中國的農(nóng)業(yè)發(fā)展為我打開創(chuàng)業(yè)之門

文/林東（Jeremy Landon Darilek，美）

“我的研究所坐落在一個美麗的校園里，校園旁有座山，山腳下有個湖，歡迎各位隨時(shí)來訪！”中國訪問學(xué)者海蒂（王杰）用一口出乎我意料之外的流利英文以及一種典型的中國邏輯向我描述了她那美麗的家鄉(xiāng)，那里有山有水。記得那是在得克薩斯州的一所大學(xué)里，我們在同一個辦公室，另外還有兩位美國同學(xué)和一位印度同學(xué)，她公開邀請我們訪問中國科學(xué)院南京土壤科學(xué)研究所。在此之前，我從未考慮過要去中國，也沒有想過有一天會住在那里，更沒有想過自己會在這個“中心王國”安家立業(yè)。然而，僅僅數(shù)月后，就在同一個辦公室，我和妻子麗莎站在海蒂的后面，看著她用一種既陌生又神秘的文字幫我們填寫網(wǎng)上申請表。

我曾在霍華德潘因大學(xué)和塔爾頓州立大學(xué)攻讀學(xué)士及碩士學(xué)位，而我對中國的第一印象，也來自我在這兩所大學(xué)里所認(rèn)識的幾位中國同學(xué)。他們勤奮、積極，對美國文化充滿著好奇。我向他們介紹了美國生活的方方面面，大家在一起相處得十分融洽。

在塔爾頓州立大學(xué)，我的教授與中國科學(xué)院的教授有一個合作研究的課題，而這些同學(xué)和其他到訪的中國學(xué)者也都為此而來。當(dāng)自己被邀去中國進(jìn)行學(xué)習(xí)研究并在南京土壤研究所攻讀博士學(xué)位時(shí)，我和妻子都非常激動，但未來具體會是什么樣的，我們無從知曉。

林東（Landon Darilek），美國農(nóng)業(yè)專家，目前和家人定居于西安。2003年于美國得克薩斯州的霍華德潘因大學(xué)取得學(xué)士學(xué)位。2006年于美國的得克薩斯州的塔爾頓州立大學(xué)取得碩士學(xué)位，2009年中國科學(xué)院南京土壤研究所博士畢業(yè)。2010—2012年在陜西師范大學(xué)任教。2012年7月他注冊了西安百倍農(nóng)業(yè)技術(shù)咨詢有限公司，開始了在中國的農(nóng)業(yè)創(chuàng)業(yè)之旅。七年來，他的團(tuán)隊(duì)為十幾家農(nóng)業(yè)公司提供技術(shù)咨詢服務(wù)，并為幾十個基地提供測土配方施肥服務(wù)，致力于幫助果園減少投資成本，提高果園品質(zhì)與產(chǎn)量。［圖為作者（左二）全家福］

從在南京讀博到?jīng)Q定留下來

2006年，我來到中國，當(dāng)時(shí)的中國正在有條不紊地推進(jìn)經(jīng)濟(jì)轉(zhuǎn)型。南京是一座繁榮發(fā)展的城市，也是了解中國語言和文化的好地方。研究所的教授和同學(xué)與我們的關(guān)系都非常好，導(dǎo)師黃標(biāo)教授甚至還邀請了我和麗莎去他家一起過年、吃餃子。10年后，我依然和許多同學(xué)都保持著聯(lián)系。

初到中國時(shí)，我只會說 “你好”?；厥走^去的十二年，我的中文水平有了很大的提高，然而，還有一件事比我的中文進(jìn)步得更快，那就是中國的發(fā)展。不久我就意識到，我竟然有機(jī)會在中國社會蓬勃發(fā)展的時(shí)刻來到這里，這實(shí)在是一件幸事。從中國古代農(nóng)業(yè)時(shí)期到1949年新中國的成立，再到當(dāng)代農(nóng)業(yè)的發(fā)展，我的博士研究讓我對中國農(nóng)業(yè)的發(fā)展形成了一個獨(dú)特的觀點(diǎn)，對當(dāng)前的農(nóng)業(yè)政策和規(guī)劃有了一個清晰的認(rèn)識，更有機(jī)會從多位頂尖科學(xué)人士那里了解到中國的未來幾十年將如何推進(jìn)。在城市化進(jìn)程方面，我對中國也有了一定的理解，城市化的快速發(fā)展給國家糧食安全、環(huán)境保護(hù)、土地利用、技術(shù)革新以及農(nóng)業(yè)機(jī)械化的巨大需求等方面帶來了種種挑戰(zhàn)。然而，中國在追求進(jìn)步方面永不自滿，在才智發(fā)展方面勇于創(chuàng)新，在努力奮斗方面積極樂觀、不屈不撓，這些都成為克服困難與挑戰(zhàn)的重要籌碼。

