Conservation farming

Had a few hiccups today and got going a little late, we only visited one farm today but it was very encouraging these guys dry farm soybeans and corn and only one crop per year, which is unusual for this area. The reason why they can do this successfully is due to their farming practices, these guys minimum till and plant a cover crop with their corn, it looks to me like airacloah a grass that we classify as a weed, they broadcast the grass seed at the same time they sew the corn the corn out competes the grass and when comes harvest time they use stripper fronts.(they only strip the cobs ). The upshot of this is that there is ground cover over the summer protecting the soil from heat and preserving moisture, and it works they average 12.7 t/p Ha of corn, and 3.7 t/p Ha of soybean, they also dry and have on farm storage for 30,000 tonne. It was an impressive operation and it has shown to be successful.

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Large scale farming Brazilian style.

Yesterday we visited  large scale farmers the first specialised in potatoes,garlic, carrot,and onion, he also grew soybeans ,corn , wheat. He employed 2000 people it was like a small town and it was a very impressive operation. It is interesting that my perception of soils in Brazil was that the majority of it was very rich and fertile soils , in fact here in the Mid west of Brazil the soils are quite poor ,requiring phosphorous, sulphur, potassium, and copious amounts of lime and gypsum, the sites that we saw were all irrigated by centre pivots ,and combined with high amounts of the above elements provided for good productivity. Despite a lot of technology their is still alot of work done by hand, labour here ranges between 2 to 3$ Aus per hour compared to what we have to this pay this a huge advantage.

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Bountiful Brazil

Had another marathon flight to get from Mexico to Brazil , then straight on the bus . Even though we were  pretty shagged it was invigorating to be hosted by salt of of the earth farming families, these guys although small in area were big on ambition and had made step changes in there farming practices, the thing that was really evident was there pride in there land and there animals (in this case dairy cattle). It was the first time on this trip that it dawned on me that it was not all about what I could learn or take away but also about what I could give . These guys are at the stage that my grandfather started and I was honoured to be invited to share there successes with them, it was also the best boardroom that we have had a presentation in, it was in there front yard under the stars, thanks guys it reminded me of the reasons that I farm.

The next day we arrived at an agricultural university where we were shown research that improved water use efficiency and how they were studying water quality and erosion effects,river flows, and so on , it was very impressive , they have established a network of weather stations that are linked via WI FI to give weather data every hour. After that we were taken to a large dam that also produced 3500 megawatts of electricity 24 / 7 it was built in the 60's and took 13 years to complete and it doesn't have the capacity of the Burdekin Dam, it is just so logical , they couldn't believe we had such a structure with no generation capability.

There is so much more I will have to add tomorrow, people who talk about how to feed 9 billion people don't understand Brazil's potential.

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The Yaqui valley.

We went to an organisation called AOASS which is the overarching body for farmers in the Sonora state that represents  there interests on a number of  faces. They have entered into a joint venture with Cargill to form a company to market wheat out of Mexico,it has proved beneficial to both parties and has been in effect for 10 yrs. It is truly impressive that groups of farmers can work so well for a common benefit I think we would do well to learn from there example.

After that we visited the private company that is responsible for the distribution of water from dam to farm gate, it was a truly impressive operation that is fully automated and they infact installed there own WI FI network to be able to remotely control and monitor wells. They also monitor standing water levels ,draw down, and recharge, remotely world class and all Mexican technology. We are finished in Mexico and are off for our final leg in Brasil.

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Obregon northern Mexico.

We went to the home of the green revolution today , anyone who believes that one person can't make a difference needs to visit the international Maize and Wheat Improvement centre.(CIMMYT) This centre was the brainchild of Dr Norman E. Borlaug who in the 1940's decided there had to be better was to breed crops for human consumption and help to aliveate world hunger. We were given a look at the processes  that are involved with breeding new and more productive crops, centring around bread wheat, in fact in the area of  the Yaqui valley where 220,000 Ha of wheat are grown the average wheat yield has risen from 1.2 t/ha in 1959 to 6.5 t/ha in 2010. This research institution is owned by farmers and is driven by them from the ground up and on there Obregon sight that we were at today they have 300 ha and 40,000 trial plots, some of those plots where devoted to farming system trials that have been conducted for more than 20 years. The interesting thing is that they have identified four principals that are important for farming practices they are, controlled traffic, ground cover, break crops, minimum soil disturbance, even on the other side of the planet these principals are true.

