The fact that you two are so different and can manage to respect each other's outlook is exactly why someone like me is watching. Much respect guys, I've learned more about China from you than any school book.
Still have a small garden in which we grow green beans (patteridge head) tomatoes peppers and cucumbers. When I was young we also grew butter beans, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and purple hull peas. Nothing better than fresh food from the garden
Another reason why the left behind children stay behind is the hukou household registration system. Unless you are formally registered by birth or property ownership in the city, your children cannot attend school. The only other option is for the child to have a foreign passport or green card so s/he can attend an international school which is far overpriced for many migrant workers in China. Until the Chinese government allows more freedom of movement, the education system can not be equally balanced between the rural and urban areas.
Born and raised in a small village in Guangdong, China, I would say the streets scenes look exactly like my hometown, and yes, your opinions on this situation are flawless. -- A college student in Guangzhou
We're pretty close to fully-automated farming. Combines and harvesters already have GPS, it's only a matter of time before they don't require human input.
+ItinerantOne operating machinery is just a small part of farming. also its not like driving a car from a to b. you still have to check seed placement. adjust the combine so an operator is still needed.
In 1972 the average was 50.3. While that average went up almost 8 years, the life expectancy of a man in US went up almost 9 years from 1972-2012 in that periud of time. Put both graphics side by side and it seems that both move at very similar rates... Currently US produces more then what they need, and often they have to burn crops to mantain the market cost of some products.
Handy Keppy Not really, there are currently machines that all they need is the 3D map of your field.. They work the ground, they plant the sides they irrigate and do it all using a GPS. The one product I saw, they said that they advise a person in the machine to avoid it to colide with other vehicles.. You do need a few people, but they will be used to take care of the machinery maintnance and someone to use the software in order to send the drone that creates the 3D model. The only missing step is the transportation, and that part is probably 5 years away.
DavidRsaid I think it will just go larger... large interprises will farm for most of what we need using robots. I also think the private gardens will become more popular since they will be easier to create and mantain.. This video shows an idea that represents a similar experience of what I think.. th-cam.com/video/8r0CiLBM1o8/w-d-xo.htmlm8s
To be honest, I like being a farmer, but it's hard to survive this way, the price of everything in China is getting higher and higher, but being a farmer people are usually poor, I guess if I have a chance to be a farm and don't have to worry about money, I'll be happy to come back.
@@Soldano999 you do have that in Belgium quite a bit now, a lot of people tend to move to the surounding towns instead of the city but it also really fluctuates with each generation.
@@Soldano999o that doesn’t really happen in the west it’s actually quite sad that you even mentioned the west in this comment say the west the west is actually has the least work ethic in the world the west is the least of our worries in this case by far you people have the least amount of labour and you have almost no child labour in the west
@Goorpijp Wessel I am from the Philippines. I have known for a while that farmers in the Netherlands are rich, and I admire your country for that. It's just sad that farmers here in my country aren't rich. I shudder at the thought that if they die off, what would happen to our food?
The Dutch agriculture industry is second to none, when you look at the size of the country they punch well above their weight, if the Dutch are talking about agriculture or water, it is wise to listen.
@@noahpolicarpio1530 I can't speak for the netherlands, but in the US farmers are still poor in terms of how much money they have to live on, but are rich in how much money they are worth. Like, if they sold everything they would be rich, but unless they do they will be poor, because they amount of money they earn barely covers how much it costs to run the farm.
@@merlinious01 Another farmer here, from Finland, northern Europe. Our situation here is similar, no one wants to start farming because it requires a massive amount of money to invest with little income. Here, there are basically 2 major food stores that basically control the food pricing in Finland. No one talks about it, but everyone kinda knows that there is fixed pricing going on since there are no competition and many studies have shown how 60-80% of food price goes to the stores.
I always wonder stuff like that...like who'll grow the food?! I grew up in Ladner which is considered a small farm town in Canada, and B.C.'s issue isn't losing farmers, it's industrialization of the farm land. A huge mall was recently built what was a farm field between my town and the next.
That has been a concern in the US for many years. But not enough concern for govt to step in and put a halt to it. Developers won't want the duck swampland or steep hills, they want the good land to build on. The greedy do not look past their noses to weight the consequences of their actions in the future, probably very near future.
You mentioned the kids who go into the city to make money, but at least a good half of them plan on returning to the countryside after they've made enough money to upgrade the house on their parents' lot (i.e. turn a mud and wood flat into a 4-story concrete building). They would be the so-called "floating population" or 流动人口, you alluded to it but never directly brought up the term.
This same trend existed in the West too, and only very recently has farming become cool again. Urban farming, mushroom operations, organic farms, all of those holistic approaches instead of regular industrial mono/permaculture.
I just can’t get over the fact that you two are carrying on a conversation for the video while riding your motorcycles. I am impressed at every video that you do in this format. Cheers 🙌🏽
Commenting here because comments were disabled for the video i just saw ,where u guys were at n. Korean border. LOVED this footage. Learning so much. Very interesting! Keep it up please.
I first travelled to China as a tourist in 1987...huge changes! Your commentary and intelligent banter speaks volumes as to the success of your channels. All the best from Canada ( I will be in Mongolia tomorrow for two weeks...then to Beijing- excited)
Thank you guys for another quality video about Chinese life and yours . I was hunched over my desk watching drinking coffee .Oh and eating a waffle .......
Well the children don't have 户口 at the city where the parents work so schooling is not free like back home where ever that is. the only way is to leave the child behind with grandma. At least then they can go to school. Private school ain't cheap. Alot of average workers just can't afford it
America imports lots of food, but for variety and inexpensiveness caused by cheap labor elsewhere. The US has such food production capabilities, the government pays farmers to leave their fields empty (or else the prices would bottom out), and loads of food (beyond what is wasted) is destroyed (also to prevent the market from taking a dive with too much supply. The US could feed its entire population many times over with its domestic production capacity. That is not going to be the situation with China.
Antaine Ó hÓgáin, i agree.. especially in china you cant own a land, even a small one. most of the old properties will be own by goverment if the owner have left or died. except the goverment start to subsidize the land for farmers.
Same situation in Germany. We have to throw away insane mountains of food because so much is imported from North Africa as development aid for example. Even though the German produce wouldn't actually me more expensive as you don't have to fly it over from there.
