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China has caught up--except in agricultureI have been very fortunate to visit China at two stages: in 1981 during the early capitalism experiment under Deng Zhou Ping, and last week, six years after China became part of the World Trade Organization. My perception of the country, then and now, is like night and day. China has utilized its strength: labor, to accumulate capital and now has an economy that is running like no other in history. The question, for me, is whether China will move ahead of western countries or whether its agriculture will hold it back. The growth of the Chinese economy can't be overstated, with Beijing now an ultra modern city with a new airport, hundreds of skyscrapers, wide highways and three million cars on its streets growing by 1,000 per day. China has more than 100 cities that are larger than one million people. It has six major cities of more than 10 million people. The Chinese have learned how to manufacture and merchandise literally every item known to man. They have public-private partnerships and sell through government controlled trading companies. As the profits roll in they are invested back into the infrastructure and the pace of production quickens. Our dollars, spent on Chinese merchandise, have allowed China to be an Asian powerhouse. The incredible growth of cities in China was accomplished with the latest technology as 80 percent of the overhead cranes in the world are perched on buildings in its major cities. Even though workers are numerous, industrial equipment is used for heavy jobs because of the speed at which the work progresses. It's not uncommon to see large construction machines towering over workers who are hand-applying sealant to streets and walkways. In the countryside, it is a different story. We spent our first four days in southern China, in farming areas close to the South China Sea, and did not see one tractor of Midwestern proportions. We saw three-wheel motorcycles with small pickup beds and a few garden tractors rigged to pull carts, but the mechanization was antiquated and minimal. Instead, there were many workers with shoulder-carried baskets hauling produce out of the fields and transporting muck back in for fertilization. The Chinese told us their agriculture, in its current form, can't be mechanized. Sixty percent of the country's population lives on the land and labor is plentiful enough to do all the work by hand. The average farm is about one and a quarter acres. In the United States, even with plots this small, we would mechanize. Roto-tillers and Gators would abound. China shows resistance to modernization of agriculture, be it for cultural or economic reasons. But when they step off the farm and move to the cities, their perspective changes. Manufacturing jobs are offering former farm workers a higher standard of living and an easier life. China is not trying to keep people from migrating and the growth of the cities shows it. The view of those we spoke to, in the importing and feed processing sector, is that a reduction in farmer numbers will eventually increase overall production because new technologies will be implemented. China is a contradiction in its grain production. The country imports genetically modified varieties of soybeans and corn but forbids its farmers from growing them. Representatives of Pioneer Hi-bred International, in China, told us they were pushing for final government approval of the first GM corn but they thought it might be as much as five years before most modified crops would be approved for planting. China's hog production has fallen off in the past year with problems from disease. U.S. hog farmers are using a new vaccine to counter a similar disease (Porcine Circovirus) and it has been credited with greatly increasing our pork production. China has a shortage and we have a surplus, but unfortunately there is a 4,000-mile wide ocean in between. It should be said that China is self sufficient in wheat and rice production to supply the needs of 1.4 billion people. That is no small task of production or distribution. They are currently self sufficient in corn production but they are short on soybeans. Projecting out for the next few years and China's quest for more meat protein in the diet, grain merchandisers say China will run short of domestic corn and need to import large quantities to match the increase in soybeans in livestock diets. It seems that would push the government to allow GM grains to be grown on Chinese farms rather than import them. It appears that the farmers of traditional grain and oilseed exporting countries--U.S., Australia, Canada and Europe--will benefit greatly from China's appetite. That is as long as we buy their manufactured products to keep the balance of trade in the black. Incidentally, when you go to a Wal-Mart in China, there are a few goods that are from the United States. There is a law in China that only 8 percent of the items in a store can be imported. Protectionism comes in many forms. The next step for China is to live up to its WTO status and stop exploiting the patents and copyrights of others. Knock-offs of videos, watches, purses and just about every luxury item can be found in shopping districts in the major cities and they ship them around the world. Westerners grab up these fakes and quickly learn that they are inferior. A shattered knockoff Samsonite suitcase coming off the airplane from our tour was proof. A Chinese woman, working as an executive in the shipping industry, was asked by one of our group what kind of "knock-off's" she had and she gave a quizzical reply: "Why would you want to buy a fake?" Perhaps progress will come in all sectors over time.
Editor's Note: This is Ken Root's 34th year as an agricultural reporter. He grew up on a small farm in central Oklahoma and started his career as a vocational agriculture teacher. He worked in Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri as a broadcaster and was the original host of AgriTalk. He has also been the executive director of the National AgriChemical Retailers Association in Washington, D.C. and the National Association of Farm Broadcasters in Kansas City. Ken is now the lead farm broadcaster at WHO and WMT Radio based in Des Moines, Iowa. He has been a columnist for HPJ and Midwest Ag Journal for seven years.
4/14/08 Date: 4/10/08 Advertisement
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