Russia’s Minister of Agriculture updates Vladimir Putin

Yesterday, Russia’s Minister of Agriculture, Dmitry Patrushev, presented an update to Vladimir Putin, here’s a summary of what he had to say.

The grain harvest is 93% complete and he expects the 2020 grain harvest to exceed 125MMT net weight, including 82MMT of wheat, 7.5MMT more than in 2019.

Other crops include 21.MMT of oilseeds including a record rapeseed harvest of at least 2.5MMT.

Potatoes should be about 22MMT, and vegetables will exceed 14MMT.

Planting of winter crops total area will be over 19MHA, which is half a million hectares more than last year. 

Planting of winter crops has already been completed in 38 regions and is still ongoing in 24 regions.

Farmers have seeds and 3.7MMT of mineral fertilizers, almost 10% percent more than last year.

On trade, the minister reported that the 2020 export benchmark was set at $25bn, and currently exceeded $20bn, while at the same time, work on import substitution continues.

In 2020, despite the pandemic, new markets are open for 18 Russian-made commodity items, and they have the ability to deliver to 160 countries.

They are creating a network of representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture in 50 countries, and, following the lifting of coronavirus restrictions, the first attachés will take up their duties in Thailand, Tunisia, Indonesia, Jordan, Mexico, and Malaysia. 

The minister expects this will contribute to the development of agricultural export potential, and, according to forecasts, the established foreign trade indicators will be met in full this year.

Export restrictions were not mentioned.

UK and Ukraine sign a political, free trade and strategic partnership agreement

The UK and Ukraine signed a “Political, Free Trade and Strategic Partnership Agreement”, which, according to the UK government, will “ensure cooperation in political, security and foreign matters”, and "secure preferential trade for businesses and consumers”.

PM Boris Johnson said the “UK is Ukraine’s most fervent supporter” and is “utterly committed to upholding the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.”

I’ll leave others to make the obvious observations regarding Crimea and Donbass.

Focusing on the free trade bit of the agreement, in 2019 trade between the UK and Ukraine was worth £1.5 billion.  Top UK exports to Ukraine included aircraft (£79m), medicinal and pharmaceuticals (£61m), and cars (£52m).  During the same period, the UK imported £177 million of cereals and £182 million of iron and steel.

International Trade Secretary, Liz “that-is-a-disgrace” Truss, said, without any hint of irony, that free trade is an incredibly powerful agent of economic growth, opportunity, and human progress. 

Maybe for Ukraine it is but the UK has given up access to a neighbouring market of 445 million people for a trade deal with the poorest country in Europe (alongside Moldova), one that has the world's worst-performing currency, with average salaries of €300 per month, ranks 88 on the Human Development Index, and 120 out of 180 countries for corruption.

Truss goes on to say that, thanks to this deal, the aircraft, automotive and pharmaceutical industries can continue to thrive and support jobs, at a time when airlines are going bust, no one can afford to buy a car anymore, and global warming is just starting to be taken seriously.

In the meantime, Ukraine still uses neonicotinoid insecticides on oilseeds and sugar beet which are banned in the UK, and widely grow GM soya despite it being illegal in Ukraine in what must be the world’s worst kept agricultural secret, all of which end up in products destined for the UK.

Indeed, Liz, free trade is an incredibly powerful agent of economic growth and opportunity, just not always in your favour.

Traveling soon? My advice, don't!

I'm just back from a business trip and my advice is don’t travel at the moment, it's chaos.

Airports are so desperate for business that, apart from shouting at you a bit more and making constant announcements to wear a face mask and to social distance, you are still herded together like the livestock they think you are.

Airlines are so desperate for business that, apart from constant announcements to wear a face mask and to social distance (on a plane?), your face is still 20cm from the back of the head in front of you, and by the end of the flight in the mad scramble to get off, half passengers have their masks pulled down around their chin.

Passport control doesn’t know what the rules are and they are changing all the time anyway, but that doesn’t stop them scrutinising the scrap of paper you’ve been asked to fill in during turbulence as you come into land, then refusing entry, then allowing entry.

Airport restaurants are so desperate for business that you spend the first ten minutes downloading and inputting all your data into an app, which then doesn’t register your order but you don’t know it’s not been registered until, after fifteen minutes, you ask if your food is on its way.  It's not.

