North Dakota is located at the north of the United States, bordering Canada. Agriculture is the most important industry there; 11 kinds of crops such as flaxseeds, wheat, barley and sunflower seeds in this state rank the first in the United States, and agricultural output accounts for a large proportion of the state economy, as much as 25% (about 4 times than the U.S. average). Farmers account for 24% of the state's employed populations, whereas averagely only less than 2% of the Americans are farmers. In other words, a quarter of the population of this state is farmers and a quarter of its entire GDP depends on agriculture.
Henan is also a major agricultural province in China. The province's agriculture accounts for only about 10% of GDP. It has a population of almost 100 million people, being one of the most populous provinces in China. Half of the population lives in the urban area, and another half in the rural areas; each accounts for about 45 million. However, Henan's agricultural production is on the decline. In 2016, the annual grain output was 594.66 million, down 2.0% from the previous year. Among them, the output of summer grain was 34.768 million tons, down by 1.0%; the output of autumn grain was 246.98 million tons, down by 3.3%. Wheat production was 34.66 million tons, down 1.0%; corn production was 17.5297 million tons, down 5.4%.
The farmer families in this state are mostly living in the so-called single houses. The ordinary farmers' families here pay great attention to the decoration of the kitchen and the dining room. The kitchen utensils are neatly placed in the closet, while the kitchen desks are often neat and bright; the refrigerators, dishwashers, induction cookers, ovens, and microwave ovens, are all available. The most interesting is the electric waste disposer, which can compress a large amount of household garbage. Take the Grays, an ordinary farmer couple living in North Dakota as example, if their house is in Boston or another big city, its value should be more than USD$ 2 million; but in North Dakota, their total assets are only USD $1.2 million.
This family's assets include 3,000 acres of residential area and green farmland. The farm's main crops are soybeans, wheat, corns and buckwheat; there are also 185 cows and 8 bulls. Each cow has an orange ear tag with information about its date of birth, kinship and serial number; all information can be viewed through the computer. In addition, the household also has other livestock and various agricultural equipment.
The agricultural equipment in this family warehouse is dazzling. There are combine harvesters, four-wheel drive tractors, wind drills, agricultural track trailers, hay balers, and seeders. The total value of all these agricultural machines is only about USD$ 220,000, roughly the same price as a Jaguar Land Rover.
The level of agriculture is closely related to the quality of the population. The Grays are simultaneously farmers, managers, accountants, mechanics, welders, carpenters, veterinarians, chemists, agronomists, and teachers (to show helpers how to be farmers), marketers, investors, restaurant owners (the Grays are in partnership with others to open a high-end restaurant in Washington, specializing in local dishes from North Dakota), electricians and more. These are all closely related to the operation of the farm; each job is indispensable, and all are done by the Gray couple, as their children are still quite young, hence the Grays absolutely have no time for vacations.
American farmers like the Grays, who make up only 1.8% of the country's population, not only feed nearly 300 million Americans, but also make the United States the world's largest exporter of agricultural products. In 2014, the U.S. agricultural exports reached a record USD $152.3 billion. In comparison, Henan's agricultural product export for 2008 was USD$ 450 million. If high technology is excluded, such an agricultural miracle is simply impossible, and American agriculture, not industry and service industry, is the pioneer in the use of high technology, and uses the latest technology. The Grays are now using a self-driving and satellite positioning system that they bought for USD$ 7,500 last spring. With this system, the tractor can be controlled by the computer without manual operation and the quality of the cultivated land becomes higher. In the use of GPS global positioning system, the Grays are latecomers. In contrast, high technology companies in China like BAT (Baidu, Alibaba Tencent) are said to be just at the stage of investing in huge amounts on research and development. Meanwhile, American farmers have long used them, and such technology is very popular among them. The Grays have to adopt such technology, else cultivating 18,000 acres of land would be an impossible task. For agriculture, the most important thing is, of course, the profit and loss. In the case of Henan, its agriculture issues can only be resolved because it depends on national finance. On the other hand, American farmers rely on information to solve. The agriculture in the United States is completely market-oriented; if there is a problem, it cannot be solved by the government, nor can one launch any complaint. Therefore, American farmers must independently make production and sales decisions based on market information, which leads to the fact that the degree of informatization of American agriculture is much higher than the industry. This could surprise the Chinese economists, as China's various government plans simply do not consider such point; "Industry 4.0" was the only thing they have heard. In the rural areas of the United States, there are plenty of highly educated and courteous farmers, and accessing the internet and reading newspapers has long been a part of American agricultural life. Without accurate, timely, and authoritative market information, American agriculture will be at a loss.
However, there is something common between American agriculture and Henan's agricultural development, that is both are facing the threat of the aging population. There are fewer and fewer people who are willing to involve in the agriculture industry now. This is true for both Henan and the United States. Young people are inclined to live in big cities, and in the case of Henan, the urbanization has made great progress in recent years. The urbanization rate in Henan was only 37% in 2009 and it is now close to 50%. However, the impact of urbanization in the United States on "agriculture, rural areas and farmers" is different from that in China, and it is not the problem of housing level and social security. American rural housing is better, and some places are even investment hotspots. There is no problem in equalizing social security as well. American urbanization is real urbanization; it carries the spirits of modern urban civilization's culture, art, education and rebellion, which attracts the children of the farmers. It is not the same thing that attracts the Chinese farmers.
Final analysis conclusion:
The comparison between North Dakota in the United States and Henan in China (although Henan and North Dakota have a lot of things that cannot be compared), is to reveal several myths in the Chinese policy system that have puzzled the Anbound scholars. First, the primary industry is thought to have no future, and China should pursue the secondary industry and the tertiary industry instead. Second, high technology must have nothing to do with agriculture, and has nothing to do with farmers. The Chinese rural area problems can only rely on foreigners, as China itself can do nothing. Fourth, Agriculture has no future, so the policy does not pay attention to this. The rural problems are only to sustain a group of scholars. As for seeking solutions, there has been no major progress in decades.
