Thursday 29th April
Posted by Nikki
Set off for Wales in the morning from Bristol. It only took us 3 hours to drive there and we got to the bottom South West corner in a town called Haverfordwest just after lunch time. Had lunch in a pub in the town, tried to find some free wireless internet but couldn't. Headed out in the rain to see Will Scales on his property. and had a bit of a tour around before tea. Staying in a great little cottage on their property. Nice place for a holilday getaway
30 April, 2010
Alvis Brothers
Tuesday 27th & Wednesday 28th April 2010
Posted by Nikki
We set off for a place called Redhill near Bristol which is in the south West of England. We stayed with John & Pauline Alvis who run Alvis brothers. They have two sons Johnny and Peter who are also involved in their business along with about 120 other employees. It is a business that has lots of arms but essentially their philosophy is that they have land on which they grow grass, the grass feeds the cows who give the milk to make the cheese and they feed the whey from the cheese making process back to the pigs whos’ manure they spread on the paddocks for fertiliser. So its circular integration as each part of their business benefits another part. They also have a shop front in which they sell all of their cheese and pork products and also may other products from other local farm businesses. From oils, to yoghurts to vegies to even other peoples cheeses.
Peter gave us a tour through the cheese factory. It is a mammoth operation and produces a huge amount of hard cheeses. They currently have nearly 3000 tonnes of cheese in storage. We did a vertical tasting of different aged cheeses and the difference was very clear. The business appears to be very well structured and managed, with excellent staff retention rates which is a credit to their people management skills, which is something that often bigger businesses lack.
Nick Green gave us a tour around the farms, they have three separate dairies and a number of properties scattered through the villages. The roads through these little country villages are horrifyingly narrow and they have those awful hedges lining all the roads. Not only do they make driving dangerous but you cant see through them into the countryside which I find very annoying. The hedges are now protected though so that the badgers (that carry TB to infect the cattle, are now also protected) and other little animals can have somewhere to live. I think they are terrible but the locals don’t seem to mind them at all.
Posted by Nikki
We set off for a place called Redhill near Bristol which is in the south West of England. We stayed with John & Pauline Alvis who run Alvis brothers. They have two sons Johnny and Peter who are also involved in their business along with about 120 other employees. It is a business that has lots of arms but essentially their philosophy is that they have land on which they grow grass, the grass feeds the cows who give the milk to make the cheese and they feed the whey from the cheese making process back to the pigs whos’ manure they spread on the paddocks for fertiliser. So its circular integration as each part of their business benefits another part. They also have a shop front in which they sell all of their cheese and pork products and also may other products from other local farm businesses. From oils, to yoghurts to vegies to even other peoples cheeses.
Peter gave us a tour through the cheese factory. It is a mammoth operation and produces a huge amount of hard cheeses. They currently have nearly 3000 tonnes of cheese in storage. We did a vertical tasting of different aged cheeses and the difference was very clear. The business appears to be very well structured and managed, with excellent staff retention rates which is a credit to their people management skills, which is something that often bigger businesses lack.
Nick Green gave us a tour around the farms, they have three separate dairies and a number of properties scattered through the villages. The roads through these little country villages are horrifyingly narrow and they have those awful hedges lining all the roads. Not only do they make driving dangerous but you cant see through them into the countryside which I find very annoying. The hedges are now protected though so that the badgers (that carry TB to infect the cattle, are now also protected) and other little animals can have somewhere to live. I think they are terrible but the locals don’t seem to mind them at all.
Monday 26th April 2010
Posted by Nikki
When we hired a car. Had the offer of an upgrade to a BMW for only 50pounds extra per day!!! Forced to decline. Set off in lovely sunny weather to West Malling where Balls’ rellies David & Joan Mitchem live.
It was great to catch up with them after 22 years. I stayed with them on my last trip to England. We went for a wander down the High Street and bought a local phone card to save on some costs. . David & Joan then took us out to see the National trust listed Ightham Mote which was a magnificent building. Very early to bed. think I have a bit of jet lag.
Posted by Nikki
When we hired a car. Had the offer of an upgrade to a BMW for only 50pounds extra per day!!! Forced to decline. Set off in lovely sunny weather to West Malling where Balls’ rellies David & Joan Mitchem live.
It was great to catch up with them after 22 years. I stayed with them on my last trip to England. We went for a wander down the High Street and bought a local phone card to save on some costs. . David & Joan then took us out to see the National trust listed Ightham Mote which was a magnificent building. Very early to bed. think I have a bit of jet lag.
