Posted on 05/27/2013 3:11:33 PM PDT by Marcus
China's long term goal, dating back to the rule of Mao Zedong, of becoming self sufficient in food is running into some inconvenient reality, much no doubt caused by that country's command economy.
The problem started with China's breakneck drive to become an industrial power. This, coupled with a somewhat lax approach to environmental regulation, created large amounts of farmland contaminated with heavy metals. Since China is also driving to grow much of its own food, much of this farmland is being used, resulting in contaminated crops that are not fit for human consumption. Chinese farmers are also overusing pesticides, some of it nominally banned.
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/johnny
Or... Cash in some chips. Lots of flyover farmland they basically own anyway.
Yes, the Mao of the greatest man made famine in history.
Oh, so this is why Soros is buying agricultural companies.
If the Communist Party gave up all its involvement in agriculture, and lets Chinese farmers be modern farmers, China would have a food surplus.
that would take the khan of the century
That is true.
It is very difficult for small farms in China to expand because of the highly restrictive land ownership laws.
Worse all the younger people have moved to the cities. Most of the farms are still operated by a 70 year-old farmer who plows the fields with a water buffalo
As the older farmers die out the the land is often abandoned
Not to worry - While 1 in 6 people in the world live in China 3 out 5 smokers in the world live in China. What happens when all those 30 something Chinese workers are dealing with lung cancer when they are 50?
Combine the coming early death of the smokers and the one-child policy and China will need a lot less food in the coming decades
No, they are actually leasing or buying farm land in Africa and turning them into industrialized farmland instead of the current subsistence farming.
Monsanto can fix that.
Not exactly likely the last couple of years ~ China experiences droughts at the same time we in the US experience droughts. That was a bad one and we hope it’s over. You need to see this: http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/
They can be harsh.
/johnny
The problem started with China's breakneck drive to become an industrial power. This, coupled with a somewhat lax approach to environmental regulation, created large amounts of farmland contaminated with heavy metals. Since China is also driving to grow much of its own food, much of this farmland is being used, resulting in contaminated crops that are not fit for human consumption. Chinese farmers are also overusing pesticides, some of it nominally banned.There's some of that "traditionally Chinese territory" on its borders to conquer, and it will have to do that before it invades Taiwan in a cross-channel invasion. China's mechanization of its agriculture isn't as widespread as it might have been, otherwise a sudden interruption of its fuel imports might also cause a food shortage.
They watched the environmental devastation, and huge human costs of the industrial revolution to the West, and the steps needed to eventually recover from it.
Supposedly from the cocoon of Communism.
Rather than learning (observing and applying knowledge) from our example, and doing anything smarter, faster and better...they just repeat all the worst mistakes of the West...and lie, cheat and steal to achieve "dominance"
you need to understand that CHINA has 800 million farmers and with technology today thats 600 Million too many...technology and machines can lower the import demands that China has for food but only at the expense of making 6/8ths of farmers redundant...something obama doesnt have clue about...africans havent been able to feed themselves until the WHITE EUROPEANS arrived and gave the savages jobs ....and now once again they are food dependant...
Are you telling me that 600 million Chinese farmers are watching the destruction unfold on their lifestyles, crops and lands, and are not getting upset about it?
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