Beijing | Reuters — Farmers are illegally growing genetically modified (GMO) corn in China’s northeast, said environmental non-profit Greenpeace on Wednesday, in a report that may generate further distrust of the government’s ability to ensure a safe food supply. Beijing has spent billions of dollars to develop GMO crops that it hopes will ensure food […] Read more
Chinese farmers illegally growing GMO corn, Greenpeace says
China to let land lie fallow as grain stocks surge
Beijing/Reuters – China’s ruling Communist Party has for the first time proposed to let land lie fallow in some areas to ease pressure on exhausted water and land resources while grain stocks are near record levels, state media reported on Wednesday. After years of excessive cultivation and bumper grain harvests, China is facing severe shortages […] Read more
Chinese citizens sue government over transparency on Roundup
Beijing | Reuters –– Three Chinese citizens are taking China’s Ministry of Agriculture to court in a bid to make public a toxicology report supporting the approval of Monsanto’s popular herbicide, Roundup, 27 years ago. The case, a rare example of a lawsuit by private citizens against the Chinese government, comes amid renewed attention on […] Read more
China said planning bigger role for market in grains pricing
Beijing | Reuters –– China wants to give the market a bigger role in setting farm prices and move away from a controversial state stockpiling policy that has led to bulging grain inventories and a surge of cheap imports, a top agricultural official said Tuesday. That policy, in which grains are bought at artificially high […] Read more
China’s small dairy farmers dump milk as sector enters downturn
Beijing | Reuters –– Small dairy farmers in China are dumping milk and selling cows as demand from processors slows in a sharp turnaround from last year, when a scramble for supplies prompted a huge surge in milk powder imports. Slower growth in milk product consumption, higher yields from modern dairy farms and the excess […] Read more
China looking to curb fertilizer, pesticide use
Beijing | Reuters — China, the world’s top producer of rice and wheat, is seeking to cap its use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides that have helped to contaminate large swathes of its arable land and threaten its ability to keep up with domestic food demand. More than 19 per cent of soil samples taken […] Read more
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