Ball's Study Trip - Trip No.2
Posted by Nikki:
Sunday 25th April 2010
Balls & I flew out from Adelaide to Melbourne and then went from Melbourne to Singapore arriving there at 9.15pm local time. There were a few nervous moments at the airport when we were told that our tickets on to London were just standby tickets and we would be lucky to fly out of there in the next few days. Luckily the girl didn't know what she was talking about and we flew out as scheduled at midnight to London. We arrived 13 hours later having had a half decent sleep and some remarkably good airline food. Zipped through the airport in 45 minutes and picked up our hire car.
Sunday 25th April 2010
Balls & I flew out from Adelaide to Melbourne and then went from Melbourne to Singapore arriving there at 9.15pm local time. There were a few nervous moments at the airport when we were told that our tickets on to London were just standby tickets and we would be lucky to fly out of there in the next few days. Luckily the girl didn't know what she was talking about and we flew out as scheduled at midnight to London. We arrived 13 hours later having had a half decent sleep and some remarkably good airline food. Zipped through the airport in 45 minutes and picked up our hire car.
23 April, 2010
Super Frango
Great Doormat
Next we were off to a chicken farm / processor called Super Frango. They have been in processing for 19 years and they process on average 220,000 / day.Currently they buy day old chicks.The day old chicks are sourced from 5 separate states of Brazil. These are sent directly to the contract growers. All of the feed is mixed and sent out in bulk to these growers and they go through 1000 t/day, made up of Corn and SoyabeanThe trucks delivering the grain are all automatically sampled.
Will We See These at ABB or AWB?
The contract growers supply the shed and the labour, plus the water and electricity. He / she invests $300,000 per shed with a turn over every 55 days. 45 days for growing and 10 for cleaning and sanatizing the shed. Super Frango supply the chicks and feed. The company also picks up the chickens at 45 days old. The farmer is paid on a weight basis after the birds are processed. The animals range from 2.4 kgs to 3.2 kgs dressed weight. The chickens have a dressing percentage of 80% and meat yield is 40%. The feed conversion ratio is 1.75:1, which is very good.
Super Frango export only 10% of the final product with the rest consumed in Brazil. It is in their business plan to start growing their own chicks which it will have a number of benefits. They vertically intergrating the whole business.
22 April, 2010
Sugar & Ethanol
We continue to see a lot of sugar cane in the area, interspersed with soyabean. We were off to see a Sugar Cane growing and Ethanol plant. The company rents 14,000 hectares of land from 200 farmers. The company then does all of the work and the farmers are paid on the sugar produced off that piece of land.
The company processes an average 55% of the crop for ethanol and 40% for raw sugar. The production from this farm is 1,000,000 tonnes. In comparison Australia’s total production is only 5 million tones. They average 72 t/ha but are aiming for 85 t/ha.
The ethanol plant was having a maintenance refit was we were unable to go in, so we went out to the field and looked at replanting of cane. 2000 ha are replanted each year. The paddock is worked up using a offset disc and then a trencher is used to put three trenches 400 mm deep. This is all done with tractors. That is where the mechanization stops. The precut cane is then laid out by hand in the trenches nand covered over by hand with a hoe. This seemed very archaic. 2000 works are employed each year to manually harvest the cane crop.
When the crop is sown it receives a dose of NPK fertilizer with 40 units of Nitrogen, 120 units of Phosphorous and 80 units of Potassium. This then topped up after harvest with 40 units of Nitrogen and 60 units of Potassium.
The ethanol that is produced each year has to be sold to a fuel company. They currently are extracting 85 litres of ethanol per tonne of sugar cane. With last year’s crop they produced 4 500,000 litres. As a bi-product from the ethanol production, stillage is a water product. This is used to irrigate some of the corn and puts on 300mm over a 1000 ha.
The Truck Arriving with New Cane for Hand Planting
The company processes an average 55% of the crop for ethanol and 40% for raw sugar. The production from this farm is 1,000,000 tonnes. In comparison Australia’s total production is only 5 million tones. They average 72 t/ha but are aiming for 85 t/ha.
Cane Pieces Laid In Trenches And Then Covered By Hand With Hoes
The ethanol plant was having a maintenance refit was we were unable to go in, so we went out to the field and looked at replanting of cane. 2000 ha are replanted each year. The paddock is worked up using a offset disc and then a trencher is used to put three trenches 400 mm deep. This is all done with tractors. That is where the mechanization stops. The precut cane is then laid out by hand in the trenches nand covered over by hand with a hoe. This seemed very archaic. 2000 works are employed each year to manually harvest the cane crop.
