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This east China municipality has doubled its efforts to nurture agricultural conglomerates by exploiting its advantages in finance, technology, information and market to make up for the lack of laborers and land resources. The Shanghai Agriculture, Industry and Commerce (AIC) Group, which owns the Guangming Dairy Ltd., China's leading milk producer,and a major supermarket in Shanghai, is believed to be one of the "most promising" enterprises to achieve that goal, said insiders here. At a nationwide agricultural products fair held here recently, the group signed eight agreements on agricultural cooperation with investors from home and abroad, involving a total investment of 120 million yuan (US$ 14.5 million). According to its agreements with overseas partners, the group will export another 10,000 tons of farm produce to Japan and will provide 5,000 tons of rice annually to Suntory, a Japanese brewer.Meanwhile, the group will expand its greenhouse by 15 hectares to produce fresh flowers for export. Some experts used to think that agriculture had slim chance for development in Shanghai, a city that has long enjoyed prosperity in industry and commerce. Recent analysis shows that China's entry to the World Trade Organization will be conducive to the city's agricultural growth and more rational relocation of nationwide resources and will give birth to more agricultural giants. The country's WTO accession has ushered in more overseas investment on agriculture. In Shanghai alone, contractual investment into the sector rose by 46 percent last year. On the other hand, the booming bio-engineering sector is seeking to translate its new technologies into agricultural production. To date, high technologies have played a leading role in upgrading Shanghai's farm produce and cow breed. The recent establishment of a seed conglomerate of eight enterprises also marks Shanghai's endeavors to foster agricultural growth, which, according to the analysis, should not rely on bulk production, as the arable land in its outskirts totals only some 333,000 hectares. "Seeds and seedlings will lead the agricultural production in the drainage area of the Yangtze River and gradually find their way into the national market," said experts here.