Synopsis
This chapter reviews available information, summarizes trends and reports on published efforts to minimize the impact of factors contributing to food insecurity. There are four main themes: (1) The policy and practice around the protection of China’s agricultural land and national food security; (2) The marginalization of small-scale farmers (and their knowledge) through the vertical integration and modernization of agricultural production; (3) Diverse responses to heightened food safety anxiety and an increasingly disembedded food system; and (4) Emerging “alternative food systems” and “alternative food networks” in China, such as organic food and agriculture, ecological farmers’ markets, community supported agriculture (CSA) farms and grassroots organizations promoting environmental and social values for a more sustainable food system. Statistical data, comments by specialists (both foreign and domestic) and the results of our own observations are synthesized in this commentary.
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Notes
- 1.
Guangxi Autonomous Region has up to 30 times the expected rainfall recently and severe flooding has occurred.
- 2.
Robert Hijmans, “Relocating Rice Production in China,” Rice Today 6, no. 4 (2007): 25
- 3.
Melamine was found in dairy products, including infant formula
- 4.
Most soy imports are for feeding livestock like pigs and poultry.
- 5.
Volume 40, issue 1,
- 6.
Not everywhere, but certainly in the major food producing areas
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Squires, V.R., Feng, H. (2020). Commentary on China’s Current Food Security Status, Future Trends, and Responses in the Face of Climate Variability. In: Squires, V., Gaur, M. (eds) Food Security and Land Use Change under Conditions of Climatic Variability. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-36762-6_8
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