"I think the Chinese were surprised at how developed the rural areas of the U.S. seem to be," he said. "When one exits the city limits in China, one quickly enters a rural and considerably lesser- developed area."
Guinea RPCV Gary Lortscher gives a guided tour of Bern to 17 visiting feed mill executives from the Republic of China
Chinese grain
Sep 18, 2005
Topeka Capital Journal
FEED MARKET
Going with the grain
Bern shows visiting mill managers how Kansas does it
BERN --- As a Peace Corps volunteer during the early 1960s in west Africa, Gary Lortscher quickly developed a reputation as an inspired teacher of farming techniques to villagers in the Republic of Guinea.
Four decades later, the Bern grain elevator owner found himself back on the lecture circuit --- giving a guided tour of Bern to 17 visiting feed mill executives from the Republic of China.
The visitors from the east stopped off last week in Bern to inspect Lortscher's business as a kick-off to a whirlwind tour of value-added agriculture processing plants and other farming operations in Iowa and Minnesota.
The executives' stopoff in Nemaha County came on the heels of a visit to the Kansas State Fair in Hutchinson --- a welcome break after completing a four-day crash course in the history of the U.S. feed industry, offered by Kansas State University's International Grains Program office.
Although the majority of the Chinese managers live in or near the capital of China, Beijing --- with its 10.9 million inhabitants, Lortscher said the visitors were not "underwhelmed" by the diminutive Bern, population 205.
"I think the Chinese were surprised at how developed the rural areas of the U.S. seem to be," he said. "When one exits the city limits in China, one quickly enters a rural and considerably lesser- developed area."
Lortscher pointed out to the visitors that Bern is one of the few small towns in Kansas where the number of jobs that exist in the town exceeds the population --- by about 50.
The job parade has been led during the past decade by a trio of established local businesses: Lortscher Agri-Service Inc., Bern Locker Plant and ARHS Construction Co.
The town's newest business operation, dog-food manufacturer CJ Foods, opened two years ago under local ownership and provides as many as 60 workers during key production periods.
While the visitors from China enthused over the town's industrial and business assets, Lortscher also had the chance to show off the handsome new community center, which opened last fall. The structure was made possible by a $340,000 grant from the Kansas Department of Commerce's Kansas Small Towns Environmental Program, which requires communities to make a "sweat equity" contribution of local labor and services equal to 40 percent of the cash grant value.
Lortscher said the visit was the talk of the town at the local eatery, the Bern Cafe, a community-owned restaurant operation financed by $35,000 in locally raised investments three years ago.
"The talk today was different that the normal Thursday morning coffee talk," he said.
While walking the streets, the eastern visitors were treated to an impromptu concert by the Bern High School marching band, whose members were practicing their high-stepping routines for this week's homecoming parade.
But it was inside the hallowed halls of BHS, enrollment 45, where the highlight of the tour would unfold, Lortscher said.
"One of the girls, Stefany Edelman, surprised everyone by speaking a greeting in Chinese to the managers. They all smiled and wanted to have their pictures taken with this girl," he said.
"None of us knew what she had said, and only later did I find out. Stefany had said 'I love you' " in Chinese, something she had picked up from a former foreign exchange student at the school."
The group from China will return to the area Monday for a three- day American Feed Industry Association expo at Kansas City's Bartle Hall. The group will begin the return journey to China on Wednesday, departing from Kansas City International Airport.
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SEPTEMBER 18, 2005
Grain: Bern welcomes visitors
Please see GRAIN, Page 6B
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