Agricultural Mechanization in China

choi

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(1) Promotion of Agriculture Mechanization Benefits Farmers. CRI, Mar. 31,
2010.
http://english1.cri.cn/4406/2009/03/31/1981s470075.htm

Quote:

"Still a farmer, Li Chen started utilizing rice-transplanting machines in
2003. Afterwards, he made a comparison between the output total of hand-
transplanted rice and that planted by machines.

"'Across 9 hectares of land, I transplanted rice shoots in an area of 7
hectares with machines. The rest was transplanted by hand. With similar
field management and the same amount of fertilizer, the output of machine-
transplanted rice per hectare outnumbered that of hand-transplanted rice by
1,200 kilograms. So after that, more and more farmers asked me to transplant
rice shoots with machines in their paddy-fields.'

"At the moment, more than 90 percent of the rice-planting work in Changzhou
is done by machines. As agriculture mechanization has achieved a certain
level in the city, many farmers have transferred to work to other sectors of
the economy. * * * Meanwhile, farmers who still plant rice can now plant a
large area of paddy-fields with improved output thanks to the application of
these machines. As a result, their incomes are also rising.

My comment:
(a) Mr. Li on the side operates an enterprise provide agricultural machines
rental service. He may be self-serving. However, if the outcome is as
dramatic as you assert--output halved--I doubt he could maintain his
business long.
(b) Go to the home page, click "About Us" and you will find this:

"China Radio International , (CRI) is the only overseas
broadcaster in the People's Republic of China. CRI was founded
on December 3, 1941 and is owned and operated by the state.

"CRI is one of the "three central media organizations in China"
along with China National Radio (CNR) and China Central
Television (CCTV).

(2) China's comprehensive agricultural mechanization level to exceed 48.8%
in 2009. People's Daily, Dec. 22, 2009.
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90778/98505/6848923.html
("the central government has allocated 13 billion yuan in subsidies for
agricultural machinery purchases in 2009 and 3.43 million sets of various
agricultural machinery was purchased, benefiting three million rural
households")

My comment: Beijing has sharply increased subsidy for Chinese farmers to buy
agricultural machines over the years. The dramatic uplifting in 2009 is
similar to Beijing's subsidies in other purchases, such automobiles and
household appliances, all part of economic stimulus by Beijing. Still, do
you think Beijing will do this (subsidy for mechanization) if the benefit is
as minuscule as you maintain? Beijing often shoots itself in the foot but
to say it always does that is an overstatement.

--
※ 来源:．一路BBS http://yilubbs.com [FROM: 128.197.0.0]

※ 修改:．choi 于 May  6 18:17:15 修改本文．[FROM: 128.197.0.0]

choi

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(1) "Presently, the United States is the world's most advanced and innovative rice producer." American Rice, Inc.
http://www.amrice.com/6-0.cfm

So I will introduce US first. (When I have time tomorrow, I will discuss Taiwan, whose mechanization of raising rice is modeled after Japan's.)

(2) How Rice Grows. California Rice Commission (CRC), undated.
http://www.calrice.org/Environment/How+Rice+Grows.htm

The web page states, "Flying at 100 mph, planes plant the fields from the air. The heavy seeds sink into the furrows and begin to grow."

(a) Rice Seeds Are Sown By Plane. San Jose Evening News, Apr. 4, 1947 (as retrieved by Google News).
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1983&dat=19470404&id=kEIwAAAAIBAJ&sjid=SaQFAAAAIBAJ&pg=3792,3965206

(b) Chinese Sow Rice by Plane. Associated Press, July 10, 1978 (appearing in The Tuscaloosa News; retrieved by Google News).
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1817&dat=19780710&id=3wgdAAAAIBAJ&sjid=5Z4EAAAAIBAJ&pg=2755,2387464

(3) Facts. USA Rice Federation, undated.
http://www.usarice.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=671&Itemid=386

Rice production by state in dereasing order: Arkansas, California, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas and Missouri.

(a) While in this web page, do not forget to download the "Facts About USA Rice Brochure" which states in part: "Because of the large investments required for irrigation facilities, farm sizes and production levels for rice must be large enough to justify such heavy fixed expenditures."

My comment: But American rice farmers own the machines whereas Taiwanese rent.

(4) Rice: Backgrounds. Economic Research Service, US Department of Agriculture.
http://www.ers.usda.gov/briefing/rice/background.htm

Quote:

"Each of these regions generally specializes in a specific type of rice, which, in the United States, is referred to by length of grain—long, medium, and short.

"All U.S. rice is produced in irrigated fields, achieving some of the highest yields in the world. Producers in the United States can apply seed aerially in dry or flooded fields, or drill or broadcast seed into dry fields. Fertilizers, insecticides, and pesticides can also be applied by air. California producers seed primarily by air directly into flooded fields. Except for parts of southwest Louisiana and the Texas Gulf Coast, most producers in the South drill seed.

(4) Seed drill
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seed_drill
("Multi-tube iron seed drills were invented by the Chinese in the 2nd century BC. This multi-tube seed drill has been credited with giving China an efficient food production system that allowed it to support its large population for millennia. It has been conjectured that the seed drill was introduced in Europe following contacts with China")

Note: broadcast (vt): "to scatter or sow (as seed) over a broad area."
www.m-w.com

(5) Rice
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rice
(Section 4.6: United States)

My comment: Neither S Carolina nor Georgia produces rice nowadays.

