With its 1.3 billion population, China has attracted US produce exporters but has also become a serious competitor to the U.S. produce industry and is expected to "fundamentally alter the American marketplace". Huge annual fruit and vegetable crops however, may flood the market and China may have to specialize in areas they can dominate. For now, the primary markets for Chinese produce include Japan, South Korea, the US, Hong Kong, and Indonesia.

Two specific items that China is winning the battles on are garlic and apple juice concentrate. Until 1984, garlic was grown only for domestic consumption. Today China boasts the world’s largest garlic industry and grows new varieties that western supermarkets want. Other related crops like shallots, onions, and leeks also accounted for $403 million in sales.

Foreign investment in China has also increased. Technological improvements are also being made, especially in Jining City’s 23 square mile, high tech development zone.  US companies like California’s Sunkist Growers are exploring how to participate in the China’s citrus market.

Since China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, farmers there have been encouraged to grow organically to make products more appealing to international buyers and to receive premium prices for them.

During the 1970s Chinese farmers were ordered to make greater use of pesticides to aid them in feeding the world’s largest population, between 900 million and 1 billion at the time. By the 1990s, China became the world’s largest pesticide user, according to the Pesticide Action Network. However, the current trend is towards organic production with the most growth in areas near a point of export, for example, the 500 acres of organic vegetables in Shandong province shipped from the port city of Qingdao.

Chinese growers are developing clientele in the US, Canada, trendy Japanese restaurants, and Europe, often contracting prices in advance with a Chinese broker. In Yingkou in northeastern China, an organic, export-oriented, fruit and vegetable, seafood, meat, and flower industry for Russia, Japan and South Korea is developing. Wuyuan Organic Foods, a major organic green tea producer in northeastern Jiangxi province, also sells organic mushrooms and is pursuing certification for bamboo shoots, peaches and pears.

Organic growers have also formed cooperatives, pooling part of their profits to support coop members whose crops have failed that season.

Haines City Citrus Cooperative in Florida also has a similar arrangement, especially for growers whose crops may have been lost in freezes. This may be an idea worth exploring for Florida organic growers.