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California really has it all!!!

We had a free day today (first one of the trip) our host graciously guided us into Yosemite National Park, this  is a truly amazing place , we drove two hours north and climbed to 5000 feet. Talk about right place at the right time, the snow field has had a meter of snow in the last day in a half this is pretty unusual ,they tell me. It is so amazing to think that we only drove for two hours and a lot of that was slow because of the snow on the road, we even put chains on the van, a new experience . All the boys had a ski, some better than other man it is a lot harder than it looks,and I was pretty crappy and had a massive face plant which was pretty funny, we also had some serious snowball fights I was much better at that. It is an amazing place with fantastic scenery and it was great to be able to unwind we have been on the road now full time for 4 weeks. Here are a couple of pictures they don't really do it justice but you will get an idea. Off  to Mexico tomorrow leave the motel at 4 am won't get into Mexico until 8.30 pm another long day.

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The San Jaoquim Valley.

We left Los Banos and headed off to tha area of Visalia where we stopped in at the Rabo bank to get the banking perspective on agriculture in the San Jaoquim valley, it was an interesting discussion on what they saw as the oppotunities for the farming comunnity.After  there we moved into a place round Corcoran where we visited J.G.Boswell farming operation, a third generation family farm that farm 125000 acres and at peak time employ 1500 people . They predominately grow cotton, and rotate with tomatoes and saflower. They have there own cotton gin, cotton oilseed, saflower seed, as well as there own tomato processing plant to produce tomato paste that is shipped ll over the world. They are the world largest irrigated cotton,and tomato farmers and produce 3.5% of the worlds tomato products.

Today we were at the Westland irrigation area,in Fresno, there day to day task are to manage the Westlands irrigation area, the scheme was built in the 1950's 1960's we were told of the complexities of the water systems and the history of Californian law that governs they way water is handled.I never realised how much  of a powerhouse agriculture is for California the two counties that are in the Westlands scheme Fresno and Merced have more agricultural output than the lower agricultural producing countries in the world. That being said it is my opinion that they will face some tough decisions with water use in the not to distant future, especially with the pressure from urban expectations regarding what is sustainable. After that we went to see a cattle feed lot that was spread over 800 acres which included it own feed mixing plant grain and lucerne hay storage that could sustain them for two weeks, bearing in mind they at the moment were feeding 1400 tonne per day,and they are not at full capacity which is 120,000 they only had 95000 today.This only part of there large farming enterprise, they process there own beef ,as well as market there own brand.

The big thing in farming here at the moment though is tree nuts, ie :walnuts, almonds,pastachios, this business is literally going "NUTS" this commodity has been growing between 7/ 13% per year with exports projected to top 2. Billion pounds (you can do the conversion). The net return on some of these nut crops is up to 10,000 per hectare, after a four year lead time from planting to bearing , I was told that one guy did so well that he p aid his debt with the first crop, there are thousands of hectares of permanent tree crops here.

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California dreaming.

Wow California has agriculture , and in a big way.It goes to show that it's not just what you see on tv,all Hollywood and beaches. We travelled to one of the largest sheep meat processing in the state to talk with them about how they operate, it was fascinating to see how they used pretty much the whole carcass from tip to tale to value add. They had a very interesting business model where the employees were the major shareholders in the business. The longer the employee was at the business the more shares in the business they were allocated and the more the company prospered they inturn prospered, it seemed to work very well.

Today we went to a waste water recycle plant that took effluent and treated it to be used in agricultural production. The driver for this was salt water intrusion due to to much drawn out of the aquafier , they have done an excellent job of understanding the hydraulics of the underground system and have almost halted the salt intrusion into the aquafier. The water treatment plant distibutes water through 45 mile of pipelines and irrigates 1200 acres (america still does not use the metric system) of farm land.

