Grain markets headed into the Easter holiday weekend on a bit more volatility, helping most futures stay in the green. Oats were the big winner, rebounding up 4.15% since last Friday, closely followed by 3.5% and 3.15% by soymeal and corn respectively. The U.S. dollar was the big loser of the week, down 0.6%, which supported… Read More
Category: Chile
After visiting different fields across Chile, I really came to appreciate the differences in irrigation methods. On the larger fields, pivots are becoming more common but there is still many stationary guns and even flood irrigation. Most irrigation water is transported by dirt ditch while cement ditch infrastructure is underway. Chilean farmers are able to grow very… Read More
While looking at fields on a country back road we spotted a silage pit. Immediately I was interested because of the look of the pit. It was made very low to the ground due to small equipment owned by the farmer. The other key characteristic was that the pit was covered in dirt and plastic and not tires. The dirt… Read More
Very early into my trip I quickly noticed the forests lining the Route Cinco (main highway) were tree farms. Hectares and hectares of tree farms populate the landscape of Chile. Forestry is a major industry in Chile and tree farms are a big part of it. We don’t necessarily think of tree farming as agricultural… Read More
Like many industries based on plant science and biology, there is a lot of risk. This is definitely the case with the collapse of the Chilean salmon and winter canola industry. Due to lack of proper environmental practices and controls the salmon farms have been infected with a virus which is killing the salmon population…. Read More
I will be in Chile until February 14th. I am going to try and post to the blog as much as I can while I am here but I will probably be able to add the majority of the content after I get back. So far on my trip I have toured several canola fields… Read More