Posted on 01/05/2014 6:56:48 AM PST by Kaslin
At the end of 2013, China reported over 3 mln hectares of land too polluted to farm.
About 3.33 million hectares (8 million acres) of China's farmland is too polluted to grow crops, a government official said on Monday, highlighting the risk facing agriculture after three decades of rapid industrial growth.
China has been under pressure to improve its urban environment following a spate of pollution scares.
But cleaning up rural regions could be an even bigger challenge as the government tries to reverse damage done by years of urban and industrial encroachment and ensure food supplies for a growing population.
Wang Shiyuan, the vice-minister of land and resources, told a news briefing that China was determined to rectify the problem and had committed "tens of billions of yuan" a year to pilot projects aimed at rehabilitating contaminated land and underground water supplies.
The area of China's contaminated land is about the same size as Belgium. Wang said no more planting would be allowed on it as the government was determined to prevent toxic metals entering the food chain.
"In the past there have been news reports about cadmium-contaminated rice - these kinds of problems have already been strictly prohibited," he said.
This year, inspectors found dangerous levels of cadmium in rice sold in the southern city of Guangzhou. The rice was grown in Henan, a major heavy metal-producing region.
State researchers have said that as much as 70 percent of China's soil could have problems.
All Farm Products From China Suspect
The last sentence above says all you need to know. It's unsafe to trust any farm products from China.
Woefully Inadequate Response
The vice-minister of land and resources, said China committed "tens of billions of yuan" a year to pilot projects aimed at rehabilitating contaminated land and underground water supplies.
How uncomforting! The cleanup bill for air pollution alone is $290 billion. Give that State TV amazingly promotes the "Benefits of Smog" one has to wonder how many acres of China's farmland are really polluted, and what a proper cleanup job would actually cost.
Iceberg Principle
I speculate the cleanup cost will be in the $trillions, if done properly (but likely it won't).
One thing we learned from the financial crisis in the US, and continued bank problems in Europe is the biggest portion of the mess is continually hidden.
Call it the "Iceberg Principle" where politicians only reveal a portion of the problem with each admission.
Recall the initial estimates of the Greek bailout was something like €40 billion. In May of 2010 the Troika committed a €110 billion bailout loan. A second bailout loan a year later added another €100 billion. Talk is now underway regarding a third bailout.
Questions of the Day
One thing is for certain: China's growth at any cost policy came at an enormous price.
The statement concerned COOL labeling, not the idiotic contraption called CA.
Actually, I deal with a failure of American agriculture. Were it a "success story" as opposed to a mythology, we would at least be able to feed ourselves as a nation. Yet since 2000, this country has run a negative balance of payments in agricultural products for human consumption.
Again, why is native habitat better.
Nobody knows because there isn't any that truly is. Somebody had to do that research and we are farther along than anyone else in the country. There are PhDs that have traveled a thousand miles just to see it. What I can tell you is that although we have increased our count of vascular plants to 363 species (from 60), our soils were virtually destroyed by the apple farm that this once was.
Little do you know. For example, if a beef steer is brought into the US and fed American corn for two weeks, it's deemed "American beef" by the USDA.
Give government control of the labeling and the process will be corrupted. I prefer a system analogous to UL.
Show me the figures. The US has 90 million cattle, 60 million hogs, more than a billion poultry, 75 million acres of beans 35% of which is exported! and 90 million acres of corn with record yields. We are 5% of the worlds population but are responsible for 15% of the global food supply. Is there a country that produces more food? Obesity is the #1 health issue and we didn’t get that way eating air sandwiches.
You are right that there is no evidence that native is necessarily better. How many of the vascular plants you mentioned are food sources? 1000s of native plants are poisonous because they have been at war with herbivores for eons.
What an idiot.
Could be nothing but a trollie ~
I've done it at least a half dozen times with smarter posters than you, the last of which was in 2006.
You are right that there is no evidence that native is necessarily better.
That's because "native" has been displaced by introduced species. Native plant systems made those fantastic soils farmers are mining. There were processes in place that sequestered atmospheric deposition of trace minerals the mechanics of which are now lost because the farmers at that time had no understanding of how those systems worked. There are bacterial symbiotes within that system that are host-specific not just by species but by localized strain. So to say that it was something less productive simply because we have changed things so much that we don't even have an example of a native system is simply would be just as false as for me to say that they are intrinsically superior.
You don't know what you're talking about.
I won’t buy dog treats from China, let alone people food.
Name calling is a progressive trait.
If trace minerals are in the atmosphere they got there from volcanic activity. Plants don’t fix trace minerals from the air. They are taken up by the root system.
Sorry you thought I was name-calling.
What I was trying to do was identify a fact.
Me too. I would have given your response a like.
Have the spam, spam, egg and spam then, it’s not got much spam in it.
“be grateful for a cheap and abundant food supply.”
At what cost?
Are farmers replacing the trace minerals extracted from the soil? What are they doing to increase soil fertility? No till farming has reduced the soil losses which is great.
Imagine that the soil is a person. Injecting ammonium nitrate as a way for ever increasing yields, reminds me of other human behavior. We hand our farms and soil down to our kids and grand kids. Are we leaving it better or are we trashing it?
I don’t hate farmers, without them we would be in a world of hurt. That being said, much of their information comes from government, government schools, corporations that influence government and farmers. It makes me uncomfortable that our smaller farmers were pushed into becoming huge operations or sold their operations to large corporate farms. This has reduced our vision to very short horizons. What is the long view for the future? Are we leaving our farmland in better shape?
This is all on a thread discussing China’s trashing of a huge chunk of farmland. We should look long and hard at our farming practices.
Look, just because you know nothing about farming doesn’t mean those that do are idiots. Why don’t you state where I am wrong.
Look, if you don’t like the products no one is forcing you to buy them. Tell me specifically what trace minerals are lacking? Plants do not yield well in the absence of trace minerals. What minerals are you talking about? Have you ever farmed? How me out here so I can address specific questions.
So, I see you are attacking corporations too. Do you want to rid the nation of other jobs? I have farmed on the side for about 4 decades. Farmers get most of their information from journals, not government. Not every government worker is corrupt, ok? You can see by my comments, I despise criminals in government. The USDA does a decent job. The animal division is run by veterinarians that do an amazing job of keeping foreign animal diseases out.
China is run by criminals, just like every socialist/communist nation. They have industrial contamination. We don’t.
I know you’re right. Look at the problems we’ve had with poisoned dog food... and that basically ‘additives’.
Still, I do my best to stay away from anything that’s obviously from China - or any Muslim country. The values in those countries to not extend to ‘safeguarding their fellow man’ if you know what I mean.
I know you’re right. Look at the problems we’ve had with poisoned dog food... and that basically ‘additives’.
Still, I do my best to stay away from anything that’s obviously from China - or any Muslim country. The values in those countries to not extend to ‘safeguarding their fellow man’ if you know what I mean.
COSTCO’s stated adding more ‘made in China’ foods...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.