Agriculture in the Qing Dynasty

Tsar Kangxi rewarded those who reclaimed wastelands, provided sizeable sums of money for water conservancy projects and penurious the land taxation during his 60 - year ' s principality, which infinitely stimulated the recovery and development in agriculture of the Qing dynasty ( 1644 - 1911 ). Sovereign Yongzheng followed his father ' ( Emperor Kangxi ) footsteps and distant to stir agricultural industry. The social economy was very prosperous during the tract of King Qianlong, so the succeeding historians called this interval " The Golden Age of Three Emperors ".

Immense desert was put under the plough in the first 100 year of the Qing dynasty, with the national farming land covering an area of 5, 260, 000 hectares in the 18th year ( 1661 ) of Emperor Shunzhi ' s reign, which increased to 8, 510, 000 hectares and 17, 250, 000 hectares in the 61st year ( 1722 ) of Emperor Kangxi ' s reign and 3rd year ( 1725 ) of Yongzheng ' s reign respectively. With the output of grains increasing year after year, the number of population had reached 360, 000, 000 by the 3rd year ( 1725 ) of Yongzheng ' s reign, and the high - yielding sweet potatoes planted in Fujian and Zhejiang provinces had spread to the Yangtze River area and the Yellow River area. The planting area for industrial crops had also greatly been expanded, including tea, cottons, sugarcanes, tobaccos and mulberries, most of which became commodities in the Qing dynasty.

The number of farmers who specialized in planting vegetables increased greatly in the Qing dynasty, some of whom planted cucumbers and leeks in winter with the help of tunnel greenhouses, gaining more and more profit. With the cotton - planting prevailing across the nation in Qianlong Period, the cotton - planting area took up 4 / 5 of the total area in Hebei Province, and the sugarcanes were widely planted in Guangdong Province and Taiwan, while the tobaccos were widely cultivated in Shandong Province, Zhili and Shangyu, all of which provided more raw materials for further development in handicraft industry.

Some plants imported from South American also contributed a lot to the increasing number of population in the Qing dynasty, including maize, sweet potatoes and potatoes, which had begun to grow in China from South America via Southeast Asian Countries since the Ming dynasty. The planting, storing and processing method of sweet potatoes was fully described in the Agriculture Encyclopedia written by Xu Guangqi from the Ming dynasty ( 1368 - 1644 ), which enjoyed a high reputation in the filed of agriculture, and the planting method of sweet potatoes was perfected in Qi Min Si Shu written by Bao Shichen from the Qing dynasty.

Agriculture Investing - The Basic Picture for Investors

An expanding population, scarcity of resources and a changing climate happen to be three trends that define current times. Alone, each part constitutes a uppermost issue, but when combined and intertwined as they are, they become all the more set. As time passes, the paths of these factors will become all the more linked and their effect upon the global economy will become ever more pronounced. Sectors at the nexus of this coming together submission investors the best prospects for capital growth and income in the short, mid and long - term.

The agricultural sector is wholly positioned to returns advantage of these fundamental changes in demand for food and our apparent inability to deliver it. Demand for agricultural wares is ballooning, and will run on to do so as demand for food from an extra 75 million people per annum, a shift to high protein handout in developing nations, and the use of food crops as an energy source by way of biofuels drive fresh demand. Ultimately at the alike time increasing our capacity to supply these products is diminishing, a reality that can be blamed on a multitude of factors including climate change, a definite lack of further farmland and diminishing yield increases from the green revolution.

Production of grains, as measured on a per capita basis, started to decline around the mid 1980 ' s and the availability of agricultural land per person started to fall in the very early 1960 ' s.

Two years ago In 2008, grain stocks were at their lowest even for over four decades and resulted in the biggest spike in agricultural business prices since records began.

Of course we saw these price correct themselves towards the end of the year, Someday since and so price have lengthened their rising trend despite the recent financial crisis reigning in demand. The global food supply sits in a precarious position, pressured from above and below by both increases in real demand and limits to increasing supply.

