Chinese Agricultural and Rural Scenes

6. Winnowing the Wheat

In Henan much of the wheat crop is winnowed by hand. When you travel in that province in June-July you see hundreds of farmers/peasants winnowing the wheat. Tossing it into the air blows away the chaff. A labor-intensive task but costing the owners no money, just their labor. The WTO will cost the Chinese farmer some wheat sales as the world price of wheat is lower than the cost to grow by the Chinese farmer. Picture by my friend Dot Garlow.