Apr 7, 2007

Editor Studies the Chinese Apple Industry With IFTA

In July, I traveled with the International Fruit Tree Association (IFTA) on its study tour to China. More than 80 people were on the trip, including industry members from all over the world. Rather than trying to cover all of China’s apple industry in a single article, I want to share with you excerpts from my travel journal from the 17-day trip. I’m hoping I was able to capture a little of what was the most amazing trip I’ve ever taken. I’m also offering you some of my favorite pictures from the trip. To see more of my photos, visit http://www.fruitgrowersnews.com/pages/gallery.php.

July 11

I’m scared. I can’t believe I’m flying halfway around the world with a group of people I don’t even know. I can’t believe I’m going to China. I can’t believe I’m going to be out of the office for more than two weeks.

This is amazing. My first trip abroad – and it’s to such a wonderful place. My heart was beating so fast when I was boarding the plane. I’ve never been on a plane for so long. From the quick introductions in the airplane terminal, everyone seemed really nice. Hopefully, it’ll be as easy to get to know people as it has been at all the other fruit meetings I’ve been to. China, though, is different than a wine tour to Ontario or a trade show in Wenatchee. I’m scared, but it’s a good scared.

July 12

Somehow, I lost this day. Was it because it was spent traveling? Was it lost in the time-zone change? Or was I too exhausted to write? I’m thinking it’s a combination of the three.

July 13

Today, we visited Laiyang Agricultural University in Qingdao. It’s a huge school and seems to be fairly modern. The one thing it was lacking was air conditioning, and this Midwestern girl doesn’t handle 90? F weather and 90 percent humidity very well. From the looks of our group, not many of us do.

The university was founded in 1951 and is spread across two campuses. Students there can choose from courses in 18 colleges. One thing our presenters were particularly proud of was the maize (corn) program – about 25 percent of the new maize varieties approved in the Shandong province came out of Laiyang.

The university is focusing on apples as well, working on variety development and trials – especially for new apple juice concentrate varieties. The varieties the researchers are looking at all have columnar growing habits. Some of the researchers are working on a new theory of pigmentation mechanics for apples.

In addition to apples and maize, Laiyang researchers are looking at transgenic peanuts and tomatoes.

Our first Chinese apple orchard visit is to what our host called a “national example of an orchard.” The trees are short, but they’re not on dwarfing rootstocks. Growers here use a “special pruning technique” to keep trees short since no one uses ladders. This special pruning technique is cutting the tops off the trees.

All the trees are covered in bags. It looks like they’re growing a crop of paper bags instead of apples. The bags serve as protection from the weather, sun and pests. It must be a real undertaking to bag every apple on every tree.

The orchard looks like a mess – are there even rows? But I suppose, since there are no tractors, there’s no reason to have to get in between the trees. And if you only have a small bit of land to work on, you might as well try to get as many trees in there as possible.

This orchard yields about 60 tons per hectare (24 tons per acre) and is about 2.5 mus in size. One mu, we’re told, is about one-sixth of an acre.

In China, growers don’t own the land. The government owns it and leases it to farmers on a 50- to 100-year term. Growers are completely free to choose what they grow. The government, our host tells us, does put quotas on farmers. Once they reach the quota, the remainder of the crop is for the farmers to sell at market.

After we spent some time in his orchard, one of the farmers invited us into his home. And we all went – complete with 162 dirty shoes. The house was much more modern than I expected, and the air conditioner was divine. I’m pretty sure our whole group crowded around it, glad to be out of the heat. I bet we looked ridiculous – like people who’d never seen such an amazing contraption. As we left the house, we were handed nice, cold apples – a fitting treat.

July 14

Today, we’re in Yantai – the city where the first studies of apples were done in China.

“We can do much better than Johnny Appleseed,” said Yuan Yonbing, our apple-industry host throughout our time in China.

1995 was the peak of development for apples in China, but much of the development happened in areas ill-suited for apple growing. So, in 1996 about 400,000 hectares (1 million acres) of apples were removed.

According to our hosts, 70 percent of the apples grown in this region are Red Fuji, 8 percent are Gala, 6 percent are Red Delicious, 2 percent are Jonagold, 1 percent is Golden Delicious and the rest is made up of a number of varieties.

China has a number of advantages for apple growing, according to our tour guides:

•Easy access to ports for international transport. A number of the main apple-growing areas are located near the coast, so transportation is convenient.

•Land is easy to come by and is inexpensive, since it is government-owned.

•Farmers don’t pay income taxes like the city-dwellers.

•Labor costs are cheap. Most families harvest their own crop, with the help of neighbors when it is available.

However, our host also pointed out a number of disadvantages to growing apples in China:

•Basic growing conditions are poor and soil organic matter is low.

•Labor can be hard to find, as whole villages are involved in apple harvest at the same time.

•Since all apples are bagged on the trees, bags are the No. 1 expense for growers. It can get expensive to bag every apple in an orchard. One person said apple growers in China use up to 200 billion bags each year.

The Chinese are working hard to improve the apple industry in their country. They’re developing new varieties and are traveling around the world to see how apples are grown elsewhere, but the main effort is to improve apple production by finding new varieties and growing practices that will work for their conditions.

