Large Scale, Industrial Farming is Finally Catching on in China. For those who Played their Cards Right, it’s become a Veritable Garlic Mine.
大规模工业化农业终于在中国流行起来。对于那些玩对了的人来说，它已经成为名副其实的大蒜矿。
A county-level city under the administration of Xuzhou City in Jiangsu’s far northwest with a population of approximately 1.5 million, Pizhou is principally known for two things.
邳州是江苏西北部徐州市下辖的县级市，人口约 150 万，主要以两件事而闻名。
For tourists, that would be the ginkgo trees, in particular the famed Ginkgo Time Tunnel.
对于游客来说，那就是银杏树，尤其是著名的银杏时光隧道。
For farmers and now, industrialists, that would be the wonder food, garlic.
对于农民和现在的实业家来说，大蒜就是神奇的食物。
Driving into Pizhou, endless garlic fields on both sides of the highway come into sight. As one of the three major garlic-producing areas in China, going on a third of a third of the local population is involved in the garlic business.
驱车驶入邳州，公路两旁一望无际的大蒜田映入眼帘。作为中国三大大蒜产区之一，当地三分之一的人口从事大蒜生意。
While that’s a daily aroma better to start enjoying, change has been afoot in Pizhou, the results of which are today beginning to show themselves.
虽然这种日常香气更适合开始享受，但邳州已经发生了变化，其结果今天开始显现。
In 2019, based on its garlic dominance, Pizhou established a national-level, modern agricultural-industrial park with Suyangshan Town as its core.
2019年，邳州依托大蒜优势，建成了以宿阳山镇为核心的国家级现代农业产业园区。
Liu Xiansong is a technician from Suyangshan. He got in the game early, back in 2018, contracting 13 hectares of land and joining the army of garlic planters.
刘先松是宿阳山市的一名技术员。他早在2018年就加入了这个行业，承包了13公顷土地，加入了大蒜种植大军。
“In the past, it all depended on labour, but in the last 2 years, it all depended on machinery”, said Liu in a report by The Paper detailing recent industrial advances in Pizhou. Liu has invested in garlic seeders, harvesters and sorting machines, realising the entire mechanisation of garlic production, from plowing, weeding and sowing, to plant protection, harvesting and final sorting.
“过去全靠人工，但最近两年全靠机械”，刘在澎湃新闻详细介绍邳州近期工业进展的报道中表示。刘先生投资购买了大蒜播种机、收获机、分选机，实现了大蒜生产从犁耕、除草、播种、到植保、收获、最后分选的全程机械化。
Such mechanised planting is now utilised for 95 percent of the garlic grown in Suyangshan.
目前，宿阳山大蒜95%采用机械化种植。
More recently, the Pizhou Modern Agricultural Industrial Park created a cooperation with scientific research institutes, including the Provincial Academy of Agricultural Sciences and Xuzhou Academy of Agricultural Sciences, in order to cultivate multiple new garlic varieties such as Pisuan No. 1. Such new varieties have increased the local yield per thousand square metres to over 375 kilograms.
最近，邳州现代农业产业园与省农科院、徐州农科院等科研院所合作，培育了邳蒜一号等多个大蒜新品种，使当地千平方米单产达到375公斤以上。
Waiting and praying to sell his modest crop.
等待并祈祷出售他微薄的收成。
In 2002, at the age of 25, Zhang Liming set up the very first food-related company in Suyangshan. He found that garlic was easy to grow, but difficult to sell.
2002年，25岁的张黎明在宿阳山创办了第一家食品相关公司。他发现大蒜容易种，但很难卖。
In the past, trade and logistics were underdeveloped; garlic was easy to grow but difficult to sell. “In those days, we took four large white plastic buckets filled with drinking water, a large bag of dry pancakes and and another of dry, salted beans, to [sit outside] the buyer’s place for 2 weeks”, recalled Zhang.
过去，贸易、物流不发达；大蒜种植容易，但销售困难。 “那时候，我们带着四个装满饮用水的白色大塑料桶、一大袋干煎饼和另一袋干咸豆，到买家的地方[坐在外面]两周”，张回忆道。
But Zhang would not be modest for long, going on to prosper in the following 2 decades. Today, his guild, the Zhang Liming Co., represents approximately 300 garlic trading and processing firms in the garlic-industry chain. Together, they can each year now churn out one million tons of the wonder food.
但张谦虚的态度不会持续太久，他在接下来的二十年里继续发家致富。如今，他的协会张利明公司代表了大蒜产业链中大约 300 家大蒜贸易和加工公司。现在，他们每年可以生产一百万吨的神奇食品。
“These little garlic cloves together have formed a ¥10-billion-agricultural industry. In the final analysis, this was the product of modern agriculture meeting the concept of industrialisation. It’s an empirical approach for the rapid development of the garlic industry in Pizhou that has achieved results in a short time”, said Tang Mingzhen, former Chief Agronomist for the Jiangsu Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.
“这些小小的蒜瓣组合在一起，形成了百亿元的农业产业，说到底，这是现代农业与工业化理念相结合的产物，是邳州大蒜产业快速发展、短时间内取得成效的经验之谈。”江苏省农业农村厅原总农艺师唐明珍说。
The developments in Pizhou of late also paint a bigger picture; a picture that helps us better understand what is meant by the term, “the Chinese path to modernisation”. Pizhou is without doubt headed down it. And fast.
邳州近期的发展也描绘了一幅更大的图景。这张图可以帮助我们更好地理解“中国的现代化道路”一词的含义。邳州毫无疑问正在朝着这个方向发展。而且速度很快。
