Covid-19 is making it harder to grow food in China

NEXT TO A row of idle tractors on the edge of a field in Zhaoquanying, a village on the outskirts of Beijing, sits a row of wheat farmers. Like almost all Chinese when outdoors these days, they are wearing face masks because of the epidemic of covid-19. Their gaze is fixed on their smartphones because, they say, there is not much else to do. “The ground is still too hard,” says one. “But we’re ready to plant when the time is right.” As the weather warms, that day is imminent. It is one that they, and many government officials, have been worrying about.