Growers in China currently use a variety of methods to improve production. Among these are grass and rye cover crops, water-saving irrigation methods, artificial pollinators, flower and fruit thinning and, of course, the bagging.

Growing in China can get expensive. One village we visited had 210 households, with about 180 of them farming. The village made 5.65 million yuan on apples each year. This is about $724,400. But the spending per mu – each person gets between 1 and 2 mu to farm – can be fairly high.
Cost per mu:

Labor900 yuan ($113)

Fertilizer500 yuan ($63)

Bags1,100 yuan ($138)

Other Chemicals 250 yuan ($31)

Watering50 yuan ($6)

Reflective plastic150 yuan ($19)

This adds up to $370 per mu ($2,220 per acre). Growing apples isn’t cheap – especially when you take into account the government quota that takes away some of the apples, which don’t go toward the farmers’ incomes.

In the afternoon, we visit Yantai North Andre Juice Co. Ltd. It’s a bit of a disappointment. Nothing’s running. To top it all off, we on’t get to take any photos. As usual, it’s sweltering. Yantai North Andre Juice Co. is the largest apple juice company in the world. Ninety percent of the company’s juice concentrate goes abroad, with about 50 percent of it going to the United States.

July 15

Another busy day of apple orchard tours. The farmers are all so welcoming and warm. They all give us information – just enough information – without really revealing anything.

This orchard focuses on organic manure application, though we can’t really get anyone to tell us what exactly is in the manure. “It depends,” has become the theme of our visit so far, so it’s an expected answer. From what I can figure, the manure is a mixture of any animal manure they can find – including human.

We’re all getting used to being followed around by government cameramen. They’re trying to record everything from our notes to our nametags to our faces. It’s a little disturbing, but it goes along with the territory, I suppose.

That night, we left for Beijing. It was the longest one-hour plane ride of my life.

July 16

Today, we embark on a full day of sightseeing. Camera around my neck and sunglasses on, I am ready. First, we visit the Forbidden City. This place is amazing. There are thousands of people around. I can’t even begin to imagine what this place looked like in its glory days. Am I really in China? I still can’t believe it.

On our travels around Beijing, we drive past Tiananmen Square. It’s a huge square, and so busy. People are everywhere. There’s a huge line wrapping around the edges of the square. Our guide informs us this is the line to see the body of Chairman Mao. His body is preserved and displayed at the Mao Zedong Memorial Hall. The line must take hours to get through. The guide tells us that Mao’s body is on display during the day and in a freezer at night. Even preserved, one of Mao’s ears is apparently decaying.

After touring the city, it’s off to another smorgasbord of Chinese food. Every meal is beginning to look more like the last. I could really go for a pizza. The good news: I’m starting to get a handle on the chopsticks.

July 17

I like to think of July 17 as The Day of The Great Climb.

Today we climbed The Great Wall of China. I still can’t believe I’m doing all of these things. Let me tell ya, when they say Great Wall, they really do mean GREAT. This thing is huge. And there are two ways up: cable car or stairs.

Smart Kimberly would have taken the cable car. But the sleep-deprived, rice-fed Kimberly took the 1,100-plus steps to the top.

At the bottom of the steps, I’m at the front of the pack. But soon, I was staring at backs. Though I was one of the last to the top, I’m proud that I can say I climbed The Great Wall of China. It made for a sweaty, sticky afternoon, but I did it.

The view at the top, though stunning, wasn’t exactly what I was expecting. The misty haze of heat and pollution blocked much of the scenery, but it’s still a view I’ll never forget.

For dinner, I skip out on the planned meal and head to our hotel’s marvelously convenient Outback Steakhouse. Chicken and mashed potatoes never tasted so good.

July 18

This morning, we were supposed to meet with some representatives from the U.S. Embassy and the Foreign Agricultural Service, but they didn’t show. After waiting the obligatory hour, we had the morning free. I skipped the extra hour of shopping and went back to bed. It was a great nap.

I checked out at noon and went to lunch with the group. This time it was Dai food. Dai is one of the minority groups in China. The food was wonderful, but the entertainment was even better. There was dancing and singing, and two guys from our group decided to hit the stage with some dancing of their own.

One of the couples was celebrating their anniversary, so they bought ice cream for the lot of us. When I think back on that now, I am speechless. Who knew that ice cream could be such a luxury that I would consider selling my soul? OK, not quite, but it sure did taste delicious.

I still can’t get over how much China loves its Coke. For meals, our options for beverages are beer and Coke. If we’re lucky, we can get bottled water. And, of course, there’s tea. Between caffeine highs and alcohol dazes, China was a wild ride.

After lunch, a few of us head down to Tiananmen Square for a quick look around – and it was a quick look. We had one hour to get there, look around and get back to the bus to the airport for Xi’an. Between dodging traffic, bikes and pedestrians, it was a fairly dangerous visit. Tiananmen Square is a very powerful place, and I’m glad we took the time to visit.

We ran back to the bus to leave Beijing. It was a good three days. Was it really only three days?

