Category Archives: China

Helping #China’s smallholder #farmers: Science and Technology Backyards – a short video

Posted on 24 October 2016 by

Over the past few years I’ve been lucky enough to visit China a number of times – you can see my blogs from these trips here. On a couple of occasions I’ve visited some of China Agricultural University’s Science and … Continue reading →

Posted in China | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Reducing #farmers’ #fertiliser use in N E #China: students live in villages, do experiments on the farm and support farmers.

Posted on 4 August 2016 by

I found myself in China again at the end of June taking part in an international workshop and a symposium on Agricultural Development Pathways for Smallholder Farmers in China. It was organised by Professor Fusou Zhang, Director of the Centre … Continue reading →

Posted in China | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Seeing Brexit from China – where #food and #foodsecurity matters greatly

Posted on 4 July 2016 by

Jet-lagged and Brexit shocked, I’m trying to readjust after returning from a week’s visit to China. The shock began as I got up at 4.30am on Friday June 24th to hear the referendum result, then left for Beijing arriving there … Continue reading →

Posted in China | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Helping plants grow better for improved #food security – from beans in low-input farming to wheat in Australia and rice in China

Posted on 18 June 2015 by

How do you get the knowledge generated by researchers into farmers’ fields? That is the key issue being discussed by the Association of Applied Biologists this week at a meeting on Knowledge exchange: from research to the food supply chain … Continue reading →

Posted in China, Interviews | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Smallholder innovation for resilience in the face of climate change – reports from China, India, Kenya and Peru.

Posted on 6 February 2015 by

“Understanding the coping and risk-management strategies of farmers who are already facing extreme climatic stresses and variation will be useful in developing strategies that can be adopted by other farmers who will face similar challenges in the future” according to a … Continue reading →

Posted in China, Reports | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Making crops use water more effectively and making life better for farmers – twin goals for Prof J Zhang

Posted on 11 December 2014 by

In 2008, the journal Nature called him one of the five crop researchers who could change the world. His name is Jianhua Zhang, and today he is Professor of Plant Biology in the School of Life Sciences and Director of … Continue reading →

Posted in China, Interviews | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

China Vignettes 6: Promoting high-yield, high-efficiency methods on small farms in N China plain via science & technology backyards

Posted on 19 December 2013 by

Handan is a city of several million people about 4 hours south of Beijing by fast train. Over an hour’s journey away by car is Quzhou country. Here, staff and students from China Agricultural University’s Centre for Resources, Environment and … Continue reading →

Posted in China | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A botanical surprise in Hong Kong

Posted on 26 November 2013 by

Coming to Hong Kong from Nanning is a bit of a culture shock. Yes, there were big shopping malls in Nanning and we foolishly let a taxi driver take us to one packed with designer labels from the west, but … Continue reading →

Posted in China | Tagged , | Leave a comment

China vignettes 5 – Community supported agriculture, agro-ecological farming, participatory plant breeding in maize and rice-duck system in S W China

Posted on 18 November 2013 by

In late September, I ended up accompanying a group of students from Lancaster University to China again. You can get a flavour of what we saw and did in this video – including the wonderful demonstration of traditional dancing laid … Continue reading →

Posted in China | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

China vignettes 4. Around the Pearl River delta 2: Large-scale organic horticulture

Posted on 4 July 2013 by

The next day we visit something on a totally different scale. This is a huge farm planting mainly organic veg mostly under plastic covering an area of about 80 ha. The farm manager, Mr Lee, tells as the firm – … Continue reading →

Posted in China | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment