By ANN ALLEN
Indiana Correspondent

PERRYSBURG, Ind. — It’s been a few weeks since Indiana state Rep. Bill Friend (R-District 23) said he paid his own way to China on what was described as a collateral visit to observe swine production facilities being built.

Traveling with him were officers and directors of First Farmers Bank and Trust (FFBT), swine producers, representatives of waste disposal companies and feed dealers, along with their host, Dr. Mike Lemmon of Whiteshire Hamroc LLC. This is an Albion-based swine genetics company that first introduced its production protocols to the Chinese in 2008.

Friend and the others liked what they saw – friendly people, good food and young people with a will and drive to succeed. “We all had preconceived notions about what we would see,” said Dr. Mark Holt, a Marion veterinarian who serves on FFBT’s board. “Some were totally shattered; others were reinforced. We saw everything from upscale living to primitive villages. All in all, the trip was extremely enlightening.”

Friend agreed. What impressed him most, however, were the numbers. China has a swine herd of 60 million sows that need to produce enough pigs to feed 1.4 billion people, while the United States has 6 million sows that generate pork for 330 million people. The surplus is exported to other countries.
“China has 10 times as much breeding stock as we have in the U.S.,” he said, “but it’s not efficient.”

With the high demand for protein in China, Mike Lemmon and his brother, Charlie, feel there is a large market for pork. Under their plan, Whiteshire Hamroc, the largest purebred genetic producer in the U.S., will source pigs from its nucleus herds to supply state-of-the art production facilities in China with tested and selected Yorkshires, Landraces and Durocs.

 “A common question on people’s minds when they think about capitalism in China is how it works in a communist government system,” Friend said. “There no doubt that there is risk involved, but the Lemmons feel that turning a profit in China helps reduce our country’s imbalance in the national economic situation.

“Simply put,” he added, “if we are to compete with this economic giant, we have to play on its turf. There is risk, but Mike Lemmon and FFBT have accepted the fact that risk is necessary to advance this project. Time will tell if they’re right.”

Friend, Majority Leader in the Indiana House and owner-president of Green Acres Ham as well as owner-operator of Friend Farms, is the fifth generation of his family to reside in a carefully restored house just outside tiny Perrysburg. This trip to mainland China was his first, although he had previously visited Taipei, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Vietnam with Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman and a fact-finding delegation.

“This trip wasn’t an endorsement of communism,” he said. “We thought we’d see abject poverty, hunger, unhappy people and more government contact than we did. We were amazed with the amount of construction.

“Every small town has high-rise apartments being built, thanks to a government relocation project. They’re moving the older generator off small plats to small town apartments. That makes the people easier to track and control and allows small farms to be converted into larger, more efficient fields.”

As the only elected official on this trip, Friend was expected to sit with the assistant mayor and local communist leader at each luncheon and dinner and to offer a toast. “I didn’t expect to have to perform,” he said, “but I managed it. One of the Chinese men whispered, ‘You are very strong.’ I’m still uncertain what he meant by that.

 “There’s opportunity in China. The U.S. has some superior ag practices. We need to take the opportunity to expand and grow agricultural business in China to make a profit. As Americans, we have to get out there and make a game of it, be brave enough to assume risk by trying business in China.”

Counting flight time to China plus miles traveled as they wound their way across the country and into Inner Mongolia, the Hoosier delegation traveled nearly 25,000 miles in 10 days and saw but did not enter two populated locations operated by Chinese workers under strict SPF (specific-pathogen-free) guidelines.

“I’d do it again,” Friend said, “but at a slower pace.”

There is no slower pace for the Lemmon brothers. One or the other is in China on a monthly basis and via a 24/7 hookup can monitor the pigs every day from Albion.

“It’s our job to know what’s going on there,” Mike Lemmon said. He credits other companies for their genetic support and other farms for supplying pigs.
 “It’s a fun project,” he said. “It’s not successful yet, but we’re partway to where we want to be. It’s a big challenge with a lot of people involved. We couldn’t do it without their support.”

As for Friend, he came home with memories of having eaten buzz-saw chicken (chicken that had been chopped into many pieces), camel’s foot, cicadas served like popcorn, cow and pig stomach, duck tongue and many dishes he feared to ask about – but all good.

“I never felt threatened or in danger,” he said, “although I was sometimes uncomfortable in train stations. The people were very open and industrious. The way they reacted to foreigners was interesting – we were often photographed with children because our gray hair made us seem different.”