Hotels are so desperate for business that often they have closed their restaurants but don’t tell you that when you book, then charge you €30 for a flaccid pre-packed sandwich and warm beer but then you have to come back down to reception to borrow a bottle opener and ask for a glass.

Then, when you do get home you’re in quarantine for 14 days.

Russian harvest update

Wheat - 83.8MMT from 27.2MHA (92.3%) at a yield of 3.09MT/HA.

Barley - 21.3MMT from 7.8MHA (91.7%) at a yield of 2.72MT/HA.

Corn - 1.9MMT from 0.5MHA (16%) at a yield of 4.11MT/HA.

Sunflower - 3.2MMT from 1.9MHA (22%) at a yield of 1.70MT/HA.

Soybean - 1.6MMT from 0.8MHA (30%) at a yield of 1.89MT/HA.

Ukraine harvest update

Wheat - harvest finished, 26.96MMT from 6.5MHA at a yield of 4.11MT/HA, clean weight will be around 26.2MMT to 26.4MMT and is down nearly 10% on last year.  

Barley - harvest finished at 8.7MMT from 2.3MHA at a yield of 3.69MT/HA, down 8% on last year.

Corn - started 10 September, 0.3% cut to date producing 74.6KMT at a yield of 3.93MT/HA.

Sunflower - started end of August, 19% cut producing 1.9MMT at a yield of 1.64MT/HA.

Soybean - started 3 September, 9.2% cut producing 217KMT at a yield of 1.76MT/HA.

Latest Black Sea crop report out now

The latest Black Sea crop report has just been sent out to our subscribers.

The report covers Russian and Ukraine harvest progress and includes our updated crop forecasts.

The next report will cover the new season winter crop condition, how it's coping with the dry weather and the pace of planting. 

Email me for details of how to subscribe for season-long, independent insights from the field.

blackseacroptour@gmail.com

Dry weather in the Black Sea hurts crops

Just back after a week in Moldova checking in on a farm.

The last trip I went on, pre-lockdown, was also to Moldova, 184 days ago!

It was good to finally be back in the fields looking at crops, although I say good, shocking might be a better description.

Rainfall has been conspicuous by its absence, even the trees are suffering.

Wheat yield was down around 50%; sunflowers down 70%; half the corn crop has failed, plants grew but cobs didn’t form, (presumably linked to high heat at pollination, exacerbated by drought); yet the guys on the farm are saying we haven’t done too badly compared to other regions!

Farmers have been protesting to the government looking for support or some leeway on contracts, not sure they will get it though.

Across the western border in Romania and it’s a similar story; yields are down; recently planted winter oilseed rape is sitting in the desiccated soils doing nothing; one region had declared a state of emergency saying all crops there had died.

Across the eastern border to Ukraine and early harvest yields for spring crops doesn’t look good, particularly in the south and west of the country around Cherkasy, Odesa, and Kirovograd.  

Further east still and reports from Russia’s key wheat growing and export region are of very dry conditions with recently planted wheat crops struggling to germinate and establish.

A pal from there described it as a disaster in the making with no rain for months and everything burning up.

I’m hoping we can run our October tour when we can make a more measured post-planting, pre-winter assessment of the crop condition.

Watch this space for tour updates.

Russian ag ministry reviews how their farming is doing

Russias Ministry of Agriculture held a meeting this week, to review activities of 2019, and outline the strategic objectives for 2020.

In attendance were Deputy PM Viktoria Abramchenko, Minister of Agriculture Dmitry Patrushev, and representatives from regional governing bodies, federal authorities, supervisory agencies, unions, scientific and banking communities, and public organisations.

Abramchenko said that one of the most important tasks was to increase exports, and pointed out that Russian agricultural products are supplied to 160 countries in the Middle East, East and South Asia, Africa, the EU, and the CIS.

She went on to say the target was to double agro-exports by 2024 and key to this was bringing unused agricultural land back into circulation.

Last week, the Ministry reported that since 2013, more than 360 thousand hectares of abandoned and overgrown land had been brought back into cultivation in the Moscow region alone.

You need to be cautious of these numbers, regional governors trying to remain in favour may take “abandoned and overgrown” to mean land that has only been fallow for a short time and over-report. 

However, if you are looking for an indication of what direction the worlds largest wheat exporter wants to take its agriculture, they are pretty much telegraphing it.

