"We never dreamed we'd overcome the wall around domestic growers, " says Tatsuo Horiuchi, representative director of Dole Japan and the only foreign company official advising the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries on farm law revisions.

FORBES: Upsetting the apple cart

The country's State Forestry Administration estimates that desertification affects 400 million Chinese, many of whom lose the ability to farm their land or graze their animals and join the ranks of the tens of millions of internal environmental refugees, who often migrate to the big cities in search of new homes and jobs.

CNN: Economic miracle, environmental disaster