could then in turn gravity feed 18 rai when required.

Have 16 rai prepped and sprayed ready to plant sunn hemp in next week or so.

We have been fortunate to receive 43mm of rain in the past couple of days so now busy with the 4 disc plough turning under rice stubble,after years of no-till some of the land needs breaking up again.

As we know farming has it challenges and one of my worst fears has always been getting a flat rear tyre on the 6610.

It happened after day one of ploughing,i should of changed the tyres last year,well 5 years a go to be honest.

So a trip to town to find a decent 2nd hand 16.9r34 as have one in the shed,no luck but managed to find a couple of old 18.4r34's at two different places and got one of them to come fit them.

Two hours after the guy fitted them and left i heard air coming from the shed,sure enough one was going down without a wheel turned.

Now fair play to him as he was back here at 7 this morning to fix it and i was ploughing again by 8.

Should complete the work in 3 days and say good riddance to the 4 disc plough for another few years.

 

We have been the same ,so far this month we have had 73 mm of rain ,first that I know we have had so much rain in February ,slowing down cane harvest ,and cassava harvest .hope next week?to cut some Napier  grass for silage first time  done that in February.

Our local mill has now received one million ton of cane so far this year .still a lot to harvest 

One thing ,I was wrong ,the baled cane straw is going to our local mill  not to a power station,used for boiling up the molasses ,part of the process of making ethylal alcohol,for gasahol fuel,farmers are getting 800 baht/ton for baled cane straw

Lot of small plots of maize growing ,most on a drip tape of irrigation system ,growers are happy with the rain no need to irrigate ,the corn will be going for maize silage for the local dairy farms ,I said a while ago a bag of maize silage was selling for 80 baht ,now down to 60 baht/bag ,when all this corn is chopped price will come down to a more realistic 45-50baht bag .

Most dairy farmers are not happy ,price of feed is going up ,even our not so good 12% protein feed has just gone up 20baht/bag a lot, when it went up before it was normal 5-10baht bag ,rice straw is still about 29 baht/bale ,this time last year 23-25 baht/bale .if you are buying in a few hundred at a time ,a big increase .

But,as I have been saying for a lot of years ,if they grew some grass they could reduce they brought in feed ,so making more money , but even the wife said most are to laze to grow a manage some grass land easier to just buy in feed .

FJ you said you were watching the cricket ,was it your lot playing our poor excuse of a team .

Your Cameron Green is going to be a good player .

[farmerjo]

10 hours ago, kickstart said:

We have been the same ,so far this month we have had 73 mm of rain ,first that I know we have had so much rain in February ,slowing down cane harvest ,and cassava harvest .hope next week?to cut some Napier  grass for silage first time  done that in February.

Our local mill has now received one million ton of cane so far this year .still a lot to harvest 

One thing ,I was wrong ,the baled cane straw is going to our local mill  not to a power station,used for boiling up the molasses ,part of the process of making ethylal alcohol,for gasahol fuel,farmers are getting 800 baht/ton for baled cane straw

Lot of small plots of maize growing ,most on a drip tape of irrigation system ,growers are happy with the rain no need to irrigate ,the corn will be going for maize silage for the local dairy farms ,I said a while ago a bag of maize silage was selling for 80 baht ,now down to 60 baht/bag ,when all this corn is chopped price will come down to a more realistic 45-50baht bag .

Most dairy farmers are not happy ,price of feed is going up ,even our not so good 12% protein feed has just gone up 20baht/bag a lot, when it went up before it was normal 5-10baht bag ,rice straw is still about 29 baht/bale ,this time last year 23-25 baht/bale .if you are buying in a few hundred at a time ,a big increase .

But,as I have been saying for a lot of years ,if they grew some grass they could reduce they brought in feed ,so making more money , but even the wife said most are to laze to grow a manage some grass land easier to just buy in feed .

FJ you said you were watching the cricket ,was it your lot playing our poor excuse of a team .

Your Cameron Green is going to be a good player .

Hi KS

Great informative post.

Yes always good to be on the right side of an ashes win.

Did 8 hours straight on the tractor yesty so should finish today.

Then will need a massage to get the kink out of my neck.

Plenty of other tractor action around here,must have seen 4 while working mainly preparing sugar

fields.

I finally lashed out on what i think will be a decent moisture meter,it's a chinese copy of a kett but the important thing is it can be calibrated against the rice mills kett.

