Post from the Philippines

Well our global focus program is winding up now. We have just left Manila on our way back to Australia. We stayed at the International Rice Research Institute. This was an very good place to end our world tour, considering how crucial rice is to so much of the worlds population and how much world rice stocks influence grain prices. We have seen how this institute is trying to improve rice yields to offset the increase in world population and at the same time, the reduction in area that is being planted. The photo shows rice paddy's in the Philippines, with a monsoonal shower in the background.
Back home in the Barossa it has been raining and quite cold again. We had about 26mm of rain for the week ending Fri. 11th July.