Traditionaly all Chinese farms were organic. They used night soil (human excretement) sourced from town and city and this may be the reason their soils remained fertile over 5 millenia of farming. In all the countries populated by Europeans over the past handfull of centries, we are still mining the soils created over eons. With their high population and heavy land use, if the Chinese adopt western sanitation methods, flushing their nutrients down their rivers into the ocean, they will rapidly depleat their soils and destroy their food production. They only way they will survive the flush toilet is if they put the output of their sewage treatment plants back on the land.

This is an interesting multimedia story but not much depth was presented regarding the problems that are occurring with agriculture in China. It added to the story to see the video and photographs of the farm. I found it interesting that some farmers in China use chemicals on the crops they sell but they will not eat their own crops. Is China using pesticides that are banned in the U.S. due to their bioaccumulation in the food chain and persistence in soil? Are they finding groundwater polluted with pesticides from agricultural use? Are farm workers being exposed to chemicals? The point that consumers do not like to buy the produce that has not been treated with pesticides due to appearance is common in the U.S. and China.

This is a general overview of organic farming difficulties by focusing on one Chinese farmer's experience. He emphasizes health and ecological benefits. Profitability is problematic, with price driven markets giving preference to higher yielding petroleum based fertilized and pesticide treated crops. It does not explore the impact of increasing oil prices on that equation, nor explore the larger scope of most Chinese operations or compare to the successes in the U.S. There are a couple of interesting related links given.