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The Canada experience

A lot happened in Canada we spent the last two days looking at some amazing businesses that were run by equally amazing people. We visited two guys who are in the field of crop insurance and agri finance . They have some very novel ideas on the subjects , they basically deconstructed the insurance schemes and have come up with a system that deals with the risk and therfore the premiums to be paid, in a nut shell the better the manager you are the better your discount.

We then heard from a busines that had been through the ringer and there chairman told of how good corporate governance combined with good structure, hard work and determination can pay off. There were some good lessons for us all about persiverence and integrity and how even in today's dog eat dog busines world good values are still important.

On lighter note one of the guys managed to get some photos of the northern lights.

Canada and Snow!!!!!

Flew into Winnepeg on Tuesday night spent Wednesday at the Canadian Institute for Grain Research, and found out that to make different breads,biscuts etc that there are many types of wheat that makes this all possible. Then we toured a soybean crushing plant that produced oil and bean meal for feed, that was an interesting operation the soybeans are forced through an extruder, and the force exerted on them created heat of up to 350 degrees centigrade. We then travelled to Moose Jaw about 450k's away where we visited a lentil cleaning and distribution business and how's this they were filling a container destined for Brisbane. Today we looked at a machinery manufacturer Brandt that started with a guy building grain augers that now turns over a billion per year. We are off to see our hosts oat plant tomorrow, the back on a plane (again) to California.

Washington D.C .

What can I say the history of this place is unbelievable,we have had an intense two days with full days speaking with a wide variety of people.They ranged from senior staffers to agricultural economists, environmental lawyers,and the head of international affairs for John Deere.
The one thing that became very apparent to me is the fact of how small of a player Australia is in the global agriculture, for example Australia has the same GDP as New York state. The new farm bill is the hot topic here, and no wonder it is a very complicated document, and has a big impact on a lot of people not only here but at home as well.

There is no good news for us on the Sugar industry front after asking all the speakers about sugar they all were very vague about why this commodity is treated so differently, it looks like it will be the last of the industries to be liberalised.

We had the opportunity for a night tour last night around the monuments here in D.C.Wow do these guys know how to build monuments.

Leaving London heading for Washington D.C.

London was fascinating the history that they have is amazing, we stood in wesminster hall and it was a very surreal place to think of all that had taken place there, it was the place where William Wallace (Brave Heart) was hung drawn and quartered . Looking around you could still see the scars of war, for me to be standing in these places that I have only ever seen in books or on T.V.
It was very interesting speaking with farmers in the EU with the Common Agricultural Policy (subsidies) to hear the issues that they had to deal with and what they saw coming in the future. Actually all the guys I spoke with didn't want the subsidies, however as I became more informed about them it became very obvious that it is a very difficult policy to unwind. I also had a greater understanding of the good intentions that were the reason for there inception after the second world war.

We had a farm visit we went 45 k's from the centre of London and we were at a wheat farm , I couldn't believe it , these guys have adapted and have converted some of there old farm buildings into believe it or not office space. People get on a train from London to come out to the Farm to work, it was the last thing that I expected. I suppose that the point is to be adaptable, this guy saw an opportunity and capitalised on it. That has been the message from this week that in every time of adversity there are opportunities if you look for them.

How's this for a veiw.

Been another full on couple of days, heard from some great speakers and got some really great info, even met royalty the patron of Nuffield HRH the Duke of Gloucester.Even been on the TUBE that was an experience, but it was not as bad as I thought it was going to be.
The highlight though came from a presentation of a previous scholar who showed immense courage to share with us his story of personal loss to highlight the importance of people and most importantly family.His story was one of true leadership, he did not only espouse the values of his genuine caring for people he reflected his values and beliefs in the way he conducted business.It has been one of the most moving experiences that we have shared, and it highlighted to me that the true nature of business will more and more be centred on how we relate to and care for the people in our business. I am off to Washington DC tomorrow another long journey

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