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.
