It’s planting time in Korea

It’s planting time in Korea

To the editor:
    Finally it has warmed up. The trees are in full leaf. Rapidly the fields are being flooded, planted and prepared for the long growing season ahead. The sound of tractors and tillers begins at dawn and goes well into the evening, Backhoes, dozers and planters are adding their voices to the mix. The birds are busy building nests, bees are scavenging for nectar, and water is flowing through the irrigation channels. 

    Rice is a water intensive crop. Terraced hillsides of small rice plots are filling up with acres of water and rice plants. Korea has also embraced the idea of half-pipe farming. Acres of plastic greenhouses have rapidly expanded the growing season of farmers here. Already the results of this new methodology are showing up in stores and farmer’s markets with an abundance of fresh vegetables and flowers. A country which was starving 50 years ago now feeds itself.
    Rice farming begins with the tilling of the fields. The double-bottom plow, the rear tiller and the hoe are used to prep the field. Water is then pumped into the field until it stands about an inch or so deep. In the early dawn these water fields form reflective mirrors showing off the sun and newly green hillsides.
    The water on the fields serves two purposes. It helps the rice seedlings to grow and it discourages pests that would eat the young plants before they could escape their seeds. The egrets and storks are feasting on a very full plate. In fields where other crops are grown, the plows build raised beds and these are covered with plastic mulches, punctured and the peppers and Daikon radishes are planted. Six months from now those fields will go back to sleep, their work done and their bounty for our enjoyment.
    Rice is a grass. The flooded fields allow for the plugs of rice to be seated firmly. The planters are on sturdy iron paddle wheels and they wander across the land like mechanical insects eating mud and leaving green sticks behind. As the plants grow they will absorb the water and gradually the water will disappear under a canopy of green.
    Farmers are inevitable gamblers. This looks like a good year ahead.