⌛ Rice crisis

The main ingredient of beer is malted barley. The malt contains enzymes that convert starches in the grain to sugars, that are then fermented to alcohol. Modern malt contains more enzymes than necessary and the surplus enzymes can be used to convert cheaper grains such as corn and rice to sugar as well. These grains are called 'adjuncts' which are added to the 'mash' of malt and hot water.

Most domestic American beers and a lot of British beers use adjuncts, and in the case of higher strength beers such as American Malt liquors, adjunct grains absolutely have to be used to get the brew up to the higher alcoholic strength.

Thus I'm sure that Red Horse in particular would use a lot of rice and/or maize in the formulation.

Here in Australia the cheaper beers add cane sugar in the fermentation as we are a major sugar producer and it's cheap.

 

There is no rice shortage. Period. Just a bunch of corrupt and heartless people in the rice cartel.

 

Welcome on the forum AussieMike.
Can I hire you for making a beer wich tastes better than SMB ? :D
Maybe we can start together a business here ?:
"Dummy's", "original gentle beer from Dumaguete, the most gentle city on earth".
Seriously... very interesting, your knowledge.
I would like to have half of that knowledge, only I don't know if I then also stop drinking (like I did stop smoking after some more knowledge :D )

 

they have expensive beer in Australia? joke... All we used to get in the U.S. was Fosters.

Beer technically is beer by nature of it's alcohol percentage, not by recipe. Anything over twelve percent by volume, less by weight, is considered wine.
Hair of the Dog's "Dave" Barley wine being the grandaddy of them all at 29%.

Red horse, Is to my taste a chemical brew made to taste like beer. Probably adulterated (infused) after brewing with alcohol. I also assume they use cane sugar to boost alcohol content, but tis is only a guess. I think it is a hallucinogen

The San Mig light has no doubt ethelyne glycol added (similar to antifreeze) as a heading agent. Next time you drink one watch the head foam, it looks plastic and actually doe not disipate.

San Miguel Pale Pilsen is in my opinion a true world class beer. not that it is greatestest quality, but for the price at 25 pesos a bottle (about 60 cents U.S.) it is better than most American beers, I know, that does not say much.:D


Now if I could get some Hallertau hops in the phils and good malt, who knows, I might be tempted to brew some.

 

Pilippines as a rice importer

We have a five hectar rice farm in addition to milling operation in Dipolog. This land has government irrigation so we get about 3 harvests every season. When we moved to Dumageute we closed the business but it was barely breaking even anyway. Why? Cannot charge enough for the rice to recover costs and make a decent profit. Main culprit is the expense of fertilizer which is a necessity. Other reason is lack of government support. Hard to get good hybrid seed and no subsidies or BIR breaks like they have in China. You can make better profit selling your land to a developer which a lot of farmers do. Naturally, this tendency only exacerbates the problem. If the government would study the Chinese model (a rice exporter), they could make things better.

 

From what I have read, Thailand has done similar (to china) to promote rice research and increase production, hence they are now rice exporters. The Philippines lags far behind apparently.
The farmers in the U.S. went through the same evolution, reduced subsidies, and high land prices, taxes. forcing many to sell to land developers. now most agriculture is decentralized and run by ag conglomerates.

 

Thats what I cant understand. If the Thai government is subsidizing rice, sugar, etc in their country. How can they be allowed to export their products into other countries. I think in 2010 that the import tariff for sugar and maybe rice from other Asian countries is supposed to be eliminated or greatly reduced. How can a rice farmer or sugar mill here in the Philippines compete with an Asian country?

 

The problem is compounded by the fact that the Philippine government imports cheap rice and sells it for about 27 pesos or less per kilo. The Filipino farmer must charge about 30 to 35 pesos per kilo to break even. Even though the locally grown rice is higher quality, the cash strapped Filipino will queue up for the government rice wherever available. You get the picture... the government rice has a negative impact for their own rice farmers!

 

not just a matter of subsidies, the Philippines has not over the years invested in developing new varieties, new methods for increasing yields, research etc. now way behind other asian countries they are forced to import rice. The scenario is really quite volitile in my opinion. With so many poor forced to buy cheaper imported rice,(and thank goodness it is available), the rice farmers will get poorer themselves, a vicious circle of supply and demand coupled with dwindleing local production as developers buy rice farms to put up malls.

 

RHB, Malls? Am I correct in stating that you think that the developers of malls are part of the 'so called shortage of rice' problem? I don't agree with that premise. Why is there a 'supposed' shortage this year anyway? Who is the head of agriculture in the Philippines? Yabs?!!! or Yap! I read that there have been numerous scamers caught hording rice in warehouses this year.

The Philippine government is subsidizing Thailand as I see it. They should sell the Thai rice for 3-4 pesos per kilo more than that of the local rice or at least at the same price. Investing in R & D is critical and the government should be helping with this. They do it with sugarcane so, why dont they do it for rice?

I would like to know how much rice is being produced locally per year and how much is being consumed per year. How much is being imported per year too. That should answer the question of a 'rice shortage'