Today, China is the largest of all Asian countries and has the largest population of any country in the world. The country is truly enormous, and occupies almost all of the East Asian landmass; China stretches for about 3,100 miles (5,000 km) from east to west and 3,400 miles from north to south and covers an area of about 3,696,100 square miles (9,572,900 square km), an area equal to approximately one-fourteenth of the land area of the entire globe; in fact, China is almost as large as the whole of Europe (Chen, Lieberthal & Schmidt 2005:2-3)
¶ … Sustainable Agricultural Practices in Emerging Nations in General and China in Particular Let trees sprout on the mountains; stop growing grain on hilly terrain; and keep livestock in their pens. - Chinese Edict for 21st Century Agricultural Practices, Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji, Spring 2000 In recent years, the rapid development of industrial and urban areas, and changes in agricultural practices, have resulted in environmental damage in many emerging countries, and China has been no exception (Cook & Murray 2002:154)
Existing Agricultural Practices in China Today. The agricultural practices of early settlers throughout many regions of the world proved inappropriate or inadequate for the conditions; consequently, farmers were continually required to move from one location to another in search of new lands because their "ploughing had loosened the grassland soils, exposing the lower sandy layers which drifted under windy conditions" (Edmonds 1994:36)
Today, a growing understanding of the ecological damage inflicted by the reliance on synthetic chemical inputs, the scale of which vastly increased following the Second Word War, has generated new interest in a sustainable agriculture in which soil nutrient cycling plays a central role. The need to devise an ecologically sound relationship of people to the soil is being rediscovered (Foster & Magdoff 1998:32)
In his essay, "Sustainable Agriculture and Conservation Tillage: Managing the Contradictions," Alan Hall (1998) reports that for the past two decades, there has been increasing emphasis placed on the need for environmentally oriented approaches to farming; concomitantly, this author notes that agricultural production and market systems have also experienced significant restructuring in the context of both increasing globalization and persistent over-production and farm profitability crises (221). Taken together, these forces have resulted in conventional agriculture coming under considerable criticism from within and outside the agricultural community, causing many observers to suggest that the existing system needs to be restructured toward a more "sustainable" agricultural model (Hall 222)
According to Cook and Murray, "The new edict from Zhu specifically forbade the very things that Mao championed, and was reportedly to be accompanied by handouts of free grain to enable farmers to plant acres of trees rather than food crops, and free coal to stop them from burning trees and shrubs for fuel" (1). Of particular concern to agricultural planners in emerging nations has been the growing problem of land degradation and its impact on agricultural productivity (Huang, Rozelle & Veeck 1997:44)
Agriculture or farming is the cultivation and breeding of animals, plants and fungi for food, fiber, biofuel, medicinal plants and other products used to sustain and ...
Good agricultural practices, often in combination with effective input use, are one of the best ways to increase smallholder productivity.
Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) and Good Handling Practices (GHP) are voluntary audits that verify that fruits and vegetables are produced, packed, handled, and ...
Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) are ways that produce growers can prevent on-farm contamination of fruits and vegetables. GAPs are a new way of thinking about food ...
Good Agricultural Practices refers to farming methods that reduce the likelihood of contaminating produce. Implementation of practices that address water quality, ...
For information on good agricultural practices for production, handling and shipping of fresh produce view our Good Agricultural Practices compilation (PDF).
Agricultural practices. We help farmers and businesses produce the best possible food and agriculture products. We also help farmers manage risks while caring for the ...
Good Agricultural Practices. As producers begin to scale up to sell their products to larger outlets like schools or wholesalers they might find that their new ...
Good agricultural practices (GAPs) at the farm level involve multi-faceted efforts at ensuring that foods are safe for human consumption. Food safety has become a ...
National Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) Program Educational Materials ... implementing good agricultural practices and developing a farm food safety plan.
The most common agricultural practices include tilling the soil, planting seeds, adding plant nutrients, using pest control...
Farm Practices & Management. Biotechnology Driven by farmers' expectations of higher crop yields and/or lower production costs, management time savings, ...
Required Agricultural Practices (RAPs) Agency of Agriculture Food & Markets. VERMONT .GOV official state website. Search form. Search . Licensing & Registration; Grants;
Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) What is GAP? Good Agricultural Practices, or GAP, are production and farm level approaches to ensure the safety of fresh produce ...