Language: English
Published on: 2004-01
Hardcover
Three major concerns face the world in the next 50 years: food, natural resources and the environment. Agriculture holds the key to resolve all of these, especially in China. Rapid economic growth has brought immense changes in China over the past three decades. In 2002 , China was second only to the United States in purchasing power parity (PPP). China will surpass the purchasing power of the United States in 2023 if both countries maintain their current growth rates. By the same token, China’s per capita GDP will equal that of today’s Japan by 2050. China has the capacity to surpass these goals if it can address key social issues and agricultural policy, harness and direct the power of education, science and technology and conserve its natural resources.
Looking toward 2050, even assuming that the Chinese population levels off at 1.6 billion, demand for food, feed and fiber is set to double, but the amount of arable land will fall by one-fifth. Current technology will be unable to sustain the production increases of the past 50 years. China can and must act now to meet this challenge and search for new approaches to sustainable agricultural production. A new vision is required that promotes agriculture as a positive economic, social and environmental force.
Part 1. Macro-Setting
1.China and World Agriculture in the 21st Century
2.The Three Transformations of Chinese Agriculture: Two Past, One Present
3.Education in China’s Agricultural Universities in the New Century
4.Agricultural Science and Technology in China: Past, Present and Future
5.The New Rural China 2050: More than Agriculture
6.The Macro-Setting in Which Agriculture Functions
7.Xinjiang: The California of China
8.China and the World: Population, Food and Resource Scarcity
9.On the Tibet-to-North Water Transfer Project
Part 2. Policy, Economics and Society
1.Projections of China’s Agricultural Economy Toward the 21st Century
2.Restructuring China’s Rural Economy
3.China’s Agricultural Policy: Past, Recent Developments and Future Alternatives
4.Rural/Agricultural Income: Past, Present and Prospects
5.Developing International Cooperation in the University System for Agricultural Development
6.China’s Water and Food: An Outlook to the Future
7.Regional Inequality in China: A Challenge in the New Millennium
8.Agricultural Research and Food Security in China
9.Softening the Impact of reform Adjustments: China’s Experience
10.Emerging Markets and Evolving Institutions in China’s Rural Economy
11.Enabling China’s Agri-Food Sector: Responding to Challenges with Foresight, Infrastructure and Institutional and Enterprise Reform
Part 3. Science and Technology
1.Chinese Prataculture: A Vision for 2050
2.Vision of Agricultural Biotechnology in China in 2050
3.Accelerating Genetic Improvement of China’s Dairy Population by Importing Advanced Genetic and Management Resources
4.Enhancing and Preserving the Health Benefits of China’s Horticultural Wealth
5.Sustainable Water and Soil Management: Form Problem Solving to a Holistic Appreciation
6.The Potential of Precision Agriculture in China: The Vision of Pierre Robert
7.Standardization: The Key to Modernization of Traditional Chinese Medicine
8.Ecological Agriculture: A Chinese Approach to Sustainable Intensive Agriculture
Part 4. Vision from Industry
1.Beyond the Boundaries: Hand in Hand Toward Sustainable Agriculture in China
2.Agriculture of China in 2050: A Vision from the Public Perspective
Part 5. Perspectives of the Youth and Farmers
1.China’s Agriculture in 2050: Perspectives of the Youth (1)
2.China’s Agriculture in 2050: Perspectives of the Youth (2)
