Replies to post #5671 on The Rising Influence of Rising Affluence

[oldberkeley]

Long drought shrinking popcorn harvest

[I never realized that there was a specific type of corn used for popcorn.]

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/business/2012/09/05/long-drought-shrinking-popcorn-harvest.html

By P.J. Huffstutter
REUTERS Wednesday September 5, 2012 5:49 AM

CHICAGO — For more than half a century, the Shew family has harvested mountains of popcorn kernels to be buttered, salted and munched by movie fans.

But as a crippling Midwestern drought sends commodity prices soaring, the family’s farmland in west-central Indiana is suffering. Plants are listing, stalks are spindly and corn ears small.

It’s an ill portent for the snack-food world. All across the Midwest, where rows of popcorn normally thrive alongside fields of soybeans, U.S. popcorn farmers have watched in horror as stifling, triple-digit temperatures and weeks without rain withered crops.

“This is the worst season we’ve ever had,” said third-generation popcorn purveyor Mark Shew, who runs the family’s farm in Vigo County. “In some places, they’re going to be down to counting kernels at the bottom of the storage bins.”

The situation has had popcorn buyers — from small mom-and-pop shops to larger food chains — scrambling for months to line up their supplies for this fall. Their options are limited.

Retail prices have jumped this summer: from about $20 for a 50 pound bag to $30 or higher, said Tim Caldwell, owner of Pop It Rite, an Illinois-based popcorn-industry expert and snack-foods consultant. Wholesale prices have started to creep up, too, he said.

While consumers might have to pay more for the snack at the grocery store soon, some analysts say the chances of prices rising for a bucket of movie theater popcorn are slim.

“The popcorn portion of the product is a very low percentage of the price, and the prices are already so high, I think consumers would balk if they went up any higher,” said Bob Goldin, director of the food supplier practice at Technomic Inc.

The popcorn industry — which sold $985.7 million worth of unpopped kernels in 2010, down 2.2 percent from five years earlier — is barely an economic nibble out of the country’s corn world. Most of the popcorn consumed worldwide is grown in the United States. Export demand for the fluffy, crunchy snack has been slowly rising in recent years from China and Russia.

Still, more than 80 percent of U.S. popcorn production is consumed domestically, according to research by the Ag Marketing Resource Center at Iowa State University. The Popcorn Board, an industry trade group, said Americans munch 16?billion quarts of popped popcorn a year.

Eager to feed that appetite, Midwestern farmers say they have long used popcorn, a bit player in the field, as a companion crop for filling up marginal ground around their field corn and soybeans.

During even the toughest times, popcorn can provide an economic boost for those willing to fuss over the plants, as long as the weather stays mild. But when temperatures soared, the crops withered.

The poor weather added to recent supply concerns for popcorn buyers, said Norm Krug, chief executive officer of Preferred Popcorn, a Nebraska-based, farmer-owned cooperative that supplies popcorn to movie theaters and others.

As prices for commodity corn, used as livestock feed, and soybeans hit record highs, Midwestern farmers shifted more of their land to those crops, Krug said. That left fewer popcorn plants to harvest

[DewDiligence]

MON’s PR on the 2012 harvest for today’s Citi webcast;
CC slides at http://www.monsanto.com/investors/Documents/2012/2012.11.28_Citi_Fraley.pdf .

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/strong-harvest-results-demonstrate-monsanto-123000145.html

›28-Nov-28 7:52 a.m. ET

• Strong Harvest Results Demonstrate Monsanto Company's Position As Industry Yield Leader; Chief Technology Officer Robb Fraley Presents Final 2012 Product Performance Data

• Genuity® Roundup Ready 2 Yield® soybeans outyield competitive products for fourth consecutive year, solidifying status as industry leading platform and setting stage for growth

ST. LOUIS, Nov. 28, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Final harvest data for the 2012 U.S. growing season confirms Monsanto Company (MON) corn and soybean products maintained a significant yield advantage compared to competitors, despite one of the most difficult growing seasons on record, Chief Technology Officer Robb Fraley, Ph.D., told investors today at Citi's 5th Annual Basic Materials Symposium in New York. Highlighting the expansion and integration of the company's research and development platforms, Fraley noted Monsanto is uniquely positioned to deliver the best total yield package for farmers.