The US is largerst agricultural producer and power in the world. They have the largest export of produce in the world by money made and that is only talking about exported, which in the US is not as big as it is in China. China needs to modernize their farming if they don't want to become dependent on food imports in the future.
I literally saw this with my own eyes today when we were visiting some countryside village near Yangzhou. Old people everywhere and they were taking care of their ~1 yo grandchild. The parents of the child were off working somewhere else and there were no other young people that I could see.
The uS industrialized. Starting in 1790 the US had 90% farming, but technology like better plows and horse pulled harvesters and cotton gines... to better farming practices and crop rotations, to tractors and combines, to fertilizers and pesticides to better seed and and the US shrank the farming workforce by about 4% every 10 year until it is now at 2% of the work force. The US actually exports more than it imports. Most imports are for tropical fruits and seasonal fruits and vegetables, but it exports grains, nuts, dairy, meat, tobacco, and cotton. We import about 15%, but export about 20%. China currently exports about 22% of its GDP in the form of mostly manufactured goods and imports about 18.5% of it GDP in minerals, fuel, and food.
It is very difficult to automate cultivation on those terraces they use for rice farming. In the US, you have extensive plains that are more adapted to large machines.
Well farmers in South Africa are being murdered on a daily basis so maybe when China has no farmers it could be a safe place to move and farm for South Africans.
I dont like it either. It's starting to have way to many parallels with how civilizations have failed before and it's because we are becoming too damn specialized. Kinda like how ancient Rome imported nearly all of its grain from Egypt. Just like how Venezuela doesnt have enough farmers to properly feed it's population. China gets all its food from U.S and recently from Africa and U.S gets nearly all its food from south Anerica. Outsourcing farming is always a bad idea as all there needs to be is a disruption in imports and your people starve!
That's so strange to see lifestock like that, in abundance, just in the middle of busy roads. Are they free from ownership? or the farmers/ranchers don't care? The little calf.... so cute!! They all looked quite healthy too.
To add a bit a shite to the mix here, it's only gotten worse in five years, and it's not only farmers. The average age of people doing unskilled, menial labour in China is going up every year. The people maintaining the pretty green areas around the main roads the CCP is so fond of showing off, the people doing work on school and university campuses to keep the decay from showing, the people actually willing to work with their hands, all of these are increasing in average age, and when that generation dies or becomes too old to do the work this country is facing a serious problem.
The thing is. It will make you very little money if you run a small farm. Vegetables and fruits are super cheap compared to United States. Most of them cost less than $0.5/lbs. Orange Peach and Apple usually $0.3/lbs. In the fall, Napa cabbage and radish costs $0.05/lbs it's not like in the U.S, there are people willing to pay premium to buy stuff directly from you. They only trust big brands for organic produces and products.
My best friend is from Ireland had grown up on a farm and he always says the lack of chances to explore the world as a farmer was a deal breaker for him.
You're still young. Maybe keep an open mind to other ways of thinking and living. Being closed minded is never a good thing. However, I'm glad you enjoy what you are doing.
This dialog makes me want to start farming. I live in Bali and am married to a Balinese woman. We bought a farm recently. There's a similar situation here where all the farmers will be dead in fifteen years and the cities are expanding creating a very lucrative organic farming business opportunity. I'm just trying to figure out how I'm going to get my lazy ass up and start farming lol.
Easy , just ask your neighbors and friends to help you and you promise them a share of what you produce for their consumption plus whatever profit you make . They gonna love you
Interesting to me, because subsidized farming is very much a thing in the US. I have an elderly friend of the family who keeps his farm running essentially by keeping track of government subsidies and planting accordingly, he lives a comfortable middle class life. (two-floor home, nice TV, all the amenities. He was a PE teacher before he bought the property)
DavidRsaid I disagree, but I respect your stance. I think "the Fed" needs to regulate in order to prevent abuse and panic-investment. Also, theres the need to maintain domestic agriculture in case of war. Edit: also, by all accounts, the dust bowl sucked. We can't avoid that without regulation.
The U.S. imports foods from South America so we can have seasonal fruits year round. The U.S. is still self sufficient and probably always will be. Also it's hard to successfully mass farm in Africa unless you really know how and when to rotate your crops,what you can grow and how much because the topsoil doesn't run very deep. Zimbabwe forced out the farmers who had been doing it for generations because they were White. Then the famine hit and they wanted them back. But Countries like Zambia,Kenya,from all over wanted these experienced farmers and they're families who know how to get the most out of the arable land with not a lot of rainfall and knowing all about irrigation.
Good Video again. Bloomberg invented the term Farming the World to describe the Chinese strategy for for food production . China is a net exporter of food in 2018 but is projected to import even more. Chinese food products (Dollar Tree?) have a dodgy reputation even among Chinese consumers. The approximate ,2 acres of arable land per citizen is among the lowest in the world. The 3 part dilemma of fewer young people choosing agriculture, shortage of arable land and quality/heath concerns of Chinese goods are pushing the policy of "land investment " around the world. In US, farms(family farms) have disappeared for decades. Corporate agriculture thrives.
They did the same here in Norway, too. incentives etc for farmers to make it more attractive to a small-scale farmer. Of course we also have the massive industrial farms too, but a large percentage of farms are still the small time ones.
For those who dont know, the new generation farmer are doing hydro- and aquaponics. The production rate is higher than growing on soil. The way that you guys have the conversation is almost like you guys dont know. Look it up, hydroponics or aquaponics. Stay awesome
Hey, back in the day, State Farm was the only insurance company that would provide coverage for my Datsun 260Z 2+2. 4 speed manual. 30 mph in first, 90 mph in 3rd. Never did find out what it would max out to in 4th. Loved that car.
Society in general doesn't want to be farmers. At least in the USA, Europe, China, Russia, and places like that. Society in general looks down on farmers
Gentlemen, just got back from 2 weeks vacation in China in large part after falling your blogs for the last year or so. Was amazing how in same ways China was still behind but other ways more advanced. They have definitely learned a lot from western growth and are applying this skipping a lot of the steps along the way. There was definitely an air of excitement and optimism with the recent growth and the development was fascinating. Seeing how important QR codes and all payments done via mobile phone was so neat. A major issue i'd love to hear disguised was the price of hosing. I thought Vancouver Canada was crazy but finding out that a small town such as Yangshuo outside Guilin had a cost per are more than here while i read in a 2013 or so article that a middle class wage was between 1500-5k per month. Capitalism is certainly alive and well and marking is ruthlessly playing on cultural rules such as needing to buy a place to be secure to be able to marry. meanwhile rent is still very reasonable certainly compared to cost to buy. Anyways great work as always and super glad i visited China and very happy to return for another trip soon. NO country is perfect and you point out many differences in culture but overall China fit what i learned from your shows and The Chinese should be for the most part very proud of how their country is portrayed on your blogs and my impress for the last weeks.
