We hit the Wall

Landing in Beijing, China, was a stark contrast to Texas. Our guide and interpreter, Angus Christian, met us at the airport and helped us to our motel for an eagerly anticipated tour. It would be fair to say China is busy, no matter what city we were in there was a lot going on. Street life here is no different in tempo to any city around the world, it's the culture of it's people that makes the place so interesting. A lot of businesses will have one of the 9 sons of the dragon guarding the entrance to it, protecting it from harm. Wishes above the doors of homes on red cards are common as red is an important colour for the Chinese. Red is believed to be a colour of wealth and good luck and it appears on almost everything.

Angus had meetings set up for us throughout our stay. He had arranged two interpreters to be with him to help us in our communications. Both interpreters had English sounding names, Tears and Sarite. I learnt that these names were not their true names and that a lot of Chinese pick an English name for themselves while learning English at school, which they use for most of their working life.

A meeting with Conti Asia was a very interesting meeting and Nick Rosa took us through some of the fascinating aspects of doing business in China. Many large businesses have come to China and not found success as expected. McDonald's and KFC are interesting examples of this. KFC are the most successful large foreign owned fast food outlet in China, McDonalds are not. Why? The Chinese hold the elderly in high regard and the Colonel fits that bill nicely, a clown as a mascot does not. Red is the most predominate colour scheme for KFC and they are cooking a food item they are very familiar with. It is not a place the Chinese go for a cheap meal as they can get that anywhere on the street. There is some status in being able to afford to eat there. Quite different to Australia. It shows that even something as familiar as these two businesses are not what they may appear in China.

I love Texas

Texas - the most organised and generous trip we experienced during the duration of our tour. We landed in Amarillo inside the Texas pan handle and were met by Don Gohmert and Deanna Littlefield from NRCS (Natural Resource Conservation Service). With a full sized coach waiting, a large sign in the foyer welcoming us and gifts including a leather bag and diary, I was taken aback by the generosity shown to us. It remained this way everywhere we went. As hosts, the Texans take a lot of beating. The media followed us for a large part of our trip and made the evening news with various interviews. Like Alberta, most nights finished with a meal at a local farm or business.

The farmers in the Texas pan handle face the same pressures as farmers in Australia; water, or the lack of it. Groundwater is the main supply of water in the pan handle so irrigators rely heavily on it. This will prove problematic in the long term as the aquifer they draw from has a very slow recharge. It's worthy of note that their pumps are not metered. There were also quite a few gas driven pump sites abandoned due to aquifers drying up.

A visit to Greg Methvin's property, who was growing cotton and maize in rotation on a buried drip system in light soils, was just what I'd hoped for. Fifty percent of the cost of the system was financed by NRCS. Finding efficient water systems for farmers in the Texas pan handle is high on NRCS' agenda.

Farming practices vary greatly from country to country and even state to state and Methvin farm was no exception. One case in point was the use of deep corrugations in a raised bed layout. These were about thirty centimetres long along the entire length of a furrow, excluding the furrows that take the most traffic. Greg told us they were put there to do the dual roll of stopping water running down the furrow and eroding the sandy soil out in the event of heavy rain and catching as much water as possible allowing it time to infiltrate through the profile evenly across the field rather than running to the lowest point in the field. A simple yet effective idea on light soils. The other practice I found interesting was the use of Sand Fighters (a cultivator) to work up sandy soil before strong winds were forecast. I found this somewhat puzzling as you would think this would have a devastating effect on a crop in sandy soils with high winds. Apparently, if it isn't done the wind will do more damage. Just one of those little idiosyncrasies in agriculture that I have come across travelling around the world. Texas is a windy state and the pan handle is no exception. This is why it has the greatest number of wind generators in America.

That little red thing is a train !