※ 修改:．choi 于 May  6 18:43:30 修改本文．[FROM: 128.197.0.0]

choi

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Some Chinese keep saying that manually raising crops is better, because yield (tons per hectare) in China is twice as high as that in US. But they (Chinese) do not supply any numbers to back up the claim.

Here is an analysis.

Fred Gale, China at a Glance: A Statistical Overview of China’s Food and
Agriculture.
http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/aib775/aib775e.pdf

Quote:

"Table B-4 Comparison of agricultural yields and input per hectare of
cropland, China and United States, 1997

Item .............................Unit .......China...World....US
Production per hectare of land:

Rice, paddy ........................Tons ........6.2 ....3.9 .....7.0
Wheat ..............................Tons ........3.7 ....2.7 .....2.8
Corn ...............................Tons ........4.6 ....4.3 .....8.6
Soybeans ...........................Tons ........1.7 ....2.2 .....2.6
Vegetables .........................Tons .......18.4 ...15.7 ....17.1
Fertilizer consumption per hectare..Kilograms..271......94......111
Farm workers per 100 hectares1 .....Number.....310 .....82 .......2
Land irrigated .....................Percent ....40 .....18 ......13
Tractors per 1,000 hectares ........Number ....,.6......18 ......27



My comment:
(a) The analysis is identified at the footer of each page with "China’s
Food and Agriculture: Issues for the 21st Century / AIB-775."
(b) Indeed, the analysis is an abstract of

Fred Gale (editor), China’s Food and Agriculture: Issues for the 21st
Century. Market and Trade Economics Division, Economic Research Service (ERS
), U.S. Department of Agriculture. Agriculture Information Bulletin ("AIB")
No. 775. Apr. 1, 2002.
http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/aib775/
(c) The data in the quotation speak itself.
(i) The year is 1997 when agricultural mechanization was little in China.
(ii) Except for wheat yield  (where America's was 75% of China's), US led
China in all other food crops. Compared with China, however, US used less
fertilizer (only 40% of China's), less irrigation (30%) and more tractors (4
.5 times) AND much fewer far workers.

【 在 choi 的大作中提到: 】
: (1) "Presently, the United States is the world's most advanced and innovative rice producer." American Rice, Inc.
: http://www.amrice.com/6-0.cfm
: So I will introduce US first. (When I have time tomorrow, I will discuss Taiwan, whose mechanization of raising rice is modeled after Japan's.)
: (以下引言省略...)

--

choi

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Agricultural mechanization in Taiwwan

(1) Farms in Taiwan are small, averaging 1.1 hectares (2.7 acres) of cultivable land per farm family. Since there is an oversupply of rice, the government has encouraged farmers to grow soybeans, wheat, and corn, which are more profitable.

(2) An overview.

Din-Sue Fon, Technology Development Process and Experiences on Small Farm Mechanization in Taiwan. Department of Bio-industrial Mechanics Engineering, National Taiwan Univ. 國立臺灣大學生物產業機電工程系, undated (sometime after 1998 but not much later).
http://www.agnet.org/library/eb/569/eb569.pdf
(abstract: "In Taiwan, the progress of agricultural mechanization, along with automation, has been significant in the past 30 years. The production of rice, the main crop, has been fully mechanized from preparing the land, to transplanting, spraying, harvesting, and drying. Planting other crops such as vegetables is also mechanized. Although the majority of farmlands is small, the degree of their mechanization is as high as 98%. A variety of locally manufactured innovative farm machinery has struck a growing market share in Taiwan and overseas, particularly in Japan. These products, which used to be patterned after Japanese designs whose capacities were modified to suit local needs, are discussed in this paper.")


My comment:
(a) Prof. Din-Sue Fon 馮丁樹
http://www.bime.ntu.edu.tw/teacher/info/prof01.html

(2) Edamame.

Shanmugasundaram S and Yan M-R, Mechanization of vegetable soybean production in Taiwan. p. 167–172. In: T.A. Lumpkin and S. Shanmugasundaram (Compilers), 2nd Int. Vegetable Soybean Conf., Washington State Univ., Pullman (2001).
http://www.avrdc.org/pdf/soybean/mechanization.pdf
(Locally designed and manufactured machines replaced Japanese ones)

My comment:
(a) World Vegetable Center
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Vegetable_Center
(AVRDC – The World Vegetable Center is an international, not-for-profit institute for vegetable research and developmen; Founded in 1971 as the Asian Vegetable Research and Development Center; headquartered in County of Tainan, Taiwan)

(b) The text mentioned "Chia-Nan area," where Chia-nan is 嘉南, short for 嘉南平原/嘉義和台南.

(c) Why is it called "vegetable soybean"?

Because the end product is NOT the mature soybean, but edamame.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edamame
(baby soybeans in the pod; Japanese name edamame 枝豆; In Chinese, young soybeans are known as 毛豆 and young soybeans in the pod are known as 毛豆荚)

(d) Ruth Wang, Innovation helps Taiwan trump China in Japan's soybean market. Central News Agency, May 15, 2009.
http://www.mof.gov.tw/engweb/sp.asp?xdurl=rtNewsView.asp&xid=200905150014
(edamame)

(3) Japanese researcher praised Taiwan over Japan.
  