Meh C-milk, except for mangos there is little that South America exports that can't be grown, in season, in the USA. No blueberries in winter is a different proposition then not having rice, or soy beans in China. And you have to consider the political pressure in places like Thailand if rice prices explode domestically because of Chinese demand. Not to get too political, but it does look like there are multiple possible points of failure with present Chinese Central Government Policy. Having farms in Africa is own special set of issues. Africa, as you well know SerpentZA, is notoriously unstable. Farming especially is, um how to say this nicely?, having some issues? Yah, that will work. Again not to get too political, but this will mean that China will have to be more like the USA with military commitments all over the world just to protect their investments.
There's 100s of rural farms and properties being purchased in Australia all together it's like larger than the UK and when they do they somehow manage to purchase all downstream operations so as to export the produce without ever needing to employ locally.
China's population is projected to decrease over time, so there will be less mouths to feed. Better farming techniques and machinery should make up for less labor in agriculture, not to mention state support to balance supply and demand.
+DavidRsaid look it up on google, China's population growth is already slowing due to better standard of living, better education and also years of one child policy
Less people in China is not good for China. China is trying to switch to a domestic consumption based economy. Lower population means a smaller number of customers spending less because they are caring for a larger number of older relatives. A shrinking consumer base means a stalled or shrinking economy that isn't able to pay for SOE jobs or subsidized cheap credit or a navy to protect the oil imports that are needed for industry AND agriculture. All those crops have to be fertilized, transported, and so on.
DavidRsaid Chinese population will decrease in 10 years. Average life expectancy is 75. In 2025, over 20 million people will die in each year. On the contrary, 10-15 million will be born. In Japan , their aging population is very productive(scientists, engineers, professionals), whereas China's aging people belong to uneducated lost generation. Unlike Japan, Shrinking population is a good thing for China, like you said, especially environmentally.
China has also been making acquisitions of agri-business companies, especially those that produce GMO seeds. Recently they acquired Syngenta out of Switzerland. They've seen this coming and are taking steps to secure their food supply. Strangely enough, that includes purchases in the US. In the recent past I've seen stories of pork companies being bought, huge supplies of peanuts out of Georgia purchased in bulk and sent to China, as well as the infamous Mississippi asian carp fish being harvested and sent to China to meet demand there.
Chinese people have bought a large number of properties in Australia including farms where they do not usually get a lease. People buying land in Australia often own it with no restrictions like leases etc.
What's up notification squad! Can't wait to see more of north korea from the chinese side. I'd say the reason more young people aren't interested in farming is because they don't own the land they are farming on. If you know you are taking care of a piece of property that is worth a substantial amount of money you will find a lot more motivation to become a farmer.
funny thing is, the girls from the farms are better people, and they work harder, you can see the most wild sexy girl in the mud. they are treated like men, they know they must work to survive. no one is around handing them a free life just because they look good. and what is happening right now is the cost of food is going up and the cost of a place to live. it will implode, they already have powdered milk smugglers. its that bad right now
DavidRsaid, sometimes I wonder what makes you so butthurt about anything concerning the Chinese people. Did your Chinese crush friendzoned you or left for other guys ? or you are just jealous of the recent growth of China ?? nobody knows, but I've seen you comment a lot of disgusting stuffs about Chinese people. please stop, you are the anti-china equivalent of glass heart chinese nationalist.
Well , Im sorry to hear what happened to you. Maybe it is impossible to ever forget what happened to you, but it is 100% possible to put that behind and move on with your life.. dont you think ?? Focus your energy to positive things in your life rather than posting some hate comments on the internet, It wouldn't change a thing. Im sorry if I sounded like I'm trying to lecture you, Im not, just ignore my comment.
oh come on, Personal Issue should stay a personal issue, how the fuck can you blame an entire nation of people just because you have a shitty personal life ?? if I had a crush on a White girl and she left me for another dude ,should I make countless racist comments against white people on the internet ?? probably no, it will only show my own mental instability and sickness
They could mechanise the farm production pretty quickly if they really wanted to. Pump enough money into it and it'll happen. Like not overnight but you could import food while you're setting up the infrastructure.
Interesting video on the decline of farmers in China . I hope China will start a program to keep local farmers stateside as to retain atleast a small percentage of produce and meat based food stateside for her nationals.
DavidRsaid I understand the vegan lifestyle and respect it .... I am not a vegan/vegetarian myself though as I fine that my body requires meat for optimal efficiency. I guess my comment needs to be edited which I am going to do now to reflect that I believe that China needs to retain a system of being able to properly feed her nationals without going to other countries land.
So what percentage of Chinese farms are fully/partially mechanized, both big and small? I've seen some Chinese agricultural equipment but most of it was on the smaller side. I know improvements like buildings are compensated when the government wants to use the land for something else, but what about land improvements like a farmer would do such as irrigation, clearing land, fertilization, etc.? Some of the tiny plots I've seen in videos look like gardens or just better than subsistence farming plots from 150 years ago.
I don't have the data, but most big farms in the northeast where land are much flatter, are fully mechanized. There are also more young people doing it since operating those equipments require some level of skills and older people in general did not receive proper education. Rice, wheat, potatoes and corns are farmed in large scales, but we don't have those advanced equipments that can automatically harvest apples and oranges. It's communism legacy which lands are owned by all the people of village and they farm together. Things can be done more efficiently. Guangdong, where they are located, don't have a lot of farm lands and lands are owned by individuals, that's why large farms are not possible. In term of subsidies, some struggling farmers do get free fertilizer and seeds. They also receive some help, either labor or equipments, during harvesting season. We used to tax and charge fees from farmers, basically take a percentage of what they have grown. It was dropped in the late 90s to improve their incomes.
This perspective on another countries farming culture is another reason I’m grateful to be a rural farming American. Our culture, practices and culture ways of life are so different even though the job is so similar.
I’ve been binge watching all of your videos and they are fascinating and addictive. I’ve wondered if the Chinese share any of The Japanese people’s love of gardens and gardening because in all your videos I have yet to see flowers and landscaping. It all looks kind of industrial and stark?
