The Trend of Organic Farming in the World and in China

The results of a major consultation research program titled The Food Security Conditions, Problems and Strategies in China conducted by Chinese Academy of Engineering have been released this year. This report pointed out a number of major problems for the food industry in China. Pesticide and veterinary medicine abuse remains to the main source of food pollutants at present. Heavy metal, fungal toxins and other similar pollutants are long-term hazards, and food with higher heavy metal contents mainly spreads over the southern and southwestern parts of China. According to the report, the most prominent issue is severe environmental pollution. In china, over one third of rivers have been contaminated and 90% of underground water sources have been polluted to varying degrees. 60% of underground water sources suffer from severe pollution the rate of pollution exceeding standardized norms in farmland totals 16.1% nationally, wherein the percentage of medium and severe pollution accounts for 2.9%. Secondly, the percentage of small and illegal food industries accounts for over 80% in overall food enterprises, which increases the difficulty of supervision. Pesticides were first introduced in the 1970’s and quickly became the norm - soon it was over used and abused and polluting China’s farms, soil and water. China’s organic moment is gaining traction for a number of reasons, food safety being a primary reason.      Along with the increasingly prominent promotion functions of organic farming in environment and product quality, the growing public awareness of food security issues and the popularity of high-quality, healthy and secure organic food among consumers, organic farming is likely to develop in the future.      The development of organic food in China could be divided into three stages. 1     1. The Exploration Stage (1990-1994)     The introduction of overseas certification authority initiates the development of organic food in China, In 1989, Rural Ecological Laboratory in SEPA(State Administration for Industry and Commerce of the P.R.C) Nanjing Institute of Environmental Science, the first institution engaged in ecological farming research, practice and promotion in China, joined IFOAM(International Federation of Oraganic Farm Movements) and became the first IFOAM member in China. At present, there are over thirty IFOAM members in China.     2. The Initial Stage (1995-2002)     China successively establishes state certification authority and simultaneously initiates corresponding certification work. At the same time, commendatory industrial standards for institutions or departments have been formulated according to the basic standards of IFOAM. In 1994, with the approval from SEPA, the rural ecological laboratory in SEPA Nanjing Institute of Environmental Science is reorganized as the Organic Food Development Center of SEPA (OFDC in short) and renamed Nanjing SEPA Organic Food Certification Center. From 1995, the center has successfully certified over 300 farms and manufacturing plants.     3. Normative and Rapid Development Stage (2003-now)     The third stage started from the official execution of The Certification and Accreditation Regulations in the People’s Republic of China on November 1st 2002. From then on, organic food certification work under the unified governance of State Certification and Accreditation Regulatory Committee enters into the normative development stage. At present, there are also other several overseas certification authorities in China. Among others, American organic certification authority OCIA(Organic Crop Improvement Asstion) is the first overseas certification authority to enter into China in 1995. Up to now, there are over 500 enterprises have passed through the certification of overseas institutions.  Read more in http://252989441.wixsite.com/organic-farming