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Toyota Affiliate to Sell Higher-Yielding Rice
A typical strain of Koshihikari rice (left) and a new strain (right) that Toyota Tsusho plans to grow and
sell.
Toyota Tsusho Corp.
The idea is nothing new to rice farmers, who have long sought to develop hardier and more
productive strains of Japans staple grain. Toyota Tsusho, working with an agricultural venture
company, says it has a strain of Japans popular Koshihikari ricethat produces about 30% to
50% more rice in the same plot size.
Japanese farmers are poised to face a challenge from less-expensive foreign-made rice if Japan,
the U.S. and other nations can agree on reducing trade barriers as part of theTrans-Pacific
Partnership talks. Rice farmers want to establish a brand name for their products so they can
charge a premium to consumers.Toyota Tsusho is pursuing a different kind of customer. We
will sell this rice to professionals such as restaurants and bento [lunch box] producers, who want
safe products and competitive prices at the same time, a Toyota Tsusho spokesman said.
The company is a trading house whose main job is buying raw materials for Toyota Motor. You
may find it strange, but well go anywhere we can to apply our kaizen method, said the
spokesman. The company has also invested in farmed bluefin tuna, as the WSJ reported last
year.Demand for rice by restaurants and bento producers is rising because more Japanese are
eating out, although overall demand for rice has been falling, according to the governmentbacked Organization of Stable Rice Supply Support.
U.S. Rep. Charles Boustany (R-LA) signed his name to a letter addressed to Secretary of State John
Kerry on Tuesday, requesting his help in preserving the rights of Louisiana rice producers to sell
their product in Iraq at a fair market price. The letter was authored by Senate Appropriations
Committee Chairman Thad Cochran (R-MS). It essentially asks Kerry to consult with the Iraqi
Minister of Trade to make sure that American rice producers can successfully compete in the Iraqi
market.
Farmers plant BRRI-Dhan-64, a zinc-enriched paddy invented by Bangladesh Rice Research Institute, at a field in Jhenidah
Sadar upazila. PHOTO: STAR
"BRRI-64 has been invented through cross pollination with local variety. Seventy-five acres of
land have been brought under its cultivation in Jhenidah, Magura and Jessore districts," said
Nasir Uddin Khan, additional director of the Department of Agricultural Extension in Jessore
region.
District-wise, the areas are 50 acres in Jhenidah, 15 acres in Magura, and 10 acres in Jessore. The
researchers claimed that the newly invented paddy will play a vital role in fighting zinc and
protein deficiency in human body, especially for children and women.As rice is the staple food
of Bangladesh, the newly invented variety could provide useful food value for zinc enrichment
for people and it will be especially helpful to prevent and cure diarrhoea and pneumonia in
children, they said.
"The local varieties contain 9-12 miligrams of zinc per kg while the newly invented zinc
enriched variety contains around 24 miligrams. It will prevent zinc deficiency in human body
and help physical growth and mental development of the children," said Dr Alamgir Hossain,
post doctorate fellow, Harvest Plus Bangladesh. "I took training on the cultivation of BRRI-64
Dhan on Januray 15 and I am cultivating it on one bigha of land this season," said Abdul Jabbar,
a teacher of Narikelbaria ZA High School.
Published: 12:00 am Thursday, January 29, 2015
http://www.thedailystar.net/zinc-enriched-rice-sees-successful-farming-62171
How would you feel about leaving a tractor to drive itself in one paddock, while you work
in another ?
To the busy farmer, struggling to find local labour, it's an appealing concept. 00:00
00:00
AUDIO: Phil Collier from the CRC for Spatial Information explains how Japan's satellite system
works (ABC Rural)
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-01-28/robotic-tractor-on-rice-crop-2801/6052366
Princeton University researchers have built a rice grain-sized laser powered by single electrons
tunnelling through artificial atoms known as quantum dots. The tiny microwave laser, or
"maser," is a demonstration of the fundamental interactions between light and moving
electrons.The researchers built the device - which uses about one-billionth the electric current
needed to power a hair dryer - while exploring how to use quantum dots, which are bits of
semiconductor material that act like single atoms, as components for quantum computers.
