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The Chinese government is vigorously promoting commercialization of renewable energy and bioproducts, given environmental issues plus food, energy, and national security concerns, according to Chinese industry experts at the August 2010 "China Bioenergy Workshop" and its related technical tours. Goals include replacing 15 percent of conventional energy with renewable energy by 2020 and providing necessary investment of about $800 billion. Government policies cited include financing (given the lack of venture capital); financial and taxation incentives; carbon taxes and credits; and mandatory usage requirements, but the speakers said more can and will be done. Although not yet released at the time of the workshop, the speakers expected the 12th 5-Year Plan to expand the momentum generated under the 11th 5-Year Plan. This article highlights novel issues gleaned from the experts' unique, "on-the-ground perspective" of current and future bioenergy and bioproduct research and commercialization in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The traditional command and control approach and the more recent free market have proven inadequate for promoting ecological agricultural development in China. Organic certification represents a regulated market mechanism with the potential to stimulate ecologically based agricultural research, extension, and investment. Recent linkages between the global organic food industry and local agricultural development in China provide an opportunity to test this potential. The article examines China’s two largest organic certification systems for their potential to promote the adoption of integrated pest management (IPM) as a key component of ecological agriculture. Organic certification is providing a format for research, extension, and implementation of IPM principles and practices, and has the potential to do much more. However, possible contradictions between ecological and market rationality, inherent in organic certification and marketing systems, may be exacerbated by the authoritarian political economy of rural China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the emergence of state-sponsored organic marketing and certification programs in China. Implications of the predominance of state and market for the ability of organics to promote sustainable agriculture; Importance of direct state interventions; Effect of the conflicts of interest between of regulators and producers on consumer trust.