KC Fresh

Today I visited KC Fresh. This is a company that produces fresh vegetables and fruits for both the domestic and export markets. Specifically they produce many Chinese vegetables and tropical fruits. I first visited a packing house and farm run by one of the farmers that grows vegetables for them. I saw Ung Choi (Chinese Morning Glory) being harvested which is the first picture below. We also visited fields of Basil and Lemongrass. There are several growers in this group and they all bring their produce to this lady’s small packing house. She also manages the planting to ensure a steady supply of product. They are very careful about food safety including testing their irrigation water to make sure there isn’t any contamination. The second picture shows a post that has the land and block number on it so that the products can be traced back to the small block where they were grown. The company treated me to lunch at a local restaurant where we tried some of their products. Everything was really good. After lunch I met with Carin Joubert. She is a Technical Consultant originally from South Africa. She makes sure that all of the requirements are met so that they can export to England, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, Hong Kong and Japan. Over the years she has worked in many countries around the world. We discussed the challenges of working with the Thai farmers who only have .6 hectares of land on average. Many of her biggest challenges have to do with language problems; they don’t have words for many of the technical words we use in dealing with food safety. I really enjoyed talking to Carin and we had a wonderful discussion. She feels that she is making a difference in these farmers’ lives and I agree with her. This is a very interesting operation.

The Royal Project

On Tuesday I visited the Royal Project Development Center at Inthanon and the Inthanon Royal Research Station. This is one of the 36 Royal Project sites. The Royal Project began in 1969 when the King visited this area and observed how the hill tribe people were living. They were producing Opium Poppy and not making much money. The King set forth a vision of a new life for the hill tribes that included a better lifestyle and didn’t include opium production. Today there is no opium production in Thailand, instead the hill tribe people produce over 350 different fruit, vegetable, flower and fish products that many people thought could not be produced here. The station is on a mountain and the high elevation makes it possible to produce plants that usually grow in colder climates. Plants have been imported from all over the world and a lot of research has been done on which ones grow the best. This is the only project in the world to get rid of opium production, just think how wonderful it would be if similar things could happen in Afghanistan or in Columbia with cocaine production. They showed me their food safety and traceability systems. Most of the products are sold domestically but some are exported to Europe so they meet all of the Europe GAP requirements. They also supply the vegetables and fruit for Thai Airways in-flight meals. I got to talk to a farmer who produces celery and Chrysanthemums. He told me that he is rich by Thailand standards. He has about 1 million THB (33,333 USD) in annual sales and about half of that is profit. The average income for this area is 80,000 THB. The first picture below is of some workers peeling carrots before quick chilling them for transport. The second picture is their aquaculture operation that produces Rainbow Trout, which is a high value item in Thailand. The third picture is of a lady spreading fertilizer by hand in one of the “plastic houses” on the operation where I talked to the farmer. The forth picture is one of the beautiful flowers they produce for the domestic cut flower market and the fifth picture is of a young lady packaging some long stemmed roses for sale. The last picture is a view of some of the many plastic greenhouses on this mountain.

OSU Links & Zoo

Today I visited both Maejo University and Chiang Mai University. The Presidents of both universities are graduates of Oklahoma State University and Dr. Bob Terry was advisor to both of them. When I arrived at Maejo, I was greeted by a large sign that says “Home of the Cowboys.” President Thep was out of the county but I met with three members of their agricultural production faculty. We discussed Food Safety and Traceability and International Trade. They answered several questions I had about Thai agriculture and we had a really good discussion. Here are some interesting statistics. 20% of Thailand exports are agricultural. 60% of the Thai population is involved in the Agri-Food industry and Thailand is the #1 exporter of rice, rubber and canned tuna. The Vice President for International Affairs treated the professors and I to lunch at an International buffet. Next I went to Chiang Mai University and met with President Pongsak Angkasith. We talked about his time in Oklahoma and he told me that a group from his university is on their way to Oklahoma right now with Dr. Terry. Maybe I will get to meet them when I get back. After the meeting I went to Chiang Mai Zoo which is right next to the university. This is a really nice zoo and it seemed that the animals were posing for pictures. I am a big kid when it comes to zoos – I love them. Check out the pictures below and there are more on the SnapFish site, click the Fellowship Photos link on the right side of the page.

