2006 39 c USA

This is Part Nineteen of a series showing how inflation, deflation, barter, tariffs, taxes, postage, war, counterfeiting, history, economics, ‘free’ trade, famine, dearth, climate, auctions, precious metals, religion, and education are combined into one great whole.

 Part Nineteen. Why study Chinese stealing of American hybrid corn which improved yield, stand ability (a plant’s ability to stand against wind), pest resistance, tolerance to stresses, pollination, and breeding?

         Famine is a hall mark for inflation. Scarcity of food causes food prices to go up, while purchasing power of money goes down. Food inflation causing its own money deflation. Barter, and starvation, is the result. How can we avoid famine? Raise and store food. We know how to store food, to wit dry it, salt cure, sugar cure, smoke cure, canning and pickling.

The Homestead Act 186-1962 4 cent U.S. Postage, expanded acreage.

Now we come to the importance of efficient raising of food. The best safety net is to have plenty of food. So, raise more food. How do we do it? There are three ways, plant more fields and expand acreage, or getting more plants out of the same space, or get more crop rotations (such as two crops a season instead of one, or three crops a season instead of two). Or all three. The tariffs have focused on hybrid corn.

Developing new strains of crops is expensive and time consuming, to wit not cheap and slow. The experts include breeders, entomologists (insect or bug scientists), pathologists (students of bad things, usually bad diseases), physiologists (study of living things and their bodily parts), agronomists (science and tech to produce food, fuel, and fiber), geneticist (study of biology, genes, and heredity), reclamationists (restoring exhausted land to an economical and usable status, or improving land by fertilization or irrigation ), farmers (agriculturist, cultivate land or crops), ranchers (raise animals, livestock, use corn for food). Corn is 95 percent of the feed grain, making it the primary U.S. feed grain.

1818-1868 6 Cent U.S. Postage Illinois corn field.

Production is concentrated in the Heartland region (including Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, eastern portions of South Dakota and Nebraska, western Kentucky and Ohio, and the northern two-thirds of Missouri).  [Corn production] * higher yields followed improvements in technology (seed varieties, fertilizers, pesticides, and machinery) and in production practices (reduced tillage, irrigation, crop rotations, and pest management systems). Iowa corn fields, 42 USA 2008

1816 Indiana USA Forever. 2016 Cornfields in sunset.

In 90 years, the American corn yield has risen from 25 bushels per harvested acre in 1926 to about 175 bushels in 2018, or 600%.

1867-1967 Nebraska Statehood U.S. Postage 5 cent. Hereford and Corn.

As the primary feed grain, the beef, pork, bacon, chicken, eggs, you eat are converting plant (corn) protein to animal protein. USDA Economic Research Service.

Corn is to food, as the trunk and roots are to a tree. Food is to national security, as emergency rooms are to a good nights sleep. You can sleep because you know medical help, if needed, is soon available. Outright theft of hybrid corn is a national security issue. The Secretary of Agriculture uses the terms thieves and larceny. This is the downward spiral to deflation and a economy collapse – the barter economy. So what is the defense?

 

 1600 Daily June 26, 2018 Never underestimate America’s farmers

“In 2011, a group of Chinese nationals dug up genetically engineered seeds from an Iowa corn field and planned to steal and send them back to China, so they could be reverse engineered,” Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue begins a USA Today op-ed this week. “Those seeds, the result of years of research and millions of dollars of American investment, now stand as one of countless pieces of evidence in the case against China.”

Lunar New Year Happy New Year USA 37 Year of the Monkey 2004

 China accounts for 87 percent of counterfeit goods seized coming into the United States, and its intellectual property theft costs American innovators billions of dollars per year. A U.S. Trade Representative investigation identified several aggressive technology policies from China that put an incredible 44 million American jobs at risk.

Year of the Snake 2001 34C USA Happy New Year

 President Trump has taken long overdue action to address China’s unfair trade practices. Regrettably, China chose to retaliate, raising tariffs on $50 billion of U.S. exports. “China apparently has no intention of changing its unfair practices,” President Trump said in a June 18 statement. “China might underestimate the strength and resolve of American farmers, but the president does not,” Secretary Perdue writes.

1950 Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong

Now, President Donald Trump is standing up to China, which wrongly believes it can bully our farmers to get America to back away from defending our national interests. The president understands that our farmers feed, fuel and clothe this nation and the world, and he will not allow U.S. agriculture to bear the brunt of China’s retaliatory tactics.

American producers have benefited from the policies of the Trump administration, including historic tax reforms and reduced regulations. And farmers know that 20 cents of every dollar of their income relies on trade, which is why they are watching the situation with China closely. The simple truth is that when trading partners break the rules, there must be consequences.  1.20 Chinese Silk Road Ancient Trade Route

Pressuring China

To stop China’s predatory attacks on America’s innovation base, President Trump is instituting a program of tariffs and is considering investment restrictions and strengthened export controls. These tariffs will help pressure the Chinese to stop engaging in unfair practices and fully open up its markets to U.S. products, including U.S. technologies. The correct response from China would be to stop stealing from Americans and give American products a level playing field to compete in China, not to retaliate and reinforce its own position.  [Year of the Rat, 1996 USA 32 cent. Lunar New Year.]

There is no denying that the disruption in trade relations with China is unsettling to many in agriculture, but if the president succeeds in changing China’s behavior, America’s farmers will reap the benefits.

In the meantime, the president has instructed me to craft a strategy to support our farmers in the face of retaliatory tariffs. At the U.S. Department of Agriculture, we have tools at our disposal to support farmers faced with losses that might occur due to downturns in commodities markets. To this point, we have not unveiled our strategy, as it is not good practice to open our playbook while the opposing team is watching.[ 1983 Hammer and gear wheel. 10th National Congress of Trade Union of China.]

But farmers should know this: They have stood with  President Trump and his policies, and we will make good on our promise to stand with them as well. If China does not soon mend its ways, we will quickly begin fulfilling our promise to support producers, who have become casualties of these disputes.   [1925-1985 60th Anniversary of Founding of All China Federation of Trade Unions, 8 fen Beijing]

Without question, there is much at stake for this nation in trade disagreements. A bullying and predatory China has made no secret of the fact that it seeks to acquire America’s technological crown jewels by any means necessary — through physical and cyber theft, forced technology transfer, evasion of our export controls, and state-directed and -funded investment in sensitive technology. And while it may seem outrageous, China has rejected American genetically engineered products, while sending agents crawling in corn fields to pilfer samples of our technology and even purchasing a company that provides U.S. farmers with key genetically engineered seeds. [Year of the Dog 2018 Lunar New Year USA bamboo Forever.]

President Trump has said correctly that if China captures the industries of tomorrow, America will not have an economic future to look forward to — and our national security will be severely compromised. Cutting-edge technologies — from artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles and biotechnology to aerospace, high-tech shipping and robotics — are critical to our defense. We are faced with a decision: Will others determine our destiny, or will we control our own future? 29 cent Year of the Dog Happy New Year 1994

China began raiding our economy long before a team of thieves infiltrated that Iowa corn field, but President Trump aims to stop the larceny now. The president is a tough negotiator, and I am confident that American agriculture will flourish because of trade relationships that are smarter, stronger and better than before. China might underestimate the strength and resolve of American farmers, but the president does not. And he will not allow our agricultural producers to suffer because of China’s continued bad actions.’’

Sonny Perdue is the Secretary of Agriculture June 25, 2018.

Chinese Year of the Pig Boar Happy New Year 29 USA 1995

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2015 Sweet Corn Forever USA postage stamp.