A22-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, October 20,1990
CANTON, Peoples Republic of
China Imagine 700 acres of
wheat at harvest time. Now ima
gine no combines. Grab your
sickle and head out into the field.
That wouldn’t work, you’d be
harvesting until next spring. But
what if you were surrounded by
countless people, each with a
sickle in his hand? That would
work, if you had enough people. It
wouldn’t be particularly efficient,
but it would work.
In the People’s Republic of
China, where a majority of the
agricultural production is done
“the old-fashioned way,” the term
“labor shortage” is probably not in
their vocabulary. In fact, it’s quite
the opposite situation, according
to Steve Fisher, of Oley, Pennsyl
vania, who recently returned from
a tour of Chinese agriculture.
Fisher, who serves on the board
of directors of the Pennsylvania
Forage and Grassland Council,
says the technology for increased
mechanization is there, but
because of the abundance of peo
ple, hand labor is an important
part of the economy.
“Mechanization isn’t the direc
tion they want to go yet,” he
explains. “There are more than a
billion people in China, and
approximately 80 percent of them
are involved in agriculture. If they
were to extensively mechanize
their farming operations, a lot of
people would be out of work.”
The wheat fields he saw being
harvested were in the western pro
vince of Xinjiang, and were very
large, he says, 600 or 700 acres.
“They were filled with people,
cutting the wheat with sickles,
tying sheaves and making
shocks.”
Fisher was in China as part of a
grassland management delegation
\ N
*s«ir ,
♦ -*4
*. * % '
An excellent vegetable crop grows between Canton and Hong Kong.
BRUSH VALLEY (Indiana
Co.) The Indiana County Far
mers Association (ICFA) voted
recently to take a tough stand on
the growing problem of white
tailed deer damage in the area.
The ICFA, which represents
422 farms and agribusinesses,
officially adopted a policy recom
mending that the Pennsylvania
Farmers Association (PFA) initi
ate a class action suit on behalf of
the state’s farmers against the
Pennsylvania Game Commission
for the purpose of recovering crop
damage done by wildlife, espe
cially deer.
with People to People Internation
al, an organization founded in
1956 by President Dwight D.
Eishenhower. Its Citizen Ambas
sador Program allows Americans
to visit and interact with people of
other nations, promoting under
standing and good will between
people from different cultures.
Fisher’s participation was made
possible through sponsorship by
FMC Corporation. He holds the
distinction of being a “Master
Sales Representative” for the ag
chemical company, his employer
for the past 18 years. John Steffel,
FMC’s regional sales manager,
saw the trip as a great teaming
opportunity for Fisher, on both
personal and professional levels.
“I wasn’t representing FMC in
any official capacity,” Fisher
explains, “but when the leaders of
the Chinese delegation discovered
I worked for them, they went out
of their way to treat me right.
FMC does a lot of business in Chi
na, and the Chinese hold the com
pany in very high regard.”
China is a very large country
with a diverse heritage and many
different climates. Expecting the
agriculture to be the same
throughout would be like walking
onto a dairy farm in Vermont and
assuming that all American agri
culture is similar, he says.
The agriculture in the area
around Bejing provided examples
of a wide variety of cultivated
crops, he says. Vegetables, grain,
and fruit are all raised in the pro
ductive soil. Many different tech
niques are utilized to help maxim
ize production, including inter
cropping, double-cropping, no-till
and elaborate ditch irrigation
systems.
The quality of the crop was
quite impressive, he says, espe-
w X -
Deer Issue At Forefront
The recommendation, made
during the association’s annual
meeting in Brush Valley, is part of
a package of proposals to be for
warded to the PFA for possible
legislative action by the larger
statewide group of farmers.
At least one farmer at the meet
ing expressed a concern that the
threat of a lawsuit might dampen
What he felt was a new spirit of
cooperation from the Game Com
mission in trying to conhtrol the
state’s deer population.
The commission has announced
some farmland may be designated
“hot spots,” which have excessive
Fisher Sees Chinese Agriculture
cially when you consider that it’s
all done with manual labor. They
do have small tractors, which are
the same everywhere, but they are
not used in the Held, mostly just to
“drag wagons around. They’re
really not much more than a glori
fied garden tractor,” he comments.