Fujiki H, The Structure of Rice Production in Japan and Taiwan.  Economic Development and Cultural Change (publisher: The University of Chicago Press), 47: 387-400 (1999).
("In short, Taiwanese farmers utilize a relatively small number of machines more efficiently than Japanese farms in the Non-Hokaido region, given an almost farm size distribution")

Note:
(a) Hiroshi FUJIKI 藤木 裕 (Bank of Japan, after graduating from Kyoto Univ.)
(b) I do not provide a link, because the paper (based on thesis) is in pdf format that REQUIRES Japanese language. Once you "google" the title, click "Quick View" for html format.

【 在 choi 的大作中提到: 】
: Some Chinese keep saying that manually raising crops is better, because yield (tons per hectare) in China is twice as high as that in US. But they (Chinese) do not supply any numbers to back up the claim.
: Here is an analysis.
: Fred Gale, China at a Glance: A Statistical Overvi
: (以下引言省略...)

--

choi

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Raising Sweet Potato in Taiwan and US

(1) Sweet potato
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_Potato
(Ipomoea batatas; The young leaves and shoots are sometimes eaten as greens;
The sweet potato is only distantly related to the potato (Solanum tuberosum
); Sweet potatoes are native to the tropical parts of South America, and
were domesticated there at least 5000 years ago)

Quote:

"According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) statistics, world
production in 2004 was 127,000,000 tonnes. The majority comes from China,
with a production of 105,000,000 tonnes [or 80% of world] from 49,000 km2.
About half of the Chinese crop is used for livestock feed.

"Per-capita production is greatest in countries where sweet potatoes are a
staple of human consumption, led by Papua New Guinea at 550 kg[6] per person
per year, the Solomon Islands at 160 kg, Burundi and Rwanda[7] at 130 kg
and Uganda at 100 kg.


"In the U.S., North Carolina, the leading state in sweet potato production,
provided 38.5% of the 2007 U.S. production of sweet potatoes" followed by
California, Mississippi and Louisiana (in that order)

"Because they are sown by vine cuttings rather than seeds, sweet potatoes
are relatively easy to plant. Because the rapidly growing vines shade out
weeds, little weeding is needed

(2) Planting (of cuttings) is easy. So I will concentrate on mechanical
harvesting. Taiwan rarely grows potatoes, so I will use sweet potato as an
example of mechanically harvesting tubers in general.

(a) M. Traynor, Sweet Potato Production Guide for the Top End. DEPARTMENT OF
PRIMARY INDUSTRY, FISHERIES AND MINES
Crops, Forestry and Horticulture Division, Department of Primary Industry,
Fisheries and Mines, Northern Territory, Australia; 2005.
http://www.nt.gov.au/d/Content/File/p/Vegetable/IB1.pdf
(Section 13 Maturity & Harvesting: "Before harvest most of the top growth
needs to be removed or it will become entangled in the digging machine.")

(b) ARI successfully releases a good and efficient helper, an once-over
sweet potato harvester, for harvesting sweet potatoes for energy purpose.
Agriculture Research Institute (ARI), Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan
, Taiwan; undated.
http://www.tari.gov.tw/tarie/modules/news/article.php?storyid=39
("The self-propelled, once-over harvester of sweet potato can fulfill the
functions of vine-cutting, digging, separating, conveying and temporary
storage simultaneously, thus improving the harvest efficiency, saving more
times, and reducing the cost of labors")

(3) A video clip showing AMERICAN farmers:

gregwillsie, Automatic Sweet Potato Harvester. YouTube, Oct. 1, 2008.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hObLq_60NPk

My comment: One can see that generally speaking, American harvester is
bigger than Taiwanese one, thanks to large size of farms in US.

【 在 choi 的大作中提到: 】
: Agricultural mechanization in Taiwwan
: (1) Farms in Taiwan are small, averaging 1.1 hectares (2.7 acres) of cultivable land per farm family. Since there is an oversupply of rice, the government has encouraged farmers to grow soybeans, wheat, and corn, which are more profitable.
: (2) An overview.
: (以下引言省略...)

--

choi

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Harvesting Peanuts in US and Taiwan.

(1) Introduction:
(a) Wikipedia states that in 2009 "China leads in production of peanuts
having a share of about 32.95% of overall world production, followed by
India (18%) and the United States of America (6.8%)."

(b) "The peanut plant probably originated in Brazil or Peru * * * But for as
long as people have been making pottery in South America (3,500 years or so
) they have been making jars shaped like peanuts and decorated with peanuts.
Graves of ancient Incas found along the dry western coast of South America
often contain jars filled with peanuts and left with the dead to provide
food in the afterlife."
A Short Peanut History. Virginia-Carolina Peanut Promotions (at Nashville, N
Carolina), undated.
http://www.aboutpeanuts.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=37&Itemid=72

(2) About The Peanut Industry. American Peanut Council, undated.
http://www.peanutsusa.com/USA/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.page&pid=12
(Within US, Georgia is largest peanut-producing state, head and shoulder
above the rest)

Read the section "Growing and Harvesting."

