Following nearly 20 years of development, China's organic farming area has reached 2 million hectares, ranking third in the world. Currently, there are 23 organic product certification bodies in China. By the end of 2012, China had 7,387 valid organic product certificate certificates, with domestic trade in organic products amounting to approximately 80 billion yuan and annual export value reaching about 400 million US dollars.文章源自FOFCC-http://www.fofcc.org.cn/en/11423/
There are public misconceptions regarding the development of organic agriculture and organic products.文章源自FOFCC-http://www.fofcc.org.cn/en/11423/
Currently, when we talk about organic products, we are mainly referring to organic food. The rapid development of organic agriculture and organic products is thanks to the rapid growth of the organic food market. The reason organic food has won widespread favour among domestic consumers is that many people believe organic food sits at the very peak of the pyramid and is the healthiest and safest food. Consequently, they mistakenly believe that only by consuming organic food can their health and safety be guaranteed, making organic food the “darling” of many consumers. These one-sided views have affected the public's correct perception of organic food, exaggerated its health functions, and caused the public to place too many expectations on it. As a result, the organic food industry has had to shoulder too much responsibility for food safety in China, which is actually a misunderstanding of the industry. Strictly speaking, it is unscientific to claim that organic food is definitely safer and healthier than conventional food. In 2002, when releasing the US organic agriculture standards, a US Department of Agriculture official specifically emphasised that it must not be claimed or stated that organic food is healthier and safer than conventional food. Although organic food may have lower pesticide and veterinary drug residues, there is no statistical evidence to prove it is safer than conventional food. Moreover, with the acceleration of global environmental integration, a completely pristine ecosystem is hard to find. In reality, developing organic agriculture and organic food makes a relatively large contribution to reducing pesticide and veterinary drug residues in products, but its contribution regarding heavy metals and hygiene indicators is limited.文章源自FOFCC-http://www.fofcc.org.cn/en/11423/
Consumers are in the habit of demanding organic food based on product standards, yet organic agriculture—the vehicle for producing organic food—is a method of agricultural production. Organic food is a by-product of organic agriculture, rather than the initial intention or ultimate goal of developing organic agriculture. Therefore, our understanding of organic food should also extend to the connotations of organic agriculture and the development of organic food. Fostering a correct consumer perspective on organic food is what contributes to the sustainable development of the industry.文章源自FOFCC-http://www.fofcc.org.cn/en/11423/
2 The development of international organic agriculture and organic products emphasises ecological principles文章源自FOFCC-http://www.fofcc.org.cn/en/11423/
Organic agriculture was not created to solve food safety issues. When organic agriculture first emerged, the decision not to use synthetic chemicals was driven more by considerations of reducing energy consumption, minimising resource depletion, and curbing pollution to the environment and ecosystems. Reducing pesticide and veterinary drug residues in agricultural produce is merely one of the reasons for the development of organic agriculture, but it is not the sole reason.文章源自FOFCC-http://www.fofcc.org.cn/en/11423/
Organic agriculture originated in Germany and Switzerland in the 1920s. At the time, it was more of an ecological and environmental protection philosophy formed in response to the fledgling petroleum-based agriculture, rather than a practical course of action. By the 1940s and 1950s, petroleum-based agriculture had achieved significant development in developed countries and even temporarily became the trend of world agricultural development. This form of agriculture, characterised by heavy exploitation and light protection, heavy production and light management, sacrificing agricultural ecology at the cost of high input and high output, gave rise to many serious problems, such as the rapid reduction of vegetation, intensified soil erosion, declining soil fertility, severe desertification and salinisation, serious ecological damage, and aggravated environmental problems caused by agricultural non-point source pollution, leaving agricultural development in a difficult position. Consequently, humanity began to re-examine its agricultural production and lifestyles on the basis of respecting the laws of nature, re-evaluate and understand the natural world, and seek agricultural production methods suitable for its own development. The book Silent Spring reflected people's understanding of and attitude towards environmental problems at the time, which prompted a group of pioneers to begin practising organic agriculture. The world's earliest organic farm was the “Rodale Farm”, established by Mr Rodale in the United States in the 1940s. With the increasing impact of modern petroleum-based agriculture on the environment, ecology and human health, governments in developed countries began to attach importance to organic agriculture from the 1960s and 1970s onwards, encouraging farmers to transition from conventional agriculture to organic agricultural production, and the market for organic food also began to take shape. After nearly half a century of lengthy practice, the philosophy of organic agriculture was finally widely accepted under the active promotion of various countries. From the above analysis, it is not difficult to see that the initial development of organic agriculture stemmed from the philosophy of ecology and environmental protection, which is the origin of its development.文章源自FOFCC-http://www.fofcc.org.cn/en/11423/
