Local And Eu News.

[Lickey]

Local News, the pics are from yesterday, several rai of rice flattened, farmers were keeping the drains clear from paddy to paddy so the rice wouldnt be submerged, with the rain being continuous for near 36 hours, some men were there through the night,

Eu news is that they will soon ban fruit and veg sprayed with pesticides from outside the EU.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7703855.stm

Rgds, Lickey.

[Lickey]

Sunday it rained all day, some very heavy showers, I went the 1/2 k to the paddies and nobody was there, perhaps theyve given up trying to save the rice i thought?

And today it didnt rain, some cloud and some sun, I went to our farm and on the way, i saw the paddies were absolutley flooded and the ears were under water, the stems were broken, never to stand again, the rain and wind has been that heavy and gusting a lot.

I feel so sorry for the thai farmers who rely on there rice crop to see them through the year, food and money wise,A lot of us falangs could take this laying down and not bat an eyelid.

On the way home from the farm at 5.30 pm, there were lots of thais in the paddies again, with torches ect, all round the water pipes between paddies, keeping them clean for water to drain, although the river was high.

We have a saying in the UK, red sky at night, sheperds delight! red sky in the morning, sheperds warning!

The pics below shows tonights sunset, so hopefully all is not lost for the poor thai farmers,

[farmerjo]

Hi lickey,

My thoughts are with those rice farmers affected.

Is there shorter height growing varieties avalible out there to plant or do you think its the case of theyve been practising the same methods and growing the same varieties for hundreds of years and not willing to change.

Every year i see the same happen in my area,it would be heartbreaking especially on a year like this when the baht to be recieved has already been spent with the forecast of a good price.

Next year i will do a trial on farming rice dryland style (rainfall) as from what i can gather you dont need to have rice submersed in water,its just a water tolerant plant.I may be wrong on that.

F/J

[Mosha]

My wife often talks about rice that if grown in the hills. The rice she is pointing at is certainly not in a paddy.

[IsaanAussie]

Hi Guys,

We are growing rain fed Hom Mali which is not yet ready to be harvested. Luckily we delayed our start as the early rains failed to eventuate. This year has been very difficult for rice farmers in our area. Rain has been intermittent as well as late. Much of the early planting was lost through lack of water. Many that wait until after mid-season rain to use selective herbicides on competing grasses got caught by too little rain before they acted meaning further losses. Now with the rice ready to harvest, albeit with lighter yields, it rains and rains and the wind blows and blows. Definitely not a good year to have borrowed at 3 baht rates for expensive fertilisers.

Hopefully we will get some sun in the next week. So I will continue singing the kids song ".......Out comes the sunshine to dry up all the rain, and itsy bitsy spider climbed the spout again". At times it seems that childish blind faith is the only thing left.

So I join you all in your thoughts for all the hard working Thai farmers out there.

Isaanaussie

[pnustedt]

I feel so sorry for the thai farmers who rely on there rice crop to see them through the year, food and money wise,A lot of us falangs could take this laying down and not bat an eyelid.

I've just got back from harvesting in the rain - the fallen over rice is not really a problem and rice yields seem not too bad so far.

The people who are having a problem though are the farmers with small plots who generally grow for their own food and harvest by hand - they need to lay the rice (with stalks etc.) to dry before threshing - they can't get them dry at the moment. At least with machine harvested grains you can put them away in a sack during the rains (as long as it isn't for too long or there will be a mold problem).

[IsaanAussie]

PN,

Hold those thoughts I'll be up to see you soon enough. Current plan will be next week to see what is what, on current information maybe two weeks to harvest. I hope that this year is a good one for you. Both machines busy?

Isaanaussie

[henryalleman]

Local News, the pics are from yesterday, several rai of rice flattened, farmers were keeping the drains clear from paddy to paddy so the rice wouldnt be submerged, with the rain being continuous for near 36 hours, some men were there through the night,

Eu news is that they will soon ban fruit and veg sprayed with pesticides from outside the EU.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7703855.stm

Rgds, Lickey.

Almost all vegetables and fruit who are sprayed with pesticides from INSIGHT and OUTSIDE of the EU will be banned. There is also a ban on import of genetic manipulated weed grain and weed. Maybe in the future genetic manipulated rice will fall under this ban also.

This is already so for meat. its must be hormone and anti-biotic medicine free. That's why there is a ban on beef import from the US and Argentina.

[Lickey]

Quote Henry,Almost all vegetables and fruit who are sprayed with pesticides from INSIGHT and OUTSIDE of the EU will be banned. There is also a ban on import of genetic manipulated weed grain and weed. Maybe in the future genetic manipulated rice will fall under this ban also.

This is already so for meat. its must be hormone and anti-biotic medicine free. That's why there is a ban on beef import from the US and Argentina.

And Thats how it should be Henry, we see so many malfunctioning teenagers and kids nowadays, im sure its down to infected meats and fruits that are supposed to be good for people, With no control in Thailand, i try to eat only organic fruits off our farm, but its near impossible to eat anything that hasnt been sprayed or feed some drug or another.

It hasnt rained for 2 days now and the labour are in the paddies cutting the stalks and laying out to dry, so all is not lost yet, good on them i say!!

Cheers, Lickey.

[rice555]

Hello Lickey, the rain has stopped her in Korat to, but at the village we are still flooded on the S. side of the river 12km from Pi Mai and more water coming from Chaiyaphum an now from water being released from the dam at Pak Chong. In the first picture, the fishpond on the R/H and all the rice paddy's were covered in 1mt more Sep. 07.

This is two of my S/Law's cutting yesterday.

rice555