It was very difficult from Inner
Mongolia, Fisher says, where the
nomadic Mongol plainsmen
grazed large herds of sheep, goats,
cattle, horses and camels. “They
have vast herds of horses,” he
says. “They raise them both for
transportation and as a food
source.”
The grazing management is
very labor intensive as well, he
says. During the spring and sum
mer, the Mongol herders are con
stantly on the move, herding the
cattle continuously to avoid over
grazing. Fences are nowhere to be
seen. While on the move, they live
in little tents called “yurts.”
Their winter months are spent
in communities referred to as
“collectives,” he says. They have
small horses (“not much bigger
than what we’d call a pony”) and
dogs to help move the animals
where they want them.
Cultivated forage crops are
somewhat rare, Fisher says, but
what he did see was sometimes
quite different from what you
would see in the United States.
They grow a high-protein legume
called “stylosanhus,” which is
similar to alfalfa, “but much stem
mier,” he says. “They feed it
green. I think if they were to dry it,
it wouldn’t be very palatable; it
would be like feeding sticks.”
When the plant is mature they
can get five cuttings a year, and it
is often interplanted with lychee
trees. These trees yield a small,
sweet fruit a lychee nut that
deer herds and which may be
targeted for extended hunting sea
sons after the regular seasons are
over.
But Brad Neal, vice president of
the ICFA, said he personally
believed the Game Commission
was not doing all it could to
reduce deer numbers, and agreed
with the suggestion the class
action suit might convince the
Game Commission of the farmers’
resolve to reduce crop damage.
Ted Godshall, public informa
tion officer for the Game Com
mission, said from his Harrisburg
office that the state will offer
Steve Fisher, FMC Master Sales Representative (right),
visits with China’s Minister of Agriculture Xu.
Steve Fisher visits the Great Wall of China.
is very popular in China. “They’re
very good to eat,” Fisher says. “I
don’t know why they’re not more
popular over here.”
Other forages he saw were “ele
phant grass,” and a crop they call
“Mexican com,” which tassels
like conventional com but does
not produce a viable ear. “The ears
will produce seeds, but the nutri
tion of the crop is in the stalk,”
Fisher explains. “It naturally pro
duces multiple cuttings like
sugargrass.”
One problem he observed with
the cultivated forages was that the
soil was often quite acidic, and he
saw no lime being applied. “It
seems to me they’re attacking the
problem backward,” he notes.
“Rather than trying to change the
Of Meeting
800,000 antlerless deer licenses
across the state for the regular
three-day season Dec. 10-12, but
if a sufficient number of deer are
not harvested, the commission’s
executive director may authorize
an extended doe season. The pos
sible extended season could be
later in December or sometime in
January, Godshall said.
The extra season might be held
statewide, only in certain regions
or just on the farmlands desig
nated “hot spots.”
To qualify their property for the
extended hunting season, God
shall said farmers must contact the
acidity of the soil they’re trying to
develop legumes that are tolerant
to high acidity.
“That’s probably because of the
lack of mechanization, but I’m
sure it will end up costing them
production,” he adds.
It’s kind of ironic, he says, that
many of the forage crops seen in
the United States today were orig
inally brought over from that area
of the world in the 1920 s and ’3os.
And today, improved strains of
some of the same crops are being
brought back.
“A lot of what was brought out
of China to improve rangelands in
the U.S. and Canada are now
going back again,” he says.
“We’ve been able to improve on
these crops with selection and
breeding. It’s gone full circle.”
Game Commission by Oct. 15.
Game protectors will inspect the
property, verify crop damage, and
possibly designate the land as a
hot spot
The farmers will be given spe
cial signs which must be posted on
the property before the regular
deer season begins, alerting hun
ters that they may be able to return
to that same property later in the
winter if the season is extended.
Also, in order to qualify, far
mers must agree to sign up for the
Game Commissioners safety zone
program which opens their
(Turn to Pag* A3O)