(3) 小農，黑金剛花生採收紀錄: 元長鄉頂寮村. Dec. 22, 2009.
http://mypaper.pchome.com.tw/dailyfresh/post/1320429166

Note:
(a) 元長鄉 is located at 雲林縣.
(b) 歹勢: Taiwanese for 不好意思
(c) 土豆: Taiwanese for peanuts (土豆 in China is "potato.")
(d) 黑金剛花生 transliterated as "black peanut" in Taiwan

My comment: A few photographs of peanut harvester:

"Locar XD," 花生採收機. Flickr, June 1, 2009.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/31188392@N00/3584155105/

【 在 choi 的大作中提到: 】
: Raising Sweet Potato in Taiwan and US
: (1) Sweet potato
: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_Potato
: (Ipomoea batatas; The young leaves and shoots are sometimes eaten as greens;
: The sweet potato is only distantly related to the potato (Solanum tuberosum
: (以下引言省略...)

--

choi

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In my previous posting ("Thu May  6 19:32:39 2010"), per unit US produced more than China in all crops except wheat in 1997.

The question is, "Did the gap result from US adoption of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), considering the fatc that that so far there is no commercial planting of genetically modified WHEAT?"

The answer is NO.

(1) In a previous posting, I reproduced a table from USDA that is titled "
Table B-4 Comparison of agricultural yields and input per hectare of
cropland, China and United States, 1997."

(2) Graham Brookes and Peter Barfoot, GM Crops: The First Ten Years - Global
Socio-Economic and Environmental Impacts. International Service for the
Acquisition of ASgri=Biotech Applications (ISAAA) Brief 36, 2006.
http://www.isaaa.org/resources/publications/briefs/36/download/isaaa-brief-36-2006.pdf

(a) Quote:

"1 INTRODUCTION  2005 represents the tenth planting season since genetically
modified (GM) crops were first grown
in 1996.

"Although the first commercial GM crops were planted in 1994 (tomatoes),
1996 was the first year in which a significant area (1.66 million hectares)
of crops were planted containing GM traits.

"3.1.2 Argentina  As in the US, GM HT soybeans were first planted
commercially in 1996.

(b) Figure 3 titled "Global GM crop plantings 2005 by crop 1996-2005" showed
the crop harvest from GMO  in 1996 and 1997 was insignificant compared with
the overall (crop) production. In contrast, the USDA table was based on
1997 data.

【 在 choi 的大作中提到: 】
: Harvesting Peanuts in US and Taiwan.
: (1) Introduction:
: (a) Wikipedia states that in 2009 "China leads in production of peanuts
: having a share of about 32.95% of overall world production, followed by
: India (18%) and the United States of America (6.8%
: (以下引言省略...)

--

choi

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Mechanization is important. But research as well as other aspects of
technology makes a difference also.

I will illustrate with flower industry of Taiwan and the Netherlands.

(A) Taiwan

(1) Thibault Worth, The Blossoming of the Orchid Industry; Exports have
surged largely as a result of R&D programs to develop new varietals and to
introduce greater production and transport efficiencies. American Chamber of
Commerce in Taipei, 2009.
http://www.amcham.com.tw/content/view/2671/
("Exports of Phalaenopsis have grown steadily over the past 15 years,
reaching US$50 million, or approximately half the value of the island’s
total flower exports, in 2008. * * * Taiwan’s second and third most
lucrative flower exports, Cymbidium and Oncidium, are also orchid varietals,
exported annually in quantities of over US$9 million and $7 million
respectively.")

Note:
(a) Anthurium
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthurium
(Anthurium is the name of the genus; also called Flamingo flower)

Flamingo flower is translated as 火鶴花 in Taiwan.

(b) Oncidium
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oncidium
(a genus that contains about 330 species of orchids from the subtribe
Oncidiinae of the orchid family (Orchidaceae); Its name is derived from the
Greek word "onkos", meaning "swelling". This refers to the callus at the
lower lip)

* Oncidium is translated as 鉤瓣蘭 in Taiwan.
* The noun callus is defined as "a thickening of or a hard thickened area on
skin or bark." In human, it is called 硬皮/老繭.

(c) Houli 台中縣后里鄉
(d) Cymbidium
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cymbidium
("The name is derived from the Greek word kumbos, meaning 'hole, cavity'. It
refers to the form of the base of the lip")
(e) Yupin Biological Technology Corp 育品生物科技股份有限公司
http://www.trade-taiwan.org/WebSiteTemp/d3.asp?v_id=16492070

Located at 嘉義縣民雄鄉; president Chang neng-yi 張能倚.
(f) orchidelirium
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orchidelirium
(g) Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fakahatchee_Strand_Preserve_State_Park
(a Florida State Park just west of Copeland, Florida. It is located in the
Fakahatchee Strand, a thread of forested swamp in Big Cypress, part of the
Florida Everglades, on SR 29)
(h) The genus of Eustoma 桔梗花
(i) Pachira aquatica
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guiana_chestnut
(also known as Guiana chestnut among other common names)

My comment:
(a) To date, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) allows only
Taiwan--not the Netherlands or others--to import orchid with growth medium.
(b) Mr. Worth's report stated, "Another problem is transportation." See (B)
at the bottom.