"It is basically as small as you can go with these single-electron devices," said Jason Petta, an
associate professor of physics at Princeton who led the study, which was published in the journal
Science. The device demonstrates a major step forward for efforts to build quantum-computing
systems out of semiconductor materials, according to co-author and collaborator Jacob Taylor,
an adjunct assistant professor at the Joint Quantum Institute, University of Maryland-National
Institute of Standards and Technology. "I consider this to be a really important result for our
long-term goal, which is entanglement between quantum bits in semiconductor-based devices,"
Taylor says.
The original aim of the project was not to build a maser, but to explore how to use double
quantum dots - which are two quantum dots joined together - as quantum bits, or qubits, the
basic units of information in quantum computers."The goal was to get the double quantum dots
to communicate with each other," says Yinyu Liu, a physics graduate student in Petta's lab. The
team also included graduate student Jiri Stehlik and associate research scholar Christopher
Eichler in Princeton's Department of Physics, as well as postdoctoral researcher Michael Gullans
of the Joint Quantum Institute.
Because quantum dots can communicate through the entanglement of light particles, or photons,
the researchers designed dots that emit photons when single electrons leap from a higher energy
level to a lower energy level to cross the double dot.Each double quantum dot can only transfer
one electron at a time, Petta explains. "It is like a line of people crossing a wide stream by
leaping onto a rock so small that it can only hold one person," he said. "They are forced to cross
the stream one at a time. These double quantum dots are zero-dimensional as far as the electrons
are concerned - they are trapped in all three spatial dimensions.
"The researchers fabricated the double quantum dots from extremely thin nanowires (about 50
nanometers, or a billionth of a meter, in diameter) made of a semiconductor material called
indium arsenide. They patterned the indium arsenide wires over other even smaller metal wires
that act as gate electrodes, which control the energy levels in the dots.To construct the maser,
they placed the two double dots about 6 millimeters apart in a cavity made of a superconducting
material, niobium, which requires a temperature near absolute zero, around minus 459 degrees
Fahrenheit. "This is the first time that the team at Princeton has demonstrated that there is a
connection between two double quantum dots separated by nearly a centimeter, a substantial
distance," Taylor said.
When the device was switched on, electrons flowed single-file through each double quantum dot,
causing them to emit photons in the microwave region of the spectrum. These photons then
bounced off mirrors at each end of the cavity to build into a coherent beam of microwave
light.One advantage of the new maser is that the energy levels inside the dots can be fine-tuned
to produce light at other frequencies, which cannot be done with other semiconductor lasers in
which the frequency is fixed during manufacturing, Petta said.
The larger the energy difference between the two levels, the higher the frequency of light
emitted.Claire Gmachl, who was not involved in the research and is Princeton's Eugene Higgins
Professor of Electrical Engineering and a pioneer in the field of semiconductor lasers, said that
because lasers, masers and other forms of coherent light sources are used in communications,
sensing, medicine and many other aspects of modern life, the study is an important one."In this
paper the researchers dig down deep into the fundamental interaction between light and the
moving electron," Gmachl said.
"The double quantum dot allows them full control over the motion of even a single electron, and
in return they show how the coherent microwave field is created and amplified. Learning to
control these fundamental light-matter interaction processes will help in the future development
of light sources."The paper, Semiconductor double quantum dot micromaser, was published in
the journal Science. The research was supported by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation,
the National Science Foundation, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency QuEST, and
the Army Research Office.
http://www.domain-b.com/technology/20150128_computing.html
months, touching $360-$370 a tonne on Wednesday, FOB, versus $370-$380 a week ago.The 25
percent broken rice fell to $340-$350 a tonne from $350-$360.
