More than a 100 farmers from Cerro Gordo, Floyd, Franklin, Mitchell, and Worth counties converged on the NIACC campus on Jan. 10 to hear experts in crop management share their stories.
The 2020 Crop Advantage Series is sponsored by Iowa State University Extension and Outreach.
Wendong Zhang, assistant professor and extension economist at ISU, shares background knowledge about rural China, where he grew up.
Wendong Zhang, an ISU assistant professor and extension economist opened the event sharing his upbringing in rural China, and the Chinese view of the current trade war negotiations and Phase One Trade Agreement with the United States.
Zhang told how Chinese agriculture has been developed over the past few decades and how the increasing Chinese population will need agricultural exporters that can provide both grains and meat products.
“China doesn’t have the row crop production they need, but the U.S. isn’t their only producer. China already takes 60 percent of US ag exports,” said Zhang. “As median incomes have risen in China consumption of meat has risen from 60 pounds to a 100 pounds per person, which is a lot when you multiply that consumption by 1.3 to 1.4 billion people,” said Zhang, who pointed out that higher meat consumption also provides a demand for more grains to feed increasing numbers of livestock.
“That is why China needs global suppliers like the U.S.,” said Zhang.
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He also shared last year’s land survey for Iowa, which showed that most of North Central Iowa land values increased slightly. From November of 2018 to November 2019 Iowa land values increased by 2.3 percent to $7,432. North Eastern Iowa showed a slight decrease in land prices due to the struggling dairy industry.