I heard on the news about China sending money and workers to certain African countries to get the minerals and probably farm goods as well from there. Recently, they was talking about China investing money in Middle Eastern countries as well and that is probably to get farm goods for their people back home. Some of the people I met here in Arkansas came from rural areas of China and go back there after 6 months here in this country.They train there in China and come here to work in Chinese businesses and return home when their time expires.
China imports huge quanties of food from North America every year as it is. Fruit like apples and pears from the PNW, soybeans, wheat, meat from the midwest,etc. We ship huge quanties of hay and animal feed to asia too for livestock. We export a huge ammount of hops from the us. If you drink beer with hoos somewhere in the world theres a good chance its Usa hops in it.
A significant portion of farms in the US are family farms not "factory farms" like you said. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_farm en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_farming There is a lot of industrialization in these farms in that almost none is done by hand. The big exception would be vegetables or fruit that require manual picking. A lot of family farms operate like small businesses and have contracts with seed suppliers.There is certainly a corporate aspect to it but not in the way you describe.
You could say that about America at a point Farmers were poor. However farmers too day have some cash but it also takes a lot to buy farm equipment for the modern farm. However the problem we have in the USA is that you can not go buy 5,000 acres...no one has the cash or credit to get into farming, and no young person wants to get into farmer here either. So as these older farmers get too old, they tend to sell the farm and then you have less farm land as a new subdivision gets put in or the person buying it just wants property and a house and even then you are not buying 5,000 acres you are buying maybe 50 acres or 100 acres. My parents for example bought 243 acres in Tennessee for $70,000 in 1993/4 (I believe) The property now is worth $15,000-$20,000 per acre and that is without the house they built. For example the wife and I looked at property here in Colorado and they want $200,000 to $250,000 for a few acres...who the HELL can afford that? Our house cost $300,000 so just for land it's about as much as we paid for our home. It's crazy, but my Grandfather always said they are not making anymore land (he bought property as a safety net for retirement) and it worked for him and that was late 1980's when he retired. Hard to do that now for a working stiff like he was now. At some point even in the USA we need to motivate or give incentives to people to farm. That or a major war or virus wipes out half the Earths population and we can then sustain ourselves on the lands we have. War's are fought about land, it's possible the next great war will be on gaining lands to farm and to supply ones country with food.
Nobody wants to farm. Especially in that heat. Spent a summer working in a tomato field back in 9th grade. They'd start picking a dawn and have to call it at 1 PM due to heat. Wasn't worth the pocket money. It'll be interesting to see how well they forecast the change from small to corporate farms, and if they plan far enough ahead to ease the transition. If they don't, it might get a wee bit bumpy for a while.
I would like to farm but I live in one of if not the worst area to farm, really high altitude in the rain shadow of the rocky mountains, in the summer days are hot nights are cold, very little rain, and we get frost at night some times all the way into June, So the growing season is really short. I plan to garden at some point. but I'd need a fair amount of money to over come all these problems. And this year we got locusts.
Fascinating topic. Terrifying ride through that traffic. C-Milk PLEASE wear protective gear!! Also, Winston, 60 is NOT ANCIENT!!!LOL. Love you and your videos all the same!
First...a floating raft style rice gathering equipment is needed. Yes equipment that flatters the job. Second it needs tug rice collecting. It must have study but can be done. Movies can be seen.. Also. Family may help each other.
What was that car you were following? With the chevy badge. From afar it looked like a mere but then a little like a cruze but not really. Dual exhaust and then the rims were so different, probably aftermarket? Weird looking car either way
The fact that you two are so different and can manage to respect each other's outlook is exactly why someone like me is watching. Much respect guys, I've learned more about China from you than any school book.
How are they so different? Besides the haircut? That one dude can be annoying when he preens his hair.
hate is a negative emotion that not all of us needed it to be a decent human being
Still have a small garden in which we grow green beans (patteridge head) tomatoes peppers and cucumbers. When I was young we also grew butter beans, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and purple hull peas. Nothing better than fresh food from the garden
Can't afford an apartment or house like this in Beijing. Too expensive.
Another reason why the left behind children stay behind is the hukou household registration system. Unless you are formally registered by birth or property ownership in the city, your children cannot attend school. The only other option is for the child to have a foreign passport or green card so s/he can attend an international school which is far overpriced for many migrant workers in China. Until the Chinese government allows more freedom of movement, the education system can not be equally balanced between the rural and urban areas.
This is the main reason, surprised the guys did't mention this.
Born and raised in a small village in Guangdong, China, I would say the streets scenes look exactly like my hometown, and yes, your opinions on this situation are flawless. -- A college student in Guangzhou
Odd fact. According to the U.S. Labor Department, the average age of farmers and ranchers is 58.
We're pretty close to fully-automated farming. Combines and harvesters already have GPS, it's only a matter of time before they don't require human input.
+ItinerantOne operating machinery is just a small part of farming. also its not like driving a car from a to b. you still have to check seed placement. adjust the combine so an operator is still needed.
In 1972 the average was 50.3. While that average went up almost 8 years, the life expectancy of a man in US went up almost 9 years from 1972-2012 in that periud of time. Put both graphics side by side and it seems that both move at very similar rates... Currently US produces more then what they need, and often they have to burn crops to mantain the market cost of some products.
Handy Keppy
Not really, there are currently machines that all they need is the 3D map of your field.. They work the ground, they plant the sides they irrigate and do it all using a GPS. The one product I saw, they said that they advise a person in the machine to avoid it to colide with other vehicles.. You do need a few people, but they will be used to take care of the machinery maintnance and someone to use the software in order to send the drone that creates the 3D model. The only missing step is the transportation, and that part is probably 5 years away.
DavidRsaid
I think it will just go larger... large interprises will farm for most of what we need using robots. I also think the private gardens will become more popular since they will be easier to create and mantain.. This video shows an idea that represents a similar experience of what I think.. th-cam.com/video/8r0CiLBM1o8/w-d-xo.htmlm8s
To be honest, I like being a farmer, but it's hard to survive this way, the price of everything in China is getting higher and higher, but being a farmer people are usually poor, I guess if I have a chance to be a farm and don't have to worry about money, I'll be happy to come back.
The kids will be back at the farms after they've worn their bodies out at the factories.