My view on this, if you want to expand your farming operations, the Ministry is unlikely to get in your way…too much.

Back at the meeting and it was reported that in 2019, Russian farmers harvested over 121 million tons of grain, which was the second-largest harvest in post-Soviet history.

Patrushev said despite difficult weather conditions, the current harvest stands at 101 million tons of grain, and harvesting rates and yields are well above 2019.

Not strictly true, with 25% of the wheat harvest still to go, yields are falling and approaching 2019 and 2018 levels, and could go lower.

Concluding his speech, the Minister of Agriculture said, in recent years agriculture had shown steady growth, and that they had changed the perception of farming as an unprofitable and risky industry, to that of a modern and profitable business.

That’s only one dry year away from being reversed though. 

UK government plans to cut red tape for farmers

The UK government says they will reduce the administrative burden for farmers to enable them to focus on delivering environmental outcomes under the new Environmental Land Management (ELM) scheme.

Previously the European Commission’s greening requirements required farmers to carry out specified practices to qualify for additional payments.

The UK plans to end the need to comply with the EU-delivered greening requirements and move towards the ELM scheme, which they say will deliver greater benefits for the environment.

The transition period will last for seven years and see Direct Payments to farmers in England phased out and replaced with a new system that rewards farmers for delivering public goods, such as tree or hedge planting, river management to mitigate flooding, and creating or restoring habitats for wildlife.

The Environment Secretary, George Eustice, said the EU greening requirements added little to the environment, which seems an odd thing to say given that Twitter is full of farmers proudly showing off their wildflower margins.

The Environment Secretary’s main focus on the benefits of the transition from an EU subsidy system to a UK subsidy system seems to be on reducing the administrative burden for farmers and vague statements about delivering public goods.

Most UK farmers I talk to readily admit that while the form filling is a bit of a drag, pound for pound it easily gives the best rate of return for hours worked.

Also defining and measuring public goods seems to me like a recipe for more red tape not less.

Further details on plans for the agricultural transition period will be set out in Autumn 2020.

Ukraine discusses harvest and food security

Yesterday, Ukraine's Ministry of Economy along with unnamed agricultural associations, discussed the grain market, weather conditions, food security, the latest harvest results, and the forecasts for the rest of the harvest.

Ukrainian agricultural producers have already harvested 41.2MMT of crops from 10.9MHA, of which cereals and legumes account for 38.4MMT.

The Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Center said dry weather and a lack of moisture in the soil has had a direct impact on crop yield, but, to make sure they cover all bases, May rains meant the forecast harvest remains optimal for domestic consumption and exports to foreign markets.

On the face of it, these endless meetings and reports of meetings, seem to serve little real purpose and look more like a hangover from former times, but it would be nice to see a broad update on food security from our own government from time to time.

Show they take it seriously. 

Agricultural classes in school

Last year, in the Russian region of Udmurtia, four schools ran pilot agricultural classes for about 100 students. 

Demand has grown with 400 children already signed up for this year.

The educational project, initiated by the regional Ministry of Agriculture, uses specialists from agricultural enterprises as teachers.

I know there are many local and regional initiatives already in place around the world, but I think food and farming is such a fundamental issue that it should automatically be part of every school curriculum.

It would help enormously if children grew up with an awareness of where food comes from, what they are looking at when out in the countryside, and what good food looks and tastes like.

Hard as I’ve looked, I’ve yet to find a nugget on a chicken.

Ukraine harvest update

Ukraine’s early crop harvest is all but done, the latest results are as follows.

Wheat 98.9% cut, 26.6MMT, 4.09MT/HA

Barley 99.6% cut, 8.7MMT, 3.67MT/HA

Rapeseed 99.7% cut, 2.54MMT, 2.29MT/HA

Ukraine's three-year economic forecast

Ukraine’s Ministry of Economic Development, Trade, and Agriculture have adjusted their 2020 inflation forecast to 5.9%, down from their previous forecast of 11.6%.

The ministry also forecasts an average annual exchange rate of UAH27.00/USD, previously they called it UAH29.50/USD.

Other updated 2020 forecasts include a trade deficit of $5.4 billion (previously estimated at $8.3 billion), GDP UAH 3.975 trillion (down from UAH 3.985 trillion), and an increase in railway transportation tariffs by 17% this year, then 22% and 26% in the next two years.