July 19-20

In Xi’an, it’s two very long days of apple orchard tours – each more than a three-hour bus ride from the hotel. On our bus ride, we see some doors in the sides of caves. Our guide informs us that, yes, people do live in caves here. It stays cool in the summer and warm in the winter.

All of the local people seem very happy. Everyone is smiling and having a good time. Billboards say things like, “Be Happy.” It’s a nice message. It’s a great way to go through life, I’m sure.

In this area, we’re told that around 16 million acres of farmland has been lost to development in the last seven years. In those same seven years, they’ve lost 42 million farmers. It seems a lot of the same pressures we have in the United States are found in China as well.

In the orchards, some of us notice odd-looking contraptions. Turns out they’re bug zappers – placed there to kill leaf roller moths.

Seventy percent of production is in Fuji and Gala varieties.

On our second day of orchard tours, we visited a small village and everyone came out to see us. It was just like something you might see on TV. There were two little boys in the group who were the most friendly, happy kids we’d seen yet. Either they were happy to have us visiting, or we made for some great jokes. Either way, it was nice to see such happiness.

The farmers here have some interesting practices. They have pigs on the farm. The farmer said the pigs’ waste is used in three forms: liquid, solid and gas. The solid form is applied to the orchard floor for organic matter; the liquid waste is sprayed on the trees for pest control; and the gas collected off the methane is used for cooking and heat. I’m still trying to figure out how they collect the waste and convert it into gas for cooking.

July 21

Today is one of the days I’ve been looking forward to. We visited the Terra Cotta Warriors. It was amazing. The guide told us there are more than 6,000 warriors. They’ve only unearthed about 1,000 of them. When we walked into the first building, I nearly fell over – this is one of the most impressive things I’ve ever seen. I can’t help but think how many people’s lives have been touched by the statues: the models, the sculptors, the workers and the royalty. And now, there are the archaeologists and the thousands of visitors who have visited the statues. It’s almost unimaginable.

I went to dinner with a couple of fun people I’ve been hanging out with. It was Pizza Hut. I’ve never tasted a more delicious pizza than that one. It was absolutely heavenly.

July 22

Today, we leave for Guilin. It’s a pretty long ride to the airport. Xi’an was one of my favorite stops – I still can’t get over the Terra Cotta Warriors. When we arrive in Guilin, it’s straight to bed for me.

July 23

Today was a long one – a four-hour cruise on the Li River. Should be a nice day, though. The boat is big. It holds more than 100 people, so it’s mostly our group.

There must have been 100 or so boats going down the river at once – all in a nice line. The scenery was quite beautiful. I spent most of the cruise standing on the top level, watching the river go by. We passed several rice paddies and small farming villages, and saw a lot of water buffalo. The guide told us that’s how the farmers still do a majority of their work. It must make for long, hard days. I haven’t seen many tractors or other equipment.

They served snake wine on the boat. Yes, snake wine – complete with snakes in the bottom of the bottle. They also served us flower wine and other beverages. Lunch was prepared on the boat. It looked like they were cooking with river water. I didn’t try the snake wine, and I didn’t try the lunch.

After the boat ride, we land at a shopping market. I bought a couple of purses, for which I negotiated a cheap price. I still feel guilty doing this, but that’s how it’s done.

After I buy too many things, we head back to the hotel. It’s an hour and a half until we get back. After dinner, I went window shopping with some great people. It’s our last night in Guilin before we head to Hong Kong.

July 24

We have the morning free. I went for a walk and visited the Sun and Moon pagodas. I saw many people dancing on the sidewalks and doing tai chi. There were many children and adults playing on exercise equipment in public places.

The tour stops were unimpressive. We saw a rock that’s shaped like an elephant’s trunk. We also visited two public parks that were not much to write home about.

We caught our late flight to Hong Kong. It’s considered an international flight, so we have to go through customs. The city is beautiful at night. It’s small, though, with buildings seemingly stacked on top of each other.

July 25

We went on a tour of Hong Kong today. First, we took the cable car up to Victoria Peak, which overlooks the whole city. It’s a great view – hazy, but gorgeous. I don’t think I could ever live there. There are way too many people.

We ate lunch at a floating restaurant. It was great food. Dim Sum. It was basically dumpling everything – shrimp, pork, beef.

Our final group meal is dinner that night. The food was not good: shark fin soup, smashed walnuts. Good thing the company was fun.

July 26

I’m not looking forward to the long flight back to the United States or my nine-hour layover in San Francisco. Though I don’t get much sleep, the trip doesn’t seem nearly as long as it is. Luckily, I get myself on an earlier flight to Chicago, so my layover is there and not in San Francisco. At least I feel like I’m closer to home. I spend a six-hour night on the cold, plastic seats of Chicago’s O’Hare Airport. There’s hardly anyone around, so it’s nice and quiet.

The layover gives me a lot of time to think. This whole trip has been the experience of a lifetime. It made me love my chosen career even more. When else would I get to spend 17 days traveling with interesting, fun people who are involved in the industry I care so much about? My life is exactly where it’s supposed to be. This trip has only deepened the love I feel when I think about agriculture, farms and all of the amazing people involved in it.