The flying pips, shattered shells and wet shrapnel still haunt farmer Liu Mingsuo after an effort to chemically boost his fruit crop went spectacularly wrong.
Fields of watermelons exploded when he and other agricultural workers in eastern mistakenly applied forchlorfenuron, a growth accelerator. The incident has become a focus of a Chinese media drive to expose the lax practices, shortcuts and excessive use of fertiliser behind a rash of safety scandals.
It follows discoveries of the heavy metal cadmium in rice, toxic melamine in milk, arsenic in soy sauce, bleach in mushrooms, and the detergent borax in pork, added to make it resemble beef.
Compared to such cases of dangerous contamination, Liu's transgression was minor, but it has gained notoriety after being picked up by the state broadcaster, CCTV. The broadcaster blamed the bursting of the fruit on the legal chemical forchlorfenuron, which stimulates cell separation but often leaves melons misshapen and turns the seeds white.
The report said the farmers sprayed the fruit too late in the season and during wet conditions, which caused the melons to explode like "landmines". After losing three hectares (eight acres), Liu said he was unable to sleep because he could not shake the image of the fruit bursting. "On 7 May, I came out and counted 80 [burst watermelons] but by the afternoon it was 100," he said. "Two days later I didn't bother to count any more." About 20 farmers and 45 hectares around Danyang were affected. The fruit could not be sold and was instead fed to fish and pigs.
Farmers claim forchlorfenuron can bring the harvest forward by two weeks and increase the size and price of the fruit by more than 20%. Agricultural experts say forchlorfenuron has been widely used in China since the 1980s. Some said it was unsuitable for this fruit, but there was probably little health risk.
"In general we don't suggest chemicals with plant hormones be used on watermelons, as they are very sensitive. They might end up looking very strange and people will not want to buy them," said Cui Jian, director of the vegetable research institute at Qingdao Academy of Agricultural Science. "The taste won't be as good and storage is more difficult, but it should not harm anyone's health."
Environment groups say the overuse of agricultural chemicals is a problem that goes beyond growth stimulants.
Pan Jing of Greenpeace said farmers depended on fertilisers because many doubled as migrant workers and had less time for their crops. This dependency was promoted by state subsidies keeping fertilisers cheap. "The government is aware of the environmental problems caused by chemical fertiliser, but they are also concerned about food output."
Many farmers grow their own food separately from the chemically-raised crops they sell. "I feel there is nothing safe I can eat now because people are in too much of a hurry to make money," said Huang Zhanliang, a farmer in Hebei.
Concerns about food safety have lingered despite government promises to deal with the problem after six babies died and thousands became ill because of .
The authorities appear to have mixed feelings about the role of the media and public opinion in naming and shaming culprits. In the wake of the melamine scandal, , who had set up a website to expose the problem and appeal for justice. Recently, however, officials have encouraged coverage of food safety issues.
Zhang Yong, head of a new cabinet-level food safety commission, praised the media's "important watchdog role".
In the past week, the People's Daily website has run stories of human birth control chemicals being used on cucumber plants in Xian, China Daily has reported Sichuan peppers releasing red dye in water, and the Sina news portal revealed that barite powder had been injected into chickens in Guizhou to increase their weight.
More alarming still was a study by researchers at Nanjing Agricultural University that estimated a tenth of China's rice may be tainted with the cadmium, a heavy metal that can affect the nervous system. This caused a stir when it was published earlier this year in the pioneering Caixin magazine.
Many wary consumers choose to buy foreign products, which are seen as safer. But this is also vulnerable to mislabelling. The Fruit Industry Association of Guangdong province told reporters this week that "most 'imported' fruit are grown in China".
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/24/business/global/24organic.html?hpw
Organic Farming Holds Its Own Despite Economic Strains
by MATTHEW SALTMARSH • May 23, 2011
• 
Marie-Helene Bignon runs an organic chicken farm with her husband in Feucherolles, France.
PARIS — Even during a period of rising and economic uncertainty, Damien Bignon, a poultry farmer in the Paris region, cannot meet the demand from local markets and stores for his organic eggs.
At the Ferme des Beurreries near Feucherolles, west of the capital, Mr. Bignon employs five people overseeing 3,000 chickens on 175-hectares, or 430 acres. He also produces organic cereals for his own feed and other clients, and wheat to sell to a neighboring mill.
Mr. Bignon thinks he could comfortably expand to 12,000, the number of chickens on the farm in 1990 before its conversion to organic operations. But he is determined to carefully manage any growth so as to maintain quality, keep the customers satisfied and not crowd out other local farmers. He charges €2, or about $2.80, for a half dozen — about twice the cost of battery-farmed eggs at a French supermarket.