A Cane Cutter and His Tool
When the crop is sown it receives a dose of NPK fertilizer with 40 units of Nitrogen, 120 units of Phosphorous and 80 units of Potassium. This then topped up after harvest with 40 units of Nitrogen and 60 units of Potassium.
Foremans Car
Daterra Coffee Bean Producer for the Queen
Now we were ready to start our tour of some of Brazil’s fabulous agriculture. The first stop was a coffee plantation. Daterra is located in the central area of Brazil. It is 1100 metres above sea level and receives 1800 – 2000 mm per year. The rainfall comes for six months in sum and is dry for the other six.
The farm is setup with the following land uses;
• Coffee - 2640 Ha.
• Corridors of Native Vegetation linking blocks of legal reservation - 400 Ha.
• Legal Reservation as part of the 20% required by law – 1826 Ha.
• Permanent Vegetation along creeks and rivers – 626 Ha.
• Native vegetation being regenerated – 1113 Ha.
• Administration & Buildings etc. – 36 Ha.
• Total – 6646 Ha
Daterra produce 100 million tonnes of coffee beans each year. The company employs 220 full time and 150 part timers. These are involved mainly in the field and in the factory. They used to employ 1200 hand pickers but they have been directly swapped over for 15 tractor drivers. Now 85% of the harvest is picked by machine.
Coffee comes from a tree which is pruned to make new growth. The plants come into production 2 ½ years after planting. They have their beans on second year wood and they tend to be biennial with a 70:30 split. The critical time is just before flowering when there must be sufficient moisture available to allow full flowering and this sets next years seed set.
The beans are picked when the “cupper” says it is ready. The cupper is a key person in the coffee business. It is their job to collect beans from the trees to taste them. He has to firstly dry them and then roast to get them ready for the tasting process. It is similar to wine tasting.
He has a number of criteria to assess the beans, firstly he puts the ground beans in the cup and smell them and then tastes them by slurping to draw air and coffee across your palate. He judges such as aroma, acidity, depth of character & finish. After tasting he decides which plots are ready for harvest. He continues the cupping during harvest and the drying process.
The ripe beans are firstly picked by a harvester similar to grape machines, with rotating beaters which remove about 75 – 85% of the crop. Then a circular rotating brush is which remove most of the remaining beans. These are then swept up with a vacuum harvester.
The beans are taken to the factory and clean & washed to remove the outer shell / covering. The beans need drying down from 65% to 11% moisture. This must done slowly to retain the oil and flavour. This drying process is the bottle neck for the farm as they only have 6 dryers which take 2 days to dry a load. Once they have come down to 11% they are put into large wooden vats which hold 50000 tonne. The coffee beans are stored for about 40 days and then cupped again after which the cupper assign them a quality. Reserve is their premium label. At present they sell their beans to a roaster, who then sells them to the public. Daterra is looking to value add it bean sale with roasting and selling to the public but later on have their set on some coffee shops. They already supply, Queen Elizabeth’s coffee roaster.
Daterra have a good social conscience as they are involved with a lot for their labour force and communities.They currently;
• Supply breakfast each day for staff.
• Give family loans from the company.
• Bring schools on for tour but not only factory and plantation. They have camps to investigate the habitat and environment of native vegetation areas for plants and animals.
• Scholarships for staff to educate and better themselves.
• Support childcare facilities in area.
• Have family festival at the plantation
As I don’t drink coffee I haven’t added it until now, but the cupper put us through a testing of the coffee. Rob and Rowan picked the three grades in the right order.
The current issue of the drying process is going to be addressed in the near future, with some more drying kilns and the labour with some union issues. Supply of high end coffee has increased dramatically. For the coffee aficionados we saw a pack of Weasel Coffee or Kopi Luwak. It has been picked by the Civet Cat and has passed through the intestines of the Palm Civet.
Internet Note; Planters soon discovered that the coffee bean itself was not digested by the palm civet and so clusters of beans appeared in their droppings. Some enterprising person tried washing and brewing the beans rather than waste them – and Kopi Luwak or Weasel Coffee was born. When news spread to the West, the unique rich flavour of this brew plus the sheer gross novelty of drinking coffee that had passed through an animal’s intestines created unprecedented demand. It is now such a hot gourmet coffee that it sells for $1000 per kilo. It is not your average barista coffee! There are reports of gourmet coffee houses selling it for $50 per cup. Reports from coffee –lovers who have tried it are generally favourable to rave reviews. The enzymes in the civet’s stomach apparently take away some of the coffee’s bitterness yet enhances the flavour and aroma, producing a unique cup.