Presumably, that rail tariff will impact on the competitiveness of Ukraine grain exports.

The ministries next three-year forecast has been approved and published by the Government, here are the headlines.

• GDP growth 4.6% in 2021, 4.3% in 2022 and 4.7% in 2023;
• Consumer price index 107.3% in 2021, 106.2% in 2022 and 105.3% in 2023;
• Increase in average monthly wage 12.1% in 2021, 6.0% in 2022 and 5.1% in 2023;
• Unemployment rate in 9.2% in 2021, 8.5% in 2022, 8.0% in 2023;
• Growth of exports of goods and services 2.9% in 2021, 6.4% in 2022, 8.2% in 2023.

Referring to the forecasts, Economy Minister, Igor Petrashko said "further gradual acceleration of economic growth and the formation of a quality basis for sustainable economic development in the medium term, taking into account major reforms and maintaining financial stability".

But you’d expect him to say that.

Russian hemp

Smart Hemp Ltd. will start the construction of a hemp processing plant in Russia later this year.

The company has grown 1,250 hectares of industrial hemp in Ivanovo region this season and plans to grow up to 5,000 hectares next year.

Harvest of the current crop is now underway.

The company has been working with Rostselmash to produce a prototype forage harvester with a rotary header to harvest industrial hemp.

Smart Hemp director, Maxim Uvarov, said: “Hemp is extremely difficult to harvest, although sowing and growing it, in general, is not difficult”.

According to Uvarov, the use of hemp as a raw material is extremely wide, including the textiles industry, building materials, and the food industry.

Smart Hemp Ltd. is registered in Cyprus and incorporated November 2019.

Organic food production grows in Russia

Since the start of the year, 35 Russian businesses received organic production certification, and are now included in the state register of organic producers.

More than 20 of them are producers of meat and dairy products, as well as compound feed, grain, and forage crops. 

Other enterprises produce alcoholic beverages, baby food, tea, coffee, and grapes. 

Their products can now be marked with the organic logo and with the words "organic" in Russian and English.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, there are more than 10 million hectares of unused agricultural land considered to be suitable for organic farming, under the claim that there are no contaminants or chemical fertilizer applications.

Ukraine’s President promotes investment in agriculture

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky released a one-minute promotion video calling the country a land of opportunity in tourism, information technology, and agriculture.

Ukraine’s potential has been talked about ever since it gained independence in 1991 but has consistently failed to live up to expectations.

Foreign investors cite Ukraine’s non-independent judicial system and corruption as the main barriers to investment, something generally confirmed by anyone who has done business in Ukraine.

Zelensky praised recent reforms to land ownership, supposedly lifting the long-standing moratorium on the sale of agricultural land, but will only apply to Ukrainian citizens and companies. 

I suspect foreign companies will be looking for further liberalization on land ownership before a video tempts them in.

Live and let die hard

Ten days ago, the Russian ministry of agriculture reported the Kursk and Belgorod wheat harvest was nearing completion and would be finished in two or three days.

Today, a large agribusiness there, told me they finished their wheat harvest, a full week after the ministry said it was already done.

When I told my contacts that the wheat harvest had officially finished there a week ago, they were surprised and told me there is still standing crop in the region.

This reminds me of the time we received a visit from the head of the local administration to tell us we were not harvesting quick enough.

He produced a piece of paper with a league table of farms and how much they had cut to date, and sure enough, we were bottom last.

I told him we didn't really care what everyone else was doing, that it wasn’t a competition, our harvest schedule was bang on target, and he shouldn’t worry.

This made him angry, so I got angry back, he shouted, I shouted, we glared at each other across the table, we'd reached an impasse.

Then, a colleague of mine piped up, "What if we 'report' we have harvested more hectares, will that be alright?"

Yes, came the immediate reply, that will be fine, smiles resumed, the atmosphere improved, the head of administration was happy, he could now report up the chain that all was well, and presumably keep his job for another season.

I mention this because it seems old habits die hard, and we still need to take official reports coming out of former soviet countries with a degree of scepticism.

Including harvest data.

Ukraine agrees wheat export limits for new marketing year

Ukraine's Ministry of Economy, along with representatives from the grain market, today agreed on the maximum volume of grain exports for the 2020-2021 marketing year.

