China in the Global Food System By Matthew Gaudreau, PhD Candidate, University of Waterloo Supervisor: Dr. Jennifer Clapp, Canada Research Chair Canada China Friendship Society March 23 rd , 2016
China in the Global Food System
By Matthew Gaudreau, PhD Candidate, University of Waterloo
Supervisor: Dr. Jennifer Clapp, Canada Research Chair
Canada China Friendship Society
March 23rd, 2016
Objectives of this Talk
1) A discussion about history and change: a major differences between the food economy in China during the 1950s – 1970s, and the 1980/90s onward.
1) A brief sketch of the relationship between how food should be provided to citizens, the political climate of international relations, and changing impacts on the environment.
*A point about how ideas regarding food security/self-sufficiency/self-reliance are changing in the context of global
economic integration*
Self-Sufficiency Under Mao
• 1950s-1970s: Primary goal of producing domestically to spur modernization and national development – including in agriculture (自力更生).
• Success in grain production in the early/mid 1950s, and again (mostly) in 1960s and 1970s.
• Food still relatively scarce/not abundant.
• Great Leap Forward (大跃进): Tens of millions of deaths in 1959-1961 related to famine.
• From 1960, heightened isolation from major powers.
Environment and Production
• Organic fertilizers in the 1950s – 1970s. • Relatively closed system – compostable items and manure used
for fertilizer.
• By the mid-1970s, chemical fertilizers and pesticides manufactured in greater quantity. • Hybrid rice varieties demand intensive chemical fertilizer usage.
• 1980s, agricultural production rapidly increases: • economic reorganization,
• spread of high yield seeds, and use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides.
• Severe environmental consequences (water, soil, human health).
Self-sufficiency and Dietary Change
• Self-sufficiency into the turn of the century
• Grain security (粮食安全) – 95% of consumption in Corn, Rice, and Wheat to be met through domestic sources.
• Revised to 90% in 2014-15.
• Meat consumption and undermining self-sufficiency (Schneider, 2014):
• Animal feed not included in the 90-95% baselines.
• Pressure to import more for animal feed.
Dietary Change, 1961 vs. 2009
Keats & Wiggins, 2014
Meat consumption (kg/person/year), 1961-2010
Tony Weis, 2013, p. 83
Larsen, 2012
China and World Food Trade
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Corn Imports, 1970-2013
• Soybean trade liberalized in 1996, prior to World Trade Organization (WTO) accession.
• Corn imports: recent increase, but constrained by 7 million tonne government limit.
Source: FAOStat, 2016
Self-Sufficiency Now
• Self sufficiency in a trading scenario
• Since food demand is higher, overall, how to meet food security goals?
• Land Grabs?
• The relative importance of businesses from China vs. others (US, Malaysia, Singapore, Emirates etc.) (Land Matrix, 2016).
• Lack of evidence regarding destination for Land Grab production.
• Importance of Agribusiness
• Global agribusiness channels have much greater reach.
Global Agribusiness Markets • In general: commercial sectors are highly concentrated, based
in United States and Europe.
• Seeds/agrochemicals
• Processing/trade
• Retail
• Processing/Trade:
• The “ABCD”’s (70% of global market) (Clapp, 2015; Murphy et al., 2012):
• Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) (United States)
• Bunge (United States, Europe)
• Cargill (United States)
• Louis Dreyfus (Europe)
http://www.shippingherald.com/
The Example of Corn • Corn imports to China rise beginning in 2008.
• By 2012, 95% of imports are sourced from the United States, brought in by the ABCDs.
• After US trade disruption in 2013/14, sources of corn splinter (Gaudreau and Clapp, 2016):
dimsums.blogspot.com
The Example of Corn (cont.)
Gaudreau, 2015
COFCO - Nidera and Noble Agri’s Global Infrastructural Presence
• State grain trader, COFCO (中粮集团), acquires agricultural commodities companies.
Concluding Thoughts
• For the central government of China, food security is a long-term national security concern.
• Government ideas about food security have, for decades, been focused on how to organize the production of staples under constrained resources. • This is being modified to a more global interpretation.
• What is missing in these ideas about food security is a focus on broader concerns about food safety and environmental sustainability. • Ethical sourcing, environmental impact, nutrition etc.
• What does it mean for China’s small farmers and land rights?
Thank you!
Merci!
谢谢!
References Clapp, J. (2015). ABCD and beyond: from grain merchants to agricultural value chain managers. Canadian Food Studies. 2(2). http://canadianfoodstudies.uwaterloo.ca/index.php/cfs/issue/view/11
Gaudreau, M. (2015). Seeds, Grain Trade, and Power Off-land: Chinese Agribusiness in Global Agrarian Change. Paper presented at Land grabbing, conflict and agrarian ‐ environmental transformations: perspectives from East and Southeast Asia (Vol. Conference Paper No. 4). Chiang Mai University, Thailand. Retrieved from http://www.iss.nl/fileadmin/ASSETS/iss/Research_and_projects/Research_networks/BICAS/CMCP_4-_Gaudreau.pdf
Gaudreau, M. & Clapp, J. (2016). Filling the Cracks of Fragmented Global Governance: Global-National Dynamics in the Political Economy of GM Corn. Paper presented at International Studies Association Annual Conference, Atlanta, Georgia.
Keats, S. & Wiggins, S. (2014). Future diets: implications for agriculture and food prices. Overseas Development Institute. www.odi.org/future-diets
Larsen, J. (2012). Meat Consumption In China Now Double That in the United States. Earth Policy Institute. http://www.earth-policy.org/plan_b_updates/2012/update102
Murphy, S., Burch, D., & Clapp, J. (2012). Cereal Secrets: The world’s largest commodity traders and global trends in agriculture. Oxfam International. https://www.oxfam.org/en/research/cereal-secrets-worlds-largest-grain-traders-and-global-agriculture
Schneider, M. (2014). Developing the meat grab. Journal of Peasant Studies, 41(4), 613-633.
Weis, T. (2013). The ecological hoofprint: The global burden of industrial livestock. New York: Zed Books.