Everything is big in Texas, at least that's what they say. At High Plains Dairy this was true. Harry De Witt owns and operates a ten thousand head dairy herd with four and a half thousand milking cows going through a seventy-five head rotary dairy. With ten acres of air conditioned shed, it was a very large and clever set up. Harry has used his well travelled experience from working in dairies in Holland to Canada to create a very efficient large scale dairy. The shed is laid out on an inward two percent slope meeting in the middle and draining across a sand trap tapering away from the milking parlour. The slope of the shed allows water to flush down the bedding lane way, cleaning the manure and bedding sand away as it flows down hill. He has created a very simple effluent system that recycles the sand lost out of the cows bedding stalls. It falls out of suspension as the manure is flushed out to settling ponds and is collected in the trap by a bobcat periodically. It is cleaned and spread out to let the hot Texas sun, given time, sterilise it for reuse.

I loved the sign painted on the side of his shed in giant letters “Farmers feed the world”.

The Nuffield GFP allowed me to see a lot of different farm set ups, although a few too many dairies for a tomato grower to take. The High Plains Dairy, however, remains the most impressive dairy I had the opportunity to see throughout my entire tour.

6666 ranch drafting

The highlight of the Texas leg of the trip for me was lunch at the 6666 ranch dining out of a chuck wagon set on the side of a hill overlooking some of the ranch's vast landscape. Under a large canvas marquee there were smiles all round as we watched the rain tumble down and enjoyed some of the best cooked beef and vegetables I ate on the trip - campfire meals just have that “something”. With a heritage going back over a hundred years, this famous ranch has retained it's historic past without becoming a tourist attraction and has remained a true working farm. 6666 is a place where a true cowboy can still be found. A man's horse is his own and no other rider will use it. Everything to do with their cattle is still done on horse back and the ranch has a well respected blood line of Angus cattle that Joe Leathers, the Ranch Manager, has worked hard at achieving. 6666 ranch also have a blood line of quarter horses that is widely respected and well known. The equine centre based on the property was very impressive and reflects their commitment to the welfare of their horses and heritage. A long list of applicants waiting to get the opportunity to work at the 6666 ranch exists with good reason as the staff are well looked after with a local store house providing most of what a cowboy may need. Housing is also provided.

We covered a lot of country and farming businesses during our stay including ethanol plants, wind powered cotton gins, large scale feed lots, cotton under pivots, visits to the quarter horse museum and historic Fort Worth saleyards. It was a great experience and a message to come out of this leg of the trip would be that we share very common problems with the Texans in the pan handle and most of them are centred around water and making it go further.

Alberta 2010 I can see for miles

After DC, we flew into Alberta, Canada, where we were warmly greeted by Steve Larocque (Beyond Agronomy) and Karen Daynard, both fellow Scholars. Steve had organised this leg of our tour and I was looking forward to it.

Alberta is a land full of rolling hills of crop after crop devoid of any tree of consequence. A population of pick ups on steroids that the US would envy was the norm.

Once again, the talk of too much rain was on the agenda. So much so that wheat planting had been delayed and in some cases abandoned leading up to our arrival. Yellowing of flooded crop was apparent and common (which is uncommon for the area).

A highlight of the trip for me was a farm stay with John Mills, a young farmer who's approach to farming was as interesting as it was innovative. His approach to running his business (Eagle Creek Farms) is diverse, with a “U pick” (you pick the produce yourself) garden, a seasonal maize and sunflower maze that would be best described as agritourism and Seed Potato business. John is also selling the shares in a “season” and whatever is produced in it. He drops off the produce to all his shareholders at a predetermined sight. A little different to just waiting until harvest and taking a price.

A visit and lunch with Ben Wooley of Sunterra was also noteworthy. This is a farm business that has become vertically integrated and is now taking market share from the large supermarket chains. With a base in livestock production focused on beef, sheep and pigs this business butchers and then markets its own product in it's 9, soon to be 10, retail outlets. Their strength lies not in cheap produce, but in the stores themselves. Just walking in to one will fill your senses with the aroma of food being cooked and prepared. Glass cabinets full of inviting treats from cheese to coffee scrolls fill the store. Chefs preparing and cooking food in clear view, willing to give advice freely to the customer all add to their stores appeal. I would best describe it as a hybrid supermarket. You can sit down for a meal or shop for the ingredients that make up that meal.

