Challenges of agriculture and food systems issues in China and the United States

Abstract

China and the United States are the two most significant nations in the contemporary global food and agricultural network. In addition, they are two of the most important innovators with respect to the development of new crop varieties, agro-technologies, farm products, markets and consumer issues, such as consumer resistance to genetically modified foods, among others. In the face of an ever-complex web of interactions, technologies and products among producers and consumers in both nations, there are far more structural similarities than differences in the food and agriculture sectors of these two nations. This essay, adopting some of the themes of the Sino-American Symposium on Future Issues Affecting Quality of Life, presents a limited but representative comparative assessment of three of the most important shared challenges impacting the agricultural sectors of China and the United States for the period from 2000 to the present including 1) environmental challenges related to agricultural water supply, 2) declines in farm labor and rural population, and 3) growing food-related concerns and challenges. For both nations, excessive and unsustainable groundwater consumption has lowered water tables and limited crop production. Rural populations and farm workforces in both nations are also declining, leading to labor challenges in both nations. Finally, concerns regarding food safety are also very similar with major challenges to the farm sector associated with consumer resistance to genetically modified food crops and sanitation issues linked to lengthening supply chains. All of these issues threaten the development of sustainable agricultural production systems.

Keywords

Agriculture / Food safety / China / United States / Sino-US comparative study

Declaration of Competing Interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge the Timothy Light Center for Chinese Studies of WMU and the Milton and Ruth Scherer Endowment Fund of the Department of Geography, Environment and Tourism of WMU for their generous support. Further, we recognize the vision and leadership of Professor Timothy Light of Western Michigan University, held in highest regard by so many.

References

[1] Butkowski O., Pakseresht A., Lagerkvist C.J., 2017. Debunking the myth of general consumer rejection of green genetic engineering: empirical evidence from Germany. Int. J. Consum. Stud. 41 (6), 723-734.

[2] Cai X., Ringler C., 2007. Balancing agricultural and environmental water needs in China: Alternative scenarios and policy options. Water Policy 9 (S1), 95-108.

[3] Chung S.S., Wong C.K.C., 2013. Regulatory and policy control on food safety in China. J. Epidemiol. Commun. Health 67 (6), 476-477.

[4] Cui K., Shoemaker S.P., 2018. Public perception of genetically-modified (GM) food: A nationwide Chinese consumer study. NPJ Sci. Food 2 (1), 1-8.

[5] Davidson O.G., 1996. Broken Heartland:The Rise of America’s Rural Ghetto. University of Iowa Press, Iowa City, Iowa.

[6] Döll P., 2002. Impact of climate change and variability on irrigation requirements: A global perspective. Clim. Change 54 (3), 269-293.

[7] ERS-USDA, 2019. Size and Composition of the U.S. Agricultural Workforce, Farm Labor. Economic Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture. https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/farm-economy/farm-labor/#size (accessed 16 October 2019).

[8] Fang E.F., Scheibye-Knudsen M., Jahn H.J., Li J., Ling L., Guo H., Zhu X., Preedy V., Lu H., Bohr V., Chan W., Lui Y., Ng T., 2015. A research agenda for aging in China in the 21st century. Ageing Res. Rev. 24, 197-205.

[9] FAO, 2018. The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2018 - Meeting the Sustainable Development Goals. Food and Agriculture Organization, Rome.

[10] FAO, 2019. FAO-STAT: Commodities by Country. http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#rankings/countries_by_commodity (accessed 7 December 2019).

[11] Food and Drug Administration, 2019. Deputy Commissioner Champions More Digital, Transparent Food Safety System, https://www.fda.gov/food/conversations-experts-food-topics/deputy-commissioner-champions-more-digital-transparent-food-safety-system (accessed 8 December 2019)

[12] Fu L.,2016. Order from Chaos: What China’s Food Safety Challenges Mean for Consumers, Regulators, and the Global Economy. Brookings Institute https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2016/04/21/what-chinas-food-safety-challenges-mean-for-consumers-regulators-and-the-global-economy/. (accessed 8 December 2019).

[13] Funk C., Kennedy B., Hefferson M., 2018. Public perspectives on food risks: Americans are closely divided over health risk from food additives and genetically modified foods. Pew Research Center https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2018/11/19/public-perspectives-on-food-risks/ (accessed 16 October 2019).

[14] Gerasimova K., 2016. Debates on genetically modified crops in the context of sustainable development. Sci. Eng. Ethics 22 (2), 525-547.

[15] Giannakas K., 2018. Doing well by doing good: Agricultural biotechnology in the fight against hunger. Agric. Econ. 49 (6), 725-739.

[16] Gilmer D.F., Aldwin C.M., Ober, B.A., 1998. The Greying of Rural America.

