Does Small-Scale Organic Farming Contribute to the Local Environment—A Case Study in Suburban Shanghai, China

Reija Hietala,Pingyang Liu,Shengxin Qi

doi:10.3390/agronomy11081601

Reija Hietala, Pingyang Liu + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy11081601

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Abstract

Small-scale organic farming is developing rapidly in China, especially in suburbs of megacities, and enriches the connotation of urban agriculture–. Much attention has been paid to the socio-economic aspects of small-scale organic farming and takes for granted that it contributes to the local environment and the sustainable agriculture while little has been explored regarding its actual environmental contributions and associated influencing factors, especially in those rapid developing suburb areas. Based on the case study of three small-scale organic farms in the suburbs of Shanghai, we examined uncertificated organic farming practices, focusing on the farm diversity, fertilization and pest control without chemical inputs, and the restoration of biosystems. Potential of environmental contributions were evaluated from the production perspective of input reductions. It was found that such uncertificated small-scale organic farming does contribute to the local water environment, helping improve soil quality, and gradual recovery of farm biodiversity. However, all the environmental benefits are fragile and highly dependent on the profit availability and professional knowledge of the farm as well as the availability of policy supports.

Highlights

The vast changes in China caused by rapid urbanisation and industrialisation have led to the collapse of traditional farming and the overwhelming of modern agriculture, characterised by heavy mechanisation and chemicalisation [1,2,3,4,5,6]
Environmental problems caused by agriculture have been identified, such as soil contamination and degradation and non-point source pollution and emerged and threatened the food safety and public health, especially in highly populated megacities [7,8,9,10,11,12,13]
It has challenged conventional agriculture to transform production by avoiding the use of chemical inputs or by totally banning chemicals according to organic principles [9,16,17,18,19]

Summary

Introduction

The vast changes in China caused by rapid urbanisation and industrialisation have led to the collapse of traditional farming and the overwhelming of modern agriculture, characterised by heavy mechanisation and chemicalisation [1,2,3,4,5,6]. Environmental problems caused by agriculture have been identified, such as soil contamination and degradation and non-point source pollution and emerged and threatened the food safety and public health, especially in highly populated megacities [7,8,9,10,11,12,13]. This is a reason why recently small-scale organic farming has been growing rapidly in suburbs of Chinese megacities, satisfying the changing social demands for green and healthy food, and reducing the negative environmental impacts of agriculture.

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