Day 22

I spent most of today in a car. I am glad as it rained all morning and into the afternoon. We drove out of Hangzhou to Anji to look some swine sites that a company is looking at buying and a new construction site they have started. Anji is one of the top furniture making, bamboo and wood harvesting cities in China. It was interesting to see how much bamboo was being harvested and how it was hauled and handled. I also  saw tea trees for the first time. They are quite short. I need to  try find out how they are “harvested.” The company is actually in internet gaming company here in China and they announce 3 years ago that they were going to be investing in the swine industry. (Not exactly your typical investor). They are looking at purchasing the two old sites for disease control and maybe to utilize one of them as a quarantine facility. These sites where quite interesting to get to. We followed a moped down a cement road that was no wider than a typical sidewalk. After that, we walked down a flooded out path through the rice fields to the barn. It was very old and run down, the typical brick 40’s style building. They had a few pigs ranging from 30-100 lbs. They also had a sow rooting around outside. After this site, we walked to an elderly couple’s sow and farrowing barn. He only had one boar there, but had previously been raising around 15 sows; this is big for a country farm where the norm is one or two sows. He was looking to move away as none of the younger generation was around anymore. It was interesting that his barns you build about three feet away from his house. After this trip, we went to the company’s new site where they were beginning the dirt work. All of the dirt I have seen in China has this red tint to it similar to the dirt in Oklahoma. The facilities where going to be for 300 sows and barns to finish out the pigs. They plan to raise a local breed to try capturing a niche market and maintaining the local flavor. The company made huge news when they announced their intent in swine and a camera crew was at the site. They interviewed a few of the individuals that I was traveling with. It is interesting to see how Ag is approached here versus in the states and how much the government is doing to support it and jump-start it. They know that China will need a better source of protein as they develop and this will come from pork. Therefore, they are making huge changes to make sure they do not have to import their food source in the future.  

Once again, I changed cities today. I am now in Nanning, which is southwest of Shanghai. I am excited to see what God has in store for me here. I am seeing so much of China’s countryside and different cities everyone is slightly different but seems to be looking more and more alike. :P