What Do Rice Farmers Need?

[bdmike]

Help!!!! I am planning to visit my girl friend's family next week and I was hoping someone out there in this wonderful forum could inform me what handy tool or supplies that I can purchase here in the USA that would help out her father, the rice farmer. I am sure that all needed things are available from a local source, but if any of you experienced falang farmers in Issan ever thought, "If I only had a ....." Let me know what would be very useful so that I can pick it up here and get on the good side of the family. I want to add that I really appreciate all that is written on this forum, since I am in the organic agriculture field here in the USA and am considering moving to Issan to farm. I would also be very interested in visiting one or more of the farms discussed here, if you would be so kind as to invite me. Thanks already for your replies and happy growing. Sincerely, Mike

[davethailand]

Bottle of Whiskey

[pnustedt]

Pick-Up trucks seem to go down well!

[dugdig]

Davethailand has once again shown uncanny skill in getting to the truth in the shortest straightline path....."Bottle of Whiskey". I agree completely.

Now I'll demonstrate my verbose low content style of nibbling around the edges of an issue and not saying alot. Thai farmers (in my experience) like to do everything the same way that everyone else around them does it because its the Thai way and therefore the best way. Everything they use here is readily available here and most of it is not available in farangland. Even if it was available there it would be alot cheaper here. They are really not into trying things a different way.

I'm a Thai rice farmer (I farm Thai rice!) and if you'd like to impress me or get on my good side I'd like an Aztec table saw please...no I would not use it for the rice!

[bdmike]

Thanks for your input....................... I guess that whiskey it is!!!! I still am looking for an invite to visit some of the farms in the area to see the systems of growing vegetables and/or fruits that are used. There is nothing like growing and creating your own nutritious food. Any ideas on vegetable seeds available here in the USA that are not available in Thailand? Thanks again and happy growing. Mike

[davethailand]

Davethailand has once again shown uncanny skill in getting to the truth in the shortest straightline path....."Bottle of Whiskey".  I agree completely.

Now I'll demonstrate my verbose low content style of nibbling around the edges of an issue and not saying alot.  Thai farmers (in my experience) like to do everything the same way that everyone else around them does it because its the Thai way and therefore the best way.  Everything they use here is readily available here and most of it is not available in farangland.  Even if it was available there it would be alot cheaper here.  They are really not into trying things a different way.

I'm a Thai rice farmer (I farm Thai rice!) and if you'd like to impress me or get on my good side I'd like an Aztec table saw please...no I would not use it for the rice!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[Jeff1]

What do rice farmers need ?

Money

[dugdig]

Bdmike,

If you come to Chiangrai post a heads for me. I just got started this year so not alot to see yet.

About bringing seeds here. I did that and am having mixed results. I'm an experienced gardener (originally from Washington state,usa) and usually get good/great results there. Conditions here are much different and I'm having some difficulty getting seeds to germinate. It's probably a combination of things: part of the year it is so wet I think seeds justs rot, part of the year ants will come and eat your seed, it is humid here and I think seeds go bad quickly, the soil is reallyi warm most of the year so cold weather seeds don't germinate well, etc. Since seeds aren't too expensive you probably could bring some but anticipate some difficulty in getting them to work. My best success so far has been sunflowers. The local varieties are short with small flowers. I brought some mammoth russian seeds, picked a spot where I figured they would have enough sun but a abit of shade too so they would tend to grow really tall. I planted about 8 seeds and ended up with one plant but I was right on as to the location since the plant grew to over 3.5 meters!!! It was the tallest sunflower Ihad ever grown by far. The locals were really impressed!! This was fun to do but it is not practical because the wind here is really strong at two times of the year so if you try a field crop with them they will be blown down....thats why the local varieties are short. I've planted a large variety of squash a couple of times but I think both times were bad timing and/or location.....anyway I could go on and on but I need to go outside to work.

What to bring: If you haven't left already you could get some galvanized nails I haven't been able to find them here. Maybe some forum member who reads this can tell me where to get them. Anyway I especially liked the really big casing nails. I brought some 16 or 20 penny hot dipped galvanized casing nails and used them to build a staircase for the main entry. They worked really well and it looks nice since there are no big nail heads showing. I haven't been able to find any casing nails here. Be sure to get hot dipped galvanized and not electroplated.

[dereklev]

What do rice farmers need ?

Money

And rain!!!

[bdmike]

Dugdig..............Thanks a lot for your reply. I will pick up some galvanized nails. It's good to hear that there are people out there trying new varieties of crops. With all the hybridization going on recently, it has been hard to find seeds that will come true allowing the farmer to save his own seeds. Luckily here in the USA there is a very large movement going on to save the "heirloom" varieties and the other varieties that will come true. With all the different varieties available now, I am sure many of them have not been tried in areas of Thailand where they might actually grow very well. It takes time and effort to trial seed varieties, but the more people we have doing trials, the sooner we can find out about the ones that work. A forum like this is a very efficient way to spread the news if a certain variety does well. I am very much looking forward to visiting as many farms as I can when I get to Thailand (in 2 days) and seeing what the story is..... first hand. I'm not sure if I will be getting up to Chiangrai, but if my travels bring me in that direction, I will drop you a note to see if it would be OK to stop by.

Germination is a tricky science, and in the climate where you are I am sure there are conditions that I have not encountered here in New York. We have more problems with getting ENOUGH heat for proper germination vs. TOO MUCH heat and humidity as you are encountering. Good luck!!!

I will be traveling in the Northeast and the North of Thailand through the middle of Dec., so hopefully I will be able to get up to your neck of the woods. Happy growing, Mike