(2) The Story of Taiwan's Industry Clusters  #2 Orchid Industry. Government
of Taiwan, October 2009.

http://www.taiwan.gov.tw/ct.asp?xItem=26314&ctNode=1973&mp=1001

My comment: The others in this series are luxury yacht, Saxophone and
precision machinery.

(3) Taiwan's annual flower exports hit US$100 million. China Post (Taipei),
Nov. 4, 2007.
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/headlines/2007/11/04/50084/Taiwan%27s-annual.htm

By comparison, "China's exports of fresh cut flowers in 2007 amounted to $30
.56 million U.S. dollars." The top three export markets (for China) were
Japan, Singapore and Hing Kong, accounting for 63, 9 and 7% respectively.
Carnation, Chrysanthemum and rose made up the top three cut flower export,
representing 41, 21 and 14% by value.
Xu Xiangyu, Chen Yi, Li Chunyan, Chinese Flower International Trade Status
Analysis in 2007. CFNA Flower Branch/Beijing Huake Runnong Consulting Ltd, 2008.
http://www.hortiflorexpo.com/hydt04en.asp


(B) The Netherlands

Kevin Alexander, The Crazy! Unbelievable! Far-flung! Adventures of . . . a
Flower?  In an era of instant gratification, we stop and smell the lilacs.
Boston Globe, Mar. 8, 2009.
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/magazine/articles/2009/03/08/the_crazy_unbelievable_far_flung_adventures_of____a_flower/

Note:
(a) Please read web page 2 that starts with "The lilac is a forcing shrub--
it can be made to produce flowers ahead of its natural season."
(b) Syringa
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syringa
("The genus name Syringa is derived from syrinx meaning a hollow tube or
pipe, and refers to the broad pith in the shoots in some species, easily
hollowed out to make reed pipes and flutes in early history")

Please click "syrinx" in this page.

【 在 choi 的大作中提到: 】
: In my previous posting ("Thu May  6 19:32:39 2010"), per unit US produced more than China in all crops except wheat in 1997.
: The question is, "Did the gap result from US adoption of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), considering the fatc that that so far there is no commercial planting of genetically modified WHEAT?"
: (以下引言省略...)

--

choi

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Beijing promotes potato.

Lauren Keane, China pins food-security hopes on humble potato. Washington
Post, May 31, 2010.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/30/AR2010053003751.html?sub=AR

(1) Quote:

"Potatoes need less water to grow than rice or wheat, and they yield far
more calories per acre.

"China produces and consumes more potatoes than any other country. But that'
s largely because of its huge population. The Chinese lag in per capita
terms, eating one-third the amount of potatoes that Russians do and two-
thirds the amount Americans eat.

"The average acre of potato plants in China yields far fewer edible spuds
than in other developing countries, mostly because farmers plant cheap,
disease-prone seed.


(2) Note:
(a) Jiutiaolong 湖南省益阳市资阳区香铺仑乡九条龙村
(b) spud
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spud
(c) Liang Xisen 梁希森
(d) potato
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potato
(Potatoes are the world's fourth largest food crop, following rice, wheat,
and maize (in that order); potato has a single origin in the area of
southern Peru; today over 99% of all cultivated potatoes worldwide are
descendants of a subspecies indigenous to south-central Chile; remains an
essential crop in Europe (especially eastern and central Europe), where per
capita production is still the highest in the world; Table titled "Top
Potato Producers in 2006 (million metric tons) shows China (70), Russia (39)
, India (24), US (20), ukraine (19), Germany (10), Poland (9))

Section 1 Etymology: "The English word potato comes from Spanish patata (the
name used in Spain). * * * The name potato originally referred to a type of
sweet potato * * * The English confused the two plants one for the other.


(3) My comment:

The LA Times report mentions "seed" many times. What it means is "seed tuber
" or "seed potato" referred to in section 2 Description of Wikipedia, which
also talks about "true seeds" after flowering and fruiting.

"The potatoes themselves are generally grown from the eyes of another potato
and not from [true] seed."
Section 7 Cultivation, Wikipedia.

【 在 choi 的大作中提到: 】
: Mechanization is important. But research as well as other aspects of
: technology makes a difference also.
: I will illustrate with flower industry of Taiwan and the Netherlands.
: (A) Taiwan
: (1) Thibault Worth, The Blossoming of the Orchid I
: (以下引言省略...)

--

choi

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Roger Parloff, Monsanto's seeds of discord. Fortune, May 11, 2010.
http://money.cnn.com/2010/05/06/news/companies/monsanto_patent_full.fortune/

(A) Quote:

(1) three consecutive paragraphs:

"After more than a decade of additional research and development, Monsanto introduced its first two commercial transgenic crop traits in 1996: Roundup Ready for soybeans and Bollgard cotton, which provided resistance to three loathed insect pests.

"Last year 91% of the soybeans planted in the U.S. were genetically modified, and at least 92% of them contained Monsanto's Roundup Ready trait. Similarly, about 88% of the country's cotton is now genetically modified, and 95% of those plants contain at least one patented Monsanto trait. [Paragraph 1 says that "70% of the field corn" has at least one patented Monsanto gene in it]

"Yes, genetically engineered seed costs more -- easily 30% to 80% more than conventional seed -- but not nearly what farmers judge they can earn in increased yield or save in reduced pesticide, herbicide, tilling, and airplane-spraying costs.  

