China is a large consumer of edible oil, and a large country lacking edible oil. Each year it imports more than two-thirds of the total amount of edible oil from abroad. The soybeans, peanuts, rapeseeds, sunflower seeds and other crops traditionally produced in China are high-oil crops that can be directly used to extract oil. However, due to the intrusion of genetically modified soybeans, consumers have to face the new issue of genetic modification when purchasing oil products.
First, the damage of genetically modified soybeans to Chinese agriculture and farmers
With the large-scale application of GM soybeans in China's oils and fats, Chinese consumers have become experimental products of genetically modified soybeans in foreign countries. Because the value of peanuts, rapeseeds, sunflower seeds, etc. have not been fully reflected and nurtured, genetically modified soybeans continue to invade China's edible oil market, and it has caused tremendous damage to China's agriculture and farmers.
Genetically Modified Soybean Causes Chinese Farmers to "Sell Hard"
Due to the impact of genetically modified soybeans, in recent years, farmers in our country have seen "difficulty" in selling soybeans, selling oilseeds, selling peanuts, and selling sunflower seeds.
The soybean planting scale in China is relatively small. Even in Heilongjiang, where land resources are abundant, the scale of professional farmers can only reach about 150 mu. In contrast, the scale of soybean farm production in the United States, Brazil, and Argentina far exceeds that of China, and the cost of soybean planting is much lower than in China. Compared with the complete planting cost, the soybean planting cost in China is 33% higher than that in the United States. The soybeans grown in the United States are basically genetically modified soybeans. Most of them are exported to China, and they are mainly used as soybean salad oil, followed by soybean milk and soybean meal.
Science shows that the domestic soybean oil export rate of 16-17%, while the export of genetically modified soybean oil is generally 19-22%, a difference of 2-3%. Soybeans have a difference of 1 percentage point in oil output, and the processing of 100,000 tons of soybeans results in a difference of 15 million yuan. Affected by this shock, China's "Golden Bean" has become a "pod bean", and Chinese bean farmers have long piled up old beans, making it hard to find a way out.
China is the main producer of soybean, peanut, rapeseed and sunflower seeds in the world. Soybean is mainly produced in the three northeastern provinces and North China, and peanuts are mainly produced in most areas along the Yellow River in Shandong, Henan, Hebei, Anhui, Liaoning and Xinjiang. The rapeseed is a South China producing area centered on Hubei, Hunan, Sichuan, Guizhou, etc. Sunflower seeds are produced in North China. With incomplete statistics, there are more than 200 million peasants growing oil in China, accounting for more than a quarter of China's arable land.
It can be seen that China is a big producer of oil crops. At the same time, due to the large population of our country, it is also a big demand for oils and fats. However, there has been a strange phenomenon. On the one hand, China's farmers produce large quantities of oil crops. On the one hand, China has imported a large amount of genetically modified soybeans. As China's oil and fat raw materials, China's domestic oil industry has gradually shrunk, and it has become increasingly difficult for farmers to sell oil.
For example: Guizhou is a big province of rapeseed production in China. This year's output reached 760,000 tons, but at the same time when rapeseeds harvested a large area, the farmers frowned. Because the price of rapeseed this year is lower than last year, for this reason, they will earn 400 million yuan less, and many farmers still have a backlog of last year's rapeseed. Rapeseed is a major income for many peasant families in Guizhou. Along with the difficulty of selling oilseeds and rapeseeds for Chinese farmers, it is difficult to sell soybeans, sell peanuts, and sell sunflower seeds. This has created an interlocking reaction and a vicious circle.