Assistant Editor

BEIJING, China — According to U.S. Grains Council (USGC) figures, yield is expected to improve in only one of Chinese’s northern provinces, Hebei, over 2006.

For nationwide production, yield had steadily increased between 2001-06, but Dr. Todd Meyer, USGC senior director, said it will likely drop for 2007 from about 86 bushels/acre in 2006 to a little over 79 bu./acre this year.

“The weather is definitely the driving force” behind these losses, said Gary Clark, director of market development for the Missouri Corn Growers Assoc.

China suffered heat and drought as did the U.S. this summer, but whereas corn has rebounded here somewhat thanks to late-season rain, he said Chinese corn is not so lucky. The northern and northeastern provinces, he explained, are analogous in climate to the area between central Minnesota and north-central Iowa and the ground is nearly Midwestern. “If you driving blind, you would not say their soils were much different from ours,” he said; fields look much the same.

That’s from a distance. Up close is another story. For one thing, many farmers might share a field, since each only has between 2.5 and five acres – Clark explained one can see clear spaces between plots where there is no growth.

For another, American farmers tend to place 26,000-32,000 plants per acre, whereas Chinese farmers only plant 12,000-18,000. The hybrids Chinese farmers are using, he said, are comparable to those American farmers depended on about 40 years ago for larger, fewer ears.

“They’ve got a long way to go on seed technology,” he said, adding there is no biotechnology in the corn seed to fend off pests such as corn borer and rootworm. He opined American corn was able to rebound from the dry summer with late-season rain, too, because it’s better-engineered.

“I tell you, it’s amazing a lot of people,” he said of U.S. production estimates.

Though pest control for Chinese corn crop was nonexistent, Clark explained the farmers do a good job keeping out invasive growth. “I never felt weed control was not adequate to superb,” he said.

He added Chinese farmers use all parts of the corn plant, wasting nothing; his only criticism is they should recycle more into the soil to recapture nutrients for the next year’s crop.

Like American farmers, many double-crop with winter wheat.

This farm news was published in the Oct. 10, 2007 issue of Farm World, serving Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee.