A hot build up to Christmas

The day starts in a panic as my hire car keys had accidentally been swept under a cabinet. I can’t imagine the hassle and cost had they been lost.

I am really starting to see the “fair go” and “Mateship” Aussie business culture. This is clearly proven this morning as I sit at a beachside coffee house with Dr Paul Dare. It’s 37 degrees out and in between complex precision agriculture discussions, he casually points at a passing boat and informs me that he had hired it for his companies Christmas party that evening.

Later I head for the hills and seek out Scott Samwell. His brothers dogs clenched jaws found me first. Scott was due to join us in New Zealand but missed out due to injury. He runs an extremely interesting farm specialising in Brussel Sprouts  and I’m sure we share many similar points of view.

I find a motel room in a Hahndorf, a town professing to be the most distant German habitation from the fatherland.

I discover that Adelaide doesn’t take long to look around, having booked my bags in and headed off for a mooch. The central market is buzzing and quite interesting, with a large Chinese quarter I also encounter a Chinese protest march. Eventually my time is up and I embark on the long journey home. Still no contact from Quantoss and no upgrade despite my protests also no send off from the countries prime minister either.

Back in blighty and guess what – its foggy and cold!

Adelaide Hills

I am really taken by the Adelaide hills, particularly by the scenic drive down gorge road which takes me to Croplands sprayers. Ironically their “quantum mist system” was initially developed in the UK but 20 Years too soon. Sean Mulvaney is not at all phased by the size of my apple trees and he comes up with a viable dual row spraying option which they have proven in citrus orchards and exactly matches my ideas. I am only afraid that the crippling exchange rates would put pay to taking this any further.

I call in on APAL labs only to discover that Tom Bradshaw had visited the week before having contacted them via an entirely different source. It will be interesting to compare notes.

I drop in on an apple pressing operation and very much enjoy chatting to the Ceravolo family.

I arrive at Greg’s vineyard in time to do a couple of hours vine clearance. Snakes and heat are the enemy though at least I feel I have contributed in a small way for the excellent dinner, bed & breakfast.

Up a Gum Tree

I choose another early flight to give me an extra full day in Adelaide. By mid morning I am in the Adelaide hills visiting Kym Green with Greg Horner who owns a vineyard locally and I had met in Queensland.

This is my one and only trip to a real apple orchard in Australia. I deliberately chose to look at areas of interest in all walks of agriculture so that I didn’t become distracted by apple specific issues. Kym’s operation comes highly recommended by Australian scholars and has been frequently visited by uk scholars too.

We have a crash course in biodynamics, a subject that I understand was much debated at last Years conference. We were interrupted at one point by a guttural chundering noise, the sound of a koala who is staring down upon us from a gum tree, a stereotypical Australian scene.

Kym grows apples and cherries in a unique and impressive manner however like many Australian farmers that I spoke to, he appears to have fallen on tough financial times with increasing costs and poor weather over the past few Years. Wednesday night is the traditional meeting time for the local religious cult (Adelaide’s version of the Amish) and Kym host’s a regular alternative gathering for non believer’s! I am kindly invited to join them and we have a great time chewing the fat and catching up on local gossip.

On the scent of Golden Delicious

After an intensive week in Queensland it was great to spend Friday night staying beside the beach on the sunshine coast courtesy of a couple of Kiwi’s, in exchange for giving them a lift. The only downside is the 5am start in order to shed the hire car and catch my flight to Sydney.

I am met by my cousin at the station and within 24 hours I finally catch some R & R, canoeing on middle harbour and mountain biking around Manley dam. We catch a ferry to manly besides the Sydney opera house which is not as white as I expected. The coat hanger bridge reminds me of my days at Newcastle University.

The temperature rises to 38 degrees c and tempting as the beach is my trip to the Hunter valley vineyards falls through but I manage instead to visit the Sydney university department for precision agriculture.

On the way through town I stop off to look at some packaging ideas and find my first apple orchard! Well actually it’s a mock up to publicise a new DKNY fragrance “Golden delicious”.

The iconic New York brand DKNY has partnered with celebrity jeweller Martin Katz to create the world's first million-dollar fragrance bottle. The shape? You guessed it - an apple.
The launch of the DKNY Golden Delicious fragrance in Kuala Lumpur recently was a prestigious affair with two security guards guarding the world's first million-dollar fragrance bottle and men in black hovering around mysteriously.

The department store has gone to town with a false tree to display the apple shaped jars of perfume.

A MAN WITH A PASSION FOR FARMING

On my final day in Queensland we caught up with Peter Korczynski, who grows passion fruit and Custard apple in a stunning location in the lee of the Glass top Mountains. These were named by Captain Cooke because of their shimmering White appearance from the distance at sea and they very much look like the cores ofthe volcano's that formed them. Passion fruit are grown on vines and harvested from December to September, when the fruit falls to the ground. Earlier we had visited a biodynamic farmer, Susan Rodger, who was gearing up for the full moon that evening.
We had a minutes silence at 11:11:11 on 11:11:11.

My time in Queensland was particularly useful. I also met pecan, broad acre and a multitude of other growers. Perhaps the highlight was the clearest ever explination of climate change. All through our conferences in London and New Zealand there was no mention of Carbon sequestration in the soil. Farmers were being hailed as potential future heroes for keeping a growing population fed!. There was no indication that they may have a major contribution to climate change and that carbon sequestration within soils could become a future income stream! In simple terms there is a fixed amount of carbon on our planet and man is now chiefly responsible for dictating the balance of co2 in the soil, water, vegitation and atmposphere. So it's off to the beach before a 5am start for my flight to Sydney

BRISBANE

Directly from an overnight flight I arrive at the annual Brisbane Food fair. After a few free coffee samples and some energy drink I warm to the task and enjoy yet another immediate introduction to what the countries food and agricultural offering is. Cider is obviously becoming very popular and I see several very interesting food and processing ideas.

Off to Joes watering house and I sleep for 13 hours solid. The next day I attend the NTS certificate in Sustainable agriculture course. Having just booked in, who should stroll around the corner but Mr Tom Bradshaw, UK! It’s a small world.

After an intense days study Tom & I chew the Nuffield fat whilst having a bite to eat at the surf club on Noosa Head beach.

BEYOND CHINA

We drove to Wenjiang for a meeting and more entertainment from the Chengdu agricultural research institute. Today’s bush tucker trial involved Smoked Quail, ducks feet, tripe and some form of testicle soup. The roads are now less crowded but open to the vagaries of random rural carts and animals.

I reckon the flight from Chengdu to Hong Kong is much quieter than the outbound leg but soon realise that it is the fact that I am now used to the Chinese communicating as if on speed. I visit my seat at Hong Kong airport starbuck’s and am relieved that Quantas are flying. I have an exit seat but it’s next to the most an arrogant man who disenfranchises the stewards immediately.

 

A SHOCK RECOVERY

In 2008 Dujiang Yan was levelled by a devastating earthquake but the authorities 45Km away did not react for 24 hours.  The central government decreed that each wealthy Eastern Chinese city / town should twin with one that was effected by the earthquake to help fund and plan recovery. Dujiang Yan was allocated to Shanghai and today has been completely rebuilt. It’s history however is deep rooted with a 2000 Year old irrigation system that made Sichuan the bread basket of China and the birth place of Maoism.

After a meeting in cavernous new offices of the local agricultural department, I was taken to Edon agriculture. Mr Du was immaculately turned out with slicked back hair and black gangster jacket. I was proudly shown around his Kiwi packing facilities (which had only slightly less people than a Chengdu street) and wine manufacturing plant. We then drove to a Kiwi orchard and a slightly surreal experience. We were greeted on a red carpet leading to the orchard by a group of ladies in traditional costume, and given a button hole. Following a tour of the orchard we were treated to a rousing speech and signing ceremony between Mr Du, Dole China and rainbow supermarkets. We adjourned to lunch at a local club with sectioned off rooms, clearly designed for business lunches. The food kept coming and each time you were toasted it is a custom to finish your glass of (Kiwi) wine. My only saving grace was the small glasses and the fact that Mr Du’s hospitality had extended to an extremely heavy session on the previous night, so much so that Mr Du himself fell asleep at his chair midway through the meal.

I'LL MEET YOU OUTSIDE MARKS & SPENCER

Just when I had got used to the diabolical roads, Chengdu threw a curve ball this morning – rain! Utter chaos!

I had been given a contact at CBBC by the director yesterday. For those of you with kids, you can guess what I thought! The address proved to be wrong and the lady at CBBC instructed me to board a taxi to Pacific store. In the days before mobile phones it was convention to rendezvous with friends outside Marks and Spencer, when visiting a strange town. Today I was reminded of the time that I discovered that Wakefield had Two M & S stores!

Unfortunately my impromptu translator had written down the address for the wrong Pacific store. It took me Two hours to eventually make it to the meeting which was a five minute walk from the hotel. John Stones suggested that we all spent a week alone in a country that hardly spoke English, he obviously knows that it’s trial by ordeal!

Cherry was very accommodating at the CBBC (the China-Britain Business Council) and I feel that I am finally beginning to unravel a bit of how the Chinese system works.

A text arrives and I hot foot it back to the hotel. The break through at last as the cavalry from the Chengdu Agriculture Division have arrived. I am whisked away to their HQ and spend a very informative afternoon talking with them.

NOBODY PANDA RING TO ME

The day starts badly with news from Ren that they have not organised any visits for me for after the show.

My whole visit is in tatters yet again!

I pay a quick visit to the Panda reserve whilst I await the responses from several emails and plan my next move. I am left wondering why it was that this once ferocious carnivorous beast has become such a benign, bamboo chewing embodiment of cuteness? As a species, it has already outlived it’s evolutionary shelf life by Three million Years so little wonder it needs protecting. Not quite the current embodiment of the nation that it represents.

My little excursion gives me time to clear my head.

I refer to the map of Chengdu and find the provincial government offices. Twenty minutes later I am doorstepping the security hut and the armed guard is about as impressed as John stones walking into HSBC hq with a pig protest banner. I was rescued by the changing of the guard and a female member of staff who witnessed this and phoned her English speaking colleague. He dictated an address to an awaiting taxi driver and I made good my escape before the soldiers had time to recover the situation. The driver dropped me off pointing down a dingy back alley. Disbelieving I set off only to be met by a girl who had helped me negotiate for some products at the trade fair the previous day. It transpired that she worked for the Sichuan Province Department of Agriculture which was where I was heading for and spent the next couple of hours in the company of the “big cheese” of the Sichuan government agricultural body. They weren’t going to help me with any visits but it was a bit of a wheeze and I got some good general information from them.

24 hours in town and I witness my first serious RTA, a youngish bloke on his scooter. I realise that the innovative Chinese have patented a deadly stealth road menace, the silent but deadly electric scooter.