Dim Sums: Agricultural Markets in China

In the last couple of years Chinese companies have been flying in foreign breeding pigs to build massive breeding farms and take advantage of subsidies for "improved breeds." But at the same time, a smaller group of entrepreneurs are carving out a niche to preserve local and "wild" pork breeds in China's new factory-style pork industry. Chinese consumers claim that pork turned out by factory-style farms lacks flavor. They yearn for the strong flavor and smell of traditional pork breeds. Everyone has their preferred local type of pork (tu zhu), such as Baoshan pigs in Sichuan and Minzhu in Heilongjiang. Companies have sprung up to process local pork and sell it to supermarkets either as fresh pork or as sausage or other processed products. Some contract with farmers to raise local breeds of pigs. In Gansu Province, some farmers are raising "wild pigs" (ye zhu). In their natural state, wild pigs run around in the mountains rooting for food. In comparison...