NPR Report: Working the Land the Natural Way In China
April 25th, 2008 by Rich
Organic food is someting that I have become more and more interested in over the last few months (3 weeks in the US will change a person), and so it was with great interest that I read the post Working the Land the Natural Way by NPR’s Melissa Block.
Posted to the Chengdu Diary section, Melissa and Andrea Hsu write about a group of organic farmers near Chengdu:
It’s been almost four years since the project was launched, and of the nine households who have tried organic farming, only four are still at it. The others decided it just wasn’t worth it. Organic farming requires much more labor, the yield can be half or less of that of conventional farming, and besides, hardly anyone in Chengdu is eating organic. Our stock broker-turned-farmer estimates their customer base to be only 0.01% of Chengdu’s population.
Now, I have to admit … the article is short. TOO short, and that were there could have been a lot of sharing, there wasn’t, but I am glad to see that there was something like this going on out west, and that some of the basics were being recognized by the farmers:
Anlong farmer Gao Shengjian believes there’s a link between the use of pesticides and fertilizers on farms and the growing incidences of various diseases among the rural population.
and as someone who believes there is a significant link between food and health, I can only hope that they are able to move that .01% to 10% soon.
This entry was posted on Friday, April 25th, 2008 at 8:58 am and is filed under Environment, Sustainable Development. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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April 26th, 2008 at 12:44 am
Learned today that the different fungicides and other agricultural crop science products that Bayer sell are almost 4 times more expensive than their competitors.
Learned today that all of Bayer Crop Sciences’ products ‘dissolve’ (if that is the right word) within 6 months of use (i.e. leave no chemical residue).
Learned today that even in very poor parts of the countryside there is still some demand for Bayer’s products, because some farmers recognise the benefits (to the crops as well as to the environment) of using the more environmentally friendly product.
interesting…
NB: this was not learned at a Bayer press conference, but through a conversation with a rural farmer selling crop products!
April 26th, 2008 at 5:10 am
Adam,
Interesting insights.
I learned that manure smells like Sh*T. Learned that from the fields near our schools today as well
If you read Omnivore’s Dilemma (reviewed last week), you will learn that manure is actually the best stuff if used as part of a natural process. Bayer may dissolve, but what does it add to the soil is my question? Should farmers be chemically addicted, or should they develop natural methods of crop rotation, fertilization, and water utilization?
R
April 27th, 2008 at 10:29 am
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