Dim Sums: Agricultural Markets in China

China's corn farmers can expect to continue receiving their subsidy payments in the future as subsidies tied to acreage planted in specific crops become one of China's main subsidy strategies, according to a recent online article posted on numerous agricultural news sites in China. It is clearly tied to the amount of corn grown, unlike the first round of grain subsidies that began in 2004. The article provided answers to 10 questions to help farmers understand the corn subsidy payment. 1. Will this be the last year for the corn subsidy? A: This is the third year of the subsidy's 3-year trial, but it is likely to continue in future years. Indeed, it may become a common subsidy measure that covers all crops (it already covers corn, soybeans, and rice). 2. When is the land area for the corn producer subsidy verified? A: Each year by June 30. The subsidy funds are distributed by September 30. 3. How much is the subsidy? A: The amount varies by province and year. Dur...

China hopes its farms will eventually be run by machines who do the work and the thinking. The vision of unmanned Chinese farms is an astounding great leap from its present highly labor-intensive fragmented farming model. At a "fully automated agriculture" pilot kicked off last week in Jiangsu Province's Xinghua municipality, a central government official remarked that agricultural field work is rapidly becoming digitized, automated, and linked to the Internet as fusion sensors, precision navigation, artificial intelligence, cloud computing and big data increase in popularity. The pilot kick-off featured unmanned tractors, rice transplanters, pesticide applicators, and fertilization equipment. Many use sensors, controllers, and a Chinese satellite for navigation. The official said tractors on autopilot, intelligent drip irrigation, variable application of fertilizer and other new intelligent technologies are already in use by advanced countries like the Un...

China has waived inspection and quarantine requirements on a list of obscure animal feed ingredients, apparently as a strategy to reduce reliance on soybean meal as an ingredient in the country's feed industry. The move illustrates China's practice of manipulating such rules to manage trade. China's Administration of Customs 2018 Bulletin No. 51 announced that inspection and quarantine certificates will no longer be required for a list of 71 items as of June 1, 2018. The list includes 18 items that are by-products of agricultural processing used as animal feed--all but a few of the items under the broad Harmonized System (HS) category 23. The items include rapeseed meal, peanut meal, cottonseed meal, palm and coconut meal, fish meal, sugar beet and bean pulp, the residual from sugar cane processing, wine dregs, and feed additives. Other products on the list are obscure types of fats, oils and fibers, also residual material from ...

Last month Chinese officialdom decreed that imports of agricultural products from the United States are now a good thing, a reversal of past anxiety about unfair U.S. prices and threats to China's food security. A new round of tariff cuts scheduled for July 2018 backs up the rhetoric. A May 17 Economic Observer article by a Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs official proclaimed that "moderate imports" are a necessary feature of China's new stage of openness. With growing population, changing consumer demand, limited natural resources, and pollution constraints, agricultural imports are a necessity, the author said. He further asserted that agricultural imports do not conflict with domestic agricultural development as long as imports are steady, controlled, spread out over time, and spread over different sectors. New in this article is its blessing of agricultural imports from the United States. The Ag Ministry author acknowledges that the United States is ...