加拿大的粉色金子(上)

The Americas

美洲版块

Saskatchewan

萨斯喀彻温省

Pots of pink gold

一盆盆的粉色金子

A remote Canadian province luxuriates in the global supply crunch

加拿大的一个偏远省份在全球供应短缺的情况下奢侈度日

Gerrid gust’s great-grandfather was from near Dubno, a town that is now in western Ukraine.

格瑞德·盖斯的曾祖父来自现在乌克兰西部的小镇杜布诺附近。

He settled between the two biggest towns in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon and Regina, on a plot of 160 acres which he bought for C$10.

他在加拿大萨斯喀彻温省最大的两个城镇萨斯卡通和里贾纳之间定居下来了，他以10加元的价格买下了这块占地160英亩的地。

The farm is now a patchwork of properties 100 times the size which Mr Gust runs with his father and brother.

现在这个农场的总体财产是古斯特先生与他父亲和兄弟经营时的100倍之多。

Each year they harvest wheat, lentils and rapeseed.

他们每年会收获小麦、小扁豆和油菜籽。

Every planting season 23-metre-wide “drillers” shoot seed and fertiliser directly into the soil for 16 hours a day.

每个播种季节，23米宽的“播种机”将种子和化肥直接播撒到土壤中，每天持续16个小时。

Then it is all down to the heavens.

然后一切都看天吃饭。

Nearly all of Saskatchewan’s crops depend on rain rather than irrigation.

萨斯喀彻温省几乎所有的农作物都依靠雨水而不是灌溉。

Last year “was desperately dry”, says Mr Gust. “We can’t afford another bad year.”

古斯特表示，去年“非常干旱”。我们承受不起又一个糟糕的年景。

Nor, it seems, can the world.

看来，全世界也承受不起。

The 15m tonnes of wheat and 20m tonnes of other crops that the province produces in a typical year will be vital to markets roiled by the war between Russia and Ukraine.

该省典型的年产量为1500万吨小麦和2000万吨其他农作物，这对俄乌战争下动荡的市场至关重要。

So, too, will almost everything else Saskatchewan produces.

萨斯喀彻温省生产的几乎所有其他产品也将如此。

When Ukrainian immigrants first streamed into Canada at the end of the 19th century, the government of the day had a role in mind for them: to settle the vast prairies between the forests of Ontario and the Rocky Mountains.

19世纪末，当乌克兰移民第一次涌入加拿大时，当时的政府考虑到了他们的角色：在安大略省森林和落基山脉之间的广阔草原上定居。

The minister of immigration knew what he wanted: “a stalwart peasant in a sheepskin coat, born on the soil, whose forefathers have been farmers for ten generations, with a stout wife and a half-dozen children.”

移民部部长知道他想要什么：“一个穿着羊皮大衣的壮实的农民，出生在这片土地上，他的祖先已经当了十代农民，有一个结实的妻子和六个孩子。”

Those with uncalloused hands could look elsewhere.

那些双手没有老茧的人可以把目光投向别处。

It was a good match.

这是一场精彩的比赛。

The landscape reminded many of Bukovina and Galicia in western Ukraine.

这里的景色让许多人想起了乌克兰西部的布科维纳和加利西亚。

Its aspen forests needed clearing but the soil was lush and the land dirt cheap.

这里的白杨林需要清理，但土壤很肥沃，土地非常便宜。

By the first world war tens of thousands had come, settling around onion-domed churches, often living next to the same neighbours they had back home.

到第一次世界大战时，成千上万的人来到这里，在洋葱形圆顶教堂周围安顿下来，通常在他们家乡的邻居旁边。

That migration established what would become the world’s second-largest Ukrainian diaspora, behind Russia’s.

那次移民成为世界上第二大乌克兰移民潮，仅次于俄罗斯。

In Saskatchewan, where a tenth of the population has Ukrainian roots, events in eastern Europe are again shifting local fortunes.

在萨斯喀彻温省，十分之一的人口有乌克兰血统，东欧的事件再次改变了当地的命运。

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has not quite prompted a stampede towards the prairie -- the refugees arriving in Canada mostly prefer the comfort and energy of cities in the east.

俄罗斯入侵乌克兰并没有引发大批难民涌向大草原--抵达加拿大的难民大多更喜欢东部城市的舒适和活力。

But it has caused the price of many of the commodities which drive Saskatchewan’s see-sawing economy to rocket like never before.

但它导致了那些推动萨斯喀彻温省经济波动的大宗商品的价格前所未有地飙升。

Just about everything the province produces in abundance has seen its price shoot up as a result of the war.

由于战争，该省丰产的几乎所有东西的价格都飙升了。

This includes the wheat and oats first grown by early settlers, Ukrainian or otherwise, as well as newer crops like rapeseed, pulses (lentils, chickpeas and the like) and mustard.

这包括最早由早期定居者(乌克兰人或其他人)种植的小麦和燕麦，以及油菜籽、豆类(扁豆、鹰嘴豆等)和芥末等较新的作物。

It is a bonanza that will reach far and wide.

这是一场将影响深远的幸运。

Saskatchewan is set to grow by 6% this year, more than any other Canadian province.

萨斯喀彻温省今年的经济增长率将达到6%，高于加拿大其他任何省份。

Most important of all is what lies beneath the earth: oil, gas, uranium and above all potash, a jagged, crystalline mix of soluble salts of potassium that is a crucial ingredient in fertilisers.

最重要的是埋藏在地下的东西：石油、天然气、铀，最重要的是钾肥，这是一种锯齿状的可溶钾盐的结晶混合物，是化肥的关键成分。

It is sometimes called “pink gold” for the hue it takes before it is refined into a white powder.

它有时被称为“粉色金子”，因为它在被提炼成白色粉末之前呈粉色。

Saskatchewan produces a third of the world’s output, and exports almost all of it.

萨斯喀彻温省钾盐的产量占世界总产量的三分之一，几乎全部用于出口。