It could therefore be argued that the land that is capable of producing such commodities will become a more valuable resource as time passes. It is then safe to say that Investors savvy enough to look at agriculture investing by way of investing in farmland will be best positioned to take advantage of this supply and demand mis - match.

Here are the facts:

The global population expands by over 200, 000 people daily.

The current population sits around 6. 7 billion people and there are approximately 1, 402 million hectares of farmland, 138 million hectares of perennial agricultural land and 3, 433 million hectares of meadows or what could be termed pasture to feed this amount of people.

The grand total of food - producing land on the planet amounts to about 4, 973 million hectares. this means that each person on the planet has about 0. 74 hectares when you include all types of agricultural land. Bear in mind that this land must also continue to produce all of our cotton and rubber, as well as every ounce of grain and meat, and grain to feed the meat, and the biofuels that we all require.

These calculations lead us to conclude that, based on current levels of agricultural productivity, we require an extra 148, 460 hectares of land every single day to feed the 200, 000 or so new mouths to feed. This equates to a total area of land, solely to grow crops, that is approximately the size of Greater London, or 100 % larger than New York City, Tokyo and Singapore combined.

The real picture is alarmingly different, where we should be adding a huge amount of land to agricultural production on a daily basis, we are in fact reducing the amount of land available for agricultural purposes and for the last three years the total area of farmland has diminished substantially.

These numbers demonstrate dramatically the challenges posed to feeding an ever - expanding population with a strained farming base. This has led to sharp increases in farmland prices across the world and the value of good quality agricultural land is driven by rising demand and diminishing. To be more specific, continued rising demand for the commodities produced by farmland, i. e. food, will continue to drive values higher, whilst at the same time, restrictions on expanding the amount of farmland place a downward pressure on supply, again pushing up values.

It is a complex picture with many factors to measure and take into account. As commodity prices rise, demand for land increases, and supply also rises if more land is brought to production. At the same time, if yields increase then less land is required, but if production capacity is lost, as we are more often witnessing due to climate change, urbanisation and land degradation it is more likely that more land, which is not available will be needed, therefore existing farmland becomes more valuable and prices rise.

Farmland investment should be viewed at worst as a mid - term strategy and ideally as a long - term hold, but understanding the short - term fundamental drivers such as commodity prices allows the savvy investor to identify the best opportunities to purchase. The objective of the Investor should be to clearly understand the longer term trends, thus empowering the investor to make the correct decisions.

It is my opinion that investing in farmland will provide the investor with by far the best opportunity for mid to long - term capital appreciation and sustainable income. Choosing the right market in which to invest should be a decision taken based on the current pricing of the asset compared to its true value.

A lack of credit and depressed market sentiment are also playing a role in presenting off - market opportunities for investors to acquire assets at good prices, and a very simple analysis of the revenues generated from a farm, minus production costs, will tell the Investors if that land is good value. If one were to buy farmland in the UK at today ' s average price of around 14, 000 per hectare, we know that we could grow 7. 5 tonnes of wheat and sell it for around 160 per tonne creating a revenue of 1, 200, minus production costs of about 300, leaves a net annual income of 900 for a 14, 000 investment, equating to an annual return of 6. 4 %. Buy farmland in south America for $4, 000 per hectare and your ROI shoots to around 16 %, and in Australia you can buy land so cheaply right now that you could return an income equivalent to 40 % annually.

Many opportunities exist for private investors to take advantages of these trends without taking on the complex operational responsibilities associated with farmland ownership. For more information on farmland investment opportunities available for private investors, contact David Garner at DGC Asset Management.

Agriculture Investments - A Strategy to Maximise Return on Investment

Around 225, 000 people are exceeding to the global population every single clock, all of whom need food and fuel. At the same time, incomes in developing economies are rising, causing a shift toward a more respected and more resource powerful westernised slop based on meat. Considering that 1kg of meat requires the input of 7kg of grain as animal feed, this combination of more people and higher consumption per capita adds tremendous strain to current stretched agricultural productivity.

