Case Study Topics

Pick from one of the following four topic areas for your case study:
- Agricultural and Natural Resource Sustainability
- Biorenewables/Agroforestry
- Agricultural and Rural Entrepreneurship
- Chinese Agricultural Products from Field to Table


Agricultural Sustainability
What does agricultural sustainability mean in China? Is the concept considered important? By whom?
How sustainable are the major crop and livestock production systems in Zhejiang Province?
What changes in technology, policies and know-how are required to improve environmental and economic sustainability in agriculture?
How and why have some farmers, villages or food companies shifted toward more sustainable practices?
What is the impact of present crop and livestock production systems on surface and ground water quality and quantity and what are public perceptions of water availability and quality?
How are intercropping with perennial plants and/or with animals impacting sustainability of agriculture?
Is natural resource management specifically used to improve the condition of agriculture, and if not, are there opportunities for that to occur?
What impact has the conversion of small farm plots to economic development zones had on agricultural sustainability?

Biorenewables/Agroforestry
How is China producing and using biorenewables ?methane, biofuels, biomaterials, wind and solar?
Is there an opportunity for developing biorenewable systems that are integrated into crop and livestock production such as agroforestry practices that can provide organic matter and nutrients for soil enrichment, fodder for livestock and fuel for home cooking through the use of manure, perennial plants, bamboo, native grasses, wind and solar as energy sources?
What social, political, economic and environmental constraints exist for the expansion of biorenewables?
How does the Chinese government encourage and/or support biorenewable energy?
How and why have some farmers or villages started to produce or use biorenewables?
How are the potential trade-offs among producing biorenewables, environmental quality and food security reconciled by farmers and the government.

Agricultural and Rural Entrepreneurship
What does it take in China to start a business in a rural area?
What role do small businesses or township and village enterprises (TVE) play in job creation, income and quality of life in rural areas?
Are rural Chinese entrepreneurial?
What incentives does the government use to encourage entrepreneurship in rural areas or within the food sector?
What is the role of farmers?cooperatives in China? What is their future?
How is the development of TVEs balanced with protecting arable farmland?
What impact does rural entrepreneurship have on rural migration and vice versa?
How is rural migration balanced with agricultural production and environmental quality?
How does rural migration impact village families (spouses, children, elderly)?

Chinese Agricultural Products: From Field to Table
Where does a Chinese family’s food come from? Urban family? Rural family?
How have food consumption patterns in China changed over the past 20 years?
How has China’s entrance into the WTO and direct foreign investment changed Chinese food consumption patterns and expenditures?
How and why are food supply chains changing? What challenges do small farmers face in marketing their products? What are “dragon head?firms and what role to they play in the supply chain?
How has the growth of supermarkets changed food buying and consumption habits?
How is aquaculture impacting consumption of fish products?
What are the key government policies that influence moving food from field to table in China?