Also happens in the west as a matter of fact. City Life is a lie.
@@Soldano999 you do have that in Belgium quite a bit now, a lot of people tend to move to the surounding towns instead of the city but it also really fluctuates with each generation.
Matthias Van Hecke i think it's cyclic.
But i also think urban civilisation has simply lost its appeal.
@@Soldano999o that doesn’t really happen in the west it’s actually quite sad that you even mentioned the west in this comment say the west the west is actually has the least work ethic in the world the west is the least of our worries in this case by far you people have the least amount of labour and you have almost no child labour in the west
Farming is becoming a Science and Engineering Job. :3
@Goorpijp Wessel Where do you live?
@Goorpijp Wessel I am from the Philippines. I have known for a while that farmers in the Netherlands are rich, and I admire your country for that.
It's just sad that farmers here in my country aren't rich. I shudder at the thought that if they die off, what would happen to our food?
The Dutch agriculture industry is second to none, when you look at the size of the country they punch well above their weight, if the Dutch are talking about agriculture or water, it is wise to listen.
@@noahpolicarpio1530
I can't speak for the netherlands, but in the US farmers are still poor in terms of how much money they have to live on, but are rich in how much money they are worth.
Like, if they sold everything they would be rich, but unless they do they will be poor, because they amount of money they earn barely covers how much it costs to run the farm.
@@merlinious01 Another farmer here, from Finland, northern Europe. Our situation here is similar, no one wants to start farming because it requires a massive amount of money to invest with little income. Here, there are basically 2 major food stores that basically control the food pricing in Finland. No one talks about it, but everyone kinda knows that there is fixed pricing going on since there are no competition and many studies have shown how 60-80% of food price goes to the stores.
I always wonder stuff like that...like who'll grow the food?!
I grew up in Ladner which is considered a small farm town in Canada, and B.C.'s issue isn't losing farmers, it's industrialization of the farm land. A huge mall was recently built what was a farm field between my town and the next.
That has been a concern in the US for many years. But not enough concern for govt to step in and put a halt to it. Developers won't want the duck swampland or steep hills, they want the good land to build on. The greedy do not look past their noses to weight the consequences of their actions in the future, probably very near future.
You mentioned the kids who go into the city to make money, but at least a good half of them plan on returning to the countryside after they've made enough money to upgrade the house on their parents' lot (i.e. turn a mud and wood flat into a 4-story concrete building). They would be the so-called "floating population" or 流动人口, you alluded to it but never directly brought up the term.
At 6:23 when he said "I remember......" I thought he was about to burst into song like "I remember you, you lift my spirit!" XD
I like how cows 🐮 showed up while talking about farming dying out in China
because the farms are dying out, the cows are having to move out to find work in the towns and cities, i for one welcome our new moo friends
Same thought. They're moving into the cities, too.
This same trend existed in the West too, and only very recently has farming become cool again. Urban farming, mushroom operations, organic farms, all of those holistic approaches instead of regular industrial mono/permaculture.
I just can’t get over the fact that you two are carrying on a conversation for the video while riding your motorcycles. I am impressed at every video that you do in this format. Cheers 🙌🏽
Commenting here because comments were disabled for the video i just saw ,where u guys were at n. Korean border. LOVED this footage. Learning so much. Very interesting! Keep it up please.
I first travelled to China as a tourist in 1987...huge changes! Your commentary and intelligent banter speaks volumes as to the success of your channels. All the best from Canada ( I will be in Mongolia tomorrow for two weeks...then to Beijing- excited)
ADVChina rocks!!! God bless you two! 😎
I just found this channel a week ago and I love you guys!
Now i'm really interested in this country, at least for a vacation
Thank you guys for another quality video about Chinese life and yours . I was hunched over my desk watching drinking coffee .Oh and eating a waffle .......
Well the children don't have 户口 at the city where the parents work so schooling is not free like back home where ever that is. the only way is to leave the child behind with grandma. At least then they can go to school. Private school ain't cheap. Alot of average workers just can't afford it
America imports lots of food, but for variety and inexpensiveness caused by cheap labor elsewhere. The US has such food production capabilities, the government pays farmers to leave their fields empty (or else the prices would bottom out), and loads of food (beyond what is wasted) is destroyed (also to prevent the market from taking a dive with too much supply. The US could feed its entire population many times over with its domestic production capacity. That is not going to be the situation with China.
Antaine Ó hÓgáin, i agree.. especially in china you cant own a land, even a small one. most of the old properties will be own by goverment if the owner have left or died. except the goverment start to subsidize the land for farmers.
Or subsidizing corn for corn syrup and not real food.
Same situation in Germany. We have to throw away insane mountains of food because so much is imported from North Africa as development aid for example. Even though the German produce wouldn't actually me more expensive as you don't have to fly it over from there.
You're gonna have to give some sources for such a wild claim like that.
The US is largerst agricultural producer and power in the world. They have the largest export of produce in the world by money made and that is only talking about exported, which in the US is not as big as it is in China. China needs to modernize their farming if they don't want to become dependent on food imports in the future.
I spent the whole day watching your videos. I love this concept.
I literally saw this with my own eyes today when we were visiting some countryside village near Yangzhou. Old people everywhere and they were taking care of their ~1 yo grandchild. The parents of the child were off working somewhere else and there were no other young people that I could see.
The uS industrialized. Starting in 1790 the US had 90% farming, but technology like better plows and horse pulled harvesters and cotton gines... to better farming practices and crop rotations, to tractors and combines, to fertilizers and pesticides to better seed and and the US shrank the farming workforce by about 4% every 10 year until it is now at 2% of the work force. The US actually exports more than it imports. Most imports are for tropical fruits and seasonal fruits and vegetables, but it exports grains, nuts, dairy, meat, tobacco, and cotton. We import about 15%, but export about 20%. China currently exports about 22% of its GDP in the form of mostly manufactured goods and imports about 18.5% of it GDP in minerals, fuel, and food.
Thankyou...for the homework..well done
It is very difficult to automate cultivation on those terraces they use for rice farming. In the US, you have extensive plains that are more adapted to large machines.
Love the content! Lived there for 4 years. Brings back a lot of memories.
4:45 Evo 6 Tommi Makinen. Hmm.
yeah
You guys make some really informative and incredible videos, keep up the good work!
the sign-off was hilarious in this one, great stuff as always
As always, interesting, reasoned, thoughtful observations. Thanks guys. Happy trails from California.
