Balancing Income, Food Security, and Sustainability in Shangri‐La: The Dilemma of Monocropping Wine Grapes in Rural China

Abstract

Using a political ecology framework that explores livelihood vulnerability, this paper analyzes commodification of grapes as an economic development strategy in Southwest

Characterization of the Key Aroma Compounds in Chinese Syrah Wine by Gas Chromatography-Olfactometry-Mass Spectrometry and Aroma Reconstitution Studies

“…With the rapid development of the wine industry in China, the quality of Chinese wine is improving quickly and appeals to more and more consumers. The Shangri-La plateau region located in the core area of Yunnan province, southwestern China, is one of the world's highest altitude vineyards with an average elevation of over 2400 m. The highest quality vineyard on both sides of the Jinsha River, Lancang River valley slope is one of the most characteristic vineyards in China [ 24 ]. The Ningxia eastern Helan Mountain region located in the northwestern region of China is a wide, heavily irrigated valley between the Yellow River and the base of Helan Mountain.…”

Free in the mountains or home in the vineyard: Institutional changes in agriculture and negotiating between contract farm labour and valuable fungi collection in Tibet

“…Indeed, as the local county official in charge of this project for years suggests, the local government has significantly increased household incomes across the region, something my own survey research (see Galipeau, 2015) confirms, but there are costs to this potential success. These include heavy use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides in most villages selling their grapes to Shangri‐La and a lack of support for household wine production, which does exist in one Catholic village downstream with a long history of growing grapes with wine sales now being one of its primary income sources.…”

“…In these earlier systems, despite coercion and enticement to engage in the new forms of cash cropping, in most cases, village farmers maintain control over their own lands and property. Of course, in a community in which all of one's neighbours are all engaging in viticulture or other cash cropping, it would be difficult not to follow suit; however, there are households that occasionally chose not to do so for various reasons (see Galipeau, 2015).…”

“…This has significantly improved upon and led to a paradigm shift in earlier state and domestic (Chinese) corporate‐led income improvement and poverty reduction schemes that forced entire villages to rely on single crops with uncertain futures. Specifically, in the past two decades, under the Household Responsibility System introduced during the 1980s, local governments and Chinse corporations have been observed to induce and coerce communities to produce specific cash crops for niche markets, which often failed and left households with little recourse for recovery after long‐term investments in single crops (Galipeau, 2015; Li & Tilt, 2007). Despite improved incomes, livelihoods, and decreases in agrochemical use and their potential impacts on soils and local environments, in this case, rural Tibetan village farmers have become alienated in a way from agricultural production, working as contract labour with no vested interest in the fruits of their labour.…”

The Fate of an Old Water System in the New Era of Climate Change and Market Imperatives in Southwest China

“…Subsequently, with the rapid decline in paddy fields, even more labor was freed up for off‐farm work, and new communications and road infrastructure in the last three years has made work outside the village more convenient. By comparison, in a recent study of Tibetan grape farmers in the Shangri‐La area, Galipeau notes local people's reluctance to leave their village for wage work (Galipeau , 81). In Fengyujie off‐farm work is highly valued and an important financial resource.…”