Food Safety: A Global Preoccupation
“Why does it seem that so many food crises have occurred in China?” That question, voiced by the founder of a UK-based food-safety consultancy service, was one of many asked during a recent panel...
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Hong Kong Imports Over 90% of Its Food. Can It Learn to Grow?
In the course of 24 hours, the city consumes 931 tons of rice, 1,980 tons of vegetables, 34 tons of poultry, 4,270 pigs and 79 cows. Supermarkets, restaurants, cafes and street markets all form a...
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The U.S. Is Farming More Fish than Ever (But Nowhere Near What China Does)
In a report out last week, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (N.O.A.A.) reported a total catch of 9.2 billion pounds of seafood for American ports, beating averages for the last 10...
View ArticleChina Hoards Half of World’s Cotton Supply (But It Maybe Wishes It Didn’t)
When China started buying up cotton in 2011, the idea was to put the brakes on plunging prices. It also set a floor on prices for raw cotton. Flash forward three years: Prices are way below what they...
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How China Became the World’s Largest Pork Producer
The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) released a report last month documenting the causes and the consequences of the pork miracle. The story sounds simple: In the last few decades,...
View ArticleBear Bile Farming: A Practice That Continues to Bear Scrutiny
But this is no stateside industrial-ag controversy — it’s the current international debate over bear bile farming. Bear bile farming? A quick primer: For thousands of years, bear bile has served as a...
View ArticleDeadly Dog Treats From China
In a striking piece of corporate theater, the owner of a Chinese dog treat factory ate one of his own treats to prove how safe they are. But maybe he shouldn’t have? The FDA has been investigating...
View ArticleChinese Farmer Refuses to Move Old Barn; Highway Gets Built Around It
Farming requires resilience — even if that means, say, defying both your government and a large construction company and forcing them to build an enormous highway around your property. Ye Tan, 72, and...
View ArticleChicken From China May Show Up On U.S. Shores
The U.S. has had a long and fraught relationship with China on food imports of all sorts, but the latest chapter concerns chicken. Some history: Back in 2006, Congress approved the inspection of...
View ArticleMeet The Modern Farmers: Young Ha
Their company, Alesca Life, was born after Ha and Oda researched problems caused by rapid urbanization for their previous employer, Dell. “For China, I think there’s a particularly pressing need to...
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