BY SHEILA MILLER
FAIRFIELD Some
fanners feel they’ve gone a
long way to market their
produce when they take it to
a neighboring state. But Guy
Donaldson, an Adams
County fruit grower and
chairman of the Penn
sylvania Agriculture
Cooperative Marketing
Association, decided to go all
the way to China to look for
new markets for Penn
sylvania products.
Actually, Donaldson was
invited by Lieutenant
Governor William Scranton
to be one of a party of 12
representatives from
Pennsylvania to travel to the
Republic of China, Taiwan.
The Keystone State joined
500 delegates from across
the nation in the venture to
stimulate trade between
ROC and the US.
Donaldson recalled that he
found out about the in
vitation on May 12. Just nine
days later, after a rat-race
rush to get all the shots he
needed and his passport,
Donaldson was on the plane
with Richard Newpher,
Administrative Secretary of
the Pennsylvania Farmers
5 S
A A
WE NOW OFFER
CL ARK-BOBCAT SALES,
PARTS md SERVICE.
AA v M
fi fi 55 5
2 V v
ft ft 5 5
ft ft V V
ft X X 5
ft ft v v 5 5
5 5
W I >i
ft ft Call us for BOBCAT SALES or rental 5
ft ft Call us for BOBCAT SERVICE Our uUIRII $ $
ft ft factory-trained personnel are ready to put you J£ v
ft ft back m operation 5 5
ft ft Call us for BOBCAT PARTS We have parts * ® I'VV’WTfr 5 5
ft ft availability from the shelf WWWH ** J
gg g 5
ft ft BOBCAT OWNERS! 5 $
ft ft /-=E7=—X Slj, 5 5
a js Stop by our parts department with / i' ftf'o 5
ft ft your Bobcat model and serial L-dJmk 'ey'll m* all 5 5
ft ft number, and we'll give you your IB 5 5
ft ft choice of a Bobcat cap or Bobcat J J
ft ft belt buckle' mm lr* I '' M ■ :SS! t< IUJS S^>^ , 5S $
A A </ V
<A. £ V
AA V V
AA V V
<*» -A, V
AA V V
I I , ;«?:■: 3<f« —«■■■!■» equipment | |
I s ' mumwnv S supply ee. brn s 5
ft ft J ' ( x v P'^ O G"eAT£R PROFITS JJsMgi
ft ft ; O pP Call for a demonstration! 5 5
ft ft 4500 Paxton St • Harrisburg, PA (717)564-3031
a ft Route 309 (Drums) • Hazleton, PA (717) 788-1127 CLARK
ft A '4t I jtS > >J> i
ft ft CLARK MELROE DIVISION
>^
Fruit grower
Association heading for
Taiwan.
There were represen
tatives of manufacturing,
the coal and nuclear power
industries, bankers, and
fanners of all types and
descriptions on the trip,
recalled Donaldson. As a
Pennsylvania apple grower,
he said, he was unique.
The trade conference,
which ran from May 26 to
May 30, kept the
representatives busy with
the business end of the trip,
said Donaldson.
“The ROC is trying to get
technological knowledge
from the US on how to im
prove their agriculture,” he
related. “They’ve come a
long way on their own over
the past 22 years when most
of them left the Mainland.
“They are looking to us for
unports of grain, like wheat,
com and soybeans which
they don’t produce. These
grains are used by the ROC
farmers to make high
protein feed for livestock.
“Eventually, their goal is
to be able to produce enough
food to feed their 18 million
population and still have
enough leftover to export.
travels to
They’re out to build their
economy through industry
they’re not concerned about
the pollution it creates to
reach their goal.
“You hear about the
Chinese farmers using water
buffalo, but they are getting
more modem. I saw one
farmer using a late model
Massey Ferguson tractor in
his field.
“Chinese custom has
given the average farmer
there the ‘l’m from
Missouri’ attitude. They
won’t make changes unless
you prove it works. Efforts
are being made however
through their Extension
Service to teach progressive
farming and get the modem
farmer out of the minority.”
Donaldson told how on the
trip, the farmers
representing the US were
unable to meet and talk with
the average Joe Doe Chinese
farmer. Instead they met
with conglomerates, the big
cooperatives.
“I was disappointed, but I
guess that wasn’t the pur
pose of the trip,” he said.
Even though he didn’t get
to meet any of the typical
ROC farmers, Donaldson
China for
heard plenty about them and
their operations. He said
that as incredulous as it may
sound, the average farmer’s
income is only $2lOO a year.
“But then you have to figure
that there are 36 Taiwanese
dollars to every $1 in US
currency,” he added.
The typical farm on
Taiwan averages anywhere
from 3% to 6 acres,
Donaldson said. He added
there is no suburban buffer
zone between the farms and
the city the farms butt up
against 10-story sky scraper
walls.
“With the size population
as is found on Taiwan, land
is at a premium,” noted the
PACMA chairman. “They
don’t waste anything. I was
especially impressed by
their desire to preserve the
best land.
