Today's adventure led us to the
North Asia DuPont Pioneer headquarters. Throughout the meeting it was discussed
that corn was the only product sold by DuPont within Asia due to intellectual
property rights. Unlike the United States with 100,000 corn growers, China has
300 million corn growers. Most farmers within China only have 1/6 of an acre.
With DuPont Pioneer holding 10% of the market share, placing them on the top of
the seed market, there are multiple counterfeit biotech traits. China allows
Pioneer to do business within the country only by having a joint venture with a
local business. Pioneer is included only within two joint ventures, and China
doesn’t allow the sale of any biotech crops.
The U.S. Soybean Export Council showed the
break down on soybean usage in China. Imported beans get shipped over and
crushed to create soybean meal and oil. The United States exports 27.6 million
metric tons of soybeans. On the consumption standpoint soybeans are considered
the number one choice compared to peanut seed, cottonseed, and rapeseed. The
majority of the soybean meal that is used to create feed for livestock which
makes it the main driver of demand. The increase of soybean usage is due to the
urbanization of China. The Chinese government is trying to encourage the
farmers to consolidate the farming throughout the country.
Before lunch we stopped at a tea
house to participate in an official tea ceremony. Sitting around a large
rectangle table, everyone was presented with six different types of tea. These
six samples helped give us a taste of the variety of teas available, just a
small dent into the 3,000 teas available in China.
Touring the equestrian facility
during training and lessons was a great experience. This facility started in
1999 and is now open to the public. A one-time membership fee is expensive and
considered for the rich. The main focus is on show jumping and dressage using
the American Quarter horse and Warm bloods, yet they still have lessons for
individuals. Horses are stalled in barns according to the disposition. They
import their hay from the northwestern part of China and also feed an imported
concentrate feed. The facility took great pride in the work that it did.
To end the night we visited
Ministry of Agriculture Feed Industry Centre, or MAFIC, where we ate supper and
got to know some of the graduate students. The MAFIC students gave
presentations on their research while we gave presentations on ourselves so
they could see how we can all connect and get to know each other. We ate supper
with the students that consisted of a wide variety of chicken, beef, fish and
vegetables. We all really seemed to get along well and made some real
connections. After the banquet, there was an informal basketball game with
students from CAU and SDSU playing, and no one wanted the night to end.
Sara Maloney and
Carson Glasnapp
No comments:
Post a Comment