ABSTRACT
When agricultural production is small-scale and yields are unstable, emphasis will be on the field (water, drainage, soil melioration) and the plant (high yield varieties, resistant strains, pesticides, and fertilizers) with the purpose of achieving stable and high yields. In this context, Chinese peasants have been meticulous in the handling of their small, artificial, agricultural environment - often achieving thousands of years of uninterrupted field use, sometimes with several harvests a year. An intensive recycling of natural wastes (human and plant) to the fields was essential for this success.