“On one bus trip we took, I
noticed a cemetary with
tombstones almost standing
on top of one another that
stretched for at least five
miles, but it was up on a
steep hillside on land that
couldn’t be used for farming
or industry.”
The destination of the bus
tnp was the southern end of
»»»»»»»»»»»»J»4
»»»»»»»»»»»i>^
S? 5?
Lancaster Faming, Saturday, July 26,1980—A37
Pa. products
the island where most of the
agriculture is found. The
delegates visited one of the
larger hog operations where
30,000 hogs are raised each
year in total confinement.
Donaldson said he was
impressed because it was a
complete set up that started
with the mixing of feed to the
end product the canned
ham.
“The average litter size
for the operation is 9% pigs
per litter, which is as good as
US averages according to
the hog farmer represen
tatives at the conference,”
he said. “Their records on
feed conversion show they
are as good as in US
operations too.”
As far as what type of hogs
were raised, Donaldson said
the operation had Landrace
x Hampshire x Duroc
crossbreds. The breeding
stock, he noted, was im
ported from the US.
One drawback to the
operation, as far as
Donaldson was concerned,
was the large amount of
hand labor that was used.
“The feed was mixed by
machines and brought to the
hog barns in a large truck,
but then it was dumped and
taken down the aisles in a
cart and shoveled into the
troughs.
“I guess when you have a
population of 18 million in a
country the size of Illinois
though you have the people
to do the hand work.”
On their trips around the
country, Donaldson noticed
most of the farmers double
cropped their fields in order
to get the most out of their
tmy parcels. Some of the
gram was stored in a large
modem facility he saw
where the silos were 8 stones
tall and could store 85,000
tons of grain at one time.
When Donaldson noticed
large piles of gram lying
next to the exit ramps along
the highways, he said his
curiosity got the best of him.
When he asked one of the
other travellers why the
gram was just dumped along
the road, he was told that’s
how the chaff is removed
from the farmers’ gram.
Furthermore, it was con
sidered a violation of the law
for a person to dnve over the
gram.
Other trip memories that
the Pennsylvania delegate
recalled mclude a new dnnk
that he said he ‘wouldn’t be
surprised if it becomes an
export to the US.’ Donaldson
described the dnnk, called
yogurt by the ROC people, as
a delicious mixture of
pmeapple juice and milk. It
was nothing like the yogurt
we have here, he said.
The cage layer operations
stood out in Donaldson’s
mind too because the
chicken houses were not
enclosed. “The mild climate
only requires a roof the
rest of the building is open
making them rather inex
pensive to construct.”
Giving in to his apple
growers inquisition,
Donaldson ventured into a
local supermarket to check
the price of apples in
DIO YOU EVER SEE mRS AFTER
ftmrwtf
Taiwan. To his amazement,
he saw a sign quoting the
price of the Red and Yellow
Delicious apples $1.30 a
piece.
During his four-day stay,
Donaldson said the weather
was typical for the island at
that time of year it rained
almost every day. “Their
rainy season was just
starting.”
But as be was ready to
leave with the other
delegates, the sun broke
through and sent the visitors
off under golden skys.
Will there be a golden
future for marketing Penn
sylvania farm products in
Taiwan? Donaldson said he
is hopeful, but it is not
something that can be done
overnight
He said be came away
from the conference with
indications the ROC would
be interested in importing
several farm products from
Keystone fanners, including
eggs, peaches, maple syrup,
apples, and grain.
“The disadvantage
Pennsylvania has as far as
exporting apples to Taiwan
is that Washington is so
much closer. The same goes
for gram, with the Western
states having a closer road
to China. And the eggs
would they be refrigerated
or powdered?”
Donaldson pointed out the
Chinese use little processed
food in their diets, with most
of the country people going
to market every day to buy
fresh vegetables and fruit.
Unfortunately, most of what
Pennsylvania has to sell has
to be processed in order to
make the long trip.
“There are definite long
range possibilities though
for developing trade with
Taiwan,” Cj he said. “We’ve
opened the doors of com
munication through the
trade conference now we
have to work to keep them
open.”
To do this, Donaldson said
Pennsylvania farmers may
have to think about bringing
over some Chinese
representatives to look at
what agriculture here has to
offer.
At the same time,
Donaldson added, farmers
will have to be foresighted
enough to understand that
for international exports to
be successful a steady
supply is essential.
“Sometimes we farmers
are our own worst enemies.
We’re so afraid someone else
will get a little more money
for a product than we do. We
don’t seem to understand
what a permanent market
for our produce can mean.”
Donaldson concluded by
saying no definite meetings
to continue trade
negotiations have been set,
but he noted an exporting
firm will be staying in touch
with PACMA in the future.
In closing, Donaldson
cautioned, “The people of
the Republic of China are
hard working and out to get
ahead. If we don’t get our
heads out of the sand,
they’re going to pass us by.”