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Yang Liu , Neil C. Turner , Miles Dyck , Bingcheng Si , Jialong Lv , HailongHe

Key Laboratory of Resource Biology and Biotechnology in Western China (Ministryof Education) andCollege of Life Science, Northwest University, Xi’an, Shaanxi716000, China (liuyangent@nwu.edu.cn)

UWA Institute of Agriculture and UWA School of Agriculture and Environment, TheUniversity of Western Australia M062, Locked Bag 5005, Perth, WA 6001, Australia(neil.turner@uwa.edu.au)

Department of Renewable Resources, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AlbertaT6G 2E3, Canada (miles.dyck@ualberta.ca)

Departmetn of Soil Science, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SaskatchewanS7N 5A8, Canada (bing.si@usask.ca)

College of Natural Resources and Environment and the Key Laboratory of PlantNutrition and the Agri-environment in Northwest China (Ministry of Agriculture),Northwest Agriculture & Forestry University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China(ljlll@nwsuaf.edu.cn)

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http://www.world-agriculture.net/

The State Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming on the LoessPlateau, Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, CAS&MWR, Northwest A&FUniversity, Yangling, Shaanxi Province 712100, China (hailong.he@hotmail.com;hailong.he@nwafu.edu.cn)

Summary and Conclusions

China has been making a substantial contribution to global food security by feeding22% of the world’s population with only 9% of the world’s cultivated agriculturalland.

However, compared to agriculture in developed economies such as USA, Australiaand the European Union, high grain yields in China are associated with a large ruralpopulation, low per-household land area, high consumption of chemical fertilizersand pesticides, as well as relatively high labour and environmental costs.

Nevertheless, there is no simple solution to sustainably feeding 1.4 billion people,yet China is trying to ensure its own population has access to clean, healthy andinexpensive food. We analyzed the key factors that challenge sustainability ofagriculture in China, including small and dispersed household land holdings,insufficient agricultural workers, inadequate farmer education and extensionprograms, excessive use of chemical fertilizers and agro-chemicals, slow adoption ofadvanced agricultural technologies, and an unbalanced supply-demand structure.

To sustain and modernise Chinese agriculture and to secure food security andsafety while restoring environmental integrity and social justice, the economic,scientific, political and psychological practices should be combined and appliedefficiently in China.

China has the bold aim to transform, modernise and sustain Chinese agriculture byexpediting agricultural modernisation and sustainability of production through aseries of practices. The strategies include land consolidation (“tudi liuzhuan”) forbetter management options (see section 3.1), educational programs to improveagricultural knowledge and skills of farm practitioners (see section 3.2), ecologically-sustainable agricultural practices (Integrated Crop Management) to reduce use ofchemicals and improve nutrient efficiency (see section 3.3), enhanced scientificresearch, and enhanced extension services to bridge the technological transfer gapbetween scientists, engineers and farmers (see section 3.4), government policyincentives and government investment (see section 3.5) and technologicalimprovements and regional adaptive practices (see section 3.6).

These strategies contribute to global food security, environmental sustainability andpoverty elimination, and are suitable for adoption by many Asian and sub-SaharanAfrica countries in which over 75% of the population is engaged in small-scalefarming. Scientists and engineers can make a big difference at every step from fieldto consumption, but science and technology alone cannot guarantee food security,as economic, political and social issues also play key roles.

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Keywords: Land consolidation; food security; sustainable agriculture; extension;agricultural workforce; education

China grows over 95% of its own grain ,to feed 22% of the global population withonly 9% of the world’s cultivated agricultural land [120 million hectares (Mha)],thereby contributing to global food security .

Food production per capita in China has increased 3.5-fold compared to 50 yearsago . While the planted area of cereals has remained between 100 and 130 Mhasince 1949 and cereal production has increased from 100 to over 650 million tonnes(Mt) (Figure 1).

The increased yields mainly result from: (1) the self-motivation of farmers toincrease production, (2) reduced land rent (3) economic reform and opening-up ofmarkets, (4) de-collectivization of rural farmlands making individual householdsresponsible for an area of cultivated land, and (5) from the late 1970s, the adoptionof the high-yield crop cultivars of hybrid rice, maize, and wheat , (6) increased use offertilizers and pesticides, and (7) more investment in agricultural infrastructure suchas irrigation and roads .

