Abstract
This study estimates changes in the ecological footprint (EF) in China's agricultural sector in 1985 and 2003 with special focus on the process of agricultural modernization. Agricultural modernization can bring in the land productivity improvement while increasing production factors including fertilizer, agricultural machinery and irrigation which causes various environmental burdens. These positive and negative impacts associated with land is evaluated with EF. The changes in EF during the period between 1985 to 2003 are measured and compared by type of crops and regions. As a result, the total EF has increased by 22.5 million hectar during the study period. Moreover, the EF index appeared to be extremely deteriorated especially in the case of rice, corn, and cotton.
