Fujitsu Launches New Cloud Software

The Japanese corporation Fujitsu has created a new software suite in the cloud for use in the Japanese agricultural industry to maintain or increase agricultural productivity. Japan’s farming population has been aging rapidly and has not been replaced by new farmers, which has led to downward pressure on production levels. If left unchecked, this could lead to Japan relying strictly on imports for their food needs. Japan has implemented programs to try and attract new entrants into farming, and this is one of the tools that has been created to help new farmers achieve success. The new system will allow for farmers to manage their accounting, payroll, taxes, and reports in one system that can easily interface with other business software. This will allow farmers to spend less time on book keeping and more time in the fields.
Fujitsu Launches Cloud Services for Agricultural Industry

China’s Drought Negatively Impacting Grain Production

China is the largest consumer of grain in the world.  They are able to meet their demand by producing over 500 million tons of grain annually.  The majority of their grain is produced in the northern regions of the country.  The current drought is mainly affecting the southwest portion of the country, where 5.3 million hectares are under stress due to the drought.  The government estimates that this will result in the loss of production of 30 million tons of grain in 2010. This should have little effect on the worldwide grain market.  China stockpiles roughly 40% of their annual demand to draw on in situations like this.  There is also a huge oversupply of grain on the world market at the moment, which has depressed prices and made it far cheaper for China to replace the lost supply if necessary. 

China Has ‘Test’ Meeting Grains Goal, Premier Says

The Future of Agriculture

 Check this out:
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/iainadamson/LamegoProject#

Is The Market For Seed Uncompetitive?

A recent article in the NY Times revealed that the Justice Department is looking into the business practices of Monsanto, due to complaints from DuPont (i.e. Pioneer) which claim that Monsanto has been able to unfairly manipulated the industry's competitive forces due to their control of key genetic characteristics in corn, soy beans, and other crops. The article can be found here: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/13/business/13seed.html