Exemplary Agriculture: Independent Organic Farming in Contemporary China

266 Pages·2019·4.25 MB·English

by  Sacha Cody

Exemplary
Agriculture
Independent Organic Farming
in Contemporary China
Sacha Cody
Exemplary Agriculture
Sacha Cody
Exemplary Agriculture
Independent Organic Farming in
Contemporary China
Sacha Cody
The Hong Kong University
of Science and Technology
Hong Kong, China
ISBN 978-981-13-3794-9 ISBN 978-981-13-3795-6 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-3795-6
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018967954
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2019
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the
Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of
translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on
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electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now
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The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are
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The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information
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Cover image © Sacha Cody
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For Fran
A N N
ote oN Ames
All the names of individuals in this book are pseudonyms, unless they
occupy specific roles that are publicly known (e.g. manager of a farmers’
market, founder of a popular website, intellectual at a university, NGO or
government-supported model organic farm, etc.). In naming my Chinese
interlocutors, I follow the convention of surname first, followed by
firstname.
vii
A N C t
ote oN hiNese rANslAtioNs
All English translations of Chinese words are from the following reference
unless otherwise stated:
Beijing Foreign Languages School. 1988. A Chinese-English Dictionary
(Han-Ying Cidian 汉英词典). Beijing: Beijing Business Press.
I use pinyin when romanising Chinese characters. I provide the Chinese
characters as well when helpful.
ix
U C
Nit oNversioNs
Start of fieldwork (December 2012)
1 Chinese yuan (CNY) = 0.16 US dollar (USD)
1 Chinese yuan (CNY) = 0.15 Australian dollar (AUD)
End of fieldwork (June 2014)
1 Chinese yuan (CNY) = 0.16 US dollar (USD)
1 Chinese yuan (CNY) = 0.17 Australian dollar (AUD)
1 mu (亩) = /115 hectare
1 jin (斤) = ½ kilogram
xi
A
CkNowledgmeNts
This book is the result of an intellectual journey that began in 2012 when
I started a PhD project at the Australian National University. I have accu-
mulated many debts along the way. When I first began this anthropologi-
cal project researching organic food and farming in China, I was working
at Millward Brown, a global research and consulting firm, in Shanghai.
Jason Spencer, Managing Director at the time and a close friend, gave me
significant time away from the office as well as support to pursue this proj-
ect. Without Jason’s support this research would have been very difficult
to begin at all. I was also extremely fortunate to have an excellent supervi-
sory team at ANU. Andrew Kipnis, now at The Chinese University of
Hong Kong, was my chief supervisor. His professionalism guided me
through the program and his exceptional scholarship gave me something
to aspire to (which I still do). I also benefited greatly from Assa Doron’s
and Simone Dennis’s insights and advice over the years.
In China, the late Nicholas Tapp, who lived next door to me in
Shanghai, was extremely generous and took the time to discuss my research
over coffee and donuts, introduce me to people and set up academic
forums for me to present my research to Chinese scholars interested in
rural reconstruction. Pan Tianshu and Zhu Jianfeng at Fudan University,
where I taught in 2014 while writing parts of this book, provided me with
a timely platform where I had the opportunity to articulate my research
findings. Fuji Lozada at Davidson College was especially helpful. He pro-
vided me with the chance to accompany him and his students on a fieldtrip
to several organic farms in the countryside surrounding Shanghai and
share firsthand my fieldsites, interlocutors and research program.
xiii
xiv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I have also benefited greatly by presenting parts of this book at confer-
ences, seminars and talks around the world, gaining much needed feed-
back in the process. This includes the Australian Anthropological Society’s
annual conferences, ANU’s China in the World as well as anthropology
seminar series, The Chinese University of Hong Kong’s Postgraduate
Student Forum, East China Normal University’s anthropology seminar
series, Nanjing University’s anthropology seminar series, New  York
University Shanghai and M on the Bund’s China Food Story Talks. I am
especially grateful to Joseph Bosco, Richard Brubaker, Fan Ke, Theresa
Loo, Graeme MacRae, Ryan Manuel, and Wu Xu for their help, encour-
agement and feedback at these forums.
Turning a dissertation into a book is not easy. I was lucky to have three
examiners who not only provided detailed insights and advice on how to
approach this journey, but allowed me to contact them after my PhD was
awarded to ask further questions and elicit more advice. I am extremely
grateful to Melissa Caldwell, Jakob Klein and James Watson for all their
encouragement and insightful suggestions they gave that helped me final-
ise this manuscript.
Books are also the result of daily interactions and ‘asides’ that are easily
overlooked. I have benefited from numerous productive discussions, con-
versations and ‘asides’ with many people including Rosita Armytage,
Markus Bell, Stephanie Betz, Roger Casas, Mohit Chaturvedi, Chen
Liang, Tiffany Cone, Michael Griffiths, Zoe Hatten, Rebecca Kanthor,
Kai Kottenstede, Sin Wen Lau, Li Geng, Yuebai Liu, Yon Jae Paik, Leo
Pang, Kathy Robinson, Michael Rose, Steffanie Scott, Alan Smart, Graeme
Smith, Beibei Tang, Philip Taylor, Luigi Tomba, Sharon Xie, Yoko
Yonezawa, Jules Young and Jinghong Zhang. I thank ANU’s Karina
Pelling, who helped make the map in Chap. 1. I am also thankful to Jacob
Dreyer at Palgrave, who kept the door open for me and remained flexible
as I worked through journal articles before completing this manuscript.
Anushangi Weerakoon at Palgrave has also been very helpful throughout
the process.
Earlier versions and parts of several chapters were published in the
following journals and forums. Parts of Chaps. 1, 3 (including the
tables), 6 and 9 can be found in “Borrowing from the Rural to Help the
Urban: Organic Farming Exemplars in Postsocialist China,” The Asia
Pacific Journal of Anthropology 19(1): 72–89. Parts of Chap. 8 as well as
Figs. 8.1 and 9.3 first appeared in “Contending the Rural: Food
Commodities and Regimes of Value in Contemporary China,”