The amount of farmland on the planet is in fact falling. Urbanisation, soil degradation, water scarcity and climate change all associate to reduce the stock of land suitable for growing the essential crops we need.

In light of this on - going and increasing disparity between supplies of farmland and demand for agricultural commodities, investors are turning to farmland in order to capture financial gains as food prices rise and productive land becomes intrinsically more valuable.

There are a range of farmland investment strategies to consider, from simple acquisition of land and leasing to farmer, through to sharing crop revenues in a joint venture under a contract framing agreement. But certainly the most profitable agriculture investment strategy is greenfield development; the acquisition of land with agricultural potential and converting into productive agricultural assets through the establishment of infrastructure such as irrigation, storage facilities and road, as well as amending the soil profile to ensure maximum productivity.

Greenfield farmland developments add substantial capital value to previously unused land, as well as positively impacting the current black hole in agricultural productivity that leave over 1 billion people hungry around the world each year. Investors also benefit from on - going income from crop revenues as newly converted land produce an annual yield from the production of crops.

The majority of future growth is widely expected to come from developing regions including Asia, Africa and Latin America, where economic growth outpaces that of the west by a huge margin. It is these key growth regions that the appetite for agricultural commodities will grow the most. In fact, in Germany the population is expected to get smaller in the next 40 years, whilst in China the population is expected to expand by some 30 % in the same period.

It is fair to say then that agriculture investments based on the development of suitable land, in close proximity to key growth regions in Asia, Africa and Latin America offer investors the best opportunity to capture not only short term appreciation through development, but also long - term growth and income driven by population growth and rising incomes.

Agriculture Investments - A Warning to Investors

As stock portfolios project to spectacle volatility, many investors are now starting interrogate alternative investments, with one area of particular interest being agriculture investments, or specifically farmland investments.

I think it is now particularly relevant to say bring up that oft - used and scarcely heeded piece of investment advice; " Past performance is no guarantee of future performance and investors should of course be cautious in the use of historical data when making investment decisions. "

Now the reasons for investing in real assets that produce essential wares in perpetuity are sound. Population growth and rising incomes drive demand, whilst urbanisation, water scarcity, climate change and a host of other factors suppress supply, and these two fundamental trends stack up to drive up food prices and with them, farm revenues and the important value of farmland assets.

These, in my assessment, are the reasons to set up in agriculture, and although history and hindsight can demonstrate how these assets and markets have performed during certain conditions, the wise investor should perhaps look to the future, rather than the past to ascertain the likely performance of their holdings.

As witnessed recently in equity markets across the globe, the time frame used to provide data for predicting future events, is crucial. Rather than simply use the longest data set available, one is better positioned perhaps to use data from periods in time where economic conditions are most likely to be characteristic of future conditions.

A good example that has relevance to agriculture investments is the depression of commodity prices during the 1980 ' s, where a reduction in demand for food from developing countries resulted in the accumulation of large grain stocks. If you feel that in the future, demand from developing nations is likely to fall, then data from this period would be most relevant to use to project future commodity prices as you believe the same set of conditions will prevail. In this set of circumstance and taking this set of data, you would project that commodity prices and farmland prices would fall.

If you believe that demand for commodities such as food will continue to grow, as it did in the 1970 ' s, then you would expect commodity prices and farmland prices to rise as they did then, based on the assumption that the same set of circumstances in terms of supply and demand will ultimately prevail. Using this piece of historical data alone would lead you to believe that agriculture is a strong buy, and farmland investment assets will continue to rise in value.

Again, when making your own decision as to whether you feel farmland values will rise or fall ( they will surely do both over time ), you should base your answer on whether you feel that demand is likely to increase, and whether we have the capacity to increase supply accordingly. The answer to these questions lies in the present, not in the past and one could simply ask three very simple questions:

Will there be more people on Earth in 10, 20, 30 or 50 years? Is there more land to produce crops to feed this excess? If not, can we increase the amount of food we grow per hectare?

It is the answer to these questions that should define your opinion on asset values in the agricultural sector, standalone facts and statistics form the past.