Manson farm was also an interesting visit with cows worth over a million dollars in their possession. The blood stock of milking cows was not unlike race horses in their ownership. I was surprised at the fact that some were syndicated and worth larger sums of money than I ever thought. We were all amazed when they escorted out the largest cow I have ever seen in my life. Standing one and a half metres at the shoulder she dwarfed every other Holstein I saw on our entire trip.

Steve did a great job on this leg of our trip and I have only covered a small fraction of what he showed us. His knowledge and contacts proved to be varied and valuable. Our time went all too quickly in Alberta.

Back in DC

Washington DC was another world on our return.

Gone were the odd pieces of snow that dotted the landscape three months earlier; in it's place a hot and humid environment greeted us as we stepped out the door to catch yet another taxi.

The group enjoyed a day of rest before heading up to Capital Hill for a series of meetings with various staff members and lobbyists involved with agripolitics. It made for some very frank and sometimes direct questions about imports and exports, tariffs and subsidies.

My view of agriculture is changing and I'm starting to question why developed countries base most of their focus toward production at the cost of nutrition and ultimately our value in the market place. It goes against the principle of business, to devalue your product by over supply. The more I hear we have to feed the world, the more I question why it is that our markets fluctuate so much if food is in such demand. There are more than just farmers who have a stake in food production and it's cost. Those who have their interest in the status quo of cheap food far outweigh those who do not. After being told by the Assistant U.S Trade Representative for Agricultural Affairs that there are many farmers out there who farm at any cost simply because they love it, struck me as some what true. Most of us (farmers) feel a sense of honour in feeding families. While the cold reality of the almighty dollar drives us to be more efficient at using up our resources at the cost of sustainability, it is somewhat ironic that if a larger number of farmers didn't care as much as they do about their production, the cost of living would rise dramatically.

June 2010 Nuffields GFP

My “Global Focus Group” left Australia on the 6^th of June 2010. A GFP is a six week global odyssey around the world looking at agriculture in all its forms. Nuffield Australia make it part of their Scholarship to promote contacts and a better understanding of world agriculture.

The group I was in had a good mix of ag. industries from bee keeping and wild catch crayfishing to your stock standard cropping and livestock businesses. Not forgetting myself in the horticulture category.

We had two New Zealanders in our group, Paul McGill and Desiree Reid, with the balance consisting of six Aussies; Ed Cox, Helen Thomas, Ben Tyley, Ben Hooper, Alan Redfern and myself.

The flight to London via Sydney from Canberra was without drama, albeit a long one.

We lodged at the Farmers Club which is right in the heart of London, a short distance from Trafalgar square. Nuffield has its perks.

It wasn't long before we met up with some of the UK Scholars and together we set out for France to tour the Western Front and attended the service at Menin Gate in Ypres where the names of the lost and fallen line the walls. Every night, traffic is stopped so the service can be held. It is of some significance that the names of Australian soldiers fill these walls and the original lions that once adorned the gate now stand at the entrance to the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.

A little R&R for the group

We made our way to Brussels for briefings on the EU for a better understanding of their farming subsidies and structure. Our speaker from Ireland really drilled us with some very frank discussions claiming most of the people running the EU are morons!

After Brussels, we returned to England by train. That thing can really move - it was great.

The stay with James Peck (Nuffield UK 2010 Scholar) on his farm was excellent. James runs a cropping and haulage business and manages a grain warehouse on farm.

The UK scholars set out our agenda for the week with trips to Cereals (a large field day) and Rothamsted Research (oldest long term wheat trial in the world, over 160 years).

Farm visits to Jo Paterson's (Nuffield UK 2010 Scholar) and James Peck's were very good value and I enjoyed talking to them about their businesses and the whole thing ended sooner than we would have all liked.

We had a busy time with something on every day. Ireland was no exception and the five 2010 Irish Nuffield Scholars worked hard at maintaining that as soon as we touched down in Dublin.

Ireland's beautiful country side

I now understand why it is called the Emerald Isle. Green, green, green. The farmers here complain about too much rain. If only they could export the stuff. How different their world is to mine.