This included wheat at 17.5MMT, and 1,000MT of rye.

The current wheat harvest is nearly finished and should produce a final yield of 27MMT, which leaves about 9.5MMT for domestic consumption, continuing the four-year trend for annual domestic consumption figures to be below 10MMT.

Between 2017 and 2019, the average annual domestic consumption for Ukraine wheat was 9.2MMT; between 2000 and 2016, average annual consumption was 12.1MMT.

I think that’s telling us something.

The ministry retained a caveat that depending on the final data on wheat harvest, the agreement may be revised in the 4th quarter.

The grain memorandum has been in place since 2011.

Belarusians stand up

After a monumental weekend in Belarus, which saw unprecedented numbers of people gather in the centre of Minsk, calling for President Alexander Lukashenko to resign, today we saw workers at a factory openly heckle him in what looked suspiciously like his Ceaușescu moment.

Events are moving at pace, but it now looks like there will be no coming back for the former collective farm manager turned defacto post-soviet dictator.

Thoughts are now turning to outside Belarus to see what others may or may not do, lets hope it’s peaceful.

Belarus produces around two million tonnes of wheat at an average yield of three tonnes per hectare, so plenty of scope for improvement should the socio-political landscape become conducive to investment.

It’s been a while since I was last in Belarus so I might be out of touch, but I suspect the biggest constraint on yields will be the low genetic potential of domestic crop varieties, and probably some outdated practices.

You can fix plant genetics almost immediately, by allowing the import of seed, then longer term by investing in plant breeding facilities.

Changing outdated practices, however, would be nigh on impossible while the president cum farm manager cum dictator was still in charge.  He was known for driving around and berating farm managers for what he considered to be bad or slovenly work.

I remember on one occasion, somewhere in the northeast of the country on a grey cold October day, talking to an agronomist, I asked him when he put his fertiliser on?  “When its delivered” was his honest reply.

Then there was the time we had a late dinner and got absolutely hammered in what turned out to be an abattoir.

So many memories, hope we get the chance to make more.

Ukraine's wheat harvest is in the shed, almost...

As of Friday, Ukraine’s wheat harvest was reported as nearly finished (96%) at 25.5MMT from 6.3MHA with an average yield of 4.05MT/HA.

This means the final harvest figure should reach 26.9MMT, or thereabouts.

Our last forecast in July was 26.4MMT, which is within 2% of the projected final harvest figure, so we at GSAC HQ are happy with that, particularly considering the awkward COVID restrictions we had to work with. 

The chart shows how our spring forecasts worked out from March onwards, although we did make our first tour and forecast in the previous November when we assessed the condition of the newly emerged crop.  This helps us determine how the crop might survive over winter and allows us to set a basis come spring.

Our forecast success rate for Ukraine wheat over the previous four seasons now stands at 3%, meaning the average of all forecasts between March and July over each season are accurate to within 3% of the final yield.

Forecasting crop yield is not an exact science but we do spend a lot of time in the field which helps.

We will continue to refine and develop how we conduct our forecasts in the future and will take each season as a new learning opportunity.  

A bit like farming then.

I remember someone older and wiser than me, saying they had only been farming one year, but they had done it fifty times.

Drop me an email if you would like to find out more about our Black Sea crop forecasting service, or would like to subscribe, or indeed possibly join us on one of our tours.

blackseacroptour@gmail.com

This week's Black Sea agri-business news

USDA WASDE figures out this week upped Russian wheat 1.5MMT from 76.5MMT in July to 78MMT.  

Many had been anticipating a larger increase, but with 45% of the wheat harvest still to go, and the Russian ministry of agriculture continuing to hold at 75MMT, it looks like WASDE took a cautious approach.  

There are also some questions about how many hectares are out there.  

Two weeks ago, the state statistics department increased their wheat hectare estimation from 28.8MHA to 29.4MHA, and some of this increase was winter wheat, which begs the question, where had it been hiding these last eight months.  

Either way, we are still looking at a big Russian wheat crop, the second-largest ever, although given the low yields in the south, will more of the export fraction now have to be sourced from further up country?

WASDE upped Ukraine wheat 0.5MMT from 26.5MMT to 27.0MMT, and with 90% of the crop now cut it’s looking likely to be around there.

