I receive a monthly newsletter from China. This is an excerpt from it that you may find interesting:
QUOTE:
farmland protection and improvement
The latest land use survey shows that total arable land had fallen by nearly 6 percent by end 2019, or 7.5 million ha, compared to a decade previously. Total arable area has been kept above the ‘redline’ of 120 million ha set by the central government, yet the downward trend offers policymakers no comfort.
Green projects allegedly outstripped urban and industrial development in eating away at farmland. Converted from farmland, 7 million ha of forest and grassland help localities meet their ecological targets but threaten arable acreage.
Catering to changing tastes and the lure of cash crops encourages diversification away from staples. This is another headache for policymakers. Farmland for key grain, oil and vegetable production will be prioritised in planning, with curbs on ‘non-ag’ and ‘non-grain’ use of farmland such as for orchard/plantation crops of fruit, tea and rubber. New rollout rules ‘with teeth’ came into effect on 1 September, raising penalties for illegal use of arable land.
An equally important focus is farmland quality. The farmland improvement project, aiming to turn low-quality farmland into well-serviced, fertile, disaster-resilient and environmental-friendly plots, is approaching its 2022 milestone. It is also time for localities to rethink their strategies: merely focusing on expanding areas, some ‘farmland of high quality' does not have the expected quality and sustainability. Poor maintenance and insufficient funding are the main challenges.
A new round of farmland improvement plans for 2021-30 was released by MARA, furthering the development target to 2030, by which time 80 million ha of high-quality farmland should be ready to produce over 560 million tonnes of grain annually. The plan also stresses sustainability in farmland use and maintenance, and classifies farmland nationwide into seven zones based on location and natural conditions, with targeted development goals.
source 1, source 2, source 3
closer monitoring for the pig industry
MARA has identified the sow population as the key indicator of production. The latest plan to regulate pig population sets 41 million as the normal level of the national sow herd, to ensure 55 million tonnes of annual pork output. Detailed numbers for normal levels and lower limits of the sow population were calculated for each province, whose performance will be monitored. Localities should reduce the numbers of low-productivity sows when their population runs high; and provinces with low pig populations will be warned to design measures to restore sow herds.
Large-scale farms are also prioritised by policy interventions. All farms with over 500 head annual output should be registered with MARA, with their pig herd under close monitoring. Given the sheer number of those farms, over 170,000 nationwide, successful monitoring will be challenging but can provide a powerful indicator for market forecasts and early warning.
Leading pig companies are encouraged to incorporate medium and small farms into their businesses, a model long championed by MARA. Having survived the worst times of the African swine fever pandemic, big companies are seen as key to modern pig farming, disease prevention and control, as well as processing and distribution.
UNQUOTE
I was looking at this central planning of farms with an eye as to how taxation in Canada could be lowered, or stalled, for different reasons. Pars
QUOTE:
farmland protection and improvement
The latest land use survey shows that total arable land had fallen by nearly 6 percent by end 2019, or 7.5 million ha, compared to a decade previously. Total arable area has been kept above the ‘redline’ of 120 million ha set by the central government, yet the downward trend offers policymakers no comfort.
Green projects allegedly outstripped urban and industrial development in eating away at farmland. Converted from farmland, 7 million ha of forest and grassland help localities meet their ecological targets but threaten arable acreage.
Catering to changing tastes and the lure of cash crops encourages diversification away from staples. This is another headache for policymakers. Farmland for key grain, oil and vegetable production will be prioritised in planning, with curbs on ‘non-ag’ and ‘non-grain’ use of farmland such as for orchard/plantation crops of fruit, tea and rubber. New rollout rules ‘with teeth’ came into effect on 1 September, raising penalties for illegal use of arable land.
An equally important focus is farmland quality. The farmland improvement project, aiming to turn low-quality farmland into well-serviced, fertile, disaster-resilient and environmental-friendly plots, is approaching its 2022 milestone. It is also time for localities to rethink their strategies: merely focusing on expanding areas, some ‘farmland of high quality' does not have the expected quality and sustainability. Poor maintenance and insufficient funding are the main challenges.
A new round of farmland improvement plans for 2021-30 was released by MARA, furthering the development target to 2030, by which time 80 million ha of high-quality farmland should be ready to produce over 560 million tonnes of grain annually. The plan also stresses sustainability in farmland use and maintenance, and classifies farmland nationwide into seven zones based on location and natural conditions, with targeted development goals.
source 1, source 2, source 3
closer monitoring for the pig industry
MARA has identified the sow population as the key indicator of production. The latest plan to regulate pig population sets 41 million as the normal level of the national sow herd, to ensure 55 million tonnes of annual pork output. Detailed numbers for normal levels and lower limits of the sow population were calculated for each province, whose performance will be monitored. Localities should reduce the numbers of low-productivity sows when their population runs high; and provinces with low pig populations will be warned to design measures to restore sow herds.
Large-scale farms are also prioritised by policy interventions. All farms with over 500 head annual output should be registered with MARA, with their pig herd under close monitoring. Given the sheer number of those farms, over 170,000 nationwide, successful monitoring will be challenging but can provide a powerful indicator for market forecasts and early warning.
Leading pig companies are encouraged to incorporate medium and small farms into their businesses, a model long championed by MARA. Having survived the worst times of the African swine fever pandemic, big companies are seen as key to modern pig farming, disease prevention and control, as well as processing and distribution.
UNQUOTE
I was looking at this central planning of farms with an eye as to how taxation in Canada could be lowered, or stalled, for different reasons. Pars
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