Population and per capita consumption are among the greatest drivers for changein the environmental and agricultural sectors of the economy . Solutions toenvironmental problems such as water and air pollution, and soil erosion anddegradation have been associated with greater grain production in manyindustrialized countries . China faces similar challenges of food security,environmental sustainability, and social justice.

The unique “dual track” structure of urban-rural development in China hasaccelerated the development of urban areas and industrial sectors at the expenseof rural development, and significantly impeded agricultural development . Over40% of the Chinese population live in rural areas with generally low educationalattainment and vulnerability to poverty, poor health, and market fluctuations.

Household agricultural land in China is in small tracts, sometimes dispersed atvarious locations around the village/town that makes mechanization and access tofacilities such as water for irrigation difficult. In addition, urbanization andinfrastructure for highway and railway construction is reducing the area of arableland . Additionally, environmental projects such as the “Grain for Green” projectthat is re-afforesting marginal and steeply-sloping agricultural and pastoral landlimits arable land to environmentally-stable locations reducing the area availablefor agricultural production.Conversely,consumption patterns in China are alsochanging to those more like developed counties with a higher proportion of meatand dairy products, much of which is grain-fed.

The increase in the proportion of animal products in the human diet with theincrease in family incomes in China requires an increase in the area of arable landor greater import of grains . These issues pertain to the “san-nong” (i.e.,

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agriculture, countryside, and peasantry) and have now become the priority foraction by the Chinese government. Practices have to be implemented to transform,modernize and sustain Chinese agriculture.

Our objective in this paper is to outline past and current obstacles to improvedenvironmental and economic sustainability in Chinese agriculture, identify currentpolicies that are being implemented to remove these obstacles, and makerecommendations for continued improvement.1.

1. Multiple tracts of small and dispersedareas of arable land

In 2012 China had over 200 million farm households with an average of 0.47 ha ofarable land in 5 to 7 tracts/fields (< 0.1 hectare per tract) per rural household .These small tracts of arable land may consist of dryland or paddy fields, fertile orless-fertile fields, and fields close to or far from farmers’ houses .

Compared to one big tract of arable land, the use of agricultural machinery isdifficult and human and livestock power is necessary, leading to increased costs ofgrain production per unit area. In addition, the average area of agricultural land perhousehold is much smaller in China compared to that in other Asian or westerncountries (Table 1).

For example, the average area of farmland per household is 1.2-1.4 ha in SouthKorea and Japan, 18-69 ha in Western European countries, 315 ha in Canada, 195 hain the USA , and 4330 ha in Australia (Table 1).

About 44% of arable/cultivated land is irrigated in China, mainly in southern China,and produces about 80% of the food consumed . Northern China has 61% of thetotal arable land, but only 19% of the available water resources; this area ischaracterized by rainfed (dryland) agriculture with low to moderate production .

1. 1. A large rural population but insufficientmotivation to work or invest inagriculture

In 2015, the rural population of China accounted for 44% of the total population(604 million out of a total population of 1,375 million ). The proportion of the ruralpopulation is decreasing because of urbanization, but it may rebound because ofthe recent replacement of the one-child policy with the two-child policy .

In China, agricultural workers are often pejoratively called “peasants”, uneducated,ignorant, poor, dirty, and unfamiliar with the more sophisticated mannerisms of theurban population.

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Because of the low social status of farming, the quality of the working environment,and low economic returns, many farmers, especially of the younger generations,prefer to prioritize income from off-farm employment by working part- or full-timein factory- or construction-jobs . In general there is little incentive to invest inmachinery, year-round cropping, or soil management on the small holdings .

Arable land is sometimes abandoned or left fallow for extensive periods because oflabor shortage as able-bodied men are often employed in distant factories. Therural-urban migration of labour for economic benefits leaves the elderly, women,and children in the rural areas, resulting in the hollowing-out of ruralcommunities , and the huge movement of the population around the country atthe time of the Lunar New Year.

1. 1. Excessive use of chemical fertilizersand agro-chemicals increasingenvironmental costs and decreasingfood safety

The idea of “more grain production coming from more fertilization” rather thanincreased nutrient use efficiency (higher conversion ratio of fertilizer to crop yield)has been widely accepted among Chinese farmers, and fertilizer use has nearlytripled since 1978 .

Today, China is the largest user of agricultural chemicals, consuming around 35% ofworld’s fertilizers and pesticides for 22% of the world’s population (Figure 2).Because of government subsidies for chemical fertilizer and pesticides, the cost tofarmers only accounts for a small proportion of the production costs and results inoveruse.

