From dining table to farmland: the ripple effects of a change in perception
How a "Greater Food" approach reshapes Chinese people's diet and China's agricultural industry?
What are Chinese people having for food? In days of scarcity, a bowl of rice with pickles or soy sauce would be a good enough meal to fill an empty stomach.
Gone are the days when people have to scrape a living with limited edible resources. As society grows more affluent and people's living standards improve, the country's food supply has gone from scarcity to plenty -- meat, dairy products, aquatic products and vegetables are now commonly seen on their dining tables.
People become more health-conscious, and they are no longer content with simply "eating enough" but hoping to eat well. However, evidence has shown that the country's current dietary structure is still imbalanced, with nutrition-related diseases mounting.
This points to a necessary change in eating and farming. To optimize people's dietary structure and address other food-related challenges facing the nation, China's policymakers have adopted a more holistic view on food supply, known as the "greater food" approach which is set to promote balanced diets and food security by diversifying food resources.
With this approach being widely accepted, people are expected to embrace more nutritious choices to drive healthier dietary changes.
SO, WHAT'S NEW ON THE DINING TABLE?
** THE "THIRD STAPLE"
"Traditional" coarse grains which were once consumed in less bountiful times have made a comeback to Chinese households' dining tables.
Over the years, people have grown accustomed to refined grains such as rice and wheat for their exquisite taste. For a long time, rice and wheat have been two major staples in the country.
However, refined crops may not be as healthy as people think.
Studies show that refined crops are stripped of dietary fiber, protein and minerals during the milling process and are high in carbohydrates and sugar. Health experts warn that excessive intake of these highly-processed foods may cause blood pressure surge, weight gain, and lead to diabetes and other chronic diseases.
When people are scaling back on refined grains and looking for a healthier "third staple," coarse grain proves to be the answer.
Without going through the milling process, Coarse grains like millet, sorghum, black rice and buckwheat retain the whole part of the grain. Rich in dietary fiber, vitamin B and minerals, they are more nutritious, healthful, and filling than rice and wheat.
The country is now actively promoting the "third staple" by expanding the planting area of coarse grains, accelerating grain production and advancing processing technologies to make them taste better and easier to digest.
It has also been advancing a "nutrition-oriented agriculture," which aims to build a nutrition-oriented food production system, which entails efforts to eliminate nutrient loss and waste beyond the farm gate through processing, packaging, handling and transportation.
** WHITE MEAT
Another unhealthy dietary habit is people's excessive intake of red meat, which refers to pork, beef and lamb. Multiple studies link red meat consumption to increased health risks such as diabetes and heart disease.
According to the 2021 Global Nutrition Report, Chinese people eat 105g of red meat daily, which is twice the global average of about 50g and well beyond the scientifically recommended intake of 14g per day.
"White meat" such as fish and poultry, however, contains less fat and richer unsaturated fatty acid compared with red meat, which makes it the ideal protein choice.
For carnivores, cutting their appetite for red meat and switching to white meat not only benefits personal health but also reduces the impact on the global environment.
Meat production is responsible for greenhouse gas emissions as it uses machinery, entails animal emissions and requires transportation and storage. Studies have shown that meat directly produces more greenhouse gas emissions than plant-based foods.
"The production of white meat, especially poultry, emits less greenhouse gas compared with other animal products, and are hence a more low-carbon and environmental-friendly alternative," said Zhou Lin, an official from the food and nutrition development department of the country's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.
If China's poultry consumption increases by 50 percent as of 2030, greenhouse gas emissions will be cut by 6 percent, or about 4 million tonnes, according to a report on the development of China's Agricultural Sector published in 2022.
WHERE DOES FOOD COME FROM?
When COVID-19, geopolitical tensions and climate change continue to batter the global food system, pressure on China's domestic food production is mounting.
How to keep the world's most populous country well-fed? Over the years, Chinese President Xi Jinping has reiterated the need to adopt the "greater food" approach and cut reliance on imports.
To ensure a sustainable food supply including meat, vegetables, fruits and aquatic products, the "greater food" approach has expanded the concept of "grain security" to "food security" which has a broader meaning and entails tapping into all possible food resources.
**MICROORGANISM-BASED PROTEINS
Do you believe that tiny little creatures like microorganisms can "make" food for people? As the "greater food" approach outlined efforts to exploit biological resources, they hold great potential to revolutionize the industry.
Edible fungi, for example, are a special kind of microorganisms that can turn agricultural wastes into food. By "digesting" the lignocellulose in crop straws, woods and other farm wastes, they are able to produce protein products with far less strain on resources than conventional animal proteins.
"If a quarter of the country's agricultural wastes are used for edible fungi, the country's protein production will increase by over 31.5 million tonnes, which is equivalent to the protein produced by 600 million mu (40 million hectares) of soybeans," said Zhang Lu, a professor from Huazhong Agricultural University.
The country has been actively advancing R&D and biological technologies to produce microorganism-based synthetic foods in recent years.
Zhuoni county, a microorganisms-planting demonstration base in China's Gansu Province, has grown 40.6 million tonnes of edible fungi that can produce 1.4 million high-quality proteins so far this year. Microorganisms have significantly increased farmers' income and improved people's lives.
Microorganism food production holds broad prospects, industry insiders said, and people will obtain more calories and protein from microorganisms as technologies continue to improve.
**LAB-GROWN VEGGIES
Inside an "intelligence greenhouse" in northeast China's Liaoning Province, vegetables are sharing "bunker beds" on lab shelves instead of growing underground. Sensors overhead carefully monitor the temperature, humidity and light intensity of the environment and make real-time adjustments automatically.
Such novel vegetable-growing methods--which take production away from farms and towards more controllable environments and labs--are now spreading over the country.
Known as "facility-based agricultural planting," or "protected agriculture," these modern technologies can provide protection and maintain optimal growing conditions throughout the growing process of vegetables and crops, and optimize the use of resources such as water, energy, space, capital and labor.
Protected agriculture can maximize food yields with less land and less water. With the novel agriculture solution, vegetables are free of seasonal and environmental constraints and can be grown anytime and anywhere, according to experts.
China is by far the biggest country in controlled-environment agriculture. Its protected agriculture area reached 42.7 million mu, accounting for over 80 percent of the world's total, of which about 81 percent is designated to grow vegetables, data showed.
Industry experts believe that innovations like intelligence agriculture and alternative proteins offer better alternatives to traditional production methods, and hold significant opportunities for the environment, nutrition and health.
By providing a more sustainable path for the production and consumption of food, the "greater food" approach is allowing the Chinese to speed up the transformation of their food system, and help the nation achieve self-sufficiency, maintain food security and be more self-reliant on agricultural imports in the future to come.