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Agriculture

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  • Today, China produces 18% of the world’s cereal grains, 29% of the world’s meat, and 50% of the world’s vegetables. 
  • China is the world’s largest agricultural economy, and it ranks as the largest global producer of pork, wheat, rice, tea, cotton, and fish 
  • The value of China’s agricultural output is twice the U.S. total. 
  • China dramatically increased its trade dependence in agriculture, and it is currently the fifth largest exporter and fourth largest importer of agricultural products in the world.
  • China’s substantial increase in fruit and vegetable production was a major factor  behind its agricultural export growth.
  • China is the world’s largest importer of soybeans and cotton, accounting for 60% of global soybean imports and 40% of cotton imports.
  • China’s chemical fertilizer use has roughly doubled over the past two decades while pesticide use and mechanized inputs have increased even faster.
  • China has slightly less agricultural land than the United States, but its chemical fertilizer use is now double that of the United States. China uses about one-third of the world’s nitrogen fertilizer and 31% of phosphate fertilizer on its 9% share of the world’s agricultural land. Unfortunately, the strong growth in chemical input use has resulted in considerable agricultural pollution.