For example, in 2016, total fertilizer application averaged 503.32 kg ha on arableland in China compared to the world average of 140.55 kg ha according to theworld bank , while some apple orchards receive as much as 5,000 kg ha offertilizer . Often, over twice as much N and P fertilizer is applied as is recoveredfrom harvested crops .

The surplus nutrients enter the environment and cause serious environmentalissues, such as soil degradation and pollution , eutrophication of surface water,contamination of groundwater and rivers , health risks for humans and animals ,and increased greenhouse gas emissions (e.g., N O, NO and CO ) and troposphericpollution .

1. 1. Daunting challenges for knowledgesharing and technology transfer

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Obtaining good crop yields and simultaneously conserving the soil and theenvironment are possible because of a large and growing knowledge-base andongoing advances in technological capacity.

However, this knowledge and technological capacity are often under-utilized inChina due to the low educational attainment of farmers and inadequate agriculturalextension services, such that farmers simply understand that more fertilizer meansmore yield and potentially more income and are unaware of the asymptotic andeven cubic nature of the input-output curve.

Chinese farmers receive less than 7.8 years of education on average, over 70% donot have a high school diploma, less than 20% have a senior high school diploma orhigher, and many are illiterate . In contrast in the United States in 2014, only 15%of farm operators did not have a high school diploma or equivalent, 30% holdcollege or associate degrees, and 19% have achieved bachelor’s degrees or higheraccording to an American Community Survey . Education is one of the main driversin enhancing the ability of farmers to adopt or purchase more advanced agriculturaltechnologies, crop-management and business skills to achieve higher rates of returnon land rather than just maximizing grain yield.

However, the culture of turning to science for agronomic solutions and toeconomists for business skills is not well established. Often selection of crop speciesor cultivars is not market/demand-driven, but from experience, word-of-mouth orfamily tradition. In addition, the subsidies and price-support schemes stimulatefarmers to maximize yield rather than to adopt sustainable agricultural practices.

Therefore, ecological and environmental effects of farming are not often consideredwhen making management decisions. For example, farmers in Inner Mongolia,northern China, grow high water-use crops such as rice along dry riverbeds,resulting in excessive pumping of deep groundwater for irrigation . A similarproblem is also apparent on the North China Plain where the water table has fallensteadily over the past four decades due to pumping of water for intensive croppingof wheat and maize .

The lack of awareness of environmental impacts, and the low prices for electricityand water may also contribute to the overuse of water for irrigation.

Advances in agricultural research and development have not been matched byimprovements in agricultural extension services due to lack of extensionprofessionals, effective extension models/methods, and lack of scaling up ofresearch results to the level of the field . Convincing small-holder farmers to adoptnew agricultural technologies is more difficult than with farmers operating at alarger scale .

1. 1. Unbalanced supply-demand structuresand uncompetitive agricultural sectors

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To promote national food security and to maintain the growth of farmers’ incomes,the Chinese government has adopted price intervention policies (minimumprocurement prices) for maize, rice, wheat, cotton and a range of othercommodities, that generate a large price gap between domestic and internationalmarkets.

For example, the wholesale price of maize in China in 2016 was 50% higher thanthat of imported maize . Chinese markets have thus been oversupplied with maizesince 2012/2013, while nearly 80% of oilseeds have to be imported (e.g., soybeans~84 Mt in 2016 , mainly from United States and Brazil ).

Additionally, market intervention policies such as import tariffs are used to ensurethat no more than 5% of the requirements for grain (excluding oilseeds) are metthrough imports. A minimum price or government procurement raises grain pricesand farmers’ incomes, but at the same time sustains labour-intensive, inefficientproduction, and decreases the competitiveness of Chinese agriculture in the globalmarket.

It is also difficult for small-scale farming to integrate into modern supply chains andmitigate the influences of market volatility, climate change and other risks.1.

Some policy changes may help agriculture to become more economically andenvironmentally sustainable while maintaining social justice. These changes mayinclude social structure, market intervention, agricultural science and technology,and policy.

1. Institutional innovation and policysupport for small-scale farmingtransformation and land consolidation(“tudi liuzhuan”)

Agricultural land is collectively owned in China, but since 1978 smallholders havecontracted rights to free land-use for a period of time, usually 30 years .