This was a very good visit.
Daterra with all their Accreditations
The farm is setup with the following land uses;
• Coffee - 2640 Ha.
• Corridors of Native Vegetation linking blocks of legal reservation - 400 Ha.
• Legal Reservation as part of the 20% required by law – 1826 Ha.
• Permanent Vegetation along creeks and rivers – 626 Ha.
• Native vegetation being regenerated – 1113 Ha.
• Administration & Buildings etc. – 36 Ha.
• Total – 6646 Ha
Daterra produce 100 million tonnes of coffee beans each year. The company employs 220 full time and 150 part timers. These are involved mainly in the field and in the factory. They used to employ 1200 hand pickers but they have been directly swapped over for 15 tractor drivers. Now 85% of the harvest is picked by machine.
Coffee comes from a tree which is pruned to make new growth. The plants come into production 2 ½ years after planting. They have their beans on second year wood and they tend to be biennial with a 70:30 split. The critical time is just before flowering when there must be sufficient moisture available to allow full flowering and this sets next years seed set.
The beans are picked when the “cupper” says it is ready. The cupper is a key person in the coffee business. It is their job to collect beans from the trees to taste them. He has to firstly dry them and then roast to get them ready for the tasting process. It is similar to wine tasting.
The Cupper Doing his Tasting
He has a number of criteria to assess the beans, firstly he puts the ground beans in the cup and smell them and then tastes them by slurping to draw air and coffee across your palate. He judges such as aroma, acidity, depth of character & finish. After tasting he decides which plots are ready for harvest. He continues the cupping during harvest and the drying process.
The ripe beans are firstly picked by a harvester similar to grape machines, with rotating beaters which remove about 75 – 85% of the crop. Then a circular rotating brush is which remove most of the remaining beans. These are then swept up with a vacuum harvester.
Coffee Harvester
The beans are taken to the factory and clean & washed to remove the outer shell / covering. The beans need drying down from 65% to 11% moisture. This must done slowly to retain the oil and flavour. This drying process is the bottle neck for the farm as they only have 6 dryers which take 2 days to dry a load. Once they have come down to 11% they are put into large wooden vats which hold 50000 tonne. The coffee beans are stored for about 40 days and then cupped again after which the cupper assign them a quality. Reserve is their premium label. At present they sell their beans to a roaster, who then sells them to the public. Daterra is looking to value add it bean sale with roasting and selling to the public but later on have their set on some coffee shops. They already supply, Queen Elizabeth’s coffee roaster.
The Queen's Coffee Vault
Daterra have a good social conscience as they are involved with a lot for their labour force and communities.They currently;
• Supply breakfast each day for staff.
• Give family loans from the company.
• Bring schools on for tour but not only factory and plantation. They have camps to investigate the habitat and environment of native vegetation areas for plants and animals.
• Scholarships for staff to educate and better themselves.
• Support childcare facilities in area.
• Have family festival at the plantation
As I don’t drink coffee I haven’t added it until now, but the cupper put us through a testing of the coffee. Rob and Rowan picked the three grades in the right order.
The current issue of the drying process is going to be addressed in the near future, with some more drying kilns and the labour with some union issues. Supply of high end coffee has increased dramatically. For the coffee aficionados we saw a pack of Weasel Coffee or Kopi Luwak. It has been picked by the Civet Cat and has passed through the intestines of the Palm Civet.
Internet Note; Planters soon discovered that the coffee bean itself was not digested by the palm civet and so clusters of beans appeared in their droppings. Some enterprising person tried washing and brewing the beans rather than waste them – and Kopi Luwak or Weasel Coffee was born. When news spread to the West, the unique rich flavour of this brew plus the sheer gross novelty of drinking coffee that had passed through an animal’s intestines created unprecedented demand. It is now such a hot gourmet coffee that it sells for $1000 per kilo. It is not your average barista coffee! There are reports of gourmet coffee houses selling it for $50 per cup. Reports from coffee –lovers who have tried it are generally favourable to rave reviews. The enzymes in the civet’s stomach apparently take away some of the coffee’s bitterness yet enhances the flavour and aroma, producing a unique cup.
This was a very good visit.
Bus Trip from Hell
We flew out the follow morning onto Ribeirão Preto.
We were met at the airport by Richardo. We were soon on the road with our new bus driving mate, heading north. It was a flash looking little bus until it was driven, then it shock the beejebbers out of everyone and everything. We later found out that the bus had airbags suspension, but the bags were stuffed. We overnighted at Ribeirão Preto.
