You can save this article by registering for free here. Or sign-in if you have an account. It was supposed to be a typical watermelon crop, or at least that’s what 20 Chinese farmers were expecting.

Watermelons have been bursting by the score in eastern China after farmers gave them overdoses of growth chemicals during wet weather, creating fields of "land mines" instead of the bounty of fruit ...

BEIJING—Chinese farmer Liu Mingsuo never sought fame. All he wanted was to plant seeds, tend his fields, harvest his crops and make a profit.