Organic Food "Made in China"

China joined the international organic movement comparatively late. Challenged by the scarcity of arable land and a large population to feed, the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) for many years has been reluctant to support organic farming that might result in a drop of agricultural output. On the contrary, China’s “Green Revolution” catapulted the country to a leading producer and user of agrochemicals in the world. This development came at a high cost for the country’s environmental quality and food safety. In recent years, accumulating public complaints about environmental pollution, food poisoning, sickness and death of farmers poisoned by agrochemicals as well as increasing difficulties with agricultural exports rejected as a result of excessive chemical residues are observed. It is not only because of the problems mentioned above that recently the MoA became more supportive towards the organic food development, authorities also realized the growing opportunities for healthy food in the international as well as the domestic market. In fact, China’s organic food development cannot be analyzed without taking into account the fast development of organic food industries in industrialized countries during the past decade. At present organically grown food “made in China” is still a small - though fast growing - sector. The article takes a look at the development and current status of organic agriculture and organic food industry in China and discusses the prospects and limitations of the sector

Organic Trends 8

Newsletter on Organic agriculture and food development in China

Organic Trends

ORGANIC TRENDS aims to promote environmentally friendly and healthy food production and processing in China. Offering a forum for producers, sitributors, retailers, consumers as well as academicians, it reports recent trends in organic farming and food development and provides consumer information. Contributions are welcome. Editor: China Environment and Sustainable Development Reference and Research Centre (CESDRRC), a public environmental information facility of the Chinese State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA

Organic Trends 12 - Newsletter for Organic farming and food development in China

ORGANIC TRENDS aims to promote environmentally friendly and healthy food production and processing. Offering a forum for producers, distributors, retailers, consumers as well as academicians, it reports on recent trends in organic farming and food development and provides consumer information. Contributions are welcome

Cell Sorting daring Pattern Formation in Dictyostelium

Formation of the prestalk-prespore pattern in Dictyostelium was investigated in slugs and submerged clumps of cells. Prestalk and prespore cells were identified by staining with vital dyes, which are shown to be stable cell markers. Dissociated slug cells reaggregate and form slugs that contain a prestalk-prespore pattern indistinguishable from the original pattern. The pattern forms by sorting out of stained prestalk cells from unstained prespore cells. Sorting also occurs in clumps of dissociated slug cells submerged in liquid or agar. A pattern arises in 2 h in which a central core of stained cells is surrounded by a periphery of unstained cells. Sorting appears to be due to differential chemotaxis of stained and unstained cells to cAMP since exogenous cAMP (>10−7 M) reverses the normal direction of sorting-out such that stained cells sort to the periphery of the clumps. Isolated portions of slugs regenerate a new prestalk-prespore pattern. Posterior isolates regenerate a pattern within 2 h due to sorting of a population of vitally stained ‘anterior-like’ cells present in posteriors. Anterior-like cells do not sort in intact slugs due to the influence of a diffusible inhibitor secreted by the anterior region. During posterior regeneration this signal is absent and anterior-like cells rapidly acquire the ability to sort. Anterior isolates regenerate a staining pattern more slowly than posterior isolates by a process that requires conversion of stained prestalk cells to unstained prespore cells. The results suggest that pattern formation in Dictyostelium consists of two processes: establishment of appropriate proportions of two cell types and establishment of the pattern itself by a mechanism of sorting-out

OXYGEN GRADIENTS CAUSE PATTERN ORIENTATION IN DICTYOSTELIUM CELL CLUMPS

We have investigated the formation of the prestalk-prespore pattern in Dictyottelium discoideum. Pattern formation occurs in clumps of Dictyostelium cells embedded in agar under a 100% oxygen atmosphere. Agar embedding allows us to control spatially the environment surrounding the cell clumps. Our results suggest that the ambient oxygen concentration plays a role in controlling the size of the multicellular mass. Further, oxygen gradients established across clumps embedded in agar or held in holes in a plastic barrier cause orientation of the prestalk-prespore pattern such that the anterior prestalk region forms at the highest end of the gradient. The results also indicate that developing cells have the ability to migrate up a gradient of oxygen

Subjective response to synthesized flight noise signatures of several types of V/STOL aircraft

Subjective response to far field noise characteristics of V/STOL aircraft sized to carry 60 passengers over 500 mile rang

Civil helicopter noise assessment study Boeing-Vertol model 347

A study was conducted to forecast the noise restrictions which may be imposed on civil transport helicopters in the 1975-1985 time period. Certification and community acceptance criteria were predicted. A 50 passenger tandem rotor helicopter based on the Boeing-Vertol Model 347 was studied to determine the noise reductions required, and the means of achieving them. Some of the important study recommendations are: (1) certification limits should be equivalent to 95 EPNdb at data points located at 500 feet to each side of the touchdown/takeoff point, and 1000 feet from this point directly under the approach and departure flight path. (2) community acceptance should be measured as Equivalent Noise Level (Leq), based on dBA, with separate limits for day and night operations, and (3) in order to comply with the above guidelines, the Model 347 helicopter will require studies and tests leading to several modifications

Fate and regulation of anterior-like cells in Dictyostelium slugs

A pattern of two tissue types exists in the Dictyostelium slug. Contained within the posterior tissue are anterior-like cells which comprise about 10% of the developing cell mass. For more than 72 hr of slug migration the proportion of these cells is closely regulated. They are randomly distributed along the anterior-posterior axis but about twice as many are localized in the ventral portion of the slug posterior than in the dorsal portion. As the slug begins to form a fruiting body, the anterior-like cells sort out into two groups. One group moves toward the anterior region and one toward the prebasal disc region. In the mature fruiting body the anterior-like cells remain as undifferentiated amoebae at the apex and base of the sorus. Removal of anterior tissue from a slug initiates two events. (1) Some of the anterior-like cells, probably guided by chemotaxis to cyclic AMP, sort out from the posterior tissue. (2) Some prespore cells redifferentiate into anterior-like cells. These events result in the regeneration of a new anterior-posterior pattern after 2 hr and the reestablishment of the original proportions of each cell type by about 8 hr. Furthermore, while the anterior-like cells which lie in slug posteriors remain as amoebae in fruiting bodies, the anterior-like cells which form the anteriors of regenerated slugs subsequently become stalk cells. Thus, it appears that for a cell to differentiate as a stalk cell, it must first be exposed to some form of signal which is present in both the anterior and prebasal disc regions