Good evening guys,
I would like to address a concern that keeps popping up in here and I am very happy to supply the following information, to help any investor from the city, understand more about life in rural communities and the difficulties that farmers face with unpredictable seasons. This, in turn, might bring a little more clarification to the point in question.
I am sorry that the post is a little long to answer a short question/statement, but proper context and references are required to explain this fully.
INTRODUCTION
Dorothea Mackellar, who obviously was very aware of Australian weather, and the harsh realities faced by rural communities penned "My Country".
Verse 2 we all know but I am also including Verse 5
'I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains,
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror -
The wide brown land for me
Verse 5
Core of my heart, my country!
Land of the Rainbow Gold,
For flood and fire and famine,
She pays us back threefold -
Over the thirsty paddocks,
watch, after many days,
The filmy veil of greenness
That thickens as we gaze.'
Dorothea Mackellar was born in Sydney but her family had rural property where she spent a lot of her youth.
ADDRESSING THE QUESTION
So let's get to the heart of the question. I will use the last poster's remark. A fair and reasonable question/statement that we feel must be addressed.
Poster: "Claiming a crop of 500t by April was a foolish claim to make".
Reference: QBL ann. 7th December 2017 ASX ann.
Was it a foolish claim as some are stating? No! Research and knowledge of agronomy were applied to calculate the yield tonnage.
But...if we just take the data from the 7th of December announcement, alone, and apply it to the latest July report, without proper context-understanding, then certain assumptions, which we are seeing on here can easily be made and wrong conclusions can be drawn.
Was it correct to actually quote that expected yield number? Yes! Absolutely! And here's why.
If you follow the news on a regular basis then many of you will be aware that our farmers really do it tough at times.
But sometimes they have great seasons.
https://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/a...s/news-story/5b533d2ff7f8534502bb19a8b912857b
Sometimes, as a few cocky mates I know, would say, "It's been bl**dy awful"
http://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2018-02-06/extreme-weather-leads-to-patchwork-grain-harvest/9400288
If you have never been on a farm during drought times or spoken to desperate farmers after their thousands of acres of wheat have just been wiped out by floods, which I have, it can be very difficult for city people, to really appreciate the difficulties farming families face on a daily basis on rural properties. Whole crops, hundreds of thousands of dollars of seed, can be lost in a single drought or major flood.
Farmers promise their suppliers certain tonnage yields and when a bad season hits they can either lose the lot or just provide a mere percentage of what they promised.
Did the farmer, who had a bad crop due to unexpected climatic conditions, lie or fabricate data about expected yields just to win the contract? Of course not!
Both farmers and agro-commercial agents/stock and station agents are well aware of the risks from crop supply contracts, and there is a trust that is built between the farmer and the agent, with built-in risk management with many of these large contracts.
When approximations on tonnage yields are given, they are not just figures plucked out of the air to make an announcement sound great. The seed must be there to match the forecasted data. Yields can be estimated fairly accurately today because of the technology available to predict harvests in good seasons. Farmers always carry a sense of optimism when planting but are also very aware of, and sensitive to, unpredictable climatic patterns and conditions. Andrew, and QBL: MCL were expecting favourable conditions when they made that announcement last year.
HOW WAS ANDREW SURE OF HIS DATA
Andrew
is not a "throw the seed in the ground and let's see if it grows" type guy. He is a dedicated researcher and cultivator, with many years of experience to back up his statements, and is thoroughly versed in the genus of the Hemp plant and cultivation methods of the Cannabis Hemp plant.
The reason Andrew is so well respected is that he is thoroughly versed
in crop growth in knowledge and observation. Andrew also advises both State and Federal Governments on Cannabis legislation.
So, is this a man who would just throw a tonnage yield figure about?
Absolutely not!
As was stated, in the last announcement: "
MCL is amongst the first in the country who are progressing the learning curve in adapting existing infrastructure and growing techniques to cultivate hemp, a brand new broad acre crop, through to harvest." Andrew, because of his experience, still got the results, for our last crops, even if it was down on what we had hoped for!
The data in that 2017 ann. was a predicted crop forecast based on climate data and soil conditions available to Andrew, at that time.
Yesterday, I placed an information post in here that explained what happened with our harvest and how Andrew, was the man on the ground that gave hope to the hemp industry during the last harvest. He was able to apply certain management protocols which allowed us to grow crops to full maturity, in drought-like conditions, even though we fell short on tonnage yields.
Please keep in mind that:
HHC still received hulled seed to process.
VitaSeeds were able to supply hemp flour, oil, and protein to Red Tractor/Coles.
Vitahemp was able to supply most of their hemp products to market as well as releasing a new oil capsule range.
SO WHY THE DIFFICULTY WITH THE LOWER THAN EXPECTED TONNAGE YIELDS
The Hemp plant can grow in both dioecious and monoecious form in crop plots.
Monoecious is translated as “single house,” meaning that male and female flowers are found on a single individual. Pollinators and Ovaries on the one plant.
Dioecious, which is “double house.” This means that male flowers are on one
plant and female flowers are on another
plant. The seeds produced on each plant can vary in number. Stalk height is important to determine how many flowers will produce the seeds by each plant. The drought conditions that farmers experienced, as seen in that media article I posted yesterday affect the nutrient quality of the soil which in turn provides food to the plant.
Good nutrients - lots of seeds...
Low quality nutrients - low seed counts from each plant.
Read this article:
https://hempindustrydaily.com/myth-busting-hemp-needs-more-water-than-many-think/
As Andrew reminded me when I was speaking to him tonight. This is a once in hundred years event that will build over decades and we are right at the forefront of this. Hemp is being reintroduced into Western culture as a food group after the prohibition. He also reminded me that he believes that we are the only company that is presently growing substantial Trial Winter crops.
So, guys, we are happy to address these questions and clear up some misinformation or wrong conclusions that are being drawn. We hope that this will give you a little more information to answer your questions and address some of your concerns.
Neil1959
HC QBL rep
QUEENSLAND BAUXITE LIMITED
