U.S., Chinese experts call for bilateral collaboration on food security, agriculture

Published: May 25,2024

The United States and China need to collaborate to tackle food insecurity and other challenges in agriculture, said experts from both countries.

The two countries are dealing with food insecurity on both the production side and the consumption side, said Caitlin Welsh, director of the Global Food and Water Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “We would both benefit from mutually applicable approaches to improving food insecurity,” said Welsh at an online panel discussion organized by the Brookings Institution on Tuesday. 

If the approaches were extended to other countries facing food insecurity, it could lead to greater stability, more economic growth or trading partners for countries, said Welsh. She hoped for increased educational exchanges between the two countries as well as increased cooperation between non-state actors like researchers, civil society organizations and others. The two countries must work together on climate-smart agriculture as climate change has worsened global food and nutrition security and the impacts of conflicts, said Fan Shenggen, chair professor at China Agricultural University.

There is a lot of potential for China and the United States to learn from each other, said Fan, who identified education, technology, trade and youth as four areas for bilateral cooperation. He underscored the importance of open bilateral trade on food and produce and the critical role of youth exchange in breaking current political and geopolitical barriers.

 The exchange of researchers and scientists is clearly in both countries’ interests, said Joseph Glauber, senior research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute. Glauber, who worked as chief economist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture from 2008 to 2014, recalled his visits to China for conferences where scientists worked with scientists on issues of common interest. “I would hate to see that falter. I think that we need to pick that up, do more because there are problems out there that need the input of both parties,” he said. 

Xinhua