I like the drone at 8:15. Can you do more of those between building shots?
Well farmers in South Africa are being murdered on a daily basis so maybe when China has no farmers it could be a safe place to move and farm for South Africans.
I'm not fan of urbanization at the expense of losing farm lands
Well if the farms become more efficient then it wouldn't really matter. I'm eager to see megafarms in China instead of many family owned ones.
I dont like it either. It's starting to have way to many parallels with how civilizations have failed before and it's because we are becoming too damn specialized. Kinda like how ancient Rome imported nearly all of its grain from Egypt. Just like how Venezuela doesnt have enough farmers to properly feed it's population. China gets all its food from U.S and recently from Africa and U.S gets nearly all its food from south Anerica. Outsourcing farming is always a bad idea as all there needs to be is a disruption in imports and your people starve!
Another great video. Very talented to ride and talk at the same time.
The same thing has been happening slowly in the states - the average age of a farmer was 50 in the 80s and it reached 58 in 2012.
That's so strange to see lifestock like that, in abundance, just in the middle of busy roads. Are they free from ownership? or the farmers/ranchers don't care? The little calf.... so cute!! They all looked quite healthy too.
If you are in Tibet and run over some livestocks, prepare to pay your car for the damage.
No kidding. That's real.
Tibetan people are totally spoiled by the government and the legal system. They think they are superior.
If you go to the New Forest in Southern England, you often turn a corner and find wild ponies stood in the middle of the road.
In a certain place in my district, I saw someone rearing geese & chickens. I even saw a pony ranch beside some flats.
@@vocvoc9895 You what? They're oppressed in Tibet.
Great video and a very interesting topic guys; keep up the good work.
To add a bit a shite to the mix here, it's only gotten worse in five years, and it's not only farmers. The average age of people doing unskilled, menial labour in China is going up every year. The people maintaining the pretty green areas around the main roads the CCP is so fond of showing off, the people doing work on school and university campuses to keep the decay from showing, the people actually willing to work with their hands, all of these are increasing in average age, and when that generation dies or becomes too old to do the work this country is facing a serious problem.
Farmers life is the best life, and that's coming from a teenage farmer.
The thing is. It will make you very little money if you run a small farm.
Vegetables and fruits are super cheap compared to United States.
Most of them cost less than $0.5/lbs. Orange Peach and Apple usually $0.3/lbs.
In the fall, Napa cabbage and radish costs $0.05/lbs
it's not like in the U.S, there are people willing to pay premium to buy stuff directly from you. They only trust big brands for organic produces and products.
Thats the whole point, it doesn't matter if a teenage farmer thinks farming rocks. you need people who are not farmers to think it rocks.
My best friend is from Ireland had grown up on a farm and he always says the lack of chances to explore the world as a farmer was a deal breaker for him.
You're still young. Maybe keep an open mind to other ways of thinking and living. Being closed minded is never a good thing. However, I'm glad you enjoy what you are doing.
I agree, greetings from Wisconsin. I often worked on my family's farm during the summer growing up.
This dialog makes me want to start farming. I live in Bali and am married to a Balinese woman. We bought a farm recently. There's a similar situation here where all the farmers will be dead in fifteen years and the cities are expanding creating a very lucrative organic farming business opportunity. I'm just trying to figure out how I'm going to get my lazy ass up and start farming lol.
Easy , just ask your neighbors and friends to help you and you promise them a share of what you produce for their consumption plus whatever profit you make .
They gonna love you
I don’t think I will ever go to China, but for don’t reason I find these videos super interesting. Thanks for sharing your perspectives.
Love you guys~ Keep doing what you're doing!
"Farmers in China are the lowest and most difficult class " You guys knew us than most " happy Chinese". Love your episodes
Interesting to me, because subsidized farming is very much a thing in the US. I have an elderly friend of the family who keeps his farm running essentially by keeping track of government subsidies and planting accordingly, he lives a comfortable middle class life. (two-floor home, nice TV, all the amenities. He was a PE teacher before he bought the property)
DavidRsaid I disagree, but I respect your stance. I think "the Fed" needs to regulate in order to prevent abuse and panic-investment. Also, theres the need to maintain domestic agriculture in case of war.
Edit: also, by all accounts, the dust bowl sucked. We can't avoid that without regulation.
Subsidized farming happens globally I imagine, the subsidies for farmers in the EU are EPIC lol
Back on the bikes...awesome😎
The U.S. imports foods from South America so we can have seasonal fruits year round. The U.S. is still self sufficient and probably always will be.
Also it's hard to successfully mass farm in Africa unless you really know how and when to rotate your crops,what you can grow and how much because the topsoil doesn't run very deep. Zimbabwe forced out the farmers who had been doing it for generations because they were White. Then the famine hit and they wanted them back. But Countries like Zambia,Kenya,from all over wanted these experienced farmers and they're families who know how to get the most out of the arable land with not a lot of rainfall and knowing all about irrigation.
not very many in the us know this..Thankyou
How do you guys always come up with such interesting topics?
Ref 9:53 - The cow is grazing in the middle of the highway ... LOL!
So much for your precious commentary about how slim the Chinese are. Your opening scene features portly folks and beautiful healthy produce.
It's amazing to see all the tiny family markets on the sides of the road all selling just about the same dirt-covered products.
Good Video again. Bloomberg invented the term Farming the World to describe the Chinese strategy for for food production . China is a net exporter of food in 2018 but is projected to import even more. Chinese food products (Dollar Tree?) have a dodgy reputation even among Chinese consumers. The approximate ,2 acres of arable land per citizen is among the lowest in the world. The 3 part dilemma of fewer young people choosing agriculture, shortage of arable land and quality/heath concerns of Chinese goods are pushing the policy of "land investment " around the world. In US, farms(family farms) have disappeared for decades. Corporate agriculture thrives.
They did the same here in Norway, too. incentives etc for farmers to make it more attractive to a small-scale farmer. Of course we also have the massive industrial farms too, but a large percentage of farms are still the small time ones.
another awesome video. stay safe!
why are your videos so fascinating
these videos are awesome!
For those who dont know, the new generation farmer are doing hydro- and aquaponics. The production rate is higher than growing on soil. The way that you guys have the conversation is almost like you guys dont know. Look it up, hydroponics or aquaponics. Stay awesome
Hey, back in the day, State Farm was the only insurance company that would provide coverage for my Datsun 260Z 2+2. 4 speed manual. 30 mph in first, 90 mph in 3rd. Never did find out what it would max out to in 4th. Loved that car.