All part of looking to store grains longer on the farm.

http://www.agri-instrument.com/grain-moisture-meter-3.html

 

[kickstart]

So far this month we have had 149 mm of rain,most I have recorded in 6 years ,it helped with the 73 mm we had yesterday afternoon .

The result is a lot of maize has been drilled ,some now 6 inches high ,and it is not yet April ,not really had a hot season yet ,when it does come that maize will be just ploughed in ,wife said rains have come early this year ,I said they could just as well also stop.

With the price of seed and  fertilizer, it is a big gamble, drilling now. 

Saw one crop of mung beans ,they looked well ,should not be a problem if it does dry up .

Anyone else seen any maize drilled  yet.  

[farmerjo]

1 minute ago, kickstart said:

So far this month we have had 149 mm of rain,most I have recorded in 6 years ,it helped with the 73 mm we had yesterday afternoon .

The result is a lot of maize has been drilled ,some now 6 inches high ,and it is not yet April ,not really had a hot season yet ,when it does come that maize will be just ploughed in ,wife said rains have come early this year ,I said they could just as well also stop.

With the price of seed and  fertilizer, it is a big gamble, drilling now. 

Saw one crop of mung beans ,they looked well ,should not be a problem if it does dry up .

Anyone else seen any maize drilled  yet.  

Hi KS

No corn in around here yet.

We have had just over 110mm for the month.

It's so easy to fall for the trap of planting to early although this year the sub soil moisture is there.

I've been holding off and going to do a 2nd tillage starting tomorrow as have a good germination of weeds now and a bit of clear weather on the horizon.

I can't get any of my 2 year old sesame seed to germinate in trials(should of given you a buzz to see what's around)so will just make oil out of it.

So it looks like a 50/50 rice and sunn hemp crops will be planted now,sunn hemp mid april and rice mid may.

[farmerjo]

Had a go on tractor today but still to wet,will leave it a few more days

Spoke to soon about the corn planting,a neighbour down the road just had a tractor(massey ferguson which are rare around here)  with a 4 tyne plate seeder in this morning planting about 4 rai.

Another neighbour who usually does corn on this piece of land is trying pumpkins this year.

It must be on a contract basis,a guy supplied the seedlings in little black grow bags to transplant then i presume he will take the crop at x amount a kilo when ready.

They are thriving at the moment.

 

 

[kickstart]

FJ ,Will ask at our local store see if they have any sesame seed ,saw a crop growing near here last week ,not over good as many weeds as crop ,sesame seed will not keep above one year,like sunflower  seed.

A few years ago a guy around here tried a dry season crop of pumpkins ,he did well, word was he made 100k baht  on 25 rie  ,any way the following year lots of farmers tried dry season pumpkins ,the bottom fell out of the market .

Going back a few years main season pumpkins ,I think it was over supply ,just no market farmers selling pumpkins for 1 baht/kg ,one farmer also had a herd of dairy cows ,and chopped and feed pumpkins to his cows ,which they liked ,and milk went up ,pumpkins are a high energy feed .

Interesting row spacings ,around here row spacings of2.5-3  meters ,weeds are a big problem as the crop creeps across the field weed control difficult. 

We  have a few MF tractors around here, one is an old 290 ,I drove one of them 35 years ago

[farmerjo]

17 minutes ago, kickstart said:

FJ ,Will ask at our local store see if they have any sesame seed ,saw a crop growing near here last week ,not over good as many weeds as crop ,sesame seed will not keep above one year,like sunflower  seed.

A few years ago a guy around here tried a dry season crop of pumpkins ,he did well, word was he made 100k baht  on 25 rie  ,any way the following year lots of farmers tried dry season pumpkins ,the bottom fell out of the market .

Going back a few years main season pumpkins ,I think it was over supply ,just no market farmers selling pumpkins for 1 baht/kg ,one farmer also had a herd of dairy cows ,and chopped and feed pumpkins to his cows ,which they liked ,and milk went up ,pumpkins are a high energy feed .

Interesting row spacings ,around here row spacings of2.5-3  meters ,weeds are a big problem as the crop creeps across the field weed control difficult. 

We  have a few MF tractors around here, one is an old 290 ,I drove one of them 35 years ago

Thanks KS,only after about 20 kg this year if available.

Will help spread the risk if we have a few months of extreme heat this year.

When i swept the shed out a few months a go one sprouted and grew where the rain falls of the shed roof,fantastic plant which branched and had 128 pods on it.

