AgForce conferenece to tackle global food supply issue

Queensland producer group AgForce will tackle the issue of global food supply and the role agriculture plays in a rapidly changing world at its 2011 conference on the Sunshine Coast in September. Elanco Global Director Food Industry and Consumer Affairs Mike McCarty and New Zealand Farmer of the Year Doug Avery will share their views on the role Australia plays in the secure and profitable production of food and fibre in a national and international context.
The two-day ‘What will we eat? … making food security the global priority’ conference is on 15-16 September, and is preceded by a local industry tour on 14 September. For further details www.agforceqld.org.au

Road pricing reform unfair on ag: VFF

The Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF) says it is concerned that moves by the National Transport Commission to reform road pricing do not take into account the unique nature of agricultural freight.  “The proposed changes to road pricing will require all heavy vehicles to have a GPS device to track movements, which we do not believe is reasonable for farm based freight,” Acting VFF President Peter Tuohey said. “There will be a direct cost for the GPS technology to be installed in every vehicle and also an administration cost associated with calculating the distance and location of freight movements, both of which are unwieldy costs for farmers to bear. We simply do not believe that the distance-location pricing is realistic for the on-farm fleet that only travels this far each year, compared to the hundreds of thousands of kilometres travelled by commercial freight.”

Malaysian beef imports up 11pc

Malaysia’s beef imports during 2010-11 increased 11pc on the previous year to a six-year high of 117,797 tonnes swt according to Meat and Livestock Australia. There was a rise in volumes from India, Australia, New Zealand (NZ) and China which more than offset falls in imports from Brazil and Argentina due to restricted market access. Malaysia was the second largest market for Indian carabeef in 2010. Carabeef is mainly sold through traditional markets and utilised at low-end foodservice outlets. Malaysia was also the eighth largest market for Australian and Chinese beef exports and ranked 12th for NZ beef in 2010. During the 12 months to June 2011, Malaysia's beef imports from India jumped 14pc, to represent 83pc of total beef imports. Volumes from Australia also surged 56pc year-on-year, to account for 12pc of total beef imports. Alongside India and Australia, NZ (3pc market share) and China (2pc) continued to supplement imported beef demand for Malaysia's foodservice sector. In July 2011, the Malaysian government announced access to Brazilian beef and turkey into the market. Initially, two slaughterhouses were allowed to ship beef and one to ship turkey. The decision followed a visit by Brazil's Ministry of Agriculture to Malaysia, Indonesia and Japan in June, as part of the Brazilian government's strategy to expand its meat markets.

US farm income hits $100b

Annual US farm income will exceed $100 billion for the first time in 2011 according to the US Department of Agriculture. Reuters has reported that US farm income is forecast at $103.6 billion for 2011, up $24.5 billion, or 31 percent from 2010. "Many different crop and livestock categories are expected to achieve record high sales," said USDA. It forecast crop receipts to be 19 percent higher than in 2010 and livestock receipts to rise by nearly 16 percent.