CHINA HALVES RICE-GROWING CYCLE IN DESERTS OF XINJIANG, OPENING NEW FRONT IN FOOD SECURITY DRIVE
Supported by soilless farming, temperature control, and artificial lighting, the trial – which took place in Hotan, a prefecture in the southwest of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region – saw a traditional rice variety ready for harvest just 60 days after seedlings were planted, researchers from the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences told CCTV. With ordinary farming practices, this process would take 120 to 150 days in major rice-growing areas in the country’s south or northeast. Yang Qichang, the project’s leader said the structures his team built in Hotan cost 350 yuan (US$48) per square meter, a third of what glass greenhouses from the Netherlands.
The Hotan structures also consume a quarter of the energy that a standard Dutch glass greenhouse does. “After future integration with new energy, mechanization, and intelligent technologies, construction and operating costs will be greatly reduced,” Yang said. Novel farming methods are being tested more frequently in the Xinjiang region as Beijing looks to expand food production into more areas. In October, researchers announced a large experimental field at the edge of the Taklimakan Desert planted with a salt-tolerant variety of rice had a much higher yield than salt-tolerant rice grown elsewhere.
(Link: VietnamAgriculture)
HEAVY RAINS IN BIG BRAZIL FARM STATE DISRUPT SOY, CORN HARVESTS IN FINAL STAGES
Historically, soy farmers in Rio Grande do Sul would have harvested 83% of the area at this time, but the heavy downpours have disrupted the work, according to state crop agency Emater. Still, the soybean harvest in the state had reached 76% of the planted area by Thursday. As heavy flooding hit Southern Brazil, Chicago soybeans jumped to their highest point in more than three weeks. In the south of Rio Grande do Sul, an estimated 40% of the soybean crop remains to be harvested. In the north, around 80% to 90% has been harvested. Santos said it will continue to rain in much of the northern section of Rio Grande do Sul, as well as the in south of neighboring Santa Catarina.
(Link: Reuters)