The No. 1 Policy Document published in 2013 announced the intent “to inspire andsupport contracted land to be transferred to specialized large-holders, family farmsand peasants’ cooperatives, to facilitate certain scaling up of agriculture in variousforms” . In 2016, policy documents officially announced a new farm-operation rightthat enabled contracted farm land to be leased without compromising contractedland-use rights (“sanquan fenli”).

This reform properly addresses issues related to the rights and welfare of thetenants and existing resource users. Since 1998, small-sized farms can beconsolidated to form mid- to large-scale units through land transfer service centres

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based across the country or through rural shareholding cooperatives (RSCs) . Thishas resulted in an increase in large-scale farming operations in many regions ofChina .

About one third (~30.6 Mha) of household-contracted farmland was transferred asof 2016 according to Ministry of Agriculture of China compared to 5% in 2005. Over3.5 million small parcels of land have been consolidated for managementaccounting to give a total area of 23.3 million hectares (19.4 % of the total) ofconsolidated land with field sizes of 3.3 ha on average.

Zhejiang province in the eastern, coastal region of China has been the pioneer forland transfer in China with nearly half of rural household agricultural land pooledfor leasing as of 2016 . Other practices such as programs of urbanization , andbuilding new, rural infrastructure has also facilitated farm upscaling by allocatingthe dispersed households to a centralized community and physically connecting thedispersed land holdings.

Farming operations at larger scale facilitate the adoption of uniform practices,technology and mechanization, and reduce costs. For example, labour costs accountfor up to 51% of the total cost of cotton production in Xinjiang AutonomousRegion , but mechanization largely reduces the effects of labour shortages,decreases labour costs, decreases the overall costs of production, and therebyincreases profits ; this is also true for rice production (Figure 3). Large-scalefarming operations in combination with mechanization improve efficiency andagricultural competitiveness in the global market, facilitate government regulationof food quality and safety for consumers, and are also the prerequisites forprecision agriculture and contract farming .

However, perverse economic incentives, high land rent, and land tenure lawsimposed by governments that reward professional farmers exploiting the land forshort-term profits such as growing cash crops , may result in many cereal fieldsbeing converted to cash crops or other profit-driven uses and threaten foodsecurity.

In addition, there have been substantial increases in the number of companies andindividuals leasing large tracts of farmland in rural China. This external investmentin agriculture may bring major benefits in crop production and processing, but it isimportant that the rights and welfare of the existing resource users and tenants areproperly addressed . Therefore, comprehensive and appropriate land-use planningand legal restrictions on changes to land use should be strictly applied.

Instead of subcontracting farmland out, many agricultural cooperatives known asfarmer professional cooperatives (FPCs) or farmers’ specialized cooperatives havebeen intensively promoted with the aim of increasing the economic welfare ofsmallholder farmers in developing countries.

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A FPC is a local autonomous organization or collective organized and managed byvoluntary farm operators/villagers/shareholders or by village authorities. The FPCsvary in number of members, operating strategies and types of agricultural products.

Although FPCs were established to help smallholder farmers take advantage ofmarketing opportunities (e.g., bargaining power, transaction costs, agri-food safetyand quality standards) , recent studies have shown mixed outcomes of the FPCs.

Some studies have reported positive and statistically-significant impact of FPCs onyields, net farm returns, and household income , while many studies haveshown insignificant improvement in household welfare by the FPCs compared tonon-participants . It seems that the effective FPCs are mostly associated withproduction of higher value cash crops, fruits and animal breeding.

1. 1. Change of farming from a means oflivelihood to a profession

The quantity and quality of employees largely determines the success of anindustry, including agriculture.

Farmers need to be adequately trained before running large-scale farms. In additionto the 9-year compulsory education and improved education resources in ruralschools, many hands-on training programs have been developed across the countryto educate farmers with the necessary farming technologies and market/businessskills.

For example, programs at the Northwest Agriculture & Forestry University (NWAFU)in Yangling, China, have trained thousands of agricultural technologists, farmersreturning to rural areas after working in the city, and college students to beprofessional farm operators.

Farmers attending these professional training programs are screened for a specifiededucation threshold and therefore are better educated than that of traditionalsmallholder farmers in China . However, the training programs are often short-term (e.g., < 3 ~ 6 months) and farmers will be left behind unless they participate incontinuing education to keep up with advancing science and technology inagriculture.

Most participants in the training programs are open-minded and enthusiastic aboutagriculture and are willing to adapt to economic/market orientated agriculture andadopt new technologies to increase profitability . It should be acknowledged thatthese training programs are still in the early stages of development and couldbenefit from access to well-developed programs in western countries.