Society in general doesn't want to be farmers. At least in the USA, Europe, China, Russia, and places like that.
Society in general looks down on farmers
Gentlemen, just got back from 2 weeks vacation in China in large part after falling your blogs for the last year or so. Was amazing how in same ways China was still behind but other ways more advanced. They have definitely learned a lot from western growth and are applying this skipping a lot of the steps along the way. There was definitely an air of excitement and optimism with the recent growth and the development was fascinating. Seeing how important QR codes and all payments done via mobile phone was so neat.
A major issue i'd love to hear disguised was the price of hosing. I thought Vancouver Canada was crazy but finding out that a small town such as Yangshuo outside Guilin had a cost per are more than here while i read in a 2013 or so article that a middle class wage was between 1500-5k per month. Capitalism is certainly alive and well and marking is ruthlessly playing on cultural rules such as needing to buy a place to be secure to be able to marry. meanwhile rent is still very reasonable certainly compared to cost to buy.
Anyways great work as always and super glad i visited China and very happy to return for another trip soon. NO country is perfect and you point out many differences in culture but overall China fit what i learned from your shows and The Chinese should be for the most part very proud of how their country is portrayed on your blogs and my impress for the last weeks.
Meh C-milk, except for mangos there is little that South America exports that can't be grown, in season, in the USA. No blueberries in winter is a different proposition then not having rice, or soy beans in China. And you have to consider the political pressure in places like Thailand if rice prices explode domestically because of Chinese demand. Not to get too political, but it does look like there are multiple possible points of failure with present Chinese Central Government Policy. Having farms in Africa is own special set of issues. Africa, as you well know SerpentZA, is notoriously unstable. Farming especially is, um how to say this nicely?, having some issues? Yah, that will work. Again not to get too political, but this will mean that China will have to be more like the USA with military commitments all over the world just to protect their investments.
Great Episode. Interesting Outlook. Sad though, since farmers were the workhorse of the country from thousands of years.
There's 100s of rural farms and properties being purchased in Australia all together it's like larger than the UK and when they do they somehow manage to purchase all downstream operations so as to export the produce without ever needing to employ locally.
Love your videos! Thanks for sharing
China's population is projected to decrease over time, so there will be less mouths to feed. Better farming techniques and machinery should make up for less labor in agriculture, not to mention state support to balance supply and demand.
+DavidRsaid
look it up on google, China's population growth is already slowing due to better standard of living, better education and also years of one child policy
Less Chinese people on Earth? Gosh, what bad news!
Less people in China is not good for China. China is trying to switch to a domestic consumption based economy. Lower population means a smaller number of customers spending less because they are caring for a larger number of older relatives. A shrinking consumer base means a stalled or shrinking economy that isn't able to pay for SOE jobs or subsidized cheap credit or a navy to protect the oil imports that are needed for industry AND agriculture. All those crops have to be fertilized, transported, and so on.
DavidRsaid
Chinese population will decrease in 10 years. Average life expectancy is 75. In 2025, over 20 million people will die in each year. On the contrary, 10-15 million will be born. In Japan , their aging population is very productive(scientists, engineers, professionals), whereas China's aging people belong to uneducated lost generation. Unlike Japan, Shrinking population is a good thing for China, like you said, especially environmentally.
China has also been making acquisitions of agri-business companies, especially those that produce GMO seeds. Recently they acquired Syngenta out of Switzerland. They've seen this coming and are taking steps to secure their food supply. Strangely enough, that includes purchases in the US. In the recent past I've seen stories of pork companies being bought, huge supplies of peanuts out of Georgia purchased in bulk and sent to China, as well as the infamous Mississippi asian carp fish being harvested and sent to China to meet demand there.
Chinese people have bought a large number of properties in Australia including farms where they do not usually get a lease. People buying land in Australia often own it with no restrictions like leases etc.
What's up notification squad! Can't wait to see more of north korea from the chinese side.
I'd say the reason more young people aren't interested in farming is because they don't own the land they are farming on. If you know you are taking care of a piece of property that is worth a substantial amount of money you will find a lot more motivation to become a farmer.
Hate to be that guy but essentially that’s one of the problems with the state owning all land, nobody is motivated to work
2:49 "let's be honest, you're sort of a teenager..." I thought he was talking about c-milk. lmao
why does this area look like a third world country but has all of these super new cars
kilerkai that's what majority of China look like.
kilerkai China is booming. Most Chinese don't have cars back to 10 years ago. But now, most families living in cities have their own cars.
kilerkai In 2016, 28 million cars were sold in China, that's more than USA and Japan combined.
Rising standard of living
because china is a third world country...with mass production capability
funny thing is, the girls from the farms are better people, and they work harder, you can see the most wild sexy girl in the mud. they are treated like men, they know they must work to survive. no one is around handing them a free life just because they look good. and what is happening right now is the cost of food is going up and the cost of a place to live. it will implode, they already have powdered milk smugglers. its that bad right now
I think the lack younger farming generation gap is common among agricultural countries. Good video and excellent riding.
very accurate observations there!
You mentioned the left behind children. I hear that is a very sad story in China. My heart goes out to them.
DavidRsaid, sometimes I wonder what makes you so butthurt about anything concerning the Chinese people.
Did your Chinese crush friendzoned you or left for other guys ?
or you are just jealous of the recent growth of China ??
nobody knows, but I've seen you comment a lot of disgusting stuffs about Chinese people. please stop, you are the anti-china equivalent of glass heart chinese nationalist.
Well , Im sorry to hear what happened to you.
Maybe it is impossible to ever forget what happened to you, but it is 100% possible to put that behind and move on with your life.. dont you think ??
Focus your energy to positive things in your life rather than posting some hate comments on the internet, It wouldn't change a thing.
Im sorry if I sounded like I'm trying to lecture you, Im not, just ignore my comment.
oh come on,
Personal Issue should stay a personal issue, how the fuck can you blame an entire nation of people just because you have a shitty personal life ??
if I had a crush on a White girl and she left me for another dude ,should I make countless racist comments against white people on the internet ?? probably no, it will only show my own mental instability and sickness
They could mechanise the farm production pretty quickly if they really wanted to. Pump enough money into it and it'll happen. Like not overnight but you could import food while you're setting up the infrastructure.
