Ahead of the “Climate Change and Ecological Smallholders” Report Release
That autumn, I began an online master’s programme in natural resources, taking a module on climate change adaptation, and was later selected for Friends of Nature’s Linglong Programme. As I pondered my next steps, having just joined Foodthink, I naturally began to connect climate change with the ecological smallholder farmers that Foodthink champions.
This is where the initial idea for our current “Climate Change and Ecological Smallholders” research originated.
I.
As industrial, monoculture and chemical-intensive farming systems sweep the globe, bringing environmental pollution, soil degradation, greenhouse gas emissions and biodiversity loss in their wake, ecological smallholders are exploring agricultural models that are resource-efficient and environmentally friendly.
Veteran farmers who have worked the land for years, young people returning to their rural roots, and new entrants who have swapped urban careers for farming… Though their motivations for embracing ecological agriculture vary, they are united by a common practice: they eschew chemical inputs such as synthetic fertilisers, pesticides, herbicides and plant growth regulators. Adapting to local conditions and drawing on locally available resources, they harness the organic matter already present in the soil to restore farmland ecosystems. By integrating these approaches with traditional Chinese agronomic techniques like crop rotation and intercropping, they sustain diversified crop and livestock production through ecological means.
As urban consumers become increasingly health- and environmentally conscious, most ecological smallholders have moved away from selling to middlemen. Instead, they build trust and connect directly with buyers through farmers’ markets, group buying, and Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGS), distributing their produce via both online and offline channels.
As an urban consumer, farmers’ markets and group buying have given me the opportunity to meet a number of ecological smallholders. I can now purchase fresh, healthy produce directly from them and follow their day-to-day farm life, including the challenges posed by extreme weather. Their resilience, optimism, and proactive approach in the face of blizzards, hailstorms, droughts and floods have been deeply inspiring.
II.
But faced with the severe pressures of climate change, are ecological smallholders left to stand alone? What kind of support do they need? While I may not yet know precisely how to act, I believe recognising the problem could be the first step towards taking action.
Guided by a straightforward sense of concern and curiosity, I also want to know what these years of fluctuating temperatures and erratic weather—so familiar to us in the cities—actually mean for ecological farmers who work in collaboration with nature.
A review of the literature reveals that most case studies on climate change and smallholders come from developing countries across Asia, Africa, and Latin America, while analysis of how Chinese smallholders adapt to climate change remains scarce. Domestic research on smallholders and climate change tends to take a policy perspective, casting smallholders as passive recipients rather than considering their own agency. How do they perceive climate change? What distinguishes their coping strategies? Ecological smallholders, a niche yet vital group, receive even less scholarly attention.
If this research can fill that gap in knowledge, it will help more people recognise that China’s small-scale ecological farmers are already taking proactive steps to adapt to climate change. More importantly, by identifying the external barriers and challenges they face, alongside gaps in their own capabilities, we may uncover concrete avenues for future support.
With the joint backing of Friends of Nature’s Linglong Programme and Foodthink, the research began.
In May 2022, we published a call for participants, inviting small ecological farmers from the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and South China to join the study. We set out the following eligibility criteria: practising ecological or organic cultivation and animal husbandry (meaning virtually no synthetic chemical agricultural inputs are used); operating on plots of under 200 mu in principle (excluding mountainous and forested land); and no restrictions on crop types.
In the end, we surveyed 30 ecological farmers from Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Guangxi and Guangdong. They had been working in ecological agriculture for an average of 6.5 years, with farm sizes ranging from 4 fen to 300 mu. Excluding those engaged in under-forest cultivation and those primarily running orchards, the average holding size was roughly 30 mu. Most of their farms were family-run or small-scale production operations, while others were larger commercial ventures managed by dedicated teams.
III.
The year we conducted the research also happened to be the third year of the pandemic.
Initially, my Linglong colleague Qian Yao and I could only connect with most of the farmers online through video calls. It was only when restrictions eased that we were able to drive out together to farms on the outskirts of Beijing.
In July, while Tianle, Wang Hao, and I were conducting field research in Guangdong and Guangxi for Foodthink, we moved with the caution of playing hopscotch, wary of straying into a restricted zone and facing quarantine, a yellow health code, or triggering alert pop-ups. Just as we arrived in Liuzhou, ready to visit a farm the following morning, we had to abruptly change our plans when a new positive case was detected in our district.
Due to these various circumstances, we missed out on several farms altogether. Out of the thirty farms we had hoped to visit, we eventually made it to twenty in person.
Last year, South China endured both rare bouts of torrential rainfall and a prolonged summer-and-autumn drought that fuelled severe wildfires. Most of the country weathered a scorching summer. We were fortunate enough to stand by the terraced fields and on the hillsides alongside ecological smallholder farmers, sharing in their experiences and documenting their stories.
IV.
The second provides a brief analysis of the demographic structure of our interviewees and the basic profiles of their farms.
The third synthesises ecological smallholders’ overarching understanding of climate change, lists the climatic events that have hit farmers in both regions hardest, and draws on farmers’ own accounts to illustrate how abnormal and extreme weather has impacted crop growth, production planning, field ecosystems, infrastructure, and livelihoods.
The fourth details the adaptation measures farmers are already employing, encompassing infrastructure development, soil improvement, crop diversification, variety selection, integrated crop-livestock systems, farm siting and planning, as well as livelihood and business diversification.
Looking ahead, we explore how various external economic and social factors might support ecological smallholders in better navigating climate change. Will they have sufficient capital to sustain their adaptation efforts? Are insurance schemes and subsidies available? Where will new skills and knowledge originate? If they seek to add value to their produce, are there processing methods suited to them? Confronted with labour shortages and constrained markets, can they continue to resiliently survive and grow amidst the struggle against climate change? We gather our findings and reflections on these questions in the report’s final section.
We will also share the vivid stories and voices of ecological smallholders throughout the report.
On Wednesday 22 February at 8 pm, the article’s author, Qihua, will present our findings at an in-person salon hosted by the Beijing Energy Network (BEN). You are welcome to register by clicking the link.
Over the coming weeks, Foodthink will publish excerpts from the report chapter by chapter on our official WeChat account. The report undoubtedly has its shortcomings; we welcome your critiques and corrections. Once all sections have been released, we will carefully revise and compile the full report for distribution in both digital and print formats.
If you would like to receive a copy of the full report, please scan the QR code below and complete the form. We will be in touch once it is published.
We would also like to extend our gratitude to all our farming partners, whose hands-on experiences form the backbone of this research. Several even made time for candid conversations amidst the busy schedules of peak harvest and planting seasons, patiently walking us through agricultural techniques and practices, clarifying local terminology, and sharing their personal journeys.
We have also been greatly supported by the mentors of the Linglong Programme, including Lü Zhi, Xu Yinlong, and Qiao Yuhui, who offered invaluable advice throughout our fieldwork and report drafting. More importantly, their encouragement and gentle prodding have brought us to the point where the completion of this report is now imminent.
Along the way, numerous partners such as the Guangxi Guoren Rural Poverty Alleviation and Development Centre, Guangdong Fengnianqing, and the Beijing Organic Farmers’ Market assisted us in connecting with farms, joined us in the fields, and provided multifaceted support. The list is too long to enumerate here, but we extend our heartfelt thanks to them all.
Edited by: Wang Hao