Brewing, distilling, potatoes and dairy play a big part in this country. Most cereal crops I saw looked great and if they continue to have the great weather we had on our stay they should finish well.

Potato crops looked good and I discovered the Irish prefer a waxy potato over what I would describe as a common potato that we in Australia are familiar with. Rooster was the most commonly grown variety; preferred by the consumer and grower alike. Eating fresh carrots straight out of the ground at O'Shea's farm was as fresh as it gets.

A balloon ride over Kilkenny was a highlight. From the air it was beautiful. We landed in a farmer's field and he and his family got a kick out of having a group of farmers from Australia and New Zealand drop in on them.

Sadly our week in Ireland ended with the scholars - a plane to Washington, DC awaited.

March 2010 The Nuffield journey continues

Like some salt with those Onions

With over 3000 miles (4828 Km ) of canals and drains, delivering 3.1 million acre/feet (3.8 million/mega litres) it is no wonder that the Imperial valley is the largest irrigation district in the United States. There is a great mix of farming practices there dealing with salinity . It is quite striking to see salt white on the ground beside healthy crops.  In fact, without irrigation the land will gradually form a salt crust.
Dean Currie and Khaled Bali looked after me down there and I was given the opportunity to meet several growers in the area.
Spreckels Sugar Mill was very interesting. The factory processes sugar beet and are the only ones in California remaining viable to do so. Ron Tharp is the Ag. Manager there and showed me some of the land they are trying to recover.  He has 2 million tons of "Beet Lime" that he is hoping to find a home for.  "Beet Lime" is what is left after they use lime in the process for extracting sugar from the beet pulp. He is trying to prove that adding "Beet Lime" to their salt effected land will not raise the Ph any further. Soil Ph in the area is quite high.  With 13% organic matter in the "Beet Lime", I would love that stuff on my acidic soils.
On the side of the factory silos half way up,  there is a line marking sea level.  A reminder that the whole area was once under water and the salinity they have there is indigenous and not imported.
I took the drive past the Salton Sea, this is where all of the drainage water from the Imperial valley ends up and is very controversial is the salinity there is basically sea water. It is one of the largest bodies of water by surface area in the US. I continued to Palm Springs and through to Yucca Valley making my way to Barstow.  I've never seen so many wind generators in one place, all squeezed into the valley. It was an amazing sight.                     
From Barstow, I went past Edward Air Force Base (not that you can see anything it's all hidden from the road) and the grave yard for aeroplanes in the Mojave dessert. It's something to see all sorts of passenger planes parked in one spot mothballed, awaiting there fate. I made the climb out of Mojave and over to Bakersfield where I had arranged to stay with Blake Sanden. Blake is the Farm Advisor for Kern County and was instrumental in getting Pistachios established in the area after seeing them growing in salt effected land in Syria. His trial work irrigating them with 5 d/sm water and also working with composts containing human waste on lucerne proved very interesting. Blake's knowledge on all things salty was outstanding and he is a credit to the farmers in his area.
After Bakersfield, I moved north to Fresno where I met with Sharon Benes (Soil science), Jeff Mitchell (Cropping Systems Specialist), John Diener (Red Rock Ranch) and Chaim Schneider. Chaim was installing a wireless irrigation controller for Worth Farms which operates 8000ac. Chaim was responsible for the development of automated irrigation when he worked for Motorola over 30 years ago. Chuck Herrins Jr is a partner in the operation of Worth Farms and told me they will have 100% drip with full automation on their farm by the end of 2010. Tomatoes and chick peas on beds were the bulk of the crop rotation I saw.
As I drove around the area, it stood out how many new drip systems are going in all throughout the region. The local water district providers are covering 25% of the cost of a new system. San Juan Ranch near Firebaugh, managed by Daniel Burns, was doing the same thing. Their contract for processing tomatoes this year is 250,000 ton, nearly the total Australian crop!
As I headed North to Stockton I spent an enjoyable day with Chuck Rivara (Tomato Research Institute) looking at some bed forming equipment made by Wilcox. Wilcox is not unfamiliar with Aussie Tomato growers, Dennis Moon (Nuffield scholar) imported one some time ago. It allows you to bed form into almost any soil and trash with one pass.