作者給客戶培訓(xùn)灌溉系統(tǒng)管理

當(dāng)我的同學(xué)談到未來時(shí)，他們知道國家和個人都面臨著重大的挑戰(zhàn)，然而他們深信自己的目標(biāo)一定能夠?qū)崿F(xiàn)，中國也一定會在世界面臨的最緊迫的問題方面出謀劃策，發(fā)揮主導(dǎo)作用。作為中國學(xué)術(shù)界的一名參與者，我現(xiàn)在開始同意他們的觀點(diǎn)。我去過中國很多的地方，目睹了這個文明古國的工程壯舉，從世界著名的萬里長城，到吐魯番古老的地下灌溉系統(tǒng)——坎兒井工程，再到宏偉壯麗的三峽大壩，都賦予這些遠(yuǎn)大的志向以支持和激勵。

當(dāng)我看到中國成功舉辦2008年奧運(yùn)會后，那種壯觀與優(yōu)雅更加堅(jiān)定了我的信念。我和我的妻子希望在我們年輕的歲月里能夠住在中國，參與中國的建設(shè)，并且希望能夠?yàn)橹袊某砷L與發(fā)展貢獻(xiàn)微薄之力，同時(shí)，中國在我們的個人發(fā)展與成長經(jīng)歷中也扮演著十分重要的角色。

在西安辦自己的公司

在決定留在中國后，我們開始尋求畢業(yè)之后的下一個路口。去哪里？做什么？我們當(dāng)時(shí)有各種各樣的決定。就我而言，作為一個土壤學(xué)家，最有意思的工作莫過于回歸初心——和土壤打交道。起初開始學(xué)習(xí)農(nóng)業(yè)的時(shí)候，我了解到人類要想健康，就必須有健康的植物和動物，而植物和動物要想健康，就必須有健康的土壤。這就是我當(dāng)初決定研究土壤化學(xué)與土壤肥力的原因。同樣，雖然我在學(xué)術(shù)界有著一定的經(jīng)驗(yàn)并且喜歡研究，但我還是想從最基層做起，為社會提供幫助，這意味著直接和農(nóng)民接觸。

就像我以前從來沒有考慮過要去中國一樣，我也真的從來沒有想過要創(chuàng)業(yè)。盡管我的父親后來成了一名企業(yè)家，但在我年少成長的過程中，我的父母當(dāng)時(shí)都不是商人，所以我對經(jīng)商并不熟悉。此外，我當(dāng)時(shí)對中國知之甚少，只知道中國市場環(huán)境復(fù)雜，競爭激烈。但在中國生活多年后，看到了別的外國創(chuàng)業(yè)者的成功案例，我自己也有了一個信念，那就是直接為人們提供有價(jià)值的農(nóng)業(yè)技術(shù)，這將是我能為中國農(nóng)業(yè)的發(fā)展貢獻(xiàn)力量的最佳方式。因此，我?guī)掀拮雍团畠?，把家搬到了西安，在西安這個重要的水果產(chǎn)業(yè)發(fā)展中心開始籌劃創(chuàng)辦自己的公司。

在創(chuàng)業(yè)方面，我的目標(biāo)并不是要賺很多的錢。當(dāng)然，我希望自己能夠成功并且有出色的表現(xiàn)，但如果我的唯一目標(biāo)是賺錢，我可以在美國直接找到一份收入很好的工作。對于我的家庭來說，更重要的是我們能夠?yàn)楫?dāng)?shù)貛矸e極的改變，同時(shí)我們自己也能受到良好的影響。我們想要生活在一個可以與他人分享和平、愛和歡樂的地方，我們的孩子也可以受到不同文化、思想和語言的熏陶。

