Beijing

While in Beijjing we visited the forbidden city, haggled at the silk markets, climbed the great Wall and sang Happy Birthday to Ash Fraser in the Airport Taxi Rank with about 200 people joining in - he was a great asset in China and is proving a complete businessman on or travels. Thanks to Emma Fan for interpreting and especially for introducing her family to us while we were in Beijjing, it really made tyre trip special. Jim Geltch was a fantastic member of the tour and I will look back with fond memories. One of his quotes were  " I'm going to sit back, take it easy and let the pace come to me". I think Jim has always been a pace setter though.

Paparazzi State

Tianaaman Square, The Great Wall and The Forbiden City.

Paparazzi State was in Full Swing in Beijjing. Less cameras in Hollywood, up to 15 on most posts, buildings and walls surrounding the square plus satellites. There are no flights permitted over Beijjing for security, our interpreter knew nothing of what happened until she came to Australia 3 months ago, fascinating the level of governance while we were there people were being arrested for blogging and insighting rumours. If the Chinesse government decides upon policy or project it happens without any red tape, debate or sectarian influence, they make it happen. In terms of opportunity there was not a day go by that Michael Chilvers and I did not see huge potential, with a population of 1.4 Billion the reach is incredible. The people in the corporate ag sphere are desperate for western knowledge and systems and we were continually asked if we were interested in entering business in one form or another, I believe we all will to some degree and this trip has surely bought bought China allot closer.

Memories Of China

Porky Torky: Memories Of China: Have a look at a few short minutes from the Chinese leg of the Nuffield global focus.

Inner Mongolia

Inner Mongolia

The extremes of investments in China are incredible with regard to agriculture. There is the peasant farmer dynamic - base material, base design, base labour and bare finishing which is reflective of the Chinese agricultural past the food credibility is limited in these systems. There is then the modern influence, capital investment, technology and genetics not a problem in this dynamic it is quite impressive. The challenge China has in Agriculture is not the money they can throw at problems and solutions but the human resources and skill required, they are building top down and we visited a 6 million dollar dairy 3 years old with a capacity of 800 head, at the moment they are running at 300hd due to lack of available management, if they look to the west for capacity it will be expensive therefore the overheads will be too high and place their products high in the market. There is no fast track to becoming a farmer, no short cuts, it is discipline, commitment and devlops with experience. China must be cautious building performance with money as it will more often than not squander commercial profit.

Above is a bloke I gave a hand welding.

I Have Sheep

Kai Feung

Hosted by one of the scholars who has business relations in Kai Feung we had an all expenses paid visit by the Chineese company he deals with. This was an incredible insight into how to integrate with Chinese business. Many opportunities, they employed 1200 in their steel works and produces grain handling equipment and can custom make or imitate any products. They can export to Australia for a fraction of the price from any western nations the difference now is they are catching up with the quality of their products and they are starting to rival the established western firms. Labour was 20 dollars Australian per day. Their tradition in hosting visitors in China is quick dining and fierce rice wine toasting by this stage I was getting a handle on the language and worked out how top tell them "I have Sheep"...... I can't imagine how this sounded, but by their reaction it was funny.  Often once they broke through my accent barrier and realised what i was saying they would launch into tears of laughter. This resulted in many reasons for toasts of rice wine and by the end of dinner we were singing and laughing. During this dinner I became great friends with one of the executives of the company it was touching to note he became very emotional about the poverty in China and asked for help, I said to him through freindship and communication anything is possible, he was a truly nice man.

In America there is a obbeste rate of approximately 40%, in China there is not any, the level of dependence on agriculture in China is massive as they consume most of their resources internally and there is little to no waste. In terms of their export potential and competitive ability on a world stage, I believe the aggressive nature of their agricultural acquisitions is to purely support their own population.

Mind Mapping Notes

Moui China

Gaung Zhou

Finally after years of reading and study I found her China what an intriguing place. You know it when you get there, the scale of undertakings the vision and the relentless quest for superior positioning. You can not describe it. Every farmer should get there.

You will realise how they operate if you read the ancient literature Tsun Tsu the Art of War. At Gaung Zhou we took a ferry from HK then a bus from the sea port to the hotel. We drove almost an hour the roads median strip had manicured gardens all the way and we were skirted by perfect trees at 5 metre spacings, along the roads this was the same all through China. For those that know me, know I love concrete it is the most rewarding aspect of developing a property, in China there are cement trucks everywhere. There is a permanence that attracts me to concrete and the bus load of scholars were in awe of how much concrete has been mixed in China, the engineered structures continually received gasps. At Guang Zhau we meet with Australian Austrade Officials for our first Chinese meal, they were very pleasant people, we visited a farmer and spoke at lengths about their farming practices, he was overwhelmed by our practices and I said to Emma our interpreter that even with or mechanisation we could not get the productivity that he gets, he's reply with a smile was "ofcourse". This showed me suppression was just a perception I had with the Chinese. Bryce Riddel was out of sorts that day and feeling quite unwell, the farmer asked how many moiu he had, not really knowing what he meant, Bryce replied cautiously "oh well I've got about 180 cows" moiu being the measurement for area which is 1/16th of a hectare in which a farmer recieved 1 for farming practices around Guang Zhou.