July 24, 2024 - St. Louis, Missouri
For the first time since its inception, the 4th Annual U.S.-China Agriculture Roundtable was held in China from June 7th to 12th. Co-organized by the United States Heartland China Association (USHCA) and multiple Chinese partners, this broad-based bilateral agricultural platform drew senior leaders spanning government, trade, business, education, and think tanks from both countries to convene around the theme: Global Food Security and Agricultural Cooperation. Major American agriculture players and producers of soy, rice, corn, sorghum, dairy, and beef from 9 different states were among those who traveled to China to participate.
First launched in 2021, the annual U.S.-China Agriculture Roundtable honors three