我們的企業(yè)——西安百倍農(nóng)業(yè)技術(shù)咨詢有限公司，近年來一直致力于幫助農(nóng)民提高水果的產(chǎn)量和品質(zhì)，降低生產(chǎn)成本。當(dāng)然，這條路充滿著曲折與坎坷，但正如我父母教我的那樣，“任何值得做的事情做起來都不容易?！眲?chuàng)業(yè)時(shí)在許多方面都有挑戰(zhàn)，而維持一個企業(yè)也是阻力不斷。然而，從許多方面來說，這對我都是一次非常有益的經(jīng)歷。

二戰(zhàn)結(jié)束后，美國出現(xiàn)了多種發(fā)展趨勢，進(jìn)而發(fā)生了大規(guī)模的農(nóng)業(yè)改革，主要表現(xiàn)在：城市化、糧食價(jià)格上漲、機(jī)械化以及技術(shù)進(jìn)步等。如今，中國也在發(fā)生著同樣的改變，并且更徹底、更迅速。城市化導(dǎo)致了農(nóng)場數(shù)量的減少和農(nóng)場規(guī)模的擴(kuò)大，因?yàn)楦俚娜诵枰N植更多的土地，以此來滿足市場的需求。中國出現(xiàn)了許多企業(yè)經(jīng)營的農(nóng)場和果園，而且在技術(shù)和機(jī)械化方面的需求也日益增長。此外，隨著中國老百姓的生活水平的不斷提高，人們對飲食多樣化的渴求也越來越強(qiáng)，肉類、水果和蔬菜的消費(fèi)量也有所增長。隨著高價(jià)值作物、技術(shù)和機(jī)械化的增加，農(nóng)業(yè)投資成本也有所上漲。

上述趨勢為農(nóng)業(yè)公司創(chuàng)造了賺錢的機(jī)會，同時(shí)也帶來了獨(dú)特的挑戰(zhàn)和更高的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)。例如，在水果行業(yè)，種植高密度的矮化樹苗可以提高畝均產(chǎn)量，然而由于這些樹的根系結(jié)構(gòu)很小，需要投入相應(yīng)的樹干支撐設(shè)施，以及相應(yīng)的灌溉系統(tǒng)，確保適時(shí)澆水。這種新的生長系統(tǒng)要求在果樹的種植模式上進(jìn)行徹底的轉(zhuǎn)變。與傳統(tǒng)模式相比，在病蟲害防治、土壤肥力、修剪等方面都需要更加密切的關(guān)注。對于那些愿意轉(zhuǎn)變種植觀念的人來說，這些新系統(tǒng)模式下的果樹產(chǎn)量是原來的兩倍多，果樹收獲得更早，利潤來得更早，也更高。但是，這些高投入系統(tǒng)的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)也顯著較高。

如你所見，全國的發(fā)展趨勢及國家級政策對農(nóng)業(yè)、水果行業(yè)、個體農(nóng)戶甚至個人管理決策都產(chǎn)生了涓滴效應(yīng)。這為像我這樣的技術(shù)服務(wù)提供商創(chuàng)造了一個難得的機(jī)會，我們可以幫助生產(chǎn)者提高水果的產(chǎn)量和品質(zhì)，同時(shí)降低成本，從而大大降低他們的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)。

從商業(yè)的角度來看，政府的政策對我的公司是大有裨益的。中國政府制定了公平、明確的外商投資企業(yè)政策，中國一直保持著穩(wěn)定的社會秩序，從而增加了發(fā)展機(jī)會，降低了投資風(fēng)險(xiǎn)。與此同時(shí)，中國政府在國家級農(nóng)業(yè)項(xiàng)目方面投入了大量的資金。雖然我沒有直接享受到政府補(bǔ)貼，但我的許多客戶都能很好地參與到各種政府項(xiàng)目當(dāng)中。我還參加了許多政府部門舉辦的培訓(xùn)，通過這些培訓(xùn)讓農(nóng)民學(xué)習(xí)現(xiàn)代農(nóng)業(yè)技術(shù)。因此，我的公司也間接地受益頗多。