"China has yet to buy. Maybe they will start purchases in March," a Vietnamese trader said of
Vietnam's biggest rice buyer. "Africa is also not buying anew thanks to high stocks."Vietnamese
prices are the same as or above those offered by Pakistan, making it difficult to compete with the
South Asian country for sales to Africa, he said.Prices have not been helped by news that the
Philippines planned to import up to 500,000 tonnes for delivery between March and May to
boost stockpiles.Vietnam will harvest the winter-spring crop, its biggest, from late next month
and prices are expected to ease further.Thailand could export a record 11 million tonnes of rice
in 2015, followed by India with 8.2 million and Vietnam with 6.9 million, the UN Food and
Agriculture Organization has projected.Rice exports from the three countries account for more
than 60 percent of global trade. (Additional reporting by Pairat Temphairojana in Bangkok;
Editing by Alan Raybould)
The Philippines plans to import up to 500,000 tonnes of rice for deliveries starting in March to
boost its stockpiles ahead of the lean harvest season, government and trade sources said.The state
grains procurement agency, National Food Authority (NFA), wants the shipments to arrive in
two batches of 200,000 tonnes and one for 100,000 tonnes, to be completed by May, a
government official with knowledge of the plan told Reuters.The official, who is not authorized
to speak to the media about the plan, said the NFA might go for a government-to-government
deal, similar to transactions last year with Vietnam and Thailand.Local rice traders, however, are
hoping the NFA will give them import permits for the planned purchases, which are tariff-free, a
Manila-based trader told Reuters.
Fresh demand from the Philippines could give a boost to falling rice prices in top producers and
sellers Thailand and Vietnam, the Philippines key suppliers.The Philippines usually buys rice
early in the year to prepare for the lean harvest season that begins in July.Private traders have
been allowed to import up to 187,000 tonnes of rice this year, with tariffs as high as 35 percent,
under the governments Minimum Access Volume Omnibus Rice Importation program.Despite
record-high domestic harvests in recent years, including last years output, the Philippines
remains one of the worlds biggest rice buyers.
The Philippines bought more than 1.8 million tonnes from Vietnam and Thailand after Super
Typhoon Haiyan destroyed crops in November 2013, prompting the government to release
supplies from state stockpiles for relief operations and to arrest the sharp increase in local retail
prices.Last years rice purchases by the Philippines were the biggest in the last four years. This
years imports may hit 1.6 million tonnes, based on a forecast by the United States Department
of Agriculture.The government official said, however, that this years imports may be less than 1
million tonnes as local retail prices have eased from the record highs seen at mid-2014.Secretary
Francis Pangilinan, the countrys food security chief and chairman of the NFA Council, would
give no detail on any rice import plans and said that the media should wait for the official
announcement.
http://www.mb.com.ph/500000-mt-rice-import-eyed-for-shipment-march/
that a minimal volume of substandard rice that arrived in the country had been sent back to
suppliers.
http://www.philstar.com:8080/business/2015/01/29/1417777/nfa-mulls-more-incentives-ricefarmers#sthash.FZyJXCeu.dpuf
New water- and cost-efficient farming techniques will allow Vietnam to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions in wet rice production by 15 to 20 per cent by 2020, said Mai Van Trinh, Director of
the
Ministry
of
Agriculture
and
Rural
Developments
Institute
for
Agricultural Environment.Trinh was speaking at a recent conference on the first phase of the
Project on Reduced CH4 Emissions in Wet Rice Cultivation in Vietnam, jointly held by his
institute and the Manila-based International Rice Research Institute in Hanoi.
To achieve the target, the ministry will use the System of Rice Intensification (SRI), a plan in
which farmers will increase productivity, quality and economic effectiveness, while reducing
pesticides and nitrogenous fertilisers, he said.In addition to these measures, the ministry will also
encourage farmers to use green production methods. The sector will also apply Good
Agricultural Practices (GAP) in cultivation, which means using techniques that consume less
fertilisers and water, employing better land preparation techniques and reducing
methane emissions.Another technology mentioned at the conference was Alternative Wetting
Drying (AWD).
