Posted on 11/01/2019 1:27:55 PM PDT by Red Badger
Karma
Forget the billions spent on Chinas massive military build-up, the ongoing attempt to make the Chinese Communist Party the most powerful and feared force on the planet. The yellow peril is being decimated by tiny foes, one of them microscopic. All the chest-thumping and saber-rattling, and it finally comes down to a stand-off with a lowly bug that happens to hate communists. Boy, they didnt see that coming! African Swine Fever (ASF)
With a mortality rate near 100%, ASF has swept through Chinas hog industry, decimating their primary source of protein. Best estimates put losses at 30-35% of Chinas 700 million swine population, and its still spreading across China and into neighboring Vietnam, Cambodia, Taiwan, and Mongolia.
As usual, Communist Party leaders deny there is an epidemic, but with a 35% reduction in protein available, and an even larger decimation possible in the future, the agriculture problem is seriouson its way to critical. This year China has already destroyed as many pigs as are raised annually in the United States. So what? Eat beans!
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Well, enter the second plague: meet the Fall Armyworm. It can travel over sixty miles in a day (300 in its lifetime) and lay over a thousand eggs before it dies. It has no natural enemies and is extremely expensive to eradicate, especially for a nation of poor farmers.
The Fall Armyworm has been responsible for devastating Chinas other sources of protein (and income). Crops of soybeans, wheat, corn, and rice, among others have been destroyed by this malicious pest. With the huge protein losses due to the swine epidemic, these other crops were critical in making up the difference.
China had stopped importing bean crops from the US after the tariffs were imposedsomething they may have to reconsider. The US and China were numbers one and two in corn exporting until the Fall Armyworm arrived, this misfortune for China could turn into a boon for US corn producers. China is coming to the trade table with their hands out
The loss of export revenue brought about by the Fall Armyworms devastation couldnt have come at a worse time for China, with President Trumps hardline on trade, and tariff pressures. With China weakened by this twin assault on their agriculture industry, and with a faltering economy, we can expect that President Trumps team will take full advantage as they hammer out a final trade agreement.
Any other president weve seen would have managed to turn this silk purse into a sows ear.
MAGA
David Brockett is a Vietnam Veteran and former Marine aviator. He has worked in the field of mental health as a counselor and hospital administrator. After retirement, he volunteered with the US Forest Service as a wilderness ranger and horse packer. He writes fiction and historical fiction, as well as articles on politics, religion, gun-rights and current events. In his free time, he volunteers with veterans groups and community projects. He and his wife divide their time between their home state of Texas and Idaho.
Not trusting the source. If I didn’t know better, I’d say the CIA/CDC introduced these ills as part of a diabolical scheme to destroy China from within. But our government wouldn’t do anything to help Trump, would they?
We should be worried about anything that wipes out crops and nutrition sources anywhere in the world because it puts a strain on global supplies and drives up their prices.
I run into the same problem with the words nice and democracy but
why would we want to understand what anyone is saying anyway?
7
The issue is who owns Smithfield Foods.
Then known as Shuanghui Group, WH Group purchased Smithfield Foods in 2013 for $4.72 billion, more than its market value. It was the largest Chinese acquisition of an American company to date.
Devastate would be a much better and accurate word.
Good point - when the distinction is consequential (like “democracy” versus “republic”), it’s worth going to the matt over (and I’ve done so on this forum); when it doesn’t matter that much, I’m not sure it’s worth the aggravation.
I put “decimate” in the latter category.
Apparently socialism and collective farming makes for lousy biosecurity.
I agree
it’s best to pick your battles
and know when and who NOT to fight with.
7
My issue was: Smithfield Foods. SWINE Processing Plant. Located on the PAGAN RIVER. On SPUR 666 just off Route 10.
Correct.
You should smell it in the farms south of York (PA) when the farmers spread pigsh*t slurry on the fields before planting. Beyond awful. My 20ac nursery/garden center/lscp contracting business was right in the middle of it.
Word usage and meanings change over time. Contract language is written to a very specific lexicon and context, like other technical dialects. Not at all relevant to general language usage. I used to lodge objections as you are, but have now lived long enough to see that an absolutist approach is inappropriate outside the specialties.
Thank you! I love Smithfield’s offerings.
Tertiate?
[The issue is who owns Smithfield Foods.
Then known as Shuanghui Group, WH Group purchased Smithfield Foods in 2013 for $4.72 billion, more than its market value. It was the largest Chinese acquisition of an American company to date. ]
https://www.breakingviews.com/considered-view/china-criticism-makes-even-li-ka-shing-defensive/
https://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/hong-kong-s-superman-li-ka-shing-rejects-claims-he-is-abandoning-china-1.2379435
Think of the Communist Party as an oversized parasitic triad gang, and private businessmen in China as the host on which the parasites feed. A good number of foreign stock offerings are a way for Chinese businessmen to avoid the clutches of the all-encompassing countrywide shakedown racket that has been the Chinese government since time immemorial.
***WHAT WAS THE SMELLIEST THING IN THE WORLD.***
Absolutely correct, That is why the hog companies left the hills of Oklahoma and Arkansas and started up anew in the panhandle of Guymon Oklahoma. Lots of wide open spaces to dump pig manure. That is, until the “winds come sweeping down the plain...”
I had a Chinese professor who told me growing up he ate less than a half a pound of meat a years, and most of that was during the New Years celebration. His father was a fairly high ranking Mandarin during the Manchu dynasty, in charge of the opium monopoly of a province.
Smithfield produces the best mass produced pork loin roasts also. I am trying to not buy them since I learned they were Chinese owned, but don’t really know if this is, after all, an American producer.
Sgthooper, you are correct... But only amongst the poorly educated and intellectually lazy. May I make a guess, you also believe gay means homo and liberal mean leftist. Words have morning and see misused by Communism for there own ends. Please pray attention.
May you have an unbad day.
My dad fought hog farming in our county for a decade, but when he had to retire, the hogs got his farm through a third party. Now China owns that farm.
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