Worst Locust Plague in Two Decades Threatens Australian Harvest – Bloomberg

Bloomberg

June 11 (Bloomberg) — The worst locust plague in more than two decades is threatening to strike Australia, the world’s fourth-largest wheat exporter, after rainfall boosted egg-laying by the insects in major crop growing regions.

“There are hundreds of millions of dollars worth of crops and pastures that are potentially at risk,” Chris Adriaansen, director at the Canberra-based Australian Plague Locust Commission said in an interview by phone. “Tens of millions of dollars” will be spent during the southern hemisphere spring to reduce the affects of the infestation, he said.

The forecast plague could cost Victoria’s agriculture sector A$2 billion ($1.7 billion) if left untreated, the state government said today. Widespread egg-laying across south- eastern Australia has set the scene for the biggest hatching for at least 25 years, according to the commission, which describes locusts as the nation’s most serious pest species.

“The advice of leading scientists indicates the scale of the coming spring’s outbreak could be as bad as we experienced in 1973 and 1974 when locusts swarmed through much of Victoria,” state premier John Brumby said today in a statement. “Prior to that, the last outbreak of this scale was in 1934, so we could be facing a once-in-a-lifetime locust plague with locusts swarming right across the state.”

Skara Journal – After Years, Genetically Modified Potatoes Grow in Sweden – New York Times

SKARA, Sweden — Johan Bergstrom, a blond and boyish man of 31, who farms here with his father, reached into the dark, soft soil and extricated a tennis-ball-size potato, holding it gently so as not to snap off any of a half-dozen white shoots that were growing out of the potato’s eyes. He advised against tasting the potato, whose dulcet name Amflora belies its harsh flavor, a result of genetic jiggling that has made it almost pure starch.

The potato, the first genetically engineered organism to be allowed in the European Union in more than a decade, was planted on 16 acres of land on the fringes of this town in southwestern Sweden, after a quarter-century of bureaucratic wrangling.

Na Wai Eha decision released by state water panel – The Maui News

maui-news-ad

The state Commission on Water Resource Management has ordered 12.5 million gallons of water per day be restored to the Na Wai Eha streams, about one-third of the water that was being considered for restoration a year ago.

The decision released on Thursday addresses a years-long effort by environmental and Native Hawaiian groups to force former sugar plantations and the County of Maui to put back some of the water being diverted from four streams that run out of the West Maui Mountains to Central Maui.
Under the order:

  • Waihee stream would be restored to 10 million gallons per day.
  • North Waiehu stream would get 1.6 mgd.
  • South Waiehu stream would get 0.9 mgd.
  • Iao and Waikapu streams would remain at current levels.

Approximately 60 million to 70 million gallons per day are diverted from Na Wai Eha, or the four waters of the West Maui Mountains. In April 2009, Water commission hearings officer Dr. Lawrence Miike issued a "proposed decision" to restore 34.5 million gallons to the streams.

Throughout the dispute, environmentalists and Native Hawaiian groups have argued that restoring water to the streams is necessary for taro farming and to provide habitat for aquatic life. Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar has argued the water is critical for already tenuous sugar farming operations.

Na Wai Eha decision released by state water panel – Mauinews.com | News, Sports, Jobs, Visitor’s Information – The Maui News

Haliimaile Pineapple Co. Officials to Discuss Operations | Maui Now

Posted by Wendy Osher

Executives with the newly established Haliimaile Pineapple Company will discuss the company’s operations at the upcoming meeting of the Governor’s Council of Neighbor Island Advisors for Maui.  Company board member, Doug MacCluer will speak on the company’s hiring of former Maui Land and Pineapple Company employees, and the effect of the state’s water commission decision on the pineapple business and land owners.

Please Click Here to Purchase Maui Gold Pineapples Online.

This is the sweetest, best tasting, Pineapple in the world.

Grown on Maui by Hali'imaile Pineapple Co.

Please buy this product!!!
PRIDE IN ISLAND!!!

The meeting is set for Thursday, June 17th at 5 p.m. in Pukalani at the Mayor Hannibal Tavares Community Center.

Governor Linda Lingle created councils of neighbor island advisors to give neighbor island residents a stronger voice in state government. The Governor’s Council of Neighbor Island Advisors for Maui holds monthly public meetings to seek community input, advise the Governor issues of importance in the outlying counties, and make recommendations for state boards and commissions.

The members of the Governor’s Council of Neighbor Island Advisors for Maui are Madge Schaefer (chair), Kathryn Ghean (vice chair), John Henry, Lori Ululani Sablas, Gail K. Takeuchi and Leona Rocha Wilson.

