One severe impact of recurrent flooding and waterlogging in Juye County in the Shandong Province, is the salinization and alkalization of soils. The soil in Juye, mainly Luvisoils, with high salt content due to the water loggings, is rich in calcium, magnesium, ions of chloride, sulfate and carbonate. Salt compounds...

Organic farming in China is benefitting from the online shopping boom. Love Village is one of many small-scale farms trying to make use of the direct-to-consumer model facilitated by the internet. Can it provide stable sales and a loyal consumer base? And how will investment from big companies change things? These questions are on the...

At a time when the CSA movement globally is working to gain greater recognition by policy makers, it comes a jaw-dropping and agreeable surprise to discover the extent to which CSA in China has gained legal status and is perceived as a genuine part of the way forward by all...

Biodiversity is an important characteristic to keep ecosystems stable and to make efficient use of environmental resources. These trends of simplification of agro-ecosystems, loss of biodiversity, and degradation of ecosystem services need to be averted. Agroecology is a promising approach to restore biodiversity and ecosystem services to agro-ecosystems, and transition...

The Proceedings book includes the contributions from agreocology experts and practitioners that took part as speakers in the International Symposium on Agroecology for Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems in China held Kunming, Yunnan, China from 29-31 August 2016. The volume has been prepared in order to collect and disseminate further...

For centuries, farmers, herders, fishers and foresters have developed diverse and locally adapted agricultural systems managed with time tested, ingenious techniques. These practices have resulted in a vital combination of social, cultural, ecological and economic services to humankind. “Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems” (GIAHS) are outstanding landscapes of aesthetic beauty...

The purpose of this study is to explore whether and how products from agroecological production systems are being valued in markets. The study is based on a meta-analysis of 12 case studies (Benin, the Plurinational State of Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Ecuador, France, Kazakhstan, Mozambique, Namibia, Uganda), mainly from...

The outbreak of African swine fever in China, first detected last month by authorities there, is accelerating and will almost certainly emerge in other countries in Asia, a regional emergency meeting convened by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) heard today. African Swine Fever (ASF) was first detected in Asia...

In September 2014 the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) convened the International Symposium on Agroecology for Food Security and Nutrition. This was followed in 2015 by three regional meetings in Brazil, Senegal and Thailand. These meetings brought together stakeholders from academia, policy and civil society to...

The "International Symposium on Agroecology for Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems in China" was organized in August 2016 by the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), FAO, and Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences (YAAS), with the support of the Government of France. The symposium Gathered 221 participants from 25 countries (representing...

China is a large country with diverse agro-ecosystems and numerous different agricultural production systems. These agricultural systems are managed by more than 200 million households who provide agricultural products to meet the needs of almost a fifth of mankind. Agriculture plays numerous key functions, including not only the provision of food...

「良食大学」是互联网第一个简体中文的食物议题知识库。我们的目标是希望向大众普及食物生产和消费的知识，让大家了解食物背后的真实代价，并且重新认识并定义健康、温和、良善而多元的「良食」。 "Good Food University" is the first knowledge base of food issues in Chinese on the Internet. Our goal is to spread the knowledge of food production and consumption to the general public so that we can understand the true cost behind food and re-understand and define a healthy, gentle, good...

The Independent Office of Evaluation of IFAD (IOE) undertook a project performance assessment (PPA) of the Environment Conservation and Poverty Reduction Programme in Ningxia and Shanxi (ECPRPNS) in the People’s Republic of China with the objectives of: (a) assessing the results of the programme; and (b) generating findings and recommendations...

Only a small number of governments have established meaningful and effective farmer-centred measures for the implementation of access and benefit sharing of genetic resources. One reason is the highly complex nature of the international regulatory system. This special issue of Farming Matters magazine presents practical ways in which access and...

How 25 women farmers are working to reduce pesticides use and shift to agroecology

This contribution discusses access and benefit sharing within the context of participatory plant breeding. It presents how Chinese farmers and breeders interact in relation to crop improvement and on-farm maintenance of plant genetic resources. Based on more than a decade of action research, a number of institutional changes were accomplished...

The 8th Steering Committee meeting of the China-CABI Joint Laboratory was held successfully in Beijing, China on 4 March 2016. Steering Committee members and other key delegates were delighted with the Joint Laboratory’s achievements and progress in 2015, and agreed its plans for 2016. The Joint Laboratory is now regarded...

家庭农场是2016年农村经济新亮点，那么2016年国家对家庭农场扶持政策有哪些呢?据资料显示，各省对家庭农场的扶持力度都很大，如四川省就出台了8项扶持政策，涉及登记服务、示范创建、土地流转、财政扶持、金融支持、用水用电用地、社会化服务和人才培养等方面，对四川家庭农场主或有意涉足者来说，无疑是多重利好。

Food crops represent one third of Rwanda’s GDP, but the supply remains fragile due to soil pests such as white grubs, cut worm and bean fly which damage vegetable and root crops. Options for control are limited. A team from China, Africa, the UK and Switzerland is working with the...

Farming has long been seen as an overworked and underpaid job. Many people, especially the youth in the countryside, choose to leave the fields. Now, the stereotype is changing. A pilot family farm scheme in Shanghai's Songjiang District has made farming a career with a decent income. In 2015, the average...