The early start today was needed as we had to drive 300km to Uberlandia. It was a fairly good road from Ribeirão but the bus was rat shit. We got to Uberlandia in reasonable time and met our guide for the next few days, Milton Suzuki. We had a reasonable night sleep but a few of us needed chiro’s.
We were met at the airport by Richardo. We were soon on the road with our new bus driving mate, heading north. It was a flash looking little bus until it was driven, then it shock the beejebbers out of everyone and everything. We later found out that the bus had airbags suspension, but the bags were stuffed. We overnighted at Ribeirão Preto.
Stuffed Suspension
The early start today was needed as we had to drive 300km to Uberlandia. It was a fairly good road from Ribeirão but the bus was rat shit. We got to Uberlandia in reasonable time and met our guide for the next few days, Milton Suzuki. We had a reasonable night sleep but a few of us needed chiro’s.
12 April, 2010
On to Brazil
Yeh !!! Brazil at last but no, another lost bag. Rowan was left with only his back pack again. He had his Aussie flag board shorts. They should do. Off to our hotel and put our feet up for the rest of the day. Sao Paulo has 20+ million people and they are crammed in. I went in search of a post office and spent an hour walking around and half an hour trying to tell them what I wanted. In the end it was all sorted out. . It has a better feel about it than Mexico City, but it is hard to tell from one day.
Brazil is a huge country with 4 million square kilometres. The country has the 8th largest economy with $1.7 trillion GDP. It per capita GDP is $8200. It’s inflation is a little bit high, with 4.4%. The population of Brazil is close to 200 million.
As far as agriculture goes this country is a power house. It is the world’s producer of products;
• 1st for Sugar, Coffee and Orange Juice.
• 1st for Beef and Chicken exports.
• 2nd for Soy production and Ethanol production.
With mining, they are the largest producer of iron ore and 5th for copper.
As for Australian imports they are 22nd for value to us. Greg also stated that over the last few year there has been an average of 22,000 Brazilian student studying in Australia. Tania -------- who is the Business Development Manager at Austrade said there are currently opportunities in some of the high end agricultural products, such as fine cheese,dairy products, Olive Oil, fine biscuits and chocolate. This was quite interesting in this selection and both Greg and Tania told us that Brazil had come through the GFC very well and there are a large number of people in the ‘A’ category with lots of disposable income to spend on high value goods. All of the demographers use a pyramid shape to describe the people of Brazil. The catergories A B C D E are based on your income and assets.
It is not easy to import your product and be competitive. The government has tariffs on imported goods ranging from 14-20%. A bottle of the humble Jacobs Creek wine sells for $54 Real. This converts to around $34 Aussie. There were a number of $20 bottles back home in the range of $70 - $80 Real. Real is the Brazilian dollar with a conversion of $Aus1 to $Bra1.60.
We met Andy Duff from Rabobank and he gave us a banks perspective on Brazilian agriculture. They have 12 branches spread mainly across the central region and central west of Brazil. He gave us a SWOT analysis of Brazilian agriculture and the main weakness of the system was the lack of infrastructure. It creates huge bottle necks
We had an afternoon tour of Sao Paulo with Rosanna. The Markets were excellent
Rowan Contemplating His Lost Bag
We had a good night’s sleep and it was go for the Brazil leg of the GFP. We went to the Austrade Office in Sao Paulo to meet the Consul General and the head of Austrade in Brazil. Greg Wallis gave us a good heads with Brazil and the current economic, social and agricultural climate.Brazil is a huge country with 4 million square kilometres. The country has the 8th largest economy with $1.7 trillion GDP. It per capita GDP is $8200. It’s inflation is a little bit high, with 4.4%. The population of Brazil is close to 200 million.
As far as agriculture goes this country is a power house. It is the world’s producer of products;
• 1st for Sugar, Coffee and Orange Juice.
• 1st for Beef and Chicken exports.
• 2nd for Soy production and Ethanol production.
With mining, they are the largest producer of iron ore and 5th for copper.
As for Australian imports they are 22nd for value to us. Greg also stated that over the last few year there has been an average of 22,000 Brazilian student studying in Australia. Tania -------- who is the Business Development Manager at Austrade said there are currently opportunities in some of the high end agricultural products, such as fine cheese,dairy products, Olive Oil, fine biscuits and chocolate. This was quite interesting in this selection and both Greg and Tania told us that Brazil had come through the GFC very well and there are a large number of people in the ‘A’ category with lots of disposable income to spend on high value goods. All of the demographers use a pyramid shape to describe the people of Brazil. The catergories A B C D E are based on your income and assets.
