Notes from the Field 2009
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Blog postings by Eddie Kasner
July 21, 2009
大棚 = Yunnan's Metrodome
By Eddie Kasner
China
While my Twins cap was likely the only evidence of baseball in the district, titillating reveries of The Dome danced in my head while passing through Chenggong County--an enormous farming community that lies just outside Kunming proper--for the first time two weeks ago. With foothills in the distance, our bus floated through an abyss of greenhouses that stretched for 5 miles.
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July 11, 2009
Survey says...
By Eddie Kasner
China
Because the video and pictures will do most of the talking, this entry will be relatively short. The first "go" at the farmer survey has proven to be relatively fruitful: 52 participants from one natural village (total population 446) took roughly 20 minutes each to respond to the 24 question survey. Please watch the video below if you are interested in its preliminary findings. It was against nearly every fiber of my being, but I turned the camera on myself this week. Overall, it seemed that most participants enjoyed sharing their work history and background. This case study is only a drop in the bucket. Chinese agriculture is extremely diverse.
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July 1, 2009
Jackson Farming
By Eddie Kasner
China
My last entry ended with mention of plans for attending PEAC's 6-month evaluation retreat, heading to another organic farm, wandering through the countryside to practice surveying techniques, and visiting a new food distribution business called Green Kunming. These missions were more or less accomplished with varying degrees of success. The highlight of the last week has been building a closer working relationship with PEAC staff. They are a unique group.
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June 19, 2009
Producing green
By Eddie Kasner
China
Last Wednesday and Friday, PEAC staff and I visited two large vegetable farming operations near Kunming. One employs 1,500 workers and the other 500. The larger of the companies also carries one of the numerous versions of organic labels in China: "无公害疏"...roughly, "no trace of environmental pollution" or "no environmental pollution negligence". While these operations are quite different from each other and the small farmers I'll be interviewing in July, it gives insight into how China is meeting the evolving demands of food consumers. At present, there are relatively few problems with food security here. In fact, many of the products from these farms are exported to other Asian countries and Europe. With the mass exodus of young people leaving farms for the cities, this balance could be disrupted in the future. Perhaps the most striking difference between large scale Chinese and U.S. farming operations is that hands are largely used in place of machines.
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June 14, 2009
昆明到了!
By Eddie Kasner
China
“Kunming has been reached!" After the night train from Guiyang pulled into Kunming Station around 9:00 am on Wednesday, I was eventually able to locate the PEAC office that same afternoon. There, staff welcomed me with a brief meeting, a tour, and a fine dinner replete with local specialties such as erkuai (one of Yunnan Province’s “18 Oddities”). Thursday and Friday quickly became a 9 to 5 office gig. The weekend allowed time for hiking, apartment searching, and a conference on the changing gender roles in the Chinese countryside that result from men leaving villages to become migrant workers. At the conference, I was able to connect with another Yunnan-based NGO that deals primarily with environmental public health.
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June 9, 2009
It moves.
By Eddie Kasner
China
It moves. The Beijing I left 3 years ago is not the same Beijing that greeted me 5 days ago. Few cars seem older than five years. Whole sections of town have been razed and rebuilt. New skyscrapers pierce the skyline and streets are relatively spotless. Yes, the 2008 Olympic Games were certainly a catalyst for such change in Beijing but echoes are seen throughout the country. If 1 human year is 7 dog years, then perhaps 1 Chinese year is 7 U.S. years. This is not a slight on either culture, but rather a comparison of the rate of change. Put simply, China is changing. And quickly at that.
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May 25, 2009
What is a TerraGator?
By Eddie Kasner
China
Hello. My name is Eddie and I will soon be a second-year MPH-Environmental Health student at the U of M. This June and July, I'll be studying farming and health in Yunnan Province, China.
With support from the University of Minnesota and two Chinese non-governmental organizations (see YHDRA and PEAC links below), I'll interview farmers to obtain an inventory of pesticide exposures. My time in Yunnan will also be used to give a presentation about U.S. pesticide risk assessment, share a bit about U.S. farming and machinery, explore water usage in traditional and modern farming practices, stay on an organic farm, volunteer with a newly formed local foods distributor, offer small environmental health and English lessons, and simply learn how to grow rice.
To me, the most exciting part of this project is to be a link between farmers in Minnesota and farmers in Yunnan. Last week, I was able to do something that I should have done a long time ago. My uncle, who works for an elevator in southern Minnesota, lined me up with a day of learning about farming in the U.S.
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