Beats PIK certificates...

(For those of your who don't know what I'm talking about, ask Grandpa - although he probably can't explain them).

Anyhoo, Chinese farmers are getting some novel subsidies.

Yang Shibo, a 50-year-old farmer in China’s Shandong Province, bought a refrigerator to keep vermin away from his family’s meat and vegetables. The government eased his purchase by knocking 13 percent off the price.



“We see a lot of rats running around, they run around on the ceilings, they eat our food,” Yang, who grows peanuts, said as he swatted flies in his kitchen. “We didn’t have a fridge before. It’s much more convenient now.”


Farmers are benefitting from more than 15 billion yuan ($2.23 billion) in subsidies this year for appliance purchases by rural residents as the government tries to boost domestic consumption and ease a reliance on infrastructure spending and exports. That more than doubled first-quarter profit at Qingdao Haier Co., part of China’s biggest appliance maker. TCL Multimedia Technology Holdings Ltd., part of China’s biggest consumer-electronics maker, said net profit rose 69 percent.


Farmers using subsidies bought 41.7 billion yuan in household appliances during the first four months of this year, a 510 percent increase from a year ago, the government said. [More]

Every time I think things are tough on my farm, I get a little perspective from my colleagues around the world, who are tickled pink for ratproof refrigerators.

I am such a whiner!