[17] Gleick P.H., 2000. A look at twenty-first century water resources development. Water Int. 25 (1), 127-138.

[18] Hu F., 2015. Groundwater Under Pressure. China Water Risk http://www.chinawaterrisk.org/resources/analysis-reviews/groundwater-under-pressure/ (accessed 8 November 2019).

[19] Huang J.K., 2006. Awareness, acceptance and willingness to buy genetically modified food in urban China. Appetite 46 (2), 144-151.

[20] Huffaker R., 2008. Conservation potential of agricultural water conservation subsidies. Water. Resour. Res. 44 (7), 1-8.

[21] Institute of Medicine, National Research Council, 1998. Ensuring Safe Food:From Production to Consumption. National Academies Press, Washington D. C..

[22] Kang S., Eltahir E.A., 2018. North China plain threatened by deadly heatwaves due to climate change and irrigation. Nat. Commun. 9 (1), 1-9.

[23] Kangas S., 2015. Water pollution concerns surround CAFOs. National Farmers Union. https://nfu.org/2015/10/30/water-pollution-concerns-surround-cafos/ (accessed 14 November 2019).

[24] Kasler D., 2015. California Almond Growers to Expand Orchards, Despite Drought. The Sacramento Bee https://www.sacbee.com/news/california/water-and-drought/article18716937.html (accessed 14 November 2019).

[25] Kasler D., 2019. California farmers face ‘catastrophic’ water restrictions, Can they adapt to survive?. The sacramento Bee https://www.sacbee.com/news/california/big-valley/article233596597.html (accessed 14 November 2019).

[26] Kearney M.S., Harris B.H., Hershbein B., Jacome E., Nantz G., 2014. In times of drought: Nine economic facts about water in the United States. The Hamilton Project, Policy Memo October http://www.hamiltonproject.org (accessed 12 February 2020).

[27] Li M., Sicular T., 2013. Aging of the labor force and technical efficiency in crop production. China Agr. Econ. Rev. 5 (3), 342-359.

[28] Liu C.M., 1998. Environmental issues and the South-North water transfer scheme. China Q. 156, 899-910.

[29] Nabi T., Kaur T.P., 2019. Export specialization of India with top five agricultural economies: An application of RCA and RSCA. Int. J. Innov. Technol. Explor. Eng. 8 (12), 4705-4708.

[30] National Bureau of Statistics, 2018. China Statistical Yearbook 2018. China Statistics Press, Beijing.

[31] Paraskevopoulou C., 2016. Revisiting Leontief’s paradox. Int. Rev. Appl. Econ. 30 (6), 693-713.

[32] Perrings C., Burgiel S., Lonsdale M., Mooney H., Williamson M., 2010. Bioinvasions and Globalization: Ecology, Economics, Management, and Policy. Oxford University Press, Inc., New York.

[33] Pretty J., Sutherland W.J., Ashby J., Auburn J., Baulcombe D., Bell M., Bentley J., Bickersteth S., Brown K., Burke J., Campbell H., Chen K., Crowley E., Crute I., Dobbelaere D., Edwards-Jones G., Funes-Monzote F., Charles H., Godfray J., Griffon M., Gypmantisiri P., Haddad L., Halavatau S., Herren H., Holderness M., Izac A., Jones M., Koohafkan P., Lal R., Lang T., McNeely J., Mueller A., Nisbett N., Noble A., Pingali P., Pinto Y., Rabbinge R., Ravindranath N., H., Rola A., Roling N., Sage C., Settle W., Sha J.M., Luo S.M., Simons T., Smith P., Strzepeck K., Swaine H., Terry E., Tomich T.P., Toulmin C., Trigo E., Twomlow S., Vis J.K., Wilson J., Pilgrim S., 2010. The top 100 questions to the future of global agriculture. Int. J. Agric. Sustain. 8 (4), 219-236.

[34] Peng X., 2011. China’s demographic history and future challenges. Science 333 (6042), 581-587.

[35] Raman R., 2017. The impact of Genetically Modified (GM) crops in modern agriculture: A review. GM Crops Food 8 (4), 195-208.

[36] Shao Y., 2013. Rethinking food safety problems in China. Acta Aliment 42 (1), 124-132.

[37] Statista, 2017. Annual water consumption per capita worldwide in 2017, by select country (in cubic meters) https://www.statista.com/statistics/263156/water-consumption-in-selected-countries/ (accessed 13 November 2019).

[38] Statista, 2019a. Average farm size in the United States from 2000 to 2018 (in acres) https://www.statista.com/statistics/196106/average-size-of-farms-in-the-us-since-2000/ (accessed 17 October 2019).

[39] Statista, 2019b. Total area of land in United States farms from 2000 to 2018 (in 1,000 acres) https://www.statista.com/statistics/196104/total-area-of-land-in-farms-in-the-us-since-2000/ (accessed 17 October 2019).

