The State Council, on 15 September 2024, issued Opinions on Practicing the Greater Food View and Constructing a Diversified Food Supply System (国务院办公厅关于践行大食物观构建多元化食物供给体系的意见). The document outlines key strategies to modernize and diversify the country’s food supply system.
Main points
Guiding principles:
The document aligns with the vision of building an agricultural powerhouse. The term was introduced in the No. 1 Document of 2023 and puts the focus on building diversified and self-reliant food supply chains.
Diversified food sources:
The document emphasizes expanding food sources beyond traditional crops to include forestry, grasslands, water resources (rivers, lakes, seas), and developing alternative food sources like microorganisms and plant-based meats to meet growing food demand.
Sustainability and ecology:
The document promotes ecological protection and sustainable use of natural resources, ensuring that agricultural practices are compatible with environmental conservation efforts.
Innovation and technology:
The document encourages scientific and technological innovation to drive food production, overcome bottlenecks, and support new food industries. Areas highlighted include biotechnology (e.g., microbial protein production), smart agriculture (e.g., precision farming), and new agricultural facilities (e.g., plant factories and controlled environment agriculture).
Value chains:
The document proposes the integration of the entire food value chain—from cultivation to processing, storage, and distribution—to enhance efficiency, resilience, and value creation within the agricultural sector.
Food safety and regulation:
The document prioritizes food safety, improving standards, and reinforcing regulations to ensure quality across the food production chain, particularly for new and emerging food types.
The document calls for a widespread adoption of the Greater Food View by 2027 and for developing a fully diversified and resilient food system by 2035.
Significance
The document introduces the concept of the Greater Food View (大食物观), expanding China’s traditional food security focus from grain production to other sources of food and nutrition, including forests, fisheries, and even microorganisms. It underlines China’s technology-driven approach towards making agricultural production more efficient and environmentally sustainable.
By exploring new food sources and technologies, the document hopes to better secure food supplies and make China’s agriculture sector less vulnerable to external shocks. A more diversified food system will also be better equipped to deal with challenges like climate change and limited arable land.
Original document
State Council of China. 2024. 国务院办公厅关于践行大食物观构建多元化食物供给体系的意见 [Opinion on practicing the Greater Food View and constructing a diversified food supply system]. https://www.gov.cn/zhengce/content/202409/content_6974838.htm.
Other links
Boehme, Michaela. 2022. 大食物观 Da Shiwu Guan. Making sense of China’s “greater food” view. DCZ terminology paper series. https://www.dcz-china.org/2022/11/16/terminology-paper-da-shiwuguan-greater-food-view/
Lu, Yuelai. 2023. 农业强国 nongye qiangguo. Making China into an agricultural power. DCZ terminology paper series. https://www.dcz-china.org/2023/05/24/terminology-paper-nongye-qiangguo_agricultural-power/
Rouzi, Ahmatjan. 2023. 2023 No. 1 Document. China’s annual blueprint for agricultural and rural development. https://www.dcz-china.org/2023/04/13/policy-brief-no-one-document-for-2023/