Industrial China made it tough for farming: Between the pollution in the ground, in the water and in the air, erosion and the increasing industrial land use, maybe the only safe places left are these mountain terraces.This article takes a look at some of the issues with China and farming. We usually only hear about things like avian flue from chicken farms or the sick pigs that are dumped into rivers instead of being properly disposed of.
Why China’s farming sector is failing
One troubling fact from a recent FAO report is that at 0.22 acres of arable land per capita, China has six times less arable land per capita than the United States. That and the higher return from factory plants compared to farming plants might explain the development priority put on industry, but this sector has already started slowing down while the population is ever increasing, so a real food policy and protection of the farming sector from the irresponsibility of factory owners and local government seems to be in order.
Chimel.
I've always said that the only thing worse than capitalism is anything else (maybe I heard it somewhere). Like us, they have yet to figure out that government ruins everything it touches.
ReplyDeleteYou are certainly right for the poor implementations of communism and socialism we've seen so far, but the only thing that prevented the U.S. from reaching the same catastrophic soil situation is the balance check of democracy, not capitalism itself.
ReplyDeleteAnd economically today at least, the balance favors China over the States.
I really would like to see politicians working out other models than the isms of centuries ago. Political science has not progressed as fast as its other colleagues.