China Environment

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China & Agriculture

China’s economy is changing at an alarming rate, and with it, the way that the people live, work and eat.  They’re heading, along with the rest of the world, towards a global food crisis. So what’s changed that can cause such a problem? It’s simply a knock on effect:

• The people of China are flocking in large numbers towards the cities, the cities are therefore expanding, swallowing up vital farming land
• The people of China don’t actually own the land which they farm, which means that there are not lots of “parcels” of land being bought and sold to ultimately create larger, more efficient farms
• More and more people of China are now working in the cities, which means that less of them are producing food
• This means that many of the people in China have more money in their pockets, so they want to eat better food – more fruit, vegetables and meat for example
• This is a scary equation – as the demand for food in China is growing, the agricultural land and labor is shrinking

China, Agriculture & Food Prices

All of this means that China now has to look towards other countries to help them out with food supplies, prices are climbing not just in China, but everywhere. Even the Chinese people who have lived off the land for generations are now beginning to see that there is another way – education. Once a luxury only for the few, there are now more opportunities for the people of China to live off their knowledge, instead of their labor.