After nearly 20 years of development, China's organic agricultural production area has reached 2 million hectares, ranking third in the world. At present, there are 23 organic product certification bodies in China. By the end of 2012, China had 7,387 valid organic product certification certificates, with domestic trade volume of organic products amounting to approximately 80 billion yuan and annual export value of approximately 400 million USD.Artikel berasal dariFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/ms/11423/
There are misconceptions among the public regarding the development of organic agriculture and organic productsArtikel berasal dariFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/ms/11423/
At present, when we speak of organic products, we mainly refer to organic food. The rapid development of organic agriculture and organic products has benefited from the rapid growth of the organic food market. The reason why organic food has gained widespread favor among domestic consumers is that many people believe organic food sits at the top of the pyramid as the healthiest and safest food, and thus mistakenly believe that only by consuming organic food can health and safety be guaranteed. Organic food has therefore become the “darling” of many consumers. These one-sided views have affected the public's ability to view organic food correctly, exaggerated the health functions of organic food, and caused the public to place excessive expectations on organic food. The organic food industry has consequently borne too much of China's food safety responsibility, which is in fact a misunderstanding of the organic food industry. In a strict sense, claiming that organic food is definitely safer and healthier than conventional food is unscientific. In 2002, when officials from the United States Department of Agriculture released the U.S. organic agriculture standards, they specifically emphasized that it must not be publicized 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 proving that it is safer than conventional food. Moreover, with the acceleration of global environmental integration, a completely pure ecosystem is very difficult to exist. In reality, developing organic agriculture and organic food will make a relatively large contribution to reducing pesticide and veterinary drug residues in products, but its contribution to heavy metals and hygiene indicators is limited.Artikel berasal dariFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/ms/11423/
Consumers are accustomed to demanding organic food according to product standards, but organic agriculture, the carrier for producing organic food, is an agricultural production method. Organic food is a by-product of organic agriculture production, rather than the original intention and ultimate goal of developing organic agriculture. Therefore, the understanding of organic food should also extend to the connotations of the development of organic agriculture and organic food. Establishing a correct view of organic food consumption is conducive to the sustainable development of the industry.Artikel berasal dariFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/ms/11423/
2 The development of international organic agriculture and organic products emphasizes ecological concepts.Artikel berasal dariFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/ms/11423/
The origin of organic agriculture was not to solve food safety problems. At the beginning of organic agriculture, the reason for not using chemically synthesized substances was more about considering reducing energy consumption, decreasing resource depletion, and cutting pollution to the environment and ecosystems. Reducing residues of pesticides and veterinary drugs in agricultural products is only one reason for developing organic agriculture, but it is not the only reason.Artikel berasal dariFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/ms/11423/
Organic agriculture originated in Germany and Switzerland in the 1920s. At that time, it was more of an ecological and environmental protection concept formed in response to the just-emerging petroleum agriculture, rather than a practical action. By the 1940s-1950s, petroleum agriculture had achieved great development in developed countries and even briefly became the trend of world agricultural development. This form of agriculture, characterized by emphasizing development over protection, production over management and care, sacrificing agricultural ecology as the cost, and high input with high output, produced many serious problems, such as rapid reduction of vegetation, intensified soil erosion, declining soil fertility, severe desertification and salinization, serious ecological destruction, and intensified environmental problems caused by agricultural non-point source pollution, leaving agricultural development in a predicament. Therefore, on the basis of respecting natural laws, humanity re-examined its agricultural production methods and lifestyle, re-understood and re-learned about nature, and sought agricultural production methods suitable for its own development. The book Silent Spring reflected the understanding of and attitude toward environmental problems at that time, and therefore some pioneers began the practice of organic agriculture. The world's earliest organic farm was “Rodale Farm,” established by Mr. J.I. Rodale of the United States in the 1940s. As the impact of modern petroleum agriculture on the environment, ecology, and human health intensified, governments in developed countries began to attach importance to organic agriculture in the 1960s-1970s and encouraged farmers to convert from conventional agriculture to organic agricultural production. The organic food market also began to take initial shape. After nearly half a century of long practice, the ideas of organic agriculture were 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 originated from the concepts of ecology and environmental protection. This is the cause of the development of organic agriculture.Artikel berasal dariFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/ms/11423/
