Feeding China: 8 solutions to China food security

China's current ability to feed itself has been called miraculous, given that famine killed 30 million people a half century ago.

How the country ensures a safe, secure food supply as it continues to grow will have global ramifications.

Here are eight steps, in no particular order, to address China's food challenges. (Why eight? The number is considered lucky in Chinese culture.)

1: Increase yields without increasing farmland

China has enough corn to meet demand now, but it's expected to fall short in fulfilling demand for livestock feed in coming years. The government says the country should never have less than 297 million acres of arable land. Urban development, creeping desert sands and soil pollution threaten that number.

Strategies to improve corn yields include better hybrid seeds, higher plant populations, use of precision planters and other modern equipment, better soil and fertilization practices, and increased farmer training. U.S. companies also argue that China will need biotechnology, but the government has not allowed genetically modified corn seeds to be sold.

2: Consolidate small plots

Plots are so small in China — typically 2 acres or less — that several households divide a single field. This leads to inefficiencies, and most farmers can't make enough income on farming alone. To increase efficiency and profits, farms don't have to be Iowa-sized operations: Farmers could make money on as little as 8 acres, said USDA economist Fred Gale.

China is experimenting with different business models, including cooperatives. Top leaders are also pushing the "family farm," a term that first appeared in the national lexicon just two years ago. Gale suspects that President Xi Jinping, who has twice visited Iowa, may be behind the effort. Under this initiative, individual farming families run larger operations, can get subsidies and incentives, and receive most of their income from farming.

3: Produce more with less environmental impact

Big increases in corn and hog production have created soil and water problems and increased reliance on fossil fuels. Corn growers often fail to adopt practices that agronomists advise to improve soil, such as decreasing chemical fertilizer use, rotating crops, reducing plowing and leaving stalks on fields. Pork producers face the challenge of finding more land to spread their manure, which often leaches into rivers and lakes.

The Woodrow Wilson Center's China Environment Forum, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, recommends several steps to lessen agriculture's footprint, such as: Offer greater incentives to encourage water conservation; make more investments in energy-saving technologies; use biogas digesters at livestock confinements to produce electricity and reduce manure discharge; promote urban agriculture to bring food closer to consumers.

4: Reduce trade barriers, increase imports

This year for the first time, the Communist Party Central Committee included "importing food moderately" as part of its food security strategy. China is expected to focus on self-sufficiency in food grains like wheat and rice while allowing more imports of feed grains like corn when needed.

"The food security paradigm in China is shifting" as the country relies more on trade for food and feed, said Michael Riedel, director of the Agricultural Affairs Office at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing.

At the same time, China seems to be tightening trade restrictions. It has rejected shipments of U.S. corn this year over an unapproved biotech trait. It bans pork that contains a feed additive and blocks U.S. beef over mad cow.

Dermot Hayes, an ag economist at Iowa State University, argues that China's efforts to be self-sufficient in pork hurt its people.

"You could cut food prices in China in half if they opened the markets to trade," he said. "Japan had to change, and I believe China will, too."

China could rely on land- and water-rich nations, like the U.S., for food. But more trade means trade-offs.

"As China has borne the environmental burden of producing goods for export to the West, it may be time for the West to bear the environmental consequences of China's growing appetite for food," said Susan Chan Shifflett of the Woodrow Wilson Center's forum.

5: Improve food safety

China has responded to several food safety scandals by pushing dairy and pork companies to get bigger and to "vertically integrate" — controlling all aspects of production. Iowa companies are helping dairies improve the feed for cows and helping pork and egg producers avoid disease. U.S. and Chinese officials have also formed partnerships to share technical expertise.

Yet horrors crop up regularly in almost every part of the food industry, including an incident last summer when an American-owned supplier for McDonald's, KFC and other fast-food chains was investigated for selling outdated meat.

Activists say solving food safety problems requires several approaches, such as: Enforce regulations; provide more information for consumers; move livestock to less populated areas to prevent the spread of disease; cut industrial waste, which has polluted soils and poisoned vegetable and rice crops.

6: Reduce food waste

A third of the food produced in the world is wasted, the U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization reports. It's a major problem in China. Harvested ears of corn are piled on roads, roofsand patches of open ground. Much of the grain is lost to weather, mold and pests. The government is launching a campaign to improve storage facilities and provide subsidies for bins, Gale said.

Cultural reasons also play a role: Chinese hosts take pride in serving lavish meals, and it's considered polite to leave piles of uneaten food as a signal that you are satisfied. The Woodrow Wilson Center points out "encouraging signs of awareness." Restaurants are reminding customers not to waste food, and President Xi Jin­ping's anti-corruption campaign has discouraged excessive banquets.

7: Provide more resources to rural areas

China has made modernizing agriculture a strategic priority, but many argue that its efforts are inadequate. The country has a huge urban-rural wealth gap that many worry will be a growing source of tension and instability. Job opportunities are few outside cities.

"You see the high rises, the high-speed trains, road building everywhere. You don't see real measures to help farmers," said David Liu, a seed entrepreneur and ex-Pioneer executive who pushes reforms.

8: Switch to higher-value crops

China is experimenting with allowing market forces to dictate prices of grains, which are now heavily subsidized. If so, that could reduce corn and wheat acres and free up land and labor to grow fruits, vegetables and other high-value crops, Hayes argues.

Those crops require more labor, but that's an area where China has an advantage over the U.S. The new crops could boost China's food exports to other countries. "China has so many farmers and so little land," he said. "It's crazy to use the soil for corn when you could import it more cheaply."