[40] Stanford Report, 2006. Science study predicts collapse of all seafood fisheries by 2050. https://news.stanford.edu/news/2006/november8/ocean-110806.html (accessed 12 February 2020).

[41] Stubbs M. 2016. Irrigation in U.S. Agriculture: On-Farm Technologies and Best Management Practices. Congressional Research Service Report # 7-5700, R44158. https://nationalaglawcenter.org/crs/ (accessed 13 February 2020).

[42] Si Z., Regnier-Davies J., Scott S., 2018. Food safety in urban China: Perceptions and coping strategies of residents in Nanjing. China Inf. 32 (3), 377-399.

[43] Trading Economics, 2016. United States-Arable land(% of land area). https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/arable-land-percent-of-land-area-wb-data.html.

[44] USDA-NASS, 2014. United States Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Service. https://www.nass.usda.gov/Publications/Highlights/2014/FarmDemographics/index.php#average_age (accessed 1 October 2019).

[45] Veeck G., Ge Y., 2014. International Trade Issues and Status for China and the US. In: Hartmann R., Wang J., Ye T. ( A Comparative Geography of China and the US..Eds), Springer, Dordrecht.

[46] Veeck G., Pannell C., Huang Y., Bao S., 2016. China’s Geography: Globalization and the Dynamics of Political, Economic and Social Change, 4th ed. Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham, Maryland.

[47] Veeck G., Pannell C.W., Smith C.J., Huang Y., 2011. China’s Geography: Globalization and the Dynamics of Political, Economic, and Social Change. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Lanham.

[48] Veeck G., Shui W., 2011. China’s quiet agricultural revolution: Policy and programs of the new millennium. Eurasian Geogr. Econ. 52 (6), 242-263.

[49] Veeck G., Veeck A., Zhao S., 2015. Perceptions of food safety by urban consumers in Nanjing, China. Prof. Geogr. 67 (3), 505-519.

[50] Veeck A., Yu H., Burns A.C., 2010. Consumer risks and new food systems in Urban China. J. Macro Market. 30 (3), 222-237.

[51] Walton B., 2013. U.S. groundwater losses between 1900 and 2008: Enough to fill Lake Erie twice, circle of blue. Water News https://www.circleofblue.org/2013/world/since-1900-the-u-s-has-lost-enough-groundwater-to-fill-lake-erie-twice (accessed 28 October 2019).

[52] Wang D., 2006. China’s urban and rural old age security system: Challenges and options. China World Econ. 14 (1), 102-116.

[53] Wang X.Y., 2019. Crackdown on illicit additives improves food safety. China Daily https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201912/03/WS5de5c209a310cf3e3557b906.html (accessed 7 December 2019).

[54] Wilson M.C., Li X.Y., Ma Y.J., Smith A.T., Wu J., 2017. A review of the economic, social, and environmental impacts of China’s South-North Water Transfer Project: A sustainability perspective. Sustainability 9 (8), 1489.

[55] Wong A.Y.T., Chan A.W.K., 2016. Genetically modified foods in China and the United States: A primer of regulation and intellectual property protection. Food Sci. Hum. Wellness 5, 124-140.

[56] Yang Z., 2013. Demographic changes in China’s farmers: The future of farming in China. Asian J. Soc. Psychol. 9 (7), 136.

[57] Yang Fan, Tan Jie, Sui Xin, Constraints and Solutions for Energy and Electricity Development. Springer, Rotterdam, 2019. Analysis of Environmental Protection Constraint of Energy Development. In: Wang, Zhixuan (Ed.), In: pp. 126-127.

[58] Yang H., Zehnder A.J., 2005. The south-north water transfer project in China: An analysis of water demand uncertainty and environmental objectives in decision making. Water Int. 30 (3), 339-349.

[59] Zhang X.H., Dagevos Y., He N., Van der Lans I., Zhai F.Y., 2008. Consumption and corpulence in China: A consumer segmentation study based on the food perspective. Food Policy 33 (1), 37-47.

[60] Zhao S.Q., 1994. Geography of China: Environment, Resources, Population and Development. John Wiley and Sons, New York.

[61] Zhou L., Fang P., Wang C., 2017. Dancing with three hands: The identical roots of China’s agricultural miracle and crisis. Soc. Change 47 (4), 473-492.

[62] Zhuori N., Cai Y., Yan Y., Cui Y., Zhao M.J., 2019. Does social support affect the health of the elderly in rural China? A meta-analysis approach. Int. J. Environ. Health Res. 16 (18), 3471-3485.

[63] Zilberman D., Kaplan S., Kim E., Hochman G., Graff G., 2013. Continents divided: Understanding differences between Europe and North America in acceptance of GM crops. GM Crops Food 4 (3), 202-208.