Dim Sums: Agricultural Markets in China

China's soybean-corn intercropping technique is promoted as a panacea for getting 2 crops from 1 field, but adoption of this complex technique faces multiple obstacles. It is only viable on large-scale mechanized farms with hefty subsidies.  China's soybean-corn intercropping program features alternating rows of soybeans and corn. The most common version is "4+2": 4 rows of soybeans alternating with 2 rows of corn. The technique was first promoted in Sichuan and other southwestern provinces with small plots on mountainous terrain where many farmers had quit to seek work in cities. Agricultural officials adapted the technique for farms in other provinces in their drive to promote intercropping nationally. The 2023 program called for technical demonstration farms in 17 provinces: "expanding in the southwest, northern China plain and middle-lower reaches of the Yangtze River and stabilizing the scale of implementation in the northwest." Intercropping is not us...