The meeting is open to the public.

| Maui Now

Fair celebrates Maui’s farming heritage – Lahaina News

MAKAWAO — The 30th annual Upcountry Ag & Farm Fair is slated for June 12-13 at the Oskie Rice Field & Arena on Olinda Road in Makawao.

From 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. both days, fairgoers will be treated to the annual Maui 4-H Livestock Association show and auction, Haleakala Ranch Paniolo exhibit with Paniolo Hall of Fame and vendors, Maui County Farm Bureau farmers’ market and Think Local Agricultural vendors, Made in Hawaii craft vendors, Truck-Trailer-Tractor Lane, Maui Cattle Company Cooking Contest, Paniolo Awards, Thompson Ranch horse rides, games for all ages, live entertainment with award-winning artists and lots of local-style food.

Admission to the fair is free; parking is available for $5 in the field on Oskie Rice Arena.

This year, the ‘Ohana Ranch Rodeo will take place each day along with a Bull Bash at noon. The rodeo features over 250 contestants from around Hawaii.

Monsanto Company Announces $1 Billion Share Repurchase Program, Declares Dividend

Company Continues to Leverage Strong Cash Position to Bring Value to Shareowners

ST. LOUIS, June 9, 2010 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Reaffirming its continuing effort to deliver value to shareowners, Monsanto Company (NYSE: MON) announced today that its Board of Directors has approved a new three-year share repurchase program and declared a quarterly dividend.

Monsanto’s board authorized a new three-year share repurchase program, effective July 1, 2010, for up to $1 billion of the company’s common stock.

The Board of Directors also declared a quarterly dividend of 26.5 cents per share on its common stock. The dividend relates to the company’s third quarter of its 2010 fiscal year and is payable on July 30, 2010 to shareowners of record on July 9, 2010.

Monsanto executives have said the company is positioned for earnings growth in the mid-teen percentages beyond the current fiscal year.  The company also has said it is working on a revitalized product strategy to bring more choices to farmer customers, offering them the premium opportunity the company’s products create.

As U.S. Approves GM Soybean, DuPont and Monsanto Gird for Cooking-Oil War – New York Times

By PAUL VOOSEN of Greenwire

Published: June 7, 2010

The Agriculture Department will approve for broad use tomorrow a genetically modified soybean engineered to contain healthier oils, the opening salvo in a biotech oil fight between DuPont Co. and its rival, Monsanto Co.

The high-oleic soybean, developed by DuPont and pending deregulation since 2006, is one of the first in a wave of bioengineered cash crops that are being altered for nutritional purposes. Currently, nearly all biotech crops grown in the United States have been altered for resistance to weedkiller or insects, traits that are rarely felt by consumers or commercial businesses.

The USDA deregulation is the "final step" in the approval process for Dupont’s soybean, which has already been approved in Canada and Mexico, said Bridget Anderson, a spokeswoman for Pioneer Hi-Bred, DuPont’s biotech seed business. The crop and its oil will continue commercial testing this year and should be ready for global use by 2012, she added.

The USDA approval is also the first play in a coming oil war between DuPont and Monsanto.

Currently, Monsanto has two varieties of biotech soybeans pending approval with USDA that also seek to modify the nutritional value of soybean oil, promising to eliminate trans fats and produce oil with omega-3 fatty acid — fish oil — for use in yogurt, granola bars and spreads.

HC&S hires industrial processing plant expert – The Maui News

maui-news-ad

HONOLULU (AP) – Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co. has hired Anna Skrobecki to be the company’s senior vice president for factory and power plant operations. HC&S General Manager Christopher Benjamin said in a statement that Skrobecki has extensive experience in industrial processing plants.

Benjamin said this will help the sugar plantation as it researches alternative processing methods for biofuels.

The Navy and U.S. Department of Energy earlier this year announced they would spend several million dollars researching biofuel production at HC&S’ sugar cane fields on Maui. Skrobecki most recently was operations vice president at Wausau Paper in Wisconsin.

She also worked for Weyerhaeuser and James River Corp.

HC&S hires industrial processing plant expert – Mauinews.com | News, Sports, Jobs, Visitor’s Information – The Maui News

154-year-old Honolulu Advertiser prints last issue

By AUDREY McAVOY
The Associated Press

HONOLULU — For more than a century, the Honolulu Star-Bulletin and The Honolulu Advertiser have competed to chronicle Hawaii, from the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy and the Pearl Harbor attack to statehood and the election of island-born Barack Obama.

That rivalry ends Sunday when the Advertiser, Hawaii’s largest newspaper, publishes its last edition after being bought out and combined with its smaller rival. More than 400 reporters, pressmen and other workers are losing their jobs.