Insights and Stories of Dominique Patton

Jan. 6, 2016 at 3:18 pm CST

Beijing | Reuters — Farmers are illegally growing genetically modified (GMO) corn in China’s northeast, said environmental non-profit Greenpeace on Wednesday, in a report that may generate further distrust of the government’s ability to ensure a safe food supply. Beijing has spent billions of dollars to develop GMO crops that […]

By Dominique Patton

Nov. 4, 2015 at 4:15 pm CST

Beijing/Reuters – China’s ruling Communist Party has for the first time proposed to let land lie fallow in some areas to ease pressure on exhausted water and land resources while grain stocks are near record levels, state media reported on Wednesday. After years of excessive cultivation and bumper grain harvests, […]

By Dominique Patton, Niu Shuping

Apr. 9, 2015 at 2:02 am CDT

Beijing | Reuters –– Three Chinese citizens are taking China’s Ministry of Agriculture to court in a bid to make public a toxicology report supporting the approval of Monsanto’s popular herbicide, Roundup, 27 years ago. The case, a rare example of a lawsuit by private citizens against the Chinese government, […]

By Dominique Patton

Feb. 3, 2015 at 3:56 am CST

Beijing | Reuters –– China wants to give the market a bigger role in setting farm prices and move away from a controversial state stockpiling policy that has led to bulging grain inventories and a surge of cheap imports, a top agricultural official said Tuesday. That policy, in which grains […]

By Dominique Patton, Niu Shuping

Jan. 9, 2015 at 11:52 am CST

Beijing | Reuters –– Small dairy farmers in China are dumping milk and selling cows as demand from processors slows in a sharp turnaround from last year, when a scramble for supplies prompted a huge surge in milk powder imports. Slower growth in milk product consumption, higher yields from modern […]

By Dominique Patton