友情最珍貴

當(dāng)我想到中國對我和我的生活所產(chǎn)生的影響時(shí)，我首先想到的就是我在中國所建立的那些美好、有意義的人際關(guān)系，以及這些人際關(guān)系給我和我的家庭帶來的祝福。當(dāng)中國向世界敞開大門的時(shí)候，我是如何受益的呢？提到此事，我就會想到南京的幾位教授以及我在土壤科學(xué)研究所的學(xué)習(xí)經(jīng)歷，眼前會浮現(xiàn)出我和同學(xué)們在江蘇各地采集土壤樣本時(shí)的談話場景。

我還會想到和許多客戶建立的關(guān)系，其中有的人現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)不僅僅是客戶，更是我的商業(yè)伙伴和朋友。這些朋友教給我當(dāng)?shù)胤窖浴⒅袊烧Z和文化規(guī)范，讓我對中國的語言和文化有了獨(dú)到的見解。我和一個客戶常常一起打網(wǎng)球，還帶了另外一個客戶到訪了我在美國的家，我也陪同很多客戶參加了各種的宴會，認(rèn)識了一些記者、大學(xué)領(lǐng)導(dǎo)、醫(yī)院管理人員、商業(yè)領(lǐng)袖以及各級政府官員等。這些機(jī)會都讓我對中國日常生活的很多方面以及中國的全面發(fā)展有了更豐富的了解。

作者開拖拉機(jī)

在中國學(xué)習(xí)、工作、生活期間，我接觸到了來自不同地區(qū)和不同背景的人。我曾有幸跟世界一流的中國科學(xué)家和學(xué)者進(jìn)行學(xué)習(xí)，與中國最聰明的學(xué)生一起成長。每天我都有機(jī)會和社會各階層的人交往，包括普通工人、農(nóng)民、企業(yè)領(lǐng)導(dǎo)以及政府官員。我的許多朋友來自不同的省份，不同的民族，有著不同的信仰。我還能夠與客戶、員工和鄰居建立深厚的友誼。由于我曾居住在中國三個不同的國際化都市，我遇到了許多世界各地來華學(xué)習(xí)、執(zhí)教或工作的外籍人士。

十二年前，當(dāng)海蒂向我表達(dá)衷心歡迎時(shí)，我沒有想到中國竟然會給我的人生帶來如此深遠(yuǎn)的影響。雖然我非常愛吃中國層出不窮的美味佳肴，也發(fā)現(xiàn)了中國的文化和歷史的精彩與輝煌，甚至自己已經(jīng)能夠管理一個公司，然而，排在第一位的，依然是我在這過去的十二年里所建立的良好關(guān)系，這也對我本人以及我的家庭有著深刻的影響。我也要為此特別感謝中國的開放，讓我有機(jī)會住在這個美麗的國家。希望我能在某種程度上回報(bào)這個曾經(jīng)給了我那么多的中國！

“Welcome to visit my institute! It is on a beautiful campus next to a lake and a mountain!” Little did I know that Heidi (王杰),a visiting researcher from China, was in fluent English giving me the quintessential Chinese logic to describe the beauty of her home: “有山有水”. We were sitting in our shared office with two other American students and one Indian student at my university in Texas. She was giving an open invitation to any of us to come as visiting researchers to the Nanjing Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Until that time, I had never considered the possibility of visiting China, much less living there one day, and even less still raising a family in the Middle Kingdom. None-the-less, only a few months later, Heidi was sitting in that same office with me and my wife, Alycia, watching over her shoulder as she helped us fill out an on-line application form in characters that seemed strange and mysterious.

My first impressions of China were formed from relationships with Chinese classmates at Howard Payne University and Tarleton State University, where I studied for a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree. These students were hardworking, motivated, and curious about American culture. I had a lot of fun interacting with them and introducing them to different aspects of life in America.

These classmates and other visiting Chinese scholars were part of a research collaboration between my professor at Tarleton State University and their professor at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.When I was invited to take part in research in China and pursue aPh.D. program at the Nanjing Institute of Soil Science, my wife and I were very excited, but had no idea what to expect.

Settle down in China after My Ph.D. Research in Nanjing

I arrived in China in 2006 with China’s economic transformation already well underway. Nanjing was a thriving, developing city and a great place to begin to understand Chinese language and culture. We formed many rich relationships with my professors and classmates. My Supervisor, 黃標(biāo), even invited me and Alycia to his home for Chinese New Year to celebrate and eat jiaozi. I still keep in touch with many of my classmates 10 years later.