Tonight I plan to go to the Chiang Mai Night Bazaar which is held in the streets that surround my hotel. Things are really cheap and I love all of the Thai art and jewelry.

Chiang Mai Tour

On Sunday I took a one day tour. The first stop was an elephant camp. There are many of these camps in this area. The elephants that used to work in the logging industry are now employed in the tourism industry. We rode the elephants up the hill from the camp and stopped a few times to buy bananas to feed them. I rode the largest elephant, the only male in the group. He was very hungry and would stop often and put his trunk back over his head for a banana. He kept me and the Thai gentleman who rode with me busy feeding him and occasionally the mahout (elephant trainer) had to encourage him to move along. Below is a picture of one of the baby elephants at the camp, the second picture shows some of the other people feeding their elephant and the large elephant in the foreground of the third picture is the one I rode.

Next we went bamboo rafting down a river. This was fun but I could have done without being splashed with the river water by the local people who were resting along the river. We had lunch at a local Thai restaurant and then we went trekking through the jungle to a Mien hill tribe village. The hill tribes are a historically migratory people who have no nationality. This particular tribe was originally from central China but now reside in Thailand, southern China, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam. From the village we trekked on to a beautiful waterfall and took a rest there. Below is picture of the waterfall.

From the waterfall we went down the other side of the mountain to a Karen hill tribe village. This tribe is originally from Myanmar and now lives in both Myanmar and Thailand. The first picture below is a view of some of their rice fields. Their houses are built on stilts and the animals live downstairs, the second picture is of some of their pigs. The women of this village weave beautiful silk scarves and table linens. I bought two scarves and a table runner. The third picture is of one the ladies and her weaving equipment.

After I got back from the tour I went to the Sunday Walking Street. They shut off a street and vendors set up stalls of merchandise to sell to the local residents and tourists. I found a really good Italian restaurant on this street and had dinner. It rained on and off and I was very tired so I didn’t buy much but there are some really nice crafts and everything is really cheap.

Chiang Mai Sightseeing

On Saturday morning I flew to Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand. After eating lunch at my hotel, I caught a taxi to Wat Phra That Doi Suthep. (Taxis here are small pickups with an enclosure on the back and two benches.) The Wat (temple) is very beautiful. It sits on top of a mountain overlooking the city and has a wonderful view. Unfortunately, it started pouring rain just as I arrived and started up the steps, so I got soaked. In one of the pictures below you can see the water running off of the roof in the foreground.

When I got back to the hotel I walked down the street to a restaurant that my guidebook recommended. It is called Chiang Mai Saloon and serves Mexican food and steaks. I had fajitas and they were very good. Below is a picture of their sign. I couldn’t resist buying a shirt with the cowboy riding the bucking elephant.

My last outing of the day was the Chiang Mai Night Safari. This new tourist attraction has animals from all over the world as well as a lighted musical fountain show with lasers. The trams take you by the animals and they shine a light so you can see them. It was impossible to get any pictures because of the limited light but it was an enjoyable evening.

KU Kamphaengsaen Beef Producer Co-op

My day didn’t start until 11 a.m. today which was nice because I have been starting at 7 a.m. most other mornings. Apparently today was a government holiday in Thailand that loosely translates as Agriculture Day. There is a ceremony were a cow/buffalo is allowed to choose between many different items to eat and depending on what she chooses there is a prediction about the crops for the coming year. In another ceremony the King or Prince spreads some of the country’s best rice seeds and later farmers try to pick up as many as they can to bring them good fortune. Unfortunately, nobody told me about this until it was over as I would have liked to attend.