(2) "Today, Monsanto's Roundup Ready is the only glyphosate-tolerance trait commercially available in a world where glyphosate is the overwhelmingly prevalent herbicide. (Monsanto's patent on Roundup weed killer expired in 2000. Monsanto's gross profits from Roundup Ready and other traits eclipsed those from Roundup in 2003.)

(3) "very likely most farmers aren't going to start saving their own seed for replanting even if Monsanto lets them do so. That's because the yield of any crop is determined not just by the transgenic traits artificially introduced into it but also by the quality of its "germplasm" -- all the other genes that make up a given seed variety's genome. Germplasm developers are continually improving each seed variety through conventional breeding techniques -- that is, crossing high-performing plants with one another. By doing so, they can improve most corn and soybean variety yields by about 1% to 1.5% a year. If a farmer saves seed from his own harvest, he'll miss out on that annual boost.


(B) Note:
(1) Because  Hugh Grant is "Glaswegian"--so depicted midway down the article--he (mis)pronounced "uncharted territory" (paragraph 4) as "uncharted terri-tree" (paragraph 1).

(a) Glaswegian (n, adj): of Glasgow (the spelling change is similar to Norwegian, from Norway)
(b) Paragraph 1 describes the name as "entertainingly named" as a living British actor shares the same name but is much more famous.
(2) Paragraph 3 describes Roundup Ready as a gene ("the Monsanto herbicide-tolerance gene known as Roundup Ready").

Where does the gene come from?  Read the paragraph that begins with "Looking in Monsanto's waste pools, its scientists found a bacterium that thrived in Roundup-laden sludge, and then isolated the gene that enabled it to do so."

(3) The chemical composition of Roundup (trademark of Monsanto) is glyphosate.

(a) Shikimic acid
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shikimic_acid
(an important biochemical intermediate in plants and microorganisms (but not animals); Its name comes from the Japanese flower shikimi (シキミ, 樒, Illicium anisatum), from which it was first isolated)

Illicium anisatum is called 莽 in China and 白花八角 (八角科 八角茴香屬) in Taiwan.
http://www.fotopedia.com/items/flickr-760758855

(b) Web Figure 13.2.A   "In the shikimic acid pathway, the aromatic amino acids are synthesized from carbohydrate precursors derived from the pentose phosphate pathway (D-erythrose-4-phosphate) and glycolysis (phosphoenolpyruvic acid)."*
http://4e.plantphys.net/image.php?id=129

* This is the heading for the Figure.

(i) The aromatic amino acids above refers to tryptophan, phenylalanine and tyrosine (in the three SHADED rectangles).

Animals including humans simply do not synthesize aromatic amino acids THIS way. In other words, we synthesize them in anotehr pathway which does not involve shikimic acid as an intermediary.

(ii) Glyphosate block EPSP synthase, which converts shikimic acid to EPSP (3-Enolpyruvyl shikimic acid-5-phosphate), where "pyruvyl" supplies the first P in the acronym and "phosphate" supplies the second P.
(iv) That is why the Fortune article states, "Glyphosate has very low toxicity for animals, but for a short duration -- before rainwater dissolves it into harmless residues -- it will kill almost any green plant onto which it is sprayed. Though a farmer had to be careful about exactly when he applied Roundup to his fields -- lest he kill his crop along with the weeds -- the product achieved cheaper, safer, and more effective weed suppression than anything before it."


(4) gelcap (n): "a capsule-shaped tablet coated with gelatin for easy swallowing"
(5) the online version of teh article is missing with "David" in "David Boies" of "The parallels are not lost on DuPont's longtime outside counsel Boies, chairman of Boies Schiller & Flexner."

Mr. Boies represented US Department of Justice (under the Clinton administration) in US v. Microsoft, with a mixed outcome.
(6) Agrobacterium tumefaciens
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agrobacterium_tumefaciens
(paragraph 1: "Agrobacterium tumefaciens is the causal agent of crown gall disease (the formation of tumours) in over 140 species of dicot. It is a rod shaped, Gram negative soil bacterium (Smith et al., 1907). Symptoms are caused by the insertion of a small segment of DNA (known as the T-DNA, for 'transfer DNA') into the plant cell, which is incorporated at a semi-random location into the plant genome.")

Scientifically speaking, T-DNA is a plasmid. Crown galls are common and seen in roots or stems.
(7) The articles remarks, "Nevertheless, having had the foresight to license your product broadly is no defense to an antitrust suit, as Microsoft itself found out in the late 1990s. Similarly, having come by a monopoly honestly (and ingeniously and daringly) is no defense to a Sherman Act charge."

Sherman Act was "passed in 1890 and was named after its author, Senator John Sherman, an Ohio Republican." Wikipedia. It is the main legislation to combat trust (or monopoly).
(8) DuPont's GAT stands for Glyphosate ALS Tolerance. What ALS means here, I am clueless.

【 在 choi 的大作中提到: 】
: Beijing promotes potato.
: Lauren Keane, China pins food-security hopes on humble potato. Washington
: Post, May 31, 2010.
: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/30/AR2010053003751.html?sub=AR
: (1) Quote:
: (以下引言省略...)

--

choi

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Newfangled flowers (colors or shapes):

(1) Taiwan is in the vanguard to create new flowers, which command high prices: not just orchids but Anthurium also.