That should give an export potential of 16MMT, although don’t be surprised if that goes higher as Ukraine will need the cash unless they are bailed out by the EU or US.

Conditions elsewhere in the Black Sea and parts of Romania and Moldova are struggling with the dry conditions.

Reports from Romania that an entire county lost almost all their arable crops to drought; local authorities in Galati County are declaring the region a disaster area as 180,000 hectares are said to be affected.  

Farmers in Moldova continue to press the government for support, saying they will block roads for two hours a day for two weeks unless the government takes action; the government had previously allocated €50/HA for damaged crops, farmers say they have losses of over €300/HA.

Over in Belarus and factory workers are striking in protest to the violence being meted out by Lukashenko’s goons, who he released on the population after the initial protests following last Sundays rigged elections.  

I give it a week before he’s helicoptered out to spend his retirement in Rostov where he and Yanukovych can tell each other how unfair it all was.

Жыве Беларусь!

Protests!

Farmers in Moldova are protesting, they want government support after dry conditions led to widespread crop failure.

Many will have bought inputs on credit which they will now struggle to repay, plus they need cash or credit to buy inputs for the autumn planted crops.

This is the second very dry season in a row in Moldova, and we are now seeing vineyards and trees affected.

Estonian farmers are protesting the proposed deportation of nine Ukrainian agricultural workers after the Police and Border Guard Board (PPA) said they had violated quarantine on arrival in Estonia in late July.

Authorities claim the workers violated quarantine by working; the farmers say they were putting their living quarters in order when they were raided by the PPA.

Protesters in Belarus took to the streets after Sunday's election saw the long term president and former collective farm manager, Alexander Lukashenko, achieve 80% of the votes, which the opposition say is fixed.

It's reported that anger towards Lukashenko's government has been fuelled by his response to coronavirus, Lukashenko famously downplayed the outbreak, advising citizens to drink vodka and drive tractors.

While global media are showing images of protestors on the streets facing tear gas and rubber bullets, the state media is reporting the grain harvest is 68% complete.

I can’t confirm the harvest report because, at the time of writing, the state media website is off-line.

That doesn’t sound good.

Ukraine harvest update

Ukraine’s 2020 wheat harvest is 87% completed, with 5.8MHA producing 23.1MMT at an average yield of 3.98MT/HA.

This compares with 6.3MHA, 25.8MMT, and 4.10MMT/HA on the same day last year.

The barley harvest is 90% at 2.1MHA producing 7.9MMT at a yield average of 3.76MT/HA (2.40MHA, 8.1MMT, 3.38MT/HA in 2019).

Oilseed rape is 91% completed at 2.2MHA, producing 1.0MHA, at an average yield of 2.2MT/HA.

Russian harvest update

Russia’s 2020 wheat harvest has reached the halfway point, with 14.5MHA producing 53.4MMT at an average yield of 3.67MT/HA.

This compares with 13.3MHA, 48.0MMT, and 3.61MMT/HA on the same day last year.

The wheat harvest is now moving into the eastern spring wheat growing regions where there is some suggestion that hot dry weather may have reduced prospects.

We’ll find out soon enough.

The barley harvest is about a third of the way through at 3.0MHA producing 9.5MMT at a yield average of 3.16MT/HA.

Oilseed rape is about a fifth of the way through at 270KHA, 630KMT, and 2.33MT/HA.

Sugar beet harvest has started in Krasnodar with the first 2.2KHA producing 98.2KMT at an average yield of 44.6MT/HA.

Work in progress

Way back in history, when I first set up the blog AgronomyUkraine, I was living in Ukraine mainly doing agronomy.

I no longer live in Ukraine and my remit has widened, while I still do agronomy I am also involved in other aspects of Black Sea agri-business.

So, the old name has gone, thank you very much AgronomyUkraine for many years of loyal service, and hello GreenSquareAC.

Green Square Agro Consulting Ltd is our official business name, we are an association of consultants experienced in providing practical support for agricultural projects in Black Sea regions.

We have delivered consultancy and advisory work in Croatia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Russia, Spain, Uzbekistan, to name but a few, but more about that later.

In the meantime, I am updating, revamping, renaming, improving, and generally redeveloping this blog to focus on reporting Black Sea agri-business news with an opinion on implications. 

Football may also be mentioned.

Mike