“The issue for us is retaining that success without falling into the traps of industrialized agriculture,” he said. “There’s risks in organic becoming a mass market.”
Sales of organic foods appear robust across Europe and the United States, despite weak economic conditions and rising inflation in many countries. And that is attracting more interest and activity from investors, who see potential in mergers through economies of scale, especially in Europe’s more fragmented market.
In December, Compagnie Biodiversité, the French owner of Léa Nature, which supplies , health products, textiles and cosmetics through large retail channels, announced its purchase of a large stake in Ekibio, another French player. That alliance makes it France’s second-biggest organic food specialist, behind Distriborg, which is owned by Dutch group Royal Wessanen.
Wessanen itself has been divesting itself of assets in North America and is expected by analysts to try to expand in Europe.
In Britain, Abel & Cole, which operates a home delivery service for organic products and has been owned by a firm since 2007, is seen by analysts as an acquisition target, perhaps for a supermarket chain.
And Hain Celestial of the United States, which makes organic food, drinks and personal care products, this year bought Danival, a French organic producer, as well as GG UniqueFiber, a Norwegian natural foods company. The billionaire investor Carl Icahn has been building his stake in Hain.
Many farmers and analysts expect the sector to remain strong in coming years, helped by increased public sensitivity to the environmental and potential health benefits, better organization and production techniques, new demand from emerging markets and those periodic public scares that come with events like the recent nuclear plant radiation leaks in Japan.
Another theory is that, as with the luxury industry, the core consumers, typically with high disposable incomes, are less affected by hard times.
“Over all, it’s very surprising how stable the organic markets have been even in this critical economic situation,” said Urs Niggli, director of FiBL, an independent nonprofit research institute focusing on organic agriculture in Switzerland. He predicted sales would accelerate further in coming years, assuming economic growth picks up.
Organic Monitor, a market research firm and consultancy based in London, estimates that the global market for organic food and drink products in 2009 was $55 billion, 5 percent more than in 2008 and more than double the level in 2000. Significantly, the financial crisis and slowed the rate of growth in some countries, while the trend continued.
In the United States, sales of organic food reached $26.7 billion last year, according to the Organic Trade Association. That was a 7.7 percent increase from 2009, which itself was 5.1 percent higher than 2008. The United States has now overtaken Europe to become the largest market.
European sales grew 3.9 percent in 2009 after having experienced double-digit growth in previous years, according to Organic Monitor. In France, which is seen as a late starter, Sweden and Belgium, sales in 2009 expanded more than 15 percent, according to FiBL. British sales contracted in the face of weaker consumer spending and fewer product ranges at large stores, while the German market, Europe’s largest, was stable after a period of strong increases.
Logically, the amount of land set aside for organic farming is also increasing. According to FiBL, land for organic use rose to 1.94 percent of all agricultural land in Europe in 2009 from 1.74 percent in 2008 and 1.25 percent in 2003.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, certified American organic farmland grew 127 percent from 2002 to 2007 and then by 12 percent from 2007 to 2009.
While both Europe and the United States have helped organic farmers, the methods and motivations have been differed.
Europeans nurtured the sector because of perceived environmental and social benefits, while the United States supported standards, certification, research and education, treating the sector “primarily as an expanding market opportunity,” according to paper written several years ago by Carolyn Dimitri and Lydia Oberholtzer, experts at the Department of Agriculture.
In Europe, subsidies for organic farming are drawn from funds and disbursed to farmers by national governments, as well as in less direct ways, like marketing and procurement programs.
Organic farms receive on average higher subsidies in absolute terms and per hectare than conventional farms, according to the E.U.’s Farm Accountancy Data Network. In Western Europe generally, the subsidy amounted to €438, or $614, a hectare against €355 in 2007.
Yet Christian Eichert, managing director in Baden-Württemberg for Bioland, Germany’s largest organic farmers’ association, said Europe lacked a coherent policy toward the sector. Some countries like Spain and Italy focus on exports, while German support is state-driven and often hostage to local political changes, he said.
Recently, there have been some signs that austerity pressure across Europe is eating into state support.
The French government announced at the start of this year that it was halving a tax break for small farmers converting land to organic production. In Germany last year, the state of Schleswig-Holstein sought to remove organic subsidies but backed down after public pressure.
There is a “general uncertainty” surrounding future support, Mr. Eichert said. And forthcoming changes to the E.U.’s Common Agricultural Policy after 2013 have led farmers to expect more cuts.
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