Daily Life in China                  

Chinese Combine harvester:

   Many farmers are opting to pay to have their fields harvested.  Someone in the area buys a harvester and contracts out to local farmers.  The various combines are small and simple.  The  harvester rides on tank type tracks which are spaced the width of  two rows of rice.  The harvester fits neatly on a small trailer that can be pulled around by a one cylinder tractor.

    The front shovel has a row of cutting teeth which trim the rice stalk 5-8 inches from the ground.  The turning arms pull in and lower the tops onto the turning worm.  The worm pushes  the stalks to the shoot at the right up into a series of cutters and shakers.  The cutters and shakers cause the rice to fall from the stalk.  The heavier rice goes in one direction to a hopper.  The chopped chaff is then blown out the back end of the harvester onto the field.  The chaff is burned in place. 

    An Oklahoma combine-harvester is much larger, about 6 times as wide as this harvester.  It also would take up about 1/4 to 1/8ht of an average Chinese farm plot just sitting there.  The cost of the Oklahoma combine is about 100 times more expensive than this combine.  The cost of the Oklahoma combine use to be  targeted to ability to pay off a 5 year combine loan, which was also the life span of the big combine.  The Chinese combine is simple compared to the Oklahoma combine so easy to repair.  It will remain in service for many years.

    Happy farmer watching the harvester crew setup.

The harvester does a fine job except for the edges of the field which are usually lined with small channels for water so damp and soft.  As farmers get more used to preparing their fields for mechanized harvest these minor problems will be fixed.  

Rice is sent to the hopper above the waiting bag.  The combine operator usually has one helper.  In this operation the operators wife also helped out but was responsible for pre-checking out fields, quoting jobs and writing amounts owed in her book.

As the rice sacks fill they are tied off and dropped in the field.  Members of the farm family carry the bags to the edge of the field where others get them and take them and carry them to the road.  The are then brought to the home by a cart, usually a two wheel hand cart. 

Chaff is blown out the back of the combine.

The front field below was harvested for 45 Yuan ($5.50 US)  The burned field was done previously.  The far field with the three workers was done for 80 Yuan ($9.70).  If I understood my Chinese right the farmers cost of the combine is 45 Yuan per li of rice.   It took roughly an hour to do the smaller field.  There was very little to glean after the combine finished but the field was cleaned for missed stalk.   

     The combine harvester is still being introduced and evaluated by farmers.  Many field being harvested attract onlookers who weigh the cost versus time and labor saved.  Some farmers are getting old so the combine is attractive.  For some it means getting time off the farm to work a cash job or farm other cash crops.  The combine is in wide use on the flat fields which are close to improved roads which are being laid at an astonishing pace.  After months of riding around the countryside my guess is this type of combine gets 5-10 percent of the harvest.  By far the vast bulk of the harvest is done by hand or with much simpler portable combines of which there are several types (shown in the other series).