Dad sold our family farm when i was 5 but before he sold his pride and joy was his new MF tractor.

After leaving the farm he bought a MF backhoe.

Our area was mostly Chamberlain,John Deere and later Steigers(the green ones)

 

 

[farmerjo]

Have to feel for the small Thai farmers and price gouging,went to local hardware shop this afternoon to see if he had some 21-0-0 ammonium sulphate to help give the glyphosate a kick.

The bags had clearly been sitting there from last season but the guy came back with the current price list(820 baht/bag)

Urea 46-0-0 came in at just over 1600 baht/bag.

I was on the motorbike so sent the mrs back with the ute to get,within an hour the price went up from 820 to 880,and he had a different price list to the one he showed me on his phone lol.

 

 

Did a lot more tillage than normal this year with the early rains.

Deep ploughed,germination,offset disc,germination and final offset disc.

Worked out at 160 baht/rai for diesel

Finished preparing the fields this morning.

Ready to spray in in a couple of days.

 

 

 

 

[IsaanAussie]

Just now, farmerjo said:

Urea 46-0-0 came in at just over 1600 baht/bag.

WOW.... I had been praying for a miracle (government price control or Buddha). Likely to go higher as the season gets started? 

Edited April 7, 2022 by IsaanAussie

[IsaanAussie]

Just now, farmerjo said:

Did a lot more tillage than normal this year with the early rains.

Deep ploughed,germination,offset disc,germination and final offset disc.

Worked out at 160 baht/rai for diesel

I suppose my guy will want more this year. Been 200/rai for plough, and again for rotary hoe. Time to do some numbers.

[farmerjo]

39 minutes ago, IsaanAussie said:

I suppose my guy will want more this year. Been 200/rai for plough, and again for rotary hoe. Time to do some numbers.

If the rice subsidy continues you should be ok.

No doubt the somchai contractors association would of heard on the grapevine everyone else is putting up prices.

The thing is the diesel price is stable for now.

On farm costs are the issue,seed,fertilizer and chemical prices.

I think for memory it cost me 8.5 baht/kilo to grow rice last year so still a lot less than shop prices but that did include the subsidy.

200 baht is cheap,we pay 350 around here for tillage if required.

Edited April 7, 2022 by farmerjo

[IsaanAussie]

Just now, farmerjo said:

If the rice subsidy continues you should be ok.

No doubt the somchai contractors association would of heard on the grapevine everyone else is putting up prices.

The thing is the diesel price is stable for now.

On farm costs are the issue,seed,fertilizer and chemical prices.

I think for memory it cost me 8.5 baht/kilo to grow rice last year so still a lot less than shop prices but that did include the subsidy.

 

The days of making 50K in cash after all costs, and having a year of kitchen rice and next season seed are over. Now it is about producing as much rice as you need for a minimum cost. 

I suppose it remains what it always has been, subsistence farming. 

[CLW]

4 minutes ago, IsaanAussie said:

The days of making 50K in cash after all costs, and having a year of kitchen rice and next season seed are over. Now it is about producing as much rice as you need for a minimum cost. 

I suppose it remains what it always has been, subsistence farming. 

Never understood this rice growing thing for own use in Thailand.

I mean no one in Europe or the US is growing its own wheat or potatoes for a whole year supply, not to mention to grow for own use at all.

As you said several times, Thai farmers not keep numbers for their operation.

My guess would be that growing own rice is more expensive than buying the occasional big bag from Makro...

[farmerjo]

5 minutes ago, CLW said:

Never understood this rice growing thing for own use in Thailand.

I mean no one in Europe or the US is growing its own wheat or potatoes for a whole year supply, not to mention to grow for own use at all.

As you said several times, Thai farmers not keep numbers for their operation.

My guess would be that growing own rice is more expensive than buying the occasional big bag from Makro...

I understand the growing for home consumption as food is important with the little social security available as long as growing it stays under retail price.

But as far as growing it to make a profit the system is to regulated.

I grew hom mali last year as meant to be best rice in the world but the price received at the millers didn't indicate this at all.There was no premium.

I can scratch in sunn hemp that will yield the same as my rice and get double the price with lower input costs which should be wrong as you don't eat it. 

[IsaanAussie]

Just now, CLW said:

Never understood this rice growing thing for own use in Thailand.

I mean no one in Europe or the US is growing its own wheat or potatoes for a whole year supply, not to mention to grow for own use at all.

As you said several times, Thai farmers not keep numbers for their operation.