黃淑莉, 新品種火鶴 粉紅豹、綠精靈再創奇蹟. 自由時報, Mar. 10, 2010.
http://www.libertytimes.com.tw/2010/new/mar/10/today-life10.htm

Note:
(a) 火鶴花 Anthurium (genus name; also known as Flamingo flower)
(b) 切花 cut flower
(c) The report stated 火鶴花 "是國內切花出口第二名."  第一名文心蘭 (Oncidium; "屬名是由onkos(瘤)與eidos(形)兩字合成,這是根據其唇瓣基部有瘤狀的肉質突起而命名的").
(d) 粉紅豹 Pink Panthers
(e) 綠精靈 Green Elves
(f) 花卉研究中心主任 Floriculture Research Center


(2) This WSJ reports that Japan's Suntory develops BLUE roses, and that how a Pennsylvanian florist forces non-native Himalayan blue poppy to flower.

Ann Mari Chaker, Mad About Blue in the Garden. Wall Street Journal, June 2, 2010.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704366504575278581629785638.html

Note:
(a) Meconopsis betonicifolia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meconopsis_betonicifolia
(also known as Himalayan blue poppy)
(b) Temple University
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_University
(public; founded in 1884 by Dr. Russell Conwell, who led the Grace Baptist Church at Philadelphia and began tutoring students, later dubbed "night owls," in the basement of the church. The school became known as Temple College in 1888, and became a fully accredited university in 1907)

(c) For "larkspur," see Delphinium
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delphinium
("The common name, Larkspur [sic; should be larkspur], is shared with the closely related genus Consolida * * * Other names are, lark's heel (Shakespeare), lark's claw and knight's spur. The scientific name comes from the Latin for dolphin, alluding to the shape of the opening flower")
(d) anthocyanin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthocyanin
(water-soluble vacuolar pigments that may appear red, purple, or blue according to pH)
(e) blue fern in Malaysia
http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kamsani/1/1265717629/tpod.html
(f) Florida International University
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida_International_University
(public; located in Miami-Dade County, Florida; established in 1965)
(g) Press release: Introducing "SUNTORY blue rose APPLAUSE;" World's First* Blue Roses Available at Last. Suntory, Oct. 20, 2009.
http://www.suntory.com/news/2009/10592.html

Applause 喝采 (trademark)

(h) For "gentians," see Gentiana
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gentiana
("The name is a tribute to an Gentius, an Illyrian king who was thought to have found out that the herbs had tonic properties.")

In this page, there is a photo of as well as a link to Gentiana septemfida.
(i) Alpine forget-me-not (Eritrichium nanum)
http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?where-genre=Plant&where-taxon=Eritrichium+nanum
(j) Nepeta cataria
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nepeta_cataria
(also known as catmint)
(k) Perovskia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perovskia
(a genus commonly known as Russian sage)
(l) Salvia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvia

【 在 choi 的大作中提到: 】
: Roger Parloff, Monsanto's seeds of discord. Fortune, May 11, 2010.
: http://money.cnn.com/2010/05/06/news/companies/monsanto_patent_full.fortune/
: (A) Quote:
: (1) three consecutive paragraphs:
: "After more than a decade of additional research a
: (以下引言省略...)

--

choi

本文通过一路BBS站telnet客户端发布

The press release said, "In Japanese, APPLAUSE rhymes with rose."

What it meant was that SUNTORY blue rose APPLAUSE™ サントリー    ブル
ー  ローズ   アプローズ has the same Katakana 片仮名 (used for imported loan
words) for "rose" and the last two letters of "applause."

The Japanese pronunciation for
(a) rose 薔薇 【ばら】  (English pronunciation: "bara")
and (b) 喝采  【かっさい】 (English pronunciation: "kassai")
can not form the basis of the above statement.


-------------my previous posting
* * *
(g) Press release: Introducing "SUNTORY blue rose APPLAUSE;" World's First*
Blue Roses Available at Last. Suntory, Oct. 20, 2009.
http://www.suntory.com/news/2009/10592.html

Applause 喝采 (trademark)
* * *

【 在 choi 的大作中提到: 】
: Newfangled flowers (colors or shapes):
: (1) Taiwan is in the vanguard to create new flowers, which command high prices: not just orchids but Anthurium also.
: 黃淑莉, 新品種火鶴 粉紅豹、綠精靈再創奇蹟. 自由時報, Mar. 10, 2010.
: http://www.libertytimes.com.tw/2010/new/mar/10/tod
: (以下引言省略...)

--

choi

本文通过一路BBS站telnet客户端发布

(A)
(1) Maria Kolesnikova and Tony C. Dreibus, Russia Fights for World Dominance in Wheat. Bloomberg BusinessWeek, June 3, 2010.
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_24/b4182011726327.htm
("Russians improve their growing practice and storage facilities" and leap from a waste basket to granary)

Note:
(a) Taganrog
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taganrog
(b) Sea of Azov
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_of_Azov
(linked by the Strait of Kerch to the Black Sea to the south)
(c) winter wheat
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_wheat
(planted from September to December in the Northern Hemisphere; sprouts before freezing occurs, then becomes dormant until the soil warms in the spring; winter wheat needs a few weeks of cold before being able to flower; It is ready to be harvested by early July; It was brought to Kansas by German-Russian Mennonites in the 19th century)
(d) The report states, "Vasily Pechersky, 64, who runs Valars' 41,230-hectare
Sarmat farm, north of Taganrog, says his winter wheat yield was 4.4 tons per
hectare, on a par with U.S. yields. He credits his U.S.-made New Holland
tractors and harvesters as well as higher use of fertilizers and new technologies. 'One New Holland harvester stands in for two Russian-made ones,' he says."


