Think tanks follow in Xi's Iowa footsteps

The United States' best-known farm in China - Kimberley Farms in Iowa - received a group of leading think tank researchers from Beijing for the first time on Sunday, as the site has become a Chinese-tourism attraction since President Xi Jinping's visit five years ago.

At least 20 members of top Chinese think tanks, including the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and China Center for International Economic Exchanges, retraced the roads that Xi traveled in 2012 as a visiting vice-president.

They ended the tour with a field trip to patches of the 4,000-acre corn and soybean farm operated by Rick Kimberley in Maxwell, Iowa, about 40 miles northeast of the state capital Des Moines.

The strong wind and scorching sun on the weekend seemed not to affect their enthusiasm for learning more about agricultural trade between the two countries and how farming is done in a safe and sustainable way in one of the top food exporters to China.

In what Rick Kimberley described as "forthcoming and open dialogue" on the farm, the Chinese delegates asked, "How many workers are engaged in farming such a big farm? What do you think about genetically modified organisms? How can the agricultural sector retain young talent?"

They also asked the president of Kimberley Farms and his fellow farmers what worries they had about trade with China.

Kimberley said only three or four people work the 4,000 acres, and those people are now helping Hebei province develop a demonstration farm project of 3,000 acres that will use new technologies being used in Iowa. An agreement on developing the project was signed at the end of May.

Iowa, a major agricultural state in the US Midwest, was the second-largest soybean-producing US state last year and it exports 60 percent of its soybeans, mainly to China.

When Xi visited Kimberley Farms in February 2012, he said he wanted to use the Iowa farmstead as a model for China's agriculture, Kimberley said.

"We've taken this to heart, and I've been to China eight times, visiting 30 cities in 10 provinces, to talk with agricultural officials and try to explain how we farm here and talk about bringing more technologies to China," he said.

The visitors learned from Grant Kimberley, a manager at the Iowa Soybean Association and son of the Kimberleys, how he sets the temperature control and calibrates the moisture of corn and soybeans in the gigantic grain silos in Iowa through a mobile phone, even when he is traveling in China.

As Iowa is a top producer of eggs, poultry and beef, Wei Jianguo, deputy head of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, posited that veterinarian training could be another area for cooperation between the state and China.

Grant Kimberley agreed, adding that both Iowa and Kansas have the best veterinarian schools.

Zhang Yuyan, director-general of the Institute of World Economics and Politics under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, asked what most concerns US farmers nowadays.

Rick Kimberley said it was trade barriers - the talk by US President Donald Trump on the campaign trail about placing heavy tariffs on imports from China.

"I don't think that's going to happen," Kimberley said. "That's his 'art of the deal' - he likes to say something and then negotiates but it has really concerned us."

The Chinese delegates told Kimberley they understood that US farmers, too, wouldn't like to see a trade war happen between the two economies.

There were other questions tossed back and forth.

For example, Grant Kimberley was curious about how China could make agriculture a lifestyle attractive to younger generations.

Wei said that was exactly what he wanted to know: How do you retain young talent on US farms?

The junior Kimberley said that agriculture can be a good living with a decent income, as has been proven in the US. He said a person has to be versatile - be a scientist and a personnel and resources manager at the same time as a modern farmer, to make it a fulfilling occupation.

"I think it goes back to what the concept of 'modern farm' in the Hebei project is," he said.

Zhao Qizheng, former minister of the State Council Information office and dean of the school of journalism at Renmin University of China, told Kimberley, "Your success story may inspire more young Chinese to enroll in agriculture majors in universities."

Everyone laughed.

Kimberley mentioned that when Xi visited his farm, he said he looked forward to seeing Grant's son Austin, who was a baby then, becoming the seventh-generation farmer on the farm.

"He has a tiny garden growing beans now. As he grows older, he's going to do a larger farm, and some day he will sell his produce to China," Kimberley said.

Grant Kimberley said the story of the Kimberley family and its farms are part of the unfolding story of China-US cooperation and friendship.

"We had forthcoming, open and informal dialogue today, the first time that we had think tank experts and policy experts to visit," he said, adding that the farm has received thousands of other Chinese, including tourists, in the past few years.

huanxinzhao@chinadailyusa.com

(China Daily USA 06/13/2017 page1)