My guess would be that growing own rice is more expensive than buying the occasional big bag from Makro...

It is a difficult thing to understand from a western "put food on the table" responsibility, here Kin Khaow, literally eat rice.

[kickstart]

3 hours ago, IsaanAussie said:

I suppose my guy will want more this year. Been 200/rai for plough, and again for rotary hoe. Time to do some numbers.

Your 200 baht/rie is cheap for a Ford 6600 with a 3 disc plough is 400 baht/rie around here for maize land  ,a 7 disc is about or was 300 baht/rie ,for a rotavator would be the same about 200 baht/rie.

Re fertilizer prices, I was told last month 1400 for a bog of 46 0 0 urea,gone up again ,talk in the west ie UK and USA of lower yields due to farmers using less fertilizer ,in the UK urea was 250 GBP/ ton now 1000 GBP/ ton .

Would lower yields cause a shortage ,resulting in a price increase in wheat barley rice ?interesting what the grain futures market will look like in a few months ,with the west now starting to drill spring crops it will be headaches all round ,you can see some farmers dusting off the very old text books and looking for mustard seed or stubble turnips ,as a catch crop in the autumn as a green manure, a bit like our sunhemp and mung beans .

Mung beans are popular now, more about this year than for a lot of years ,they need no bag fertilizer ,just get a spray of hormone as Thai's call it ,basically a liquid fertilize with a few minerals added.

[farmerjo]

Latest on fertilizer prices.

 

https://www.nationthailand.com/in-focus/40014289

 

 

[CLW]

Meanwhile in the US manure sellers are sold out because of rising chemical fertilizer prices. I've read several reports this week.

Even in Thailand there seems to be a slight change of thinking of putting huge amounts xx kg of fertiliser (worst case: just urea) that the salesman tells you. Instead lime, gypsum and other natural soil amendments, who provide a balanced soil nutrition seem to be on the rise.

[farmerjo]

On 4/7/2022 at 9:15 PM, kickstart said:

Would lower yields cause a shortage ,resulting in a price increase in wheat barley rice ?interesting what the grain futures market will look like in a few months

I'm not quite sure how long future contracts are locked in in advance KS.

The buyers may well be 12 months ahead so even though the price is high now i doubt many are buying.

I'm watching with interest to see whether GMO crops will pushed by the US onto 2nd and 3rd world countries.

They were designed to increase yields in times of food shortages and war as i remember the Thai PM stating this years back when the debate was on whether to introduce here or not.

 

CLW,yes people will be trying to get their hands on whatever they can this year.

I had a guy here a couple of days a go peddling organic fertilizer,it sounded good but had no lab report to back up what it actually was.

I will be coating the seeds with gypsum prior to planting this year then a wait and see approach.

I think i said a few pages back or in another thread that ammonium sulphate(21-0-0) is a pretty good bet at half the price of urea if you need to apply something.

 

[IsaanAussie]

The Ukraine supplies 30% of global exported wheat normally. Currently some 80% of the last crop is still in farm storage with no way to get it out of their ports. Food storage is an immediate problem that needs to be addressed. With no income to fund the new crop, the future is bleak. 

Here fertiliser will be limited by available finance. It has always been the same with poor farmers producing low yields. Average yield in our village has been as low as 200kg/rai. The best I have achieved was 550kg, this year we will probably be back with the pack. 

 

[kickstart]

12 hours ago, farmerjo said:

They were designed to increase yields in times of food shortages and war as i remember the Thai PM stating this years back when the debate was on whether to introduce here or not.

If memory serves me right it was Tucksin that said a big no to GM ,at the time it was a worldwide thing  at the time in the UK people were trampling down crops ready to harvest ,because they thought they  were GM .

I almost forgot GM I can see where you're going ,the idea at the time was to increase yields of crops on deaminizing land and an increasing world population .

But then the biggest player at the Time was Monsanto, now they have been taken over by Bayer things may be different .

IA, this may be a wake-up call for rice farmers to do something about soil fertility ,what would it take to grow a rie or 2  of some sun hemp or mung beans ,keep the seed back and sow pre- or post-harvest as a green manure.

 

[IsaanAussie]

On 4/9/2022 at 9:18 PM, kickstart said:

IA, this may be a wake-up call for rice farmers to do something about soil fertility ,what would it take to grow a rie or 2  of some sun hemp or mung beans ,keep the seed back and sow pre- or post-harvest as a green manure.

Water.........