It is not easy to import your product and be competitive. The government has tariffs on imported goods ranging from 14-20%. A bottle of the humble Jacobs Creek wine sells for $54 Real. This converts to around $34 Aussie. There were a number of $20 bottles back home in the range of $70 - $80 Real. Real is the Brazilian dollar with a conversion of $Aus1 to $Bra1.60.
A $10 Aussie Bottle of Good BBQ Red
We met Andy Duff from Rabobank and he gave us a banks perspective on Brazilian agriculture. They have 12 branches spread mainly across the central region and central west of Brazil. He gave us a SWOT analysis of Brazilian agriculture and the main weakness of the system was the lack of infrastructure. It creates huge bottle necks
We had an afternoon tour of Sao Paulo with Rosanna. The Markets were excellent
An Amazing Cheese and Smallgoods Selection
Great Fresh Fruit That We Missed In Other Countries
Day 28 -Aztec Pyramids
In the afternoon we had a tour of the Aztec Pyramids at Teothihuacan. We shop at a workshop/shop near the pyramids that gave us a little bit of history of them and how they used the Aloe Vera plant for needles & thread for weaving and sewing, paper and how to dye the thread for different colour for making rugs etc. He gave a demonstration of all the carving and tool making that the people used to do.
The guide told us that they used to make alcohol from this and other sources.He gave us three shots of the different spirits. The one from the Aloe was sweet and peachy. The second was made from some fruit?, that tasted like marzipan-not good. The third was a tradional Tequila and everyone knows how that tastes.
He then took us into his shop to look at the good there were some really nice sculptures and idols. The rugs that the women made were full of great colours and blends. It was a little expensive, maybe that was why he gave us a drink first.
Next stop was the pyramids. There were two of these. One for the Sun and one for the Moon. To those people the sun and moon represented the man and the women. One heated and angry and the other, cool and calm. So maybe it isn’t Mars and Venus.
There were fantastic, just fantastic. There were number of other buildings around which were fairly impressive. The long two kilometre was known as “The Walk of the Dead” stretched from the Luna Pyramid passed the Sol Pyramid and off into the distance.
This was a great day!!
Aztec Tools and Idols
The guide told us that they used to make alcohol from this and other sources.He gave us three shots of the different spirits. The one from the Aloe was sweet and peachy. The second was made from some fruit?, that tasted like marzipan-not good. The third was a tradional Tequila and everyone knows how that tastes.
Salud!!
He then took us into his shop to look at the good there were some really nice sculptures and idols. The rugs that the women made were full of great colours and blends. It was a little expensive, maybe that was why he gave us a drink first.
Nice Rugs
Next stop was the pyramids. There were two of these. One for the Sun and one for the Moon. To those people the sun and moon represented the man and the women. One heated and angry and the other, cool and calm. So maybe it isn’t Mars and Venus.
View from Luna Pyramid Back to Sun Pyramid
There were fantastic, just fantastic. There were number of other buildings around which were fairly impressive. The long two kilometre was known as “The Walk of the Dead” stretched from the Luna Pyramid passed the Sol Pyramid and off into the distance.
The Walk of the Dead Path
Dave & Rowan Atop Sun Pyramid with Luna in the Back.
This was a great day!!
03 April, 2010
Day 28 - CIMMYT El Batan
We had a number of meetings throughout the day. Peter Cosina was the manager of this centre. He gave us an overview. CIMMYT is now a member of the Consultative Group of International Agricultural Research – CGIAR. These are 15 centres around the world and they will coordinate 9 mega projects.
The projects for CIMMYT are based around Wheat & Maize
• High yielding varieties to feed increase population.
• More productive and sustainable farming systems.
• Conservation and utilization of Wheat and Maize genetics worldwide.
o 140,000 Wheat varieties
o 28,000 Maize varieties
o Not only these but ancestral lines such as Teocintle (Thought to be parent of all Maize).
Dr Thomas Lumpkin who is the Director of CIMMYT wants to get CIMMYT back on the edge of research with activities such as GM varieties of various crops with modification for not only herbicide resistance, but also with benefits for consumers with health (increased Folate) and for the farmers with drought tolerance and frost resistance. He also had a broad range of questions for us as farmers. I think it was more to find the depth of our knowledge. He gave an overview of where CIMMYT has helped third world and developing countries. As an example the 2 of the top three varieties for Wheat production in the Sub Continent came straight from CIMMYT and the third one had some parental genetics as well.