(2) To a degree, China's agricultural production also soar, especially in early 1980s when farmers were unshackled. Obesity follows, especially in urban areas.

Frederik Balfour, Chinese Discovers the XXL Way of Life. Bloomberg BusinessWeek, June 3, 2010.
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_24/b4182013742927.htm?campaign_id=rss_topStories

My comment:
(a) The print but not online version of the report has an illustration: "30%  overweight Chinese as a share of adult population"  
(b) The text of the report states: "Just to compare, the American Medical Assn. estimates that 68 percent of U.S. adults are overweight."

Note:
(a) The "figure" in "figures Barry Popkin" is a transitive or intransitive verb defined as "COMPUTE."
(b) Another "figure" in "the low-fat foods and weight-loss programs that figure so prominently in the U.S. Sales of soy and fruit bars" is an intransitive verb defined as "be or appear important  <the vice-president really figured in the company>"

Both (a) and (b) are from Webster (3rd ed, 1961).

* The "Sales" in the quotation is a mistake, which shoul dbe "sales."

(c) Otsuka (China) Investment 大冢(中国)投资有限公司
(d) Zhongti Beili Health Club 中体倍力健身俱乐部
http://www.csibally.com/

Beili 倍力 is a mere transliteration of Barry, one of the two investors.

(e) Changhai Hospital 上海长海医院
(f) baritrics
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bariatrics
(the branch of medicine that deals with the causes, prevention, and treatment of obesity. The term bariatrics was created around 1965, from the Greek root bar- ("weight," as in barometer), suffix -iatr ("treatment," as in pediatrics), and suffix -ic ("pertaining to"))
(g) for "Lap-band," see
Adjustable gastric band
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adjustable_gastric_band
(A laparoscopic adjustable gastric band, commonly referred to as a lap band, is an inflatable silicone device that is placed around the top portion of the stomach, via laparoscopic surgery, in order to treat obesity)

So this "lap" in "Lap-Band" is the first three letters of "laparoscope" 腹腔鏡.

(h) The report cites

Yang W, Lu J, Weng J, Jia W, Ji L, Xiao J, Shan Z, Liu J, Tian H, Ji Q, Zhu D, Ge J, Lin L, Chen L, Guo X, Zhao Z, Li Q, Zhou Z, Shan G and He J, Prevalence of Diabetes among Men and Women in China. New England Jounal of Medicine, 362: 1090-1101 (Mar. 25, 2010).                
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/abstract/362/12/1090
(The age-standardized prevalence of total diabetes (which included both previously diagnosed diabetes and previously undiagnosed diabetes) was 9.7% (10.6% among men and 8.8% among women), accounting for 92.4 million adults with diabetes (50.2 million men and 42.2 million women))


(B) Kirk Johnson, Going to War Against Grasshoppers. New York Times, June 10, 2010.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/10/us/10grasshopper.html?scp=1&sq=grasshoppers&st=cse
("Dimilin [] kills grasshoppers indirectly, by hampering their ability to molt between growth stages")
(a) locust
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Locust
("Locust is the swarming phase of short-horned grasshoppers of the family Acrididae" of which Melanoplus is a genus)
(b) Laura Ingalls Wilder
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laura_Ingalls_Wilder
(1867-1957; notable work: Little House on the Prairie)
(c) Mormon cricket
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mormon_cricket
(The Mormon cricket is flightless, but capable of traveling up to two kilometers a day in its swarming phase; read section 6: Historical)

※ 修改:．choi 于 Jun 10 17:37:14 修改本文．[FROM: 128.197.0.0]

※ 修改:．choi 于 Jun 10 18:30:20 修改本文．[FROM: 128.197.0.0]

choi

本文通过一路BBS站telnet客户端发布

In my posting a few hours today. I just added the following under "Note."


(h) The report cites

Yang W, Lu J, Weng J, Jia W, Ji L, Xiao J, Shan Z, Liu J, Tian H, Ji Q, Zhu D, Ge J, Lin L, Chen L, Guo X, Zhao Z, Li Q, Zhou Z, Shan G and He J, Prevalence of Diabetes among Men and Women in China. New England Jounal of Medicine, 362: 1090-1101 (Mar. 25, 2010).                
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/abstract/362/12/1090
(The age-standardized prevalence of total diabetes (which included both previously diagnosed diabetes and previously undiagnosed diabetes) was 9.7% (10.6% among men and 8.8% among women), accounting for 92.4 million adults with diabetes (50.2 million men and 42.2 million women))

【 在 choi 的大作中提到: 】
: (A)
: (1) Maria Kolesnikova and Tony C. Dreibus, Russia Fights for World Dominance in Wheat. Bloomberg BusinessWeek, June 3, 2010.
: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_24/b4182011726327.htm
: ("Russians improve their growing practice and stor
: (以下引言省略...)

--