美国可能成为中国的农夫

choi

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VOA Chinese, Mar 17, 2011.
http://www.voanews.com/chinese/news/20110316-Can-the-United-States-Feed-China-and-More-118132089.html
("路透社的报导说，美国的玉米、小麦和大豆因受强劲需求和严酷天气造成的全球谷物库存下降等因素的影响，近期已经激增到接近历史纪录的水平。报导援引的数据说，受饲料价格高涨、存栏数量的减少，以及大量出口销售等因素的影响，美国牛肉价格到3月15日时达到7年半以来的最高点")

My comment: The reports cites
(a) Jessica Wohl and Christine Stebbins, "Get used to higher food costs": experts. Reuters, Mar 15, 2011.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/15/us-food-summit-prices-idUSTRE72E8UX20110315
("U.S. corn, wheat and soybeans recently have escalated to near-record as strong demand and severe weather cut world grain stocks. Beef prices hit a 7-1/2 year high on Tuesday amid a jump in feed costs, shrinking cattle numbers and big export sales")

* 比尔·拉普 Bill Lapp
* The VOA quotaion mentions 接近历史纪录. It is unclear to me whetehr it refers to production or price. However, the Reuters report itself is ambiguious.

(b) Lester R Brown, Can the United States feed China? Washington Post, Mar 11. 2011 (op-ed)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/can-the-united-states-feed-china/2011/02/28/AB7mXrQ_story.html

Quote:

"China is at war. It is not invading armies but expanding deserts that threaten its territory. * * * Enter the United States — by far the world’s largest grain exporter. The United States exports about 90 million tons of grain annually, though China requires 80 million tons of grain each year to meet just one-fifth of its needs.

"water tables are falling under much of the North China Plain, which produces half of the nation’s wheat and a third of its corn.

"For every 1 million cars added to this fleet, at least 50,000 acres are paved over.

"And in recent years, China has bought or leased land in other countries from Sudan to Indonesia to produce food and biofuels, but there is little to show in production from these lands so far.

"In 1995, around the time the Communist Party prioritized grain production, China produced and consumed 14 million tons of soybeans. By 2010, China was still producing 14 million tons of soy annually, but consuming 69 million tons.

"Our country has never known food shortages or spiraling food prices.

My comment:
(a) VOA misspells teh first name. Not Leister but Lester.
(b) At first glance, I thouhgt there must be a typo when the article states "China requires 80 million tons of grain each year to meet just one-fifth of its needs." Obviously the 80m is import (note the present, as opposed to future, tense). Reading further, I realise it is no typo, for China imported 55m (69-14) tons of soybean alone.


---------------------------Separately
Today Financial Times (FT) has a supplement, a pamphlet
(a) announcing ArcelorMittal Boldness in Business Awards 2011, and
(b) titled Boldness in Business: Think outside the box; Seven business innovators are honored in this year's awards.
http://www.ft.com/boldness

Amy Kazmin, Farming for the future in India: Efforts by Jain Irrigation Systems to bring its drip-irrigation technology to farmers in rural India are now paying off, with a growing number seeing the benefits first-hand.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ae12a314-440c-11e0-8f20-00144feab49a.html

(a) Excerpt in the window of the print: The technology allows farmers to irrigatet their land with far less water, while sharply increasing yields

(b) Quote:

"Ever since the family-run company’s founder, Bhavarlal Jain, now 73, was exposed to drip irrigation at an agricultural trade fair in California in 1983, it has tirelessly promoted the technology in India.

"Currently, crops grown on about half of India’s 140m cultivable hectares still depend entirely on rain.

"Today, India is the world’s fastest-growing drip-irrigation market. Over the past decade, nearly 9m acres of the country have been converted to drip and other water-conserving methods of micro-irrigation, such as sprinklers. Of the converted farmland, roughly 5m acres have irrigation systems installed by Jain. * * * Drip irrigation can cost up to Rs400,000 per acre for a closely spaced crop.

(c) Note:
(i) At the bottom of the online article is a sidebar titled “India Grapples with Serious Water Challenge; How drip irrigation can help sustain a growing nation” as seen in the print).
("Although greater industrial demand for water is partly responsible, agriculture is the primary culprit, accounting for roughly 84 per cent of the country’s total water use")

Excerpt in the window of the print: It is estimated that drip irrigation reduces water use in agriculture by 30-60 per cent

(ii) Jainism. BBC, undated.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/jainism/

Translated as 耆那教 in Taiwan.

A Jain is an obverser of the religion which has no god or spiritual being.
(iii) drip irrigation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drip_irrigation
(section 1 History)
(iii) At today's exchange rate (Rs1= $0.022), Rs400,000 per acre = $8,800 per acre.
(iv) The print edition of the FT article has a graphic that are similar to the graphic in Wiki.



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