When I came to China, I could barely say, “Ni hao.” Looking back over the past twelve years, the only thing more baffling than the progress of my Chinese language is the progress of China’s development. It did not take long to realize that I had an opportunity to be in China at a very exciting time in China’s history. Through my Ph.D. research, I had a unique perspective from which to explore China’s agriculture development from ancient times, through the forming of the People’s Republic of China in 1949 and up to the present. I also had a front seat view of current agriculture policy and planning, and an invaluable opportunity to hear from some of the best scientific minds howdevelopment would continue over the next several decades. I learned about the rapid pace of urbanization and how that was creating many challenges related to food security, environmental pollution, and land use efficiency and about the great need for technological innovation and agriculture mechanization. The other thing that I quickly discovered was an insatiable drive for progress, an unrelenting ingenuity, and an unquenchable optimism that these daunting challenges could be overcome.

When my classmates talked about the future, though they knew that significant challenges lay ahead for them personally and for the country, they were convinced that they would triumph and that China would play a leading role in providing solutions for the world’s most pressing problems. Now a participant in China’s academic world, I began to agree with them. Having traveled to many locations in China, the impressive engineering feats of this ancient civilization, from the world-famous Great Wall,to the archaic underground irrigation canals in Turpan and the remarkable Three Gorges Dam, all gave credibility to these lofty ambitions for the future.

Nothing more emphatically confirmed this conviction than watching China’s stunning and gracious role hosting the 2008 Olympics. My wife and I knew in these early years of our time in China that we wanted to stay and participate and somehow contribute to China’s growth and development and we knew that China would play an important role in our personal growth and development as well.

Starting a Business in Xi’an

Having decided to stay in China, we now tried to figure out our next steps after graduation. We had a lot of decisions to make about where to move and what we wanted to do. As a soil scientist,working from the most basic foundations has always been interesting to me. When I began studying agriculture, I learned that in order to have healthy people, you had to have healthy plants and animals and in order to have healthy plants and animals,you must have healthy soil. That was how I originally made the decision to study soil chemistry and soil fertility. Using the same logic, though I had a very positive experience in academia and loved research, I wanted to help effect change at the most basic foundation and that meant working directly with farmers.

Just as growing up I had never really considered going to China,I had also never really considered starting a business. When I was growing up, neither of my parents were entrepreneurs,though my dad became one later in life, so starting a businesswasn’t something I was familiar with. Further, what little I knew about China, I knew that the marketplace was very chaotic and competitive. But having now lived in China for several years and meeting other foreigners who had successfully paved the way,and having also a conviction that offering valuable agriculture technology directly to people producing food was the best way I could contribute to China’s agriculture, I moved with Alycia and our now infant daughter to Xi’an, an important fruit industry hub in the middle of the country with the goal of starting a company.

In starting a business, it was never my goal to make a lot of money.Of course, I want to succeed and do well, but I could also have a good job in America if that were my primary and only goal. More important than that, for my family, is to live in a community where we can affect positive change and that can at the same time be a good influence on us. We want to live in a place where we can share the peace and love and joy that we have found with others.Where our children can be enriched by different cultures and ideas and languages.

Our company, Bai Bei Technical Agriculture Consulting, has now been assisting farmers to increase fruit production and quality and decrease costs for the past five years. Certainly, this road has not been an easy one, but as my parents taught me, “nothing worthwhile is ever easy.” Starting a business has been challenging on many fronts, and maintaining a business will continue to have many obstacles. However, it has been a very rewarding experience for me in many ways.

In my home country, after WWII, there were multiple simultaneous trends that led to wide-scale agriculture revolution: urbanization,increasing food prices, mechanization, and technology advances.This is now happening in China much more drastically and rapidly. Urbanization is driving a decrease in number of farms and simultaneous increase in farm sizes as less people must farm more land to keep up with demand. Many commercial farms and orchards are appearing in China, and with it, an increasing need for technology and mechanization. Further, as China becomes wealthier, people have an increasing desire for a more diverse diet, and are consuming more meats, fruits, and vegetables. With the increase in high-value crops, technology, and mechanization,comes higher investment costs to farm commercially.