3 The healthy development of organic agriculture and organic products in China must focus on resolving the issue of philosophy文章源自FOFCC-http://www.fofcc.org.cn/en/11423/
The causes behind the development of organic agriculture in our country differ from the characteristics of its development abroad, with the growth of organic food being driven primarily by the following two reasons.文章源自FOFCC-http://www.fofcc.org.cn/en/11423/
On the one hand, this stems from the demand for organic food in foreign markets, which served as the initial impetus for the development of organic food in our country. Organic agricultural production in China can be traced back to 1990, when the Zhejiang Tea Import and Export Corporation cooperated with the Amsterdam Tea Trading Company in the Netherlands to help the Peihou Tea Plantation in Lin'an County, Zhejiang Province, obtain organic tea certification from the Dutch SEC (now known as SKAL), making it the first enterprise in China to obtain organic certification. Over the following five years, China's organic certification was primarily intended to serve exports.文章源自FOFCC-http://www.fofcc.org.cn/en/11423/
On the other hand, the development of organic agricultural production stems from the environmental protection functions of developing organic agriculture. From the late 1950s to the end of the 20th century, Chinese agriculture underwent a rapid modernisation process lasting more than 40 years. Traditional agriculture suited for sustainable development, which had once existed in most parts of China, gradually disappeared. People suffered deeply from the destruction of the rural ecological environment and urged an immediate change to the then current situation. To resolve the environmental challenges brought about by petroleum-based agriculture, starting from the 1980s, with the help of numerous research institutions, universities, and local governments, environmental protection departments began promoting ecological agriculture nationwide. Due to policy support from local government departments, by the mid-1990s, approximately 1,200 eco-demonstration villages and eco-demonstration farms had been established across the country. The construction of these eco-demonstration villages and farms made significant contributions to the control of agricultural non-point source pollution and rural environmental protection. However, because the development of ecological agriculture focused on policy research, technology promotion, and the creation of development models, while failing to establish corresponding certification standards for ecological agricultural products or to closely link ecological agricultural products with the market, the sustainable development of ecological agriculture encountered resistance. Nonetheless, the many practical technologies and experiences in ecological agriculture accumulated during this period laid a solid foundation for China's subsequent development of organic agriculture.文章源自FOFCC-http://www.fofcc.org.cn/en/11423/
Organic agriculture is a new approach to agricultural development proposed after reflection and exploration regarding the development of conventional agriculture, and it serves as a model for combining agricultural production with sustainable development. Using organic agriculture as a means to control non-point source pollution arising from agricultural development is a proactive exploration into the sustainable development of Chinese agriculture. Its notable advantage lies in the thriving development prospects of the organic food consumption market, which can thereby drive the continuous development of organic agriculture. Consequently, the former National Environmental Protection Agency established the Organic Food Development Centre of the National Environmental Protection Agency in 1994, dedicated to the research and formulation of organic food management measures and production technical standards, as well as publicity, training, and promotion work. This was the first organisation established in China to promote the development of organic agriculture and organic food, marking the official entry of China's organic agriculture and organic food production into the initial stage of development.文章源自FOFCC-http://www.fofcc.org.cn/en/11423/
The development of organic food abroad has a history of nearly 90 years, whereas in our country it has only been developing for nearly 20 years, with rapid growth occurring only after 2004 cnca when our country's unified organic product certification system was established, a period of less than 9 years. According to special supervision and inspections conducted for four consecutive years from 2008 to 2011 cnca, the overall pass rate of organic food in our country has remained above 95%. This shows that under our country's current food and agricultural product regulatory system, the overall situation of organic food certification in our country is good, and the quality of certified products has been relatively well guaranteed.文章源自FOFCC-http://www.fofcc.org.cn/en/11423/
For China's organic food industry to achieve long-term, healthy, and sustainable development, priority should be given to addressing awareness and understanding of the philosophy behind developing organic food. Efforts to promote organic food must be intensified so that consumers not only appreciate its product safety and health benefits, but also understand its environmental protection implications. Consuming organic food is not merely a pure product consumption, nor is it solely for personal health; rather, it actively advocates a healthy, green, and eco-friendly lifestyle. More importantly, consuming organic food is a way to support agricultural environmental protection, contribute to the control of agricultural source pollution, and leave behind clean soil and water for generations to come.文章源自FOFCC-http://www.fofcc.org.cn/en/11423/