Next up we had a meeting with the stats man (picture brown suit and pocket pen protector). His group runs all of the statistical analysis for the research and scientist. They help with the design of the project to get maximum value so the results can useful and meaningful. By doing this and on a regular basis it is efficient of time and the researcher more time for his/her project.
Thomas gave us tour of the gene bank that CIMMYT have at El Batan. They have an excellent storage facility with the ability to house the grain at near zero in the ground floor and below zero underground. He is also in charge of the collection of parental lines of the grasses that were the ancestors of wheat.
Trials at El Batan
The projects for CIMMYT are based around Wheat & Maize
• High yielding varieties to feed increase population.
• More productive and sustainable farming systems.
• Conservation and utilization of Wheat and Maize genetics worldwide.
o 140,000 Wheat varieties
o 28,000 Maize varieties
o Not only these but ancestral lines such as Teocintle (Thought to be parent of all Maize).
Dr Thomas Lumpkin who is the Director of CIMMYT wants to get CIMMYT back on the edge of research with activities such as GM varieties of various crops with modification for not only herbicide resistance, but also with benefits for consumers with health (increased Folate) and for the farmers with drought tolerance and frost resistance. He also had a broad range of questions for us as farmers. I think it was more to find the depth of our knowledge. He gave an overview of where CIMMYT has helped third world and developing countries. As an example the 2 of the top three varieties for Wheat production in the Sub Continent came straight from CIMMYT and the third one had some parental genetics as well.
Next up we had a meeting with the stats man (picture brown suit and pocket pen protector). His group runs all of the statistical analysis for the research and scientist. They help with the design of the project to get maximum value so the results can useful and meaningful. By doing this and on a regular basis it is efficient of time and the researcher more time for his/her project.
Thomas gave us tour of the gene bank that CIMMYT have at El Batan. They have an excellent storage facility with the ability to house the grain at near zero in the ground floor and below zero underground. He is also in charge of the collection of parental lines of the grasses that were the ancestors of wheat.
Paernatal Wheat Grasses
As honour guests we were given the royal treatment for luch with a three courses meal in the Hacienda at El Batan.
Day 26 & 27 CIMMYT @ Obregon
The GFP A Team
We spent the afternoon looking at Wheat trials with the focus on breeding & physiology. The current traits for the breeding program are;
• Yield (#1)
• Water use efficiency
• Nutrient efficiency
• Disease resistance with a push for Ug99.
The breeding program is conducted under irrigation and with low rainfall the site ideally situated to test the varieties under perfect or drought conditions. Some of the lines that are in the later testing phase are looking very good in the low water years. The breeders are also conducting synthetic breeding where they are going back along the ancestral trails to the wild grasses that first gave us wheat to introduce new genetics and characteristics that have been lost. They are looking for traits such drought hardiness and pest resistance.
Roelfs Released in 2007 and Well Adapted Throughout the World
A real interesting section of the trials was the Physiology section where Hector & Marta were working. They are looking at which particular traits of the wheat plant contribute to yield. This information is gathered and given to the breeders to help about types and characteristics of lines of wheat to get the whole package right. They will be able to give models of idea plants for different environments. There were varieties with huge tillering %, ones with extremely large flag leaves. They were working with different varieties and looking at the temperature in the canopy. If the temperature was lower it showed an increase in yield. With these varieties they are looking at leaf architecture with stomata, shading by awns and colour of the leaf. This was a particularly good visit.
Alistair with a Double Dwarf Vaiety and Good Heads
Wheat with Inch Head
Our bags turned up, so that was a relief. All showered and shave with clean clothes down to the bar for a drink. We caught up with a number of Aussie’s who were visiting Obregon or worked at CIMMYT. Ky Matthews is the GRDC liaison between CIMMYT and breeders in Australia and coordinates the transfer of genetic (seed) material. Bert Collard was also there and he is a Durum Wheat breeder. We gave him a list of wishes: drought and crown rot resistance & frost resistance and of course high yielding. Off down the street and found a good steak house. Huge steak with only a little veg.
Yesterday was a focus on breeding and physiology. Today was going to about agronomy. We were lucky to catch Ken Sayre as he is retired but came back for the naming day of the CIMMYT at Obregon to the “Dr Norman Borlaug Centre”. Ken’s replacement was with us as well, Bram Govaerts. They both talked about the pillars of their research work;
• Pillar 1 – Zero till machinery and conservation methods.
• Pillar 2 – Strategic allocation of resources.
• Pillar 3 – Extension with hub trials and farmer days.
Bram with Trial Information
• Tillage reduction
• Rational residue management
• Viable rotation
• Economic benefit early on.
