On October 24, 2007, the work conference on environmental sustainability under the Small Farmers Adapting to Global Markets Project (SFAGM Project) was held in Chengdu, Sichuan Province. Hu Song, assistant to SFAGM Project Manager with Beijing Project Office under the China-Canada Agriculture Development Program, Shi Minjun, coordinator of the project pilot counties in Sichuan and Inner Mongolia and professor of Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Sciences, as well as the environmental focal points of Chinese participating units of the SFAGM Project in Sichuan and Inner Mongolia - a total of 18 people attended the conference. The conference announced the establishment of the Environmental Sustainability Network under the framework of the SFAGM Project.

Environmental sustainability is a basic requirement for all the agriculture development projects sponsored by CIDA. At the conference, Mr. Hu Song started with an introduction to the implementation of the SFAGM Project in China and CIDA’s requirements for the relevant work of environmental sustainability. Then, Prof. Shi Minjun introduced the challenges faced by Chinese agriculture and rural environment as well as relevant measures and policies. The participants discussed the environmental work plan for 2007, and the main work to be carried out prior to March 2008 will include: (1) Establish the Environmental Sustainability Network; (2) formulate an environmental job list for agriculture and animal husbandry; (3) put forward environmental policy proposals for pilot counties; and (4) provide training for related persons. As one of the activities of this conference, the project also organized the participants to visit the vegetable supply chain project in Pengzhou, the pig supply chain project in Zizhong and the canola supply chain project in Santai. Through these field visits, the participants understood the situation of environmental pollution in rural areas, and meanwhile, they were glad to see the efforts and achievements that China has made in environmental protection in rural areas.