Fraley presented final 2012 harvest results, highlighting updated yield data for the company's corn platform, Genuity® Roundup Ready 2 Yield® soybean performance data and new results from its Integrated Farming Systems™ on-farm research.

"Monsanto is committed to developing innovative, sustainable agriculture products that deliver outstanding yield," Fraley said. "This season's strong results, even against the backdrop of the devastating drought we witnessed throughout the country, reinforce our ability to deliver on our commitments to our farmer customers, and we look forward to providing an even stronger toolkit of solutions in the future."

Soybean Platform Delivers Greater Yield, Sets Stage for Next Wave of Soybean Advancements

In its fourth year of deployment, Genuity® Roundup Ready 2 Yield® products extended their yield advantage versus competitive first-generation Roundup Ready® soybeans, achieving a more than 4.5 bushels per acre national yield advantage, Fraley said. With their highest yield advantage since commercial introduction, Genuity® Roundup Ready 2 Yield® soybeans demonstrated strong performance in every major growing region, reflecting the broad availability of more than 300 varieties as the company reached critical mass in its portfolio offerings.

The company expects the Genuity® Roundup Ready 2 Yield® platform growth to continue, with another step up in total acres in 2013. Fraley added that the soybean platform is set to deliver more growth in the coming years, including the addition of both Intacta RR2 PRO™ and Roundup Ready® 2 Xtend soybeans, each representing a significant global opportunity.

The Roundup Ready® Xtend Crop System is intended to offer more consistent, flexible control of weeds, especially tough-to-manage and glyphosate-resistant weeds, Fraley noted, adding that the system is on track for Ground Breakers(SM) on-farm field trials under permit next season and introduction to U.S. soybean farmers in 2014, pending regulatory approval.

"Building on the success of the Genuity® Roundup Ready 2 Yield® platform, we're preparing to enter the next phase of innovation in soybeans," Fraley said. "Through the combination of an expanding stacked-trait platform, the acceleration of breeding improvements and the addition of improved agronomic practices, this is the deepest soybean pipeline I've seen in my career and one that will continue to deliver additional value to farmers."

Corn Products Maintain Long-Standing Yield Advantage

Fraley also highlighted final corn harvest data for the 2012 growing season, which reinforces Monsanto's long-standing yield advantage. In 2012, DEKALB® germplasm maintained its historical advantage relative to competitive products, outperforming all competitors with an average 8.3 bushels per acre yield advantage.

DroughtGard™ Hybrids also demonstrated strong performance in 2012 trials this season, with commercially projected products showing a yield advantage of more than 5 bushels per acre over competitor hybrids in the Western Great Plains, Fraley said.

Integrated Farming Systems Boosts Yield Opportunity

Fraley also cited the company's progress in its newest technology platforms, including Integrated Farming Systems™. Fraley noted that Monsanto's Integrated Farming Systems™ platform utilizes the company's unique understanding of hybrid and variety performance to develop planting prescriptions that can help maximize the yield potential in every seed. FieldScripts(SM), which will provide a variable rate seeding prescription and a recommendation for the best corn hybrid to use in a farmer's field, will be the first commercial product from the Integrated Farming Systems™ platform, Fraley added.

"We have seen consistent yield gains when farmers use FieldScripts(SM)," Fraley said. "In fact, farmers who tested FieldScripts(SM) this season achieved an additional 5-10 bushels per acre advantage. This is exciting technology and one I believe has the opportunity to significantly increase yields."

The company will conduct Ground Breakers(SM) on-farm testing next season for FieldScripts(SM), Fraley explained. The company is planning a limited launch of FieldScripts(SM) in the key states of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa and Minnesota for the 2014 season.

Webcast information

Fraley's presentation will be webcast at 12:45 p.m. central time today. Presentation slides and a simultaneous audio webcast of the conference call may be accessed by visiting www.monsanto.com/investors. Visitors may need to download Windows Media Player™ prior to listening to the webcast. Following the live broadcast, a replay of the webcast will be available on the Monsanto website for three weeks.‹