Interesting video on the decline of farmers in China . I hope China will start a program to keep local farmers stateside as to retain atleast a small percentage of produce and meat based food stateside for her nationals.
DavidRsaid I understand the vegan lifestyle and respect it .... I am not a vegan/vegetarian myself though as I fine that my body requires meat for optimal efficiency. I guess my comment needs to be edited which I am going to do now to reflect that I believe that China needs to retain a system of being able to properly feed her nationals without going to other countries land.
So what percentage of Chinese farms are fully/partially mechanized, both big and small? I've seen some Chinese agricultural equipment but most of it was on the smaller side.
I know improvements like buildings are compensated when the government wants to use the land for something else, but what about land improvements like a farmer would do such as irrigation, clearing land, fertilization, etc.?
Some of the tiny plots I've seen in videos look like gardens or just better than subsistence farming plots from 150 years ago.
I don't have the data, but most big farms in the northeast where land are much flatter, are fully mechanized. There are also more young people doing it since operating those equipments require some level of skills and older people in general did not receive proper education. Rice, wheat, potatoes and corns are farmed in large scales, but we don't have those advanced equipments that can automatically harvest apples and oranges.
It's communism legacy which lands are owned by all the people of village and they farm together. Things can be done more efficiently. Guangdong, where they are located, don't have a lot of farm lands and lands are owned by individuals, that's why large farms are not possible.
In term of subsidies, some struggling farmers do get free fertilizer and seeds. They also receive some help, either labor or equipments, during harvesting season.
We used to tax and charge fees from farmers, basically take a percentage of what they have grown. It was dropped in the late 90s to improve their incomes.
I've heard that there is a bit of a rebound in that people are moving back to farms, exactly because of the rise in food prices.
This perspective on another countries farming culture is another reason I’m grateful to be a rural farming American. Our culture, practices and culture ways of life are so different even though the job is so similar.
6:07 龙南是人民国院唯一政府举办的二级人民医院。
The chinese characters from the buildings, rural or modern ones, are just very cool.
my family has a 10 acer ranch and we own the land and i love it here in texas
Nice video and quiet educational
Your bikes look cool I wish you guys would do a review
I’ve been binge watching all of your videos and they are fascinating and addictive. I’ve wondered if the Chinese share any of The Japanese people’s love of gardens and gardening because in all your videos I have yet to see flowers and landscaping. It all looks kind of industrial and stark?
Fascinating, good ep with lots of info.
I heard on the news about China sending money and workers to certain African countries to get the minerals and probably farm goods as well from there. Recently, they was talking about China investing money in Middle Eastern countries as well and that is probably to get farm goods for their people back home. Some of the people I met here in Arkansas came from rural areas of China and go back there after 6 months here in this country.They train there in China and come here to work in Chinese businesses and return home when their time expires.
There is a "State Farm", and a "Farmers" insurance, here in America. Two different companies.
China imports huge quanties of food from North America every year as it is. Fruit like apples and pears from the PNW, soybeans, wheat, meat from the midwest,etc. We ship huge quanties of hay and animal feed to asia too for livestock. We export a huge ammount of hops from the us. If you drink beer with hoos somewhere in the world theres a good chance its Usa hops in it.
man, the cars over there are just the bomb, i noticed a c63amg and stuff out there in the rural area! :o
A significant portion of farms in the US are family farms not "factory farms" like you said. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_farm en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_farming There is a lot of industrialization in these farms in that almost none is done by hand. The big exception would be vegetables or fruit that require manual picking. A lot of family farms operate like small businesses and have contracts with seed suppliers.There is certainly a corporate aspect to it but not in the way you describe.
Brilliant vlogs guys!
You could say that about America at a point Farmers were poor. However farmers too day have some cash but it also takes a lot to buy farm equipment for the modern farm. However the problem we have in the USA is that you can not go buy 5,000 acres...no one has the cash or credit to get into farming, and no young person wants to get into farmer here either. So as these older farmers get too old, they tend to sell the farm and then you have less farm land as a new subdivision gets put in or the person buying it just wants property and a house and even then you are not buying 5,000 acres you are buying maybe 50 acres or 100 acres. My parents for example bought 243 acres in Tennessee for $70,000 in 1993/4 (I believe) The property now is worth $15,000-$20,000 per acre and that is without the house they built. For example the wife and I looked at property here in Colorado and they want $200,000 to $250,000 for a few acres...who the HELL can afford that? Our house cost $300,000 so just for land it's about as much as we paid for our home. It's crazy, but my Grandfather always said they are not making anymore land (he bought property as a safety net for retirement) and it worked for him and that was late 1980's when he retired. Hard to do that now for a working stiff like he was now.
At some point even in the USA we need to motivate or give incentives to people to farm. That or a major war or virus wipes out half the Earths population and we can then sustain ourselves on the lands we have. War's are fought about land, it's possible the next great war will be on gaining lands to farm and to supply ones country with food.
Nobody wants to farm. Especially in that heat. Spent a summer working in a tomato field back in 9th grade. They'd start picking a dawn and have to call it at 1 PM due to heat. Wasn't worth the pocket money.
It'll be interesting to see how well they forecast the change from small to corporate farms, and if they plan far enough ahead to ease the transition. If they don't, it might get a wee bit bumpy for a while.
Look at all these cool cars and how small the road
Now I'm curious how the current situation influences that topic.
I would like to farm but I live in one of if not the worst area to farm, really high altitude in the rain shadow of the rocky mountains, in the summer days are hot nights are cold, very little rain, and we get frost at night some times all the way into June, So the growing season is really short. I plan to garden at some point. but I'd need a fair amount of money to over come all these problems. And this year we got locusts.
damn, theres alot of nice cars in that small town
Fascinating topic. Terrifying ride through that traffic. C-Milk PLEASE wear protective gear!! Also, Winston, 60 is NOT ANCIENT!!!LOL. Love you and your videos all the same!
First...a floating raft style rice gathering equipment is needed. Yes equipment that flatters the job. Second it needs tug rice collecting. It must have study but can be done. Movies can be seen.. Also. Family may help each other.
What was that car you were following? With the chevy badge. From afar it looked like a mere but then a little like a cruze but not really. Dual exhaust and then the rims were so different, probably aftermarket? Weird looking car either way
Was that a bamboo woods, some of which were leaning across the road onto power lines? Must have been.