Actually, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in rice growing, the institute has tried AWD while
implementing a project on reducing CH4 emissions in wet rice cultivation, Trinh said, adding
that AWD is no longer strange to rice growers in Vietnam, as it has already been incorporated in
several other programmes, including SRI.Vu Duong Quynh, the project coordinator, said a major
challenge with SRI is water management. Most problems are caused by the unfavourable terrain
in many areas, fragmented rice fields and a lack of cooperation between irrigation staff and
farmers. This is especially troublesome considering the fact that efficient irrigation is the best
way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
To overcome these difficulties, Quynh said that in its first phase, from October 2014 to June
2016, the project intends to collect lessons learnt from efficient irrigation models and to gather
data on land and infrastructure in each province, to make a water-efficient irrigation map.When
looking at this map, one can read out which province can apply AWD, as not all types of land are
suitable for this technology, Quynh said. In the second phase, the project will incorporate
other technologies.
http://www.eco-business.com/news/efficient-rice-farming-curb-emissions/
New water- and cost-efficient farming techniques will allow Vietnam to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions in wet rice production by 15 to 20 per cent by 2020, said Mai Van Trinh, Director of
the
Ministry
of
Agriculture
and
Rural
Developments
Institute
for
Agricultural Environment.Trinh was speaking at a recent conference on the first phase of the
Project on Reduced CH4 Emissions in Wet Rice Cultivation in Vietnam, jointly held by his
institute and the Manila-based International Rice Research Institute in Hanoi.
To achieve the target, the ministry will use the System of Rice Intensification (SRI), a plan in
which farmers will increase productivity, quality and economic effectiveness, while reducing
pesticides and nitrogenous fertilisers, he said.In addition to these measures, the ministry will also
encourage farmers to use green production methods. The sector will also apply Good
Agricultural Practices (GAP) in cultivation, which means using techniques that consume less
fertilisers and water, employing better land preparation techniques and reducing
methane emissions.Another technology mentioned at the conference was Alternative Wetting
Drying (AWD).
Actually, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in rice growing, the institute has tried AWD while
implementing a project on reducing CH4 emissions in wet rice cultivation, Trinh said, adding
that AWD is no longer strange to rice growers in Vietnam, as it has already been incorporated in
several other programmes, including SRI.Vu Duong Quynh, the project coordinator, said a major
challenge with SRI is water management. Most problems are caused by the unfavourable terrain
in many areas, fragmented rice fields and a lack of cooperation between irrigation staff and
farmers. This is especially troublesome considering the fact that efficient irrigation is the best
way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
To overcome these difficulties, Quynh said that in its first phase, from October 2014 to June
2016, the project intends to collect lessons learnt from efficient irrigation models and to gather
data on land and infrastructure in each province, to make a water-efficient irrigation map.When
looking at this map, one can read out which province can apply AWD, as not all types of land are
suitable for this technology, Quynh said. In the second phase, the project will incorporate
other technologies.
http://www.eco-business.com/news/efficient-rice-farming-curb-emissions/
Two of the companies charged and listed as 'Asian companies' are allegedly in default by N28.39
billion and were alleged to have written to the minister for a revision of the quotas to cover the
quantity ordered but without approved quotas or Domestic Rice Production Plans (DRPP) as
required. Only a mere agreement with the Customs to pay the duties and levies once quota
allocations from the inter-ministerial committee are out cleared the way. Why then is the process
open to such abuse?
Normally, a conditional approval is always given once the request is supported by a DRPP bond
to guarantee commitment to domestic investments in production and processing. Failure to
execute on the plans leads to a call on the bond. Unambiguous as the official explanation and the
need for the minister to defend the country's integrity may seem, an instant reaction four days
later by a certain association, The Nigerian Rice Millers Association (NRMA), is bound to raise
eyebrows about the official claims. Curiously, five days after NRMA went public with
reservations, another group, Nigerian Rice Investors Group (NRIG) countered NRMA's claims in
support of the minister, calling the other group a "fictitious organisation."
The development has thus become a media war, which is totally uncalled for. Culpability of any
of the parties should become a public issue only after a conclusive investigation of claims,
harmonization of positions, especially since the affected debtors claimed the Customs was yet to
communicate financial obligations to them. Strengthening their argument, NRMA, which cited
"gaps in information," said the surplus arose from a released quota allocation six months after a
circular to that effect in May 2014 by the Minister of Finance titled "2014-2017 fiscal policy
measures on rice." Investors claimed to have depended upon that to import products. It also
alleged that the minster's letter of November 27, 2014 received early December imposed the
bond "without consultation with stakeholders" besides the retroactive levy imposition. An
indication of a long-drawn battle over the matter was given by NRMA, which then said debts are
"misconceived and baseless."
