Analysis of national and local agricultural policies, food policies, regulatory changes, and governance mechanisms.
Today, the 28th Conference of the Parties (COP28) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change opened in Dubai. While humanity continues to bicker over the distribution of responsibility for saving the planet—who should pay how much, and who must step outside their comfort zone to alter existing economic development…
Power generated above, crops grown below—one piece of land yielding two streams of income. “Agrivoltaics” claims to deliver multiple benefits, including clean electricity, efficient land use, agricultural modernisation, and rural development; it is often viewed as a win-win technological innovation to simultaneously address food, energy, and climate issues. According to…
In media reports over the last few years, it has been common for street vendors to be fined for selling produce such as chives and celery with pesticide residues exceeding legal limits, with penalties ranging from 5,000 to tens of thousands of yuan. The performance of high-end supermarkets and premium…
Industrial prosperity is a vital foundation for rural revitalisation. Perhaps inspired by Shouguang in Shandong, the centerpiece of agricultural industrial development in the rural central and western regions is often the promotion of greenhouse vegetable cultivation. Such is the case in Gong County (a pseudonym) in the central region. A…
In Russian, summer is also known as the ‘dacha season’. Maxim Gorky wrote a short play, translated into Chinese as *The Summer Guest*, but originally titled *Dachniki* in Russian—which more literally translates to ‘the dacha people’. In 1995, the same story was adapted into a film titled *Summer People*. The…
Key Takeaways The profitability of the practice has given rise to ‘professional counterfeit hunting’. After the Food Safety Law introduced a punitive damages system, increasing compensation from three-fold to ten-fold, a surge of professional hunters entered the food sector, where there was previously little to be gained. While this has…
Key Takeaways Food safety issues can arise at any stage of the chain. If regulation in other areas fails to keep pace, relying solely on heavy fines for individual vendors is merely treating the symptoms rather than the cause and cannot solve the root problem of food safety. For a…
Recently, news that Singapore is introducing grading for sugary drinks and an imminent ban on advertising for milk tea and juices has sparked heated debate in China. In truth, Singapore is not the first nation to intervene in the sale of sugar-sweetened beverages. Over a decade ago, policymakers began introducing…
I. Dried produce can be sold again The *Administrative Measures for the Supervision and Administration of Quality and Safety of Edible Agricultural Products in Market Sales* (hereinafter referred to as the “Measures”), a matter of great concern to farmers across the country, have finally been released. Compared to the previously…
Last week, Foodthink’s focus on the proposed revisions to the Administrative Measures for the Supervision and Management of Quality and Safety of Edible Agricultural Products in Market Sales sparked significant interest among our readers. The removal of “drying” from the definition of “edible agricultural products” suggests that farmers who produce…