Today I had a translator for the first time in Thailand. Her shortened name is Ja and she is a veterinary student at the university we visited. I really enjoyed visiting with her on the way to and from our meeting. We traveled to Nakhon Pathom Province to the KU Kamphangsaen Campus Beef Producer Cooperative. By the way KU stands for Kasetsart University not The University of Kansas. The university has developed a breed of cattle that is well suited to Thailand’s tropical climate. They crossed the native cattle with Brahman and then crossed the offspring with Charolais cattle. The new breed is 25% Native, 25% Brahman and 50% Charolais. They call it Kamphangsaen. After developing the breed they started building a network of farms to raise these cattle. There are Cow-Calf, Stocker and Feed Lot phases and the individual producers are members of the cooperative. In addition to being paid for their cattle based on carcass score when they sell them to the co-op they also share in any profits the co-op makes at the end of the year. The first picture below is of one of their T-Bone steaks. The second picture is of an RFID ear tag that is used in their national tracing system. Foot and Mouth Disease still exists in some parts of this country, mostly near the borders, so it is important to know where cattle are coming from. The members also keep detailed health records on each animal. The co-op is growing fast with about 800 head slaughtered in 2006 and 1622 head in 2007. Demand continues to grow in Thailand but they cannot export because of FMD. The third picture below is a steer at a feed lot farm; their steers are about 3 years old when they go to slaughter. They also run their own restaurant on campus. When you enter their location there is a large sign over the gate that says Cowboy Land and has a cowboy on a horse roping a steer. There are also signs for Texas Steak and the last picture is of the entrance to the restaurant, notice the cowboy and Indian décor complete with teepees. We ate at the restaurant and I had a ribeye steak it was good and tender but it was cut very thin by U.S. standards.

Betagro

On Wednesday evening I went out exploring for a restaurant to have dinner. As I walked down the very busy street that my hotel is on I came upon an elephant. Elephants were historically used as labor in the timber industry and other industries in Thailand. Now they are out of work and some are reduced to having their owners beg tourists to pay to feed them. I have no idea where this young elephant lives the rest of the day, as this is a very congested part of Bangkok.

On Thursday morning I went to meet Dr. Arayan Trangarn at the Betagro headquarters. Betagro is a privately owned company that is also involved in the poultry and hog integration industry here in Thailand. They also have some operations in China, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia. The owner of the company is a Chinese gentleman who immigrated to Thailand many years ago and started with nothing. He first started a feed mill and then expanded into the poultry and swine industries. They are involved in many of the same operations as the CP Group but they don’t really seem to have a competitive relationship. Betagro actually benefits from some of the lobbying activities and influence that CP Group has. We first met with the CEO of the company and then we traveled to Lopburi Province to their Food Complex 1. They chose this location because it is near the corn production area of Thailand but they still have to import a lot of their feed ingredients from other countries. They are now considering locating any new plants they build closer to the port because of the increase in transportation costs. When the Avian Influenza outbreak occurred in Thailand they were impacted and had a cull a large number of birds. Since then there have been many changes to their operations. In hindsight Dr. Trangarn thinks it has been a positive thing for the company. In addition to instituting more advanced practices and more security on their farms, they have also had to build new plants to further process their chicken thus adding value to their products. They currently export these cooked products to the EU and Japan. They were the first company to use an electronic traceability program in Thailand. It is all computerized and is quite impressive in the detail that they can access. Consumers can not access it over the internet yet but they do have what they call “Spy on Me” terminals in some domestic supermarkets where some of the information can be accessed. These terminals also give recipes for how to cook the products, which consumers seem to be more interested in than the traceability information. The traceability system at this plant requires 20 full-time employees and costs more than 1 million Baht per year and that number would at least double if it included all of the other parts of the production process. We toured the further processing plant and it was a very sanitary facility and I had to put on a lot more protective clothing and wash my hands many more times than I would to tour a plant in the U.S. The major difference that I noticed was that they were doing a lot of hand slicing and cubing of the product. Labor here is cheap and so they can do this kind of time consuming processing. However there is a shortage of labor and they would like to open another plant to produce more skewered products for the Japanese market but they aren’t sure they can find the workforce. Even though labor costs are low the cost of feed still makes producing chicken in Thailand more expensive than in the U.S. so they are not sure that they would support a Free Trade Agreement. As always no photos were allowed in the plant.

On the way back to Bangkok we made an unscheduled stop at a huge wholesale market. This one was much cleaner than the one I saw in China with the Oklahoma Agricultural Leadership Program Group. The meat section still wouldn’t meet U.S. standards. Below is a picture of one of the poultry vendors and another of a fruit stand. The bottom picture is of some of the fruits that Dr. Trangarn bought for me to try. Clockwise they are a Rose Apple, a Rambutan, a Mangosteen, Lychees and Longans.