3 The healthy development of China's organic agriculture and organic products must focus on resolving issues at the conceptual level.Artikel berasal dariFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/ms/11423/
The development of China's organic agriculture differs in its origins from the characteristics of development abroad, and it was mainly the following 2 reasons that drove the development of organic food.Artikel berasal dariFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/ms/11423/
On the one hand, it was due to overseas market demand for organic food, and this demand became the initial driving force for the development of organic food in China. China's organic agricultural production can be traced back to 1990, when Zhejiang Tea Import and Export Company cooperated with a tea trading company in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, to help Peihou Tea Garden in Lin'an County, Zhejiang Province, obtain organic tea certification from the Netherlands-based SEC (now called SKAL), becoming China's first enterprise to obtain organic certification. In the following five years, China's organic certification mainly served exports.Artikel berasal dariFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/ms/11423/
On the other hand, the development of organic agricultural production originated from the environmental protection benefits of developing organic agriculture. From the late 1950s to the end of the 20th century, Chinese agriculture underwent more than 40 years of rapid modernization. In many parts of China, traditional agriculture suitable for sustainable development gradually disappeared. People suffered deeply from the destruction of the rural ecological environment and urgently demanded a change from the situation at that time. In order to solve the environmental problems brought by the development of petroleum agriculture, starting in the 1980s, with the help of numerous research institutions, universities, and local governments, environmental protection departments began to promote ecological agriculture nationwide. Due to policy support from local government departments, by the mid-1990s, about 1,200 ecological demonstration villages and ecological demonstration farms had been established across the country. The construction of ecological demonstration villages and ecological demonstration farms made significant contributions to agricultural non-point source pollution control and rural environmental protection. However, because the development of ecological agriculture focused on policy research, technology extension, and the creation of development models, it did not establish corresponding certification standards for ecological agricultural products and did not closely link ecological agricultural products with the market, causing the sustainable development of ecological agriculture to encounter obstacles. Nevertheless, the many practical ecological agriculture technologies and experiences accumulated during this period laid a good foundation for China's subsequent development of organic agriculture.Artikel berasal dariFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/ms/11423/
Organic agriculture is a new approach to agricultural development proposed after people reflected on and explored conventional agricultural development, and it is a model of combining agricultural production with sustainable development. Using organic agriculture as a means to control non-point source pollution brought by agricultural development is an active exploration of China's sustainable agricultural development. Its notable advantage lies in the vigorous development prospects of the organic food consumer market, which can promote the sustainable development of organic agriculture. Therefore, in 1994, the former National Environmental Protection Agency established the Organic Food Development Center of the National Environmental Protection Agency, specifically engaged in research and formulation of organic food management measures and production technical standards, as well as publicity, training, and extension work. This was the first institution established in China to promote the development of organic agriculture and organic food, marking that China's organic agriculture and organic food production began to formally enter the initial stage of development.Artikel berasal dariFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/ms/11423/
The development of organic food abroad has a history of nearly 90 years, while in China it has only developed for nearly 20 years. Its rapid development occurred only after the Certification and Accreditation Administration established China's unified organic product certification system in 2004, less than 9 years ago. According to special supervision and inspection conducted by the Certification and Accreditation Administration for four consecutive years from 2008 to 2011, the overall pass rate of organic food in China remained above 95%. It can thus be seen that under China's current food and agricultural product supervision system, the overall situation of China's organic food certification is good, and the quality of certified products has been relatively well guaranteed.Artikel berasal dariFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/ms/11423/
For China's organic food industry to achieve long-term, healthy, and sustainable development, it should focus on solving the problem of conceptual understanding regarding the development of organic food; publicity for organic food should be increased so that consumers not only understand the safety of its products and the healthiness of their quality, but also understand the connotations of environmental protection. At the same time, it should be recognized that consuming organic food is not merely a pure product consumption, nor is it only for personal health. In fact, it advocates a healthy, green, and environmentally friendly lifestyle concept. More importantly, consuming organic food supports agricultural environmental protection, contributes to controlling agricultural non-point source pollution, and leaves clean soil and water for future generations.Artikel berasal dariFOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/ms/11423/