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open i's 2004 Archive


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Contact:
David Walker
Postwick, Norwich
NR13 5HD, England
phone: +44 1603 705 153
email: davidw@OpenI.co.uk
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By date of publication, 2004

  1. December 13, 2004: ANALYSIS: US and Canadian Wheat Quality - The quality of North American spring wheat harvests has been adversely effected by poor harvesting conditions.
  2. December 2004: Politicians must do their duty for sugar growers - The region's sugar growers need a leader like Nelson on their side, writes David Walker.
  3. November 15, 2004: ANALYSIS: Oat Situation and Outlook - European oat prices are tied to improved supplies of other feed grains, prices for which are expected to remain intervention bound.
  4. Nov 15, 2004: Hunting with ...dogs? - eight years after committing to a hunting ban the UK's Labour government has yet to implement effective legislation. (930 words)
  5. Nov 11, 2004: Homes for the Travellers - they are a commercial phenomena and solutions to the challenges they create should be economic (530 words)
  6. November 2004: From Selected Dairy Farms... - a novel way that one of the big five supermarkets has chosen to promote milk sales.
  7. October 18, 2004: ANALYSIS: 2004 HGCA Market Outlook Conference - this year's favourable global harvest is expected to meet expanding demand for cereals but the poor quality of the UK harvest has added to the challenge of lower prices.
  8. October 2004: Water Strategy Seems Vindictive - A water management strategy that ignores rising sea levels but targets farmland abstraction is unfair, argues David Walker.
  9. September 3, 2004: ANALYSIS: Canadian Crop Update - an early frost puts in doubt earlier estimates for Canadian output of grains recovering to normal levels. Canola is likely to be most severely affected and barley least.
  10. September 2004: Two metres, precisely - an enlightened approach to the two-metre rule in unlikely, says David Walker.
  11. August 23, 2004: ANALYSIS: A Longer Term Perspective on Ocean Freight - an unprecedented increase in rates is likely to continue to have a material impact on the costs of grain trade.
  12. August 2004: Living Happily Side by Side - The emergence of the GM crops issue is manna from heaven for the organic movement, says David Walker.
  13. July 26, 2004: ANALYSIS: North American Crop Update -
  14. July 16, 2004: BSE and vCJD in France - Research suggesting that significant French exposure to BSE infected beef without commensurate incidence of vCJD might throw light on the supposed relationship between these diseases. (750 words)
  15. July 15, 2004: Crying Wolf on GM Crops - the challenge for anti-GM advocates will be credibility, once the realities of this biotechnology are generally recognized. (430 words)
  16. July 2004: The Fuel Ethanol Phenomenon - Prospects for fuel ethanol seem assured - but some level of government incentive is necessary to kick start the industry, says David Walker.
  17. June 28, 2004: ANALYSIS: North American Crop Update - Very favourable crop development needed to ease tight US maize supply . Canadian grain supplies not expected to fully recovery from 2001 and 2002 droughts.
  18. June 2004: It is sometimes best to stick with what you know - David Walker asks whether farming families have the skills to diversify.
  19. May 25, 2004: A healthy McDonalds - the outcome of its move to promote healthy eating in Europe will provide a very interesting test of its influence. (550 words)
  20. May 24, 2004: Milk and the EU Single Farm Payment - A two-page magazine spread providing advice to farmers on giving up milk production is a fair indication of the state of the UK dairy industry. (580 words)
  21. May 17, 2004: Decoupling farms and the marketplace is no easy task - Canadian Broadcasting Corporation editorial by David Walker
  22. May 17, 2004: ANALYSIS: UK Weather Update - Despite unusual sowing conditions grain yield expectations are normal except for OSR which are lower. A late harvest could result in early price volatility.
  23. May 2004: Rough and Tumble in the Marketplace - Innovation will be stifled if competion watch dogs clamp down too much on the way supermarkets deal with farmers.
  24. April 19, 2004: ANALYSIS: North American Crop Prospects - The threat of drought has abated in the US, but still threatens on the Canadian Prairies.
  25. April 19, 2004: Meat Fashion - even with high profile cases of avian ‘flu and BSE, meat is in fashion in the US and everyone is doing very well. (585 words)
  26. April 19, 2004: Making GM crops environmentally favoured - by accepting or rejecting GM crops on their agronomy, the UK government has hastened the replacement of conventional varieties. (625 words)
  27. April 2004: New twist for an old theory - the EU's move to decoupled Single Farm Payments appears troubled.
  28. March 22, 2004: ANALYSIS: Price Events Since 1970 - review of events similar to last year's 40 percent rise in UK wheat prices.
  29. March 15, 2004:The Trouble with Single Farm Payments - that decoupling, which was never a politically popular concept, entered by the backdoor is making things more challenging. (690 words)
  30. March 11, 2004:Managing the GM Crop Approval Announcement - with near certainty on content, timing and the manner of delivery was always in doubt (525 words)
  31. March 11, 2004: GM Crop Approval an Environmental Victory - as the conditions attached recognized the issue of bio diversity as a criterion for approval. (625 words)
  32. Feb, 2, 2004: UK GM Crops, beyond Human Control? - the challenge faced with genetically modified crops relates not to their control, but to the control of political decision making. (650 words)
  33. Feb. 1, 2004: ANALYSIS: The challenge of political decision making - the challenge that the UK faces with genetically modified crops relates not to their control, but to the control of political decision making.
  34. Jan. 29, 2004: UK Politics and GM Crops - uncertainty of timing if not the eventual outcome of the commercialization of GM crops may be compremised by politics. (850 words)
  35. Jan. 26, 2004: Stop making it hard for cattlemen to come clean on BSE - Canadian Broadcasting Corporation editorial by David Walker
  36. Jan. 15, 2004: BSE on the Hoof - while on the hoof BSE cattle are not a treat to man or beast. The misunderstanding of this is the reason that BSE is so devastating..
  37. January 12, 2004: Hedgerows and Open Country - the humble hedgerow seems to be beloved by others, but is of little economic importance to farmers. (525 words)
  38. January 9, 2004: Wanted, Dead or Alive, BSE Cattle - Confirmation that the US's BSE cow was imported from Canada, but was over six years old and not four as had been earlier reported, is good and bad news. (500 words)
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