Cultivating Decline: Agricultural Modernization Policy and Adaptive Resilience in the Yangzi Delta

Abstract

Since it was initiated in the mid-2000s, the Chinese central government’s agricultural modernization policy has had fundamental impacts on China’s agricultural system. Premised on creating a foundation for long-term sustainable development, modernization has broadly expanded large-scale, mechanized farming. Historically, however, China’s Yangzi River Delta achieved long-term sustainable development without capital-intensifying and mechanizing technological innovation. Rather, diverse and autonomous land use and grassroots governance practices facilitated knowledge-sharing, knowledge-building, and adaptation. Drawing on this history as a reference point for analysis, I examine the influence of agricultural modernization policy on adaptive resilience using a case study of a Yangzi Delta township that was an early recipient of central government funding in support of its contemporary effort to expand large-scale farming. I find that the implementation of agricultural modernization policy reform in Ruilin has undermined its resilient practices and features, rendering the township vulnerable to disturbance.