Tokyo- In response to global warming, Japan hopes to develop rice farms that can better withstand heat and use less water, Japanese news agency Kyodo reported Saturday. The ministry plans to reveal measures to counter the effects of global warming, including the new rice farms and measures for fruit and vegetable production. A predicted doubling of the concentration of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere and the resulting global warming seriously threatens the country's rice crop,...

The USDA says the nation's corn growers will plant their biggest crop since 1944 as they try to cash in on near-record grain prices spurred by demand for ethanol. Department of Agriculture, corn planting will be up 15 percent this year to over 90 million acres. The USDA forecast projects Illinois farmers will plant 8.7 million acres of soybeans, the state's smallest crop since 1976. Department of Agriculture's first estimate of the nation's 2007 crop. Ethanol demand boosts corn planting 15...

Guyana is threatening legal action against its Caricom member states which routinely breach a five year pact on production, export and import of the commodity. Several regional countries routinely ignore the requirement, a Caricom-based trade body has found, or, at best, provide only partial data while sidestepping application for the 25 per cent common external tariff (CET) on imported rice. Vincent and the Grenadines to explain the non-submission of data on their individual rice imports....

Nationally, corn acreage is expected to rise 15 percent -- or 12 million more acres than in 2006 -- because of favorable prices fueled by an increased demand for ethanol. The "Prospective Plantings" report, released Friday, is based on surveys conducted during the first two weeks of March from a sample of more than 86,000 farm operators across the country. Kyle Baltz, who farms near Pocahontas, plans to plant 200 acres of rice this year, the same number as last year. In Arkansas, corn...

The ministry predicts up to 5 million tonnes of rice will have to be exported in order to raise the average household income to between US $700 and 750 a year. Officials are suggesting farmers only plant two crops of rice and a third crop of vegetables, instead of three, and invest in high quality rice species that are resistant to common diseases and insects. To reach the ministry's goal for the region, production yields will have to increase by US $13 million in just three years. In...

India will soon start cultivating crops of insect-tolerant brinjals and rice as a group of scientists with a seed firm are close to developing a genetic technology. The new technology for developing insect-tolerant food and vegetables would help in making available qualitative and nutritious food available to India's fast growing population at cheaper rate, Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Company Ltd (Mahyco) said in a statement Sunday. The new technology for developing insect-tolerant food and...