For example, the training and development program for beginning farmers in theUnited States of America addresses the critical needs of new farmers/ranchers withlocal and regional training, education, outreach, and technical skills required tooperate a farm .

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1. 1. Enhanced scientific research andextension services in agriculturesectors

The Chinese government has been increasing research funding in many areasincluding agriculture and environment .

Higher education programs in agriculture at universities and research institutions atnational and provincial levels generally have the infrastructure and faculty membersto regularly produce high quality graduates and postgraduates.

To support knowledge and technology transfer since the 1990s the Chinesegovernment has funded over 12,000 research demonstrations nationwide for crop-and soil-management practices (e.g., amount and timing of crop demands on water,nutrients, solar energy, soil properties, planting dates and density, precisionagriculture , and reduced fertilizer use to economically-optimal levels whilemaintaining yields) .

University faculties and student-based extension programs developed by the ChinaAgriculture University (CAU) and NWAFU have assisted with knowledge andtechnology transfer to local farmers for increased agricultural production .

For instance, the “Science and Technology Backyard Platform” initiated by CAU hasagricultural scientists living in the villages, while the NWAFU program usesagricultural scientists from the university, extension technologists from government,local experienced farmers, and agricultural companies to advance participatoryinnovation and technology transfer in support of farmers.

These extension programs, together with demonstration plots, create pathways forcommunication among farmers, farming educators, and researchers, and also allowfarmers to make more informed decisions about trade-offs, risks and livelihoodstrategies , but scale-up is still an issue. In addition, the government hasreactivated the nation-wide agricultural extension service and seed-fertilizer-distribution agencies network (over 126,000 township-based agencies with over850,000 agency officers in 2007), but the science and technology skills of the localextension professionals should also be updated so as to better serve farmers.

Recent reforms in scientific research and development funding from the Ministry ofScience and Technology of China place equal importance on extension of theresearch as well as the research itself, which was not a requirement in the past.

1. 1. Transformation to ecologically-sustainable agricultural practices

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Management practices that result in cycled nutrients (i.e., from soil to crop tolivestock and back to agricultural soil as animal manure) are required to reduce theneed for fertilizers, but care is required in order to maintain food safety and preventthe occurrence and spread of livestock pathogens to humans from the use ofanimal manures.

Integrated pest management practices, including greater use of natural enemies(biological control), crop diversity, and biotechnology to better control croppathogens and pests are also needed .

In 2012, the government invested CNY 1.5 billion (~USD 220 million in 2018) for soiltesting services to improve the timing and amount of fertilizer applications , whilein 2015, China launched a plan [CNY 2.5 billion (nearly USD 400 million in 2018) infunding] to maintain present yields with zero-growth of chemical fertilizer andpesticide use by 2020.

Because of overuse of fertilizers, “Less input, more output” can be achieved byapplying results from experimental plots and farmers’ fields as demonstrated inTaihu and North China Plain regions where yields were maintained with 30% to 60%less fertilizer application by increased fertilizer-use efficiency . In manyindustrialized countries such as the UK, grain yields have increased despite reducedchemical use since the mid-1980s .

However, adoption of “Less input, more output” by farmers is still slow because oftradition and the price-support schemes. The reduced use of chemicals can reducepollution of soil , water and air and decrease risks threatening human andanimal health .

Other strategies taken to produce more grain with lower environmental costs andto enhance efficiency in time and energy include zero or minimum tillage toincrease soil organic carbon and reduce soil disturbance, integrated pestmanagement to lower chemical use, water conservation strategies via mulching andsupplemental irrigation ,and appropriate selection of fallow and crop rotationpractices based on long-term studies . In 2016, several programs and subsidieswere initiated to promote fallow and crop rotation systems; starting with over 0.4Mha in the program in 2016, this doubled to 0.8 Mha in 2017, and aims to reach 3Mha (

Large subsidy programs. China is running the largest agricultural subsidy programin the world in terms of the total budget . From the early 2000s, farmers have beensubsidized according to the size of their holding because of concerns about foodsecurity and farmers’ incomes .

Subsidies are available for purchase of productive and high quality seed grain,animals, agricultural machinery, investment in infrastructure such as farm-to-market road networks, commodity markets, water storage and diversion channels,storage facilities, marketing assistance and crop insurance. Although subsidyprograms have played a significant role in improving farmer income, associatedshortcomings such as the unbalanced supply-demand structure and excessive useof chemicals have become apparent.