Off set planting with salt wicking to the right

I moved up to Woodland next. I had made contact with Derek Chamberlain to take me through the Morning Star tomato processing plant at William. This is the world's largest tomato processing plant and churned out 1.26 million short ton of paste. The plant will consume 617 ton of tomatoes an hour with an average of 14,000 ton a day. It would be quite something to see in operation and I'd love to see it working in season.
From Woodland, I took the drive down to the very pretty town of Davis. I had a meeting with Steven Grattan, my last contact for the trip. I was keen to meet Steve as he and Blaine Hanson helped me out with a list of who's who in California salinity. I have found all my contacts to be very forth coming in their knowledge, helpful and generous with their time and some have become good friends.    

Napa Valley

On the road again from Davis, I made my way to Napa. Beautiful is a good word for this valley. World famous for it's wines it was another interesting form of agriculture. Most wines have to contain over 80% Napa Valley grapes  to qualify as a "Napa Valley Wine".  The road from Napa north to Yountville and Saint Helena is wall to wall Winery outlets with most owning small parcels of land right on the main road with the bulk of their crop production located elsewhere in the valley.
After Napa, I travelled along the winding roads of the west coast to San Francisco where I will fly out of the country.
It has been a great learning experience for me on many levels. I'm beginning to understand some of the 2009 scholars who claim the Nuffield experience is a life changing one.

March 2010 The Nuffield journey begins

The 2010 Nuffield tour group

The trip started out at Washington, DC, where we met all the 2010 scholars from around the world.
It was great to meet farmers from other countries and spend time with them learning about their industries.
Nuffield had a great line up of things to see and do as we travelled to Gettysburg and Pennsylvania. Seeing advanced farming systems and the people who run them was informative and insightful. Mason Dixon farms was a great example of innovation driving a family farm forward.

Our trip to Gettysburg battle field was really enjoyable. Our guide, retired military Colonel Tom Vossler, did a great job of setting the scene on the battle field for us. His knowledge and passion for military history stood out and helped us all to gain an appreciation of the importance of this site to all Americans.

Hand Harvesting Lettuce near El Centro

Studying some of the important characters on that historic day was also an insight into what makes a good leader, I found it to be a rewarding and interesting day.
The last day of the conference was some what daunting. We were given the task of presenting some answers to the problems agriculture faces now and in to the future.  With only a few hours to put together a report on supply and the production chain, it was a baptism under fire!!  I found working with the group I was in very rewarding and I got a lot more out of the experience than I first thought.
After the conference we all went our separate ways.  I made my way to Riverside, California, after a quick trip to Niagara Falls (so much freshwater it would make an Aussie farmer cry).  I met up with Donald Suarez, the director of the U.S.Salinity Lab, and he was kind enough to show me around and talk to me about the salinity work they are doing there.
The International Drought Symposium coincided with my visit and I took the opportunity to attend the three day event. Some of my contacts for this leg of my trip were in attendance so it gave me the chance to speak with them face to face.  I got to hear about the problems of drought not only in America but Spain, Mexico, South Africa and, of course,  Australia.  It was with some surprise that agriculture didn't rate too highly on the policies of drought in any Australian presentation; it was quite the reverse for all other countries, particularly Spain.
There is no doubt that the environment and returning water to the river Murray are high on the agenda for the current Australian Government. I did feel Australian agriculture was poorly represented and the decoupling of land in the water market was held up as being a shining example of free trade, widely welcomed by all irrigators.
After the Symposium, I have made my way down to San Diego then across to the Imperial Valley where I will meet up with two contacts I have in the area. I plan to have some farm visits with them looking at salinity issues in the district.
I have already visited a lettuce farm just out of El Centro. Security was tight and I was not permitted to take close up photos of the harvester working in the field. The company responsible for harvest closely guard their designs. I was also given a hair net that had to be worn once I was in the field. The lettuce was cut by hand,  top and tailed then loaded into bulk bins on tandem trailer. The whole thing reminded me of process tomato harvesting to some degree.