The Invincible Chinese Corn Crop

The Chinese corn crop is impervious to all threats!

The worst attack of army worms since 2001? Not a problem! Typhoons that blow over corn stalks? Bring it on! Flooded fields and disease? Got it covered! Chinese corn is invincible to all comers. The Americans may have to worry about drought, but nothing can stand in the way of a magnificent Chinese corn crop--not weather, bugs, microbes, or statisticians.

Reports say that the third generation of army worms has matured and is attacking corn in broad areas of northern and northeastern China since late August and there is an alert about a fourth generation. The adult moths are said to be able to migrate over wide areas, flying hundreds of kilometers in a single night. But the caterpillars will certainly be wiped out by a massive fog of bug spray laid down by The Chinese Ministry of Agriculture. In August, the Minister of Agriculture personally went out to inspect the work on controlling army worms and proclaimed that monitoring and controlling army worms is crucial to guaranteeing a good fall harvest.

A typhoon blew over 3.7 million acres of corn, accounting for 15 percent of corn area in three northeastern provinces. Five percent of the corn area in Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang was severely damaged. But the Ministry of Agriculture issued an emergency notice on reducing the effects of the typhoon and gave farmers guidance on draining flooded fields, propping up corn stalks and treating plant disease. Experts say the effects of the typhoon are confined to limited areas and won't have much effect on corn production. The corn is about 80-percent mature and the ears from seriously affected stalks can be harvested.

According to experts, the area severely affected by the typhoon amounts to just 0.9 percent of the corn area in the three northeastern provinces. According to the chairman of the Liaoning Province agriculture commission, only the mountainous eastern part of his province was affected; the Liao River Plain, western and southern parts of the province were not affected much. The head of the agriculture bureau in Jilin's Yushu City said the rain from the typhoon restored soil moisture and refilled reservoirs. Other experts claim that the rain may delay the onset of the first frost 3 to 5 days, also beneficial to the corn crop.

Officials say the corn crop is about five days ahead of normal growth and the northeast will have another big harvest if weather is normal. Whatever the Chinese communist party always comes true. Statistics always hit the targets set by officials with uncanny accuracy; those guys are such good forecasters! This year's ninth-straight increase in grain production is assured.