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[Gary A]

Here are two Thai links. The prices here in Thailand are quite a bit more expensive than in most other countries. The advantage to buying here is that most units will have the Thai map already installed. A caution is that not all units are capable of area measurement. If you buy one, check to see that it is capable.

http://www.gadgetrend.com/gps_nav.php

http://www.eaglegps.co.th/

[Maizefarmer]

Aaaah ….. now it all makes sense – this maize planting was contracted, and things haven’t gone quite as was hoped for with the contract planter - which explains the lack of knowledge  why you are so cautious dealing with others beyond the farmgate.

The question about the land docs was not about ownership - from some docs you can get detail to determine land size - that was why I was asking. Nothing to do with ownership.

Polishing – it’s a word for cleaning corn seed, getting all the dust and other loose organic material off the seed so its nice and clean. Go look at a sack of shelled corn seed – it will contain dust, bits of broken cob and or plant and other organic material – it’s “dirty”. Polishing removes all the dirt and loose organic material – but if you are selling to the Co-Op, no its not going to make much difference as they will sell it to processors who, depending on what they intend to do with it will polish it and clean it as they need to, and if they don’t need to, then they won’t.

Polishing will be to your benefit if you are going to be wholesaling to a food processor directly, and have something like 100  - 500 tons – now it becomes worth polishing and grading – otherwise don’t bother

Polished commands a higher price (if sold to food processors) and can be stored for longer (like most crops that are clean – they last longer in storage if they are clean) – so you can keep the current harvested, plant a again, harvest the next crop, shell it clean/polish it and you’ll now have well over a hundred ton’s – then you got to go do your research in the food processing industry in Thailand and find out who wants corn/maize seed, and what grade they want.

Then a company rep from the food company comes to see you, he’ll inspect your storage facilities, he’ll inspect your processing equipment, and if still interested he’ll ask you to get it certified, you will then have to employ SGS or some other company to come in a issue a certificate which could cover a whole bunch of quality related parameters (and is not cheap to get – it runs into the Baht 1000’s).

Then there are the transport/delivery logistics that have to be worked out (most food processors want raw ingredients on a “just in time” basis) – more costs.

From farming, you are now trading – you will need staff, you will need an office, you will need to satisfy health & safety reg's, you will have paperwork like you have never seen before to do - you will have introduced a whole bunch of additional procedures & costs - it's a fulltime job, and quite frankly as you didn’t personally have the time to get the nitty gritty detail and low down regards all the basic questions you have asked to date,  let alone plant the corn yourself, unless you are dealing with 100’s of tons at the very least and better if its 1000’s, my advice is that you are best off to just stick to farming.

Learn to cultivate, what type to cultivate, what fertiliser to use and when, how to prep the field ect ect etc … learn to farm and maximise the yields, then worry about all the extra stuff.

Farming is a hands on 24/7/365 (and a ¼!) occupation

I’d still be very interested to see some photos of the field(s) where this corn has been grown – can you post up some pictures Lee?

Birds Eye chilli on the scale you are talking about – that is very big and unlike dealing with corn where/when you can always offload the whole lot in bulk to a Co-Op, I’d make sure I had a buyer lined up and a quality/grade agreed on with that buyer before hand, to ensure you get a decent price. Processing and storing chilli – especially bulk dried chilli – requires carefully controlled conditions. I’m not the man to ask about chilli – my experience extends to growing a few rai on occasion in the past on an experimental basis, and it wasn’t my best farming day, so I am going to leave any advice to others to offer you.