Poverty alleviation programs. The government has implemented a set of actionsand plans to increase farmer income and alleviate poverty, with the goal of doublingfarmer income between 2010-2020 .

Based on the 2010 poverty threshold of an annual income equal to or less than CNY2300 or US$ 328 per capita (< US$ 1 day ), China was the first developing country tomeet the UN Millennium Development Goals to reduce poverty by half by the end of2017 to around 3% or 30.5 million .

Further, the percentage of the population considered malnourished fell from 24% in1992 to less than 10% in 2015 . These achievements in China are based on the2010 poverty threshold of

farmers’ fields) are to increase yields in farmers’ fields and/or to attempt the moredifficult aim of increasing the biophysical limits (yields constrained only by thebiophysical resources of light, carbon dioxide and water) .

Many of the mechanisms for increasing grain yields in farmers’ fields have beenalready mentioned, but there are technological advances that could now, or in thefuture, benefit farmers in China. Improvements to enhance the efficient andeffective use of: (1) water (e.g., water-saving agriculture using technologies such asdrip irrigation or plastic-film mulch) and nutrients (e.g., micro-dosing or multiple-time dosing ), (2) new organic fertilizer or manuring systems , and (3) “precisionagriculture” (technologies that combine enhanced machinery, sensors, informationsystems, and management practices to account for soil and plant variability acrossthe fields to optimize productivity) .

Other technologies and soil health management options , such as: (4) plantgrowth-promoting rhizobacteria (soil bacteria that colonize the roots of plants andthat enhance plant growth following inoculation of the seed) and (5) psychrotrophicmicrobiomes (able to produce plant-growth promoting attributes includingammonia, hydrogen cyanide, indole-3-acetic acid, and siderophores; solubilizationof phosphorus, potassium, and zinc; 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate deaminaseactivity and (6) biocontrol activity against plant pathogenic microbes) to improveplant growth, soil quality and fertility, and also increase yields and quality.

In addition, the ubiquitous mobile phone and well-developed online business/e-commerce platforms address old agricultural problems in new ways. They aretransforming people’s access to market information and financial services by betterlinking farmers to processors, retailers, consumers and the market both in Chinaand overseas.

Biophysical limits can be increased through new breeding technologies orgenetically-modified crops . Technologies such as whole-genome sequencing,gene-editing and phenotyping platforms are available to speed up the breeding ofnew crop cultivars with better pest- and drought-resistance and higher yields.

Finally, because China is home to different climatic zones from humid to arid, itmakes sense to implement different practices according to local conditions. Forexample, 56% of China’s farmland is not irrigated , mostly in north-west China,while excess water for agriculture is available in areas of southern China. Exploitingthe full potential of rainfed or dryland agriculture will require targeted research andpolicy development for specific regions .

Funding for this study was provided in part by the National Key Research andDevelopment Program of China (No. 2017YFD0200205), the National NaturalScience Foundation of China (No. 41501231 and 41877015), China PostdoctoralScience Foundation (2018M641024), the Key Laboratory of Resource Biology andBiotechnology in Western China (Northwest University, No. ZSK2017005), the West

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Light Foundation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (for Yang Liu), the State KeyLaboratory of Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming on the Loess Plateau (A314021402-1913), and the 111 Project from the Ministry of Education of China (No. B12007).

Special thanks go to Dr. John Richard Schrock for his valuable comments. Anyopinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this materialare those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the fundingagencies or government.

Author Contributions: H.H., Y.L., B.S., M.D., N.T. and J. L. wrote and commented onthe manuscript.

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Figures

Figure 1. Agriculture in China: change of the planted area and production of cereals from 1949 to2017 . Cereals include maize, rice, wheat, barley, sorghum, buckwheat, oats, beans, and potato.

Table 1. Average household farmland in selected countries/regions

15

Figure2+ Total amounts of chemical fertilizer use (left) and pesticide use (right) by the world(blue line) and by China (red line) . The histograms give the annual amounts of nitrogen(blue), phosphorus (yellow), potassium (red) and compound (green) fertilizers used.

Figure 3. A comparison of farming practices in small-scale rice farming (left, online source) andon a consolidated farm (right, online source). The ridges between the paddy field parcelsare theboundaries of rice paddies under different management. Many laborers are required fortransplanting the seedlings raised in rice nurseries, while large fields and mechanization are muchmore labour efficient.

15,40

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" 22nd March 2019

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