The above trends create exciting opportunities for agriculture enterprises to make money, but also unique challenges and higher risks. For example, in the fruit industry, higher yields per mu can be realized by growing high density plantings of dwarfing trees(矮化樹苗). Because the root structure of these trees is small, they require supports to hold up the weight of the fruit and irrigation systems that can deliver water at the right times. This new growing system requires a complete shift in the paradigm of how fruit is grown. Pest management (病蟲害防治) , fertility (土壤肥力) , and pruning (修剪) all require much closer attention in these systems than traditional systems. For those willing to make the switch, yields of these new systems are more than double, trees crop earlier, and profits come earlier and are higher. At the same time, since investment is much higher and margin of error lower,risk is significantly higher in these high input systems.

As you can see, nation-wide development trends and nationallevel policy have trickle down effects to the agriculture industry,the fruit sector, the individual farm, and even individual management decisions. This has created a unique opportunity for technology service providers like myself to come alongside producers and add value by helping them increase fruit yield and quality and at the same time decrease costs, thus, significantly decreasing their risk.

I can also say that, from a business perspective, government policies have been largely beneficial to my company. I have found the policies regarding foreign enterprises in China to be clear and fair and China has maintained a stable social order that increases development opportunities and decreases investment risk. At the same time, the Chinese government is putting a lot of investment into agriculture at the national level. Though I have not been a direct recipient of any government subsidies, many of my customers have been able to take advantage of various government programs. I have also been taken part in a large number of trainings sponsored by various government bureaus to educate farmers is modern agriculture practices. So, indirectly, my company has benefited from these government initiatives.

The Most Precious Gift is Meaningful Relationship

When I think about the larger scope of China’s reform and opening, and how that has affected me and my life, my mind primarily turns to the abundant and meaningful relationships I have formed in China and the ways those relationships have been a blessing to me and my family. How have I benefited from China’s policy to open its doors to the world? When I think about the answer to that question, I think about my professors in Nanjing and my education experience at the Soil Science Institute. I am reminded of my classmates and all of our conversations on trips around Jiangsu Province to collect soil samples for our research.

I also think about the close relationships I have formed with many of my clients, some of whom have become more than clients and are now business partners and friends. These friends, particularly, having given me unique insight into Chinese language and culture, teaching me the local dialect,Chinese idioms, and cultural norms. I play tennis with one client and have taken another to visit my home in the U.S. I accompany many to banquets where I am introduced to and can socialize with journalists, university leaders, hospital administrators, business leaders, and local, city, and provincial government officials. These opportunities have enriched my understanding of many aspects of daily life in China as well as China’s overall development.

As a result of studying and working and raising a family in China, I have been able to meet people from all kinds of places and backgrounds. I have had the privilege of learning under world-class Chinese scientists and scholars and of studying with China’s brightest students. I have the opportunity to interact daily with people from every stratum of society, from common workers ( 工人）and farmers（農(nóng)民) , to business owners, to government officials. I have friends from many different provinces,many of China’s eclectic minorities, and from all the world’s major religions. I have also been able to form deep friendships with customers, employees, and neighbors. Because I have lived in three international cities in China, I have met foreigners from around the world who come to China to study, teach, or work.

I had no idea what a profound influence China would have on me twelve years ago as Heidi extended her heartfelt welcome.Although I love the endless variety of food in China and I find China’s culture and history fascinating, and I have been able to manage a business, these things are secondary to all of the relationships I’ve cultivated over the past twelve years which have had a profound influence on me and my family. It is for these relationships that I am most thankful for China’s policy of opening and reform that allow me the opportunity to live in this beautiful country. I hope that I can in some way give back to this nation that has given me so much. （Landon Darilek is an American living with his family in Xi’an. He received a Liberal Arts degree from Howard Payne University in 2003; graduated with a Masters in Science from Tarleton State University in Texas, USA in 2006; and with a PhD from Nanjing Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2009. He held a teaching post at Shaanxi Normal University for two years. In July, 2012,he opened Xi’an Bai Bei Technical Agriculture Consulting Company and started his enterprise journey in China. For the past six years, he and his team have served more than a dozen companies with technical consulting advise and has helped dozens of orchards with soil fertility advice, helping them lower costs and increase yield and quality.）