Trial Results Over 16 Years
The trial has shown that for the system to work, which it has over a number of years, you cannot use either zero till without stubble retention or stubble retention without zero till. When using tillage with no retention the yields have declined quite a lot over time.
Some interesting notes that came our way were;
• Only put a cover crop in “if” it is done for a major reason as the economics at this stage are not there.
• In Mexico at this site if everything is perfect, the best seeding rate has been 25 kg/ha.
• A good system to use under irrigation is to sow the next crop e.g. Sorghum in tandem with the last irrigation of the Wheat crop.
• They have been looking around for zero till seeders with a low cost and buy the machine for trial work. Then get a local manufacturer to make them. This is so the technology is available for the poorer farms to access.
Seeding Module made by Local Engineering Company
We spent the afternoon looking around the area and got a good feel for the state of agriculture in Sonora. We saw a range of crops of different crops being grown such as Chillies, Capsicum, Prickly pear. We saw some carrots being harvested and the saying “They are the best tasting, when come straight from the ground” and it was true. Sweet and crisp.
Ken took us to Los Chinos across the road to have some Carnitas. They are a Sonorian delicacy which is pig meat cooked in its own fat and comes out extremely tender. You have it in Wheat or Maize Burritos with the addition of Avocadoes, Red Onions, pickled veggies and Chilli paste. You eat with some good Mexican Beer.
Grame Eating a Carnita
After Eating We Went Out Back to See How it All Done.
Not a Good Idea!!
02 April, 2010
Day 25 - Mexico
Mexico By Graeme
Hermisillo is the capital of Sonora State. We were based in Oregon in the north. The major land use in the state is beef which accounts for 85% of the available land. The arable agricultural of which Wheat is a large component covers 700,000 ha and it produces 1.45million tonnes. The other major crops grown are Maize, Safflower and some vegetables. Of the Wheat grown in Sonora 66% is exported, 19% is used as feed grain and 15% is used for industry such as baking and pasta. Of the total hectares, Durum has overtaken Bread Wheat to become 75% of the total crop. As the average rain in Sonora is 300mm all of the crops are irrigated. The traditional way of irrigation was to use ponds around a small area. This was replaced with flood irrigation and later in raised bed. The more progressive farmers are now using underground drip lines.
AOASS
Our first meeting in Mexico was with the farmer group South of Sonora Association of Organism AC. This anachronism loses something in translation as it is the AOASS.
AOASS was started in1963. There were 7 regional organisations which mainly catered for the areas and commodities, and it was decided that to gain the most benefit the farmers wanted to have an over arching body that could coordinate the selling of grain and buying of seed and other inputs. To access these services each farmer pays a levy. The other organizations still exist.
The grain produced is still put into bulk storage which is owned by the regional groups, but it is marketed by AOASS in joint venture with Cargill.
Other activities conducted by AOASS are insurance and financing (loans and overdrafts). Also liaising with government, industry and with research institutions.
The main issues concerning their members include;
• Aquifer levels lowering
• Youth moving to cities
• Economies of scale
• Only allowed to own 100 ha. You need to rent / lease more if want to increase acreage.
The Mexican farmer growing farmers do not have straight subsides, but the crops that they grown have a minimum floor price, so they receive an assured value which will underpin their livelihood.
The Agricultural Research and Experimentation Board of the State of Sonora
PIEAES was our second meeting in Obregon. Manuel Rafael Valenzuela Gallegos is the Chairman of this group. It is again a farmer organisation, but the difference was that this group had a practical outlook with the foundation looking at promoting and researching good management practices and new varieties from CIMMYT and other research bodies.
1943 Dr Norman Borlaug came from the USA with the aid of a Rockefeller Grant to improve the production of the Mexican farmers.
1964 The Agricultural Research & Experimental Board of the State of Sonora was formed. The land was lent to CIMMYT and the PIEAES Foundation was formed. There is a voluntary levy of $1.25 / $1000/ha.
Now all of the land and building are owned by the farmers of Sonora State and gives an annual of support to CIMMYT of $US 325,000. Since the start of CIMMYT at Obregon the farmers have put into the Foundation and CIMMYT $US 10.5 Million.
PIEAES has a governing role to make sure the farmers money is being well spent. Their current focus;
• Input Efficiency
• Soil Health
• Pest Control
• New Varieties
o Drought Hardiness
o Frost Resistance
o Disease Resistance eg UG99 Rust
Each year the foundation has farmer days similar to ours. The researcher, scientist and agronomists all turn out to give the good information to farmers.
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