New Tripoli - In just a few
weeks a group of Pennsylvania
agriculture and agribusiness
people will leave on a ten-day
study tour of China. They will
explore the growing opportuni
ties for agricultural exchange
and trade. The group will be led
by Kathleen Hamm Jones, a for
mer Pennsylvania Dairy
Princess, who has extensive
business experience in Asia.
The first event on the tour is
Asia's largest agricultural
exhibit, called AGRO EXPO
CHINA '9B in Beijing April 21-
24. Following this introduction
to Chinese agribusiness, the
group will fly to the northern
province of Shandong, where
they have been invited to visit
agriculture and agribusiness
sites, meet with government
officials to learn about agricul
tural investment and technology
needs, and opportunities for
agricultural and agribusiness
trade.
In addition, the group will
have the rare opportunity to
visit Chinese homes, gaining a
glimpse into the daily lives and
consumer habits of an average
Chinese family Before leaving
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Hong Kong on May 1, the group
will be hosted by the Honk Kong
Trade Development Council
(HKTDC), where they will learn
how Hong Kong serves as an
international gateway to China
trade and commerce.
Kathleen began to organize
the tour shortly after returning
to her family's farm in Lehigh
County, after eleven years living
and working in Asia. After see
ing the excitement of the
Chinese friends and colleagues
who visited her on the farm, and
attending the International
Trade Show of the Pennsylvania
Department of Agriculture in
Harrisburg in January, she
decided to organize the tour to
help people make contacts with
each other.
"Trying to figure out the
China market without direct
contacts is like trying to tell the
time by watching the second
hand of a clock," says Kathleen.
"I want to help people to get
beyond statistics and news
reports to experience the daily
life of Chinese people. After all,
China is one of US agriculture s
biggest customers. Don't you
think we should know more
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Trade
Tour To China Set
about our customers?"
If every person in China eats
one egg a day, to feed the hens
would require the entire US
annual grain output. That's now.
Every year, another 15 million
people are added, a few million
more than all of Pennsylvania.
65% of all Chinese work in agri-
REYNOLDSBURG, Ohio
Nominations of candidates for
director of National All-Jersey
Inc. are due April 29.
Nominations for director re
quire the signatures of 10 active
members who live in the district
These must also be filed with the
executive secretary of the associa
tion.
One director with a four-year
term is to be elected, and one
HERBICIDE
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tnbuted by Hoffman
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Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, February 21, 1998-A43
culture, compared to less than
2% in the USA. Even if you add
in US food processing, it's still
only 12%. Though China has 7%
of all the land in the world, only
10% of that can be cultivated.
"China knows it has to improve
its agriculture," says Kathleen.
"Chinese are coming to
director with a four-year term is to
be appointed. The current direc
tors may succeed themselves.
The election will be held at the
annual meeting of the NAJ at the
Radisson on the Waterfront, Bur
lington, Vt, at 7 a.m. on June 27.
The elected director whose term
expires at the 1998 Annual Meet
ing is William Batiass, Janesville,
Wis., District 4. The appointed
director with a tom expiring is
Richard Riggs, Evansville, Ind.,
District 8.
Lancaster
Pennsylvania more often
because they want to establish
trade relations, and they know
of our reputation for fine agri
culture and agribusiness. And to
quote Ben Franklin, a nation
was never destroyed by trade.
The ten-day tour will leave
for Beijing from Philadelphia on
April 20 and return from Hong
Kong on May 1. Kathleen
(Hamm) Jones will accompany
the tour personally, using her
skills m both Chinese and Pa
"Dutch" to facilitate exchange
sbetween the two sides. In
designing the tour, she drew
extensively upon her seven
years experience as Research
Director of ACR, a Hong Kong
marketing research company,
where she designed and super
vised research and analysis of
markets in Hong Kong and
China, as well as other East and
SE Asian nations. Space on the
tour is limited. For more infor
mation and to reserve your
space, you can contact Jones at
1-888-GO-PA (1-888-467-2172)
Crops Day
(ContlniMd from Pago A 25)
variety and cutting at the right time
an produce a lot of forage capabili
ty for the grower.
Dennis Calvin reviewed the elements that
cause pesticide resistance in plants. He used the
example of a lawn, filled with dandelions, of
which most of the flowering plants have stems
which are at or below grass height The reason?
Because, after successive mowing, only those
plants which produce flowers that can survive
the lawnmower blades and grow underneath
blade height are “selected” to survive, making
them prevalent in the yard.
The same applies to the use of herbicides to
control weeds.
There may be only one in a million plants that
can resist any given herbicide. But eventually,
those plants are “selected,” eventually, to sur
vive. They become difficult to control.
From 1908 through the 1980 s, about 450 dif
ferent species including weeds and insects
became resistant to pesticides. Many products
for weed control were invented, and it now takes
less time for those weeds to develop resistance.
One of the most adaptable insect pests is the
Colorado potato beetle, according to Calvin. It
has become resistant to a wide array of pesti
cides. It is even beginning to show resistance to
Bt com.
Producers must adapt new methods of “resis
tance management” to deal with the beetle. This
includes uses of certain pesticides and combin
ing pesticide use, selecting the dose wisely, fre
quency of application, coverage, and rotation of
use.
The “kill them all” anti-insect strategies of the
past can help speed up genetic resistance. It’s
more important now to kill some but allow some
to survive, so that resistance is actually slowed
down. “Resistance management needs to start
before you see the problem,” said Calvin.
It’s important to leave susceptible individuals
in the field, choose short-residue material, leave
some habitat for susceptibility, and to tolerate
“sub-economic pest densities,” Calvin said.
One newer method to control the European
com borer, noted Calvin, is the use of Bt com.
The Bt com creates a toxin which the borer eats,
killing the insect. Many believe this is a biologi
cal control clement Actually, according to the
entomologist, it’s “another pesticide. It sounds
like biocontrol, but it isn’t,” he said.
Calvin outlined ways to keep genetic resis
tance buildup low with the com borer. The
simple way is to plant one field to Bt com and an
adjacent field, not more than 1,000 feet away, to
non-Bt varieties.
Calvin noted that it’s important to maintain the
long-term viability of Bt com hybrid technology
by managing resistance.
“If not, we could lose this quickly,” he said.
At the same time, it’s a good idea to not plant