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July 26, 2013

26/07/2013: Rise in grain imports as eating habits change; grain farmers battle beekeepers; badgers raid cattle feed stores

Industry experts report that China's grain imports will rise this year as the population continues to gain access to higher-protein food and industrial use of grain crops expands.

Ding Shengjun, senior researcher at the Academy of the State Administration of Grain, said
"Industrial consumption now far exceeds food demand. More than 72 percent of corn is consumed in the intensive-processing industries of animal feed, ethyl alcohol and starch."

A new campaign is being launched by The Grain Farmers Association of Ontario to try and convince the province that a ban on pesticides is a bad idea.

“We want to make sure that any decisions are made with common sense and with a science-based approach. Anything else would be very premature,” said Barry Senft, CEO of the Grain Farmers Association.

Farms in the South West of Australia, have been videoing badgers raiding food stores as part of research to help prevent the spread of bovine TB to cattle.

Ian Vernon, from the AHVLA Wildlife Team running the Farm Assessment Toolkit project, said, "In some cases farmers have had no idea badgers are entering their buildings. On one of the farms from last year's surveillance the cameras picked up images of badgers frequently visiting the feed store by squeezing under the gate. The farmer was able to fix a piece of wood to the bottom of the gate to prevent this."

Barley is a major animal feed crop.
Barley is a major animal feed crop. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
 

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