Certainly, some gaps are evident in the whole saga, and the information minister has to clarify
the status of those investors laying claim to recognition. Also, he has to be open about the
identity of the defaulters he merely described as "Asian countries" and "Asian companies"
especially as NRMA denied this, saying its members are "duly registered and are operating
legally as prominent rice millers, farmers and importers".Evidently too, NRMA and NRIG are in
a superiority battle even though the NRIG seems a latter-day entrant into the industry going by
its claim of maiden meeting in December. And it must be established if the NRMA is a fictitious
organisation as NRIG claims! How far has it been dealing with the ministry? Was there any
correspondence between the minister and NRMA pre-December quota raise?
From the claims and counter-claims, it is apparent that confidence level in the system is very low
and the entire process is more than a little opaque. An inter-ministerial committee should
intervene and investigate all claims and show fairness to all sides in bringing out the truth. More
important, all loopholes must be plugged, the losses to the country must be recouped and the
system re-organised.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201501281489.html
The government plans to control the price of paddy and rice to provide justification for the
consumer as well as the farmer. The government has decided to maintain a guaranteed price of
50 rupees per kilo of paddy. Minister Gamini Jayawickrema Perera said that the government will
also mediate to prevent the increase of price of rice in the market. He said that concessions will
be given to the rice millers as well. The minister said that these concessions will be introduced in
respect of their electricity bills and for the bank loans taken by them.
http://www.slbc.lk/index.php/component/content/article/1-latest-news/23486--plans-areunderway-to-control-the-prices-of-paddy-and-rice.html
importance of developing this market to Ambassador Froman.""Before the 1962 embargo, Cuba
was the number one importer of U.S. rice," Smith said to Ambassador Froman during the
hearing. "Cuba is currently the second largest importer of rice in the Americas. What do you
think the benefits of normalizing relations with Cuba would be to the U.S. agricultural
community, and crops like rice?"
While Ambassador Froman said he would look into the specifics and follow up with the
Congressman, USA Rice is well aware of how important normal commercial relations are
between the U.S. and Cuba."A normalized commercial relationship is vital to growing the Cuban
economy to a place where they can import U.S. products, like rice," said Ward.
Contact: Deborah Willenborg (703) 236-1444
USA Rice Federation
MLG/LDP
Rate
Milled
Value
($/cwt)
Rough
($/cwt)
Rough
($/cwt)
Long-Grain
16.33
10.36
0.00
Medium-/ShortGrain
15.79
10.63
0.00
Brokens
9.85
----
----
This week's prevailing world market prices and MLG/LDP rates are based on the following U.S.
milling yields and the corresponding loan rates:
U.S. Milling Yields
Whole/Broken
(lbs/cwt)
Loan Rate
($/cwt)
Long-Grain
55.83/12.59
6.50
Medium-/Short-Grain
62.39/7.92
6.50
Price
Net Change
March 2015
$10.735
- $0.235
May 2015
$10.985
- $0.240
July 2015
$11.200
- $0.265
September 2015
$10.880
- $0.265
November 2015
$10.980
- $0.265
January 2016
$11.070
- $0.265
March 2016
$11.070
- $0.265
America. This meets a growing demand for the grain in not only
domestic use, but in meeting the needs for rice sold overseas. The
Montna family has been growing rice in the Sacramento Valley for
generations. The Montna rice fields provide the ground on which the
crop is raised and provides an important watershed for birds in the
region. The family farm floods its fields every year to break down the straw from the last
harvest. Those flooded fields provide habitat for tens of thousands of waterfowl who make their
way north and south in the Pacific Flyway. The Montnas consider their environmental efforts as
critical to protecting the land that sustains their farming family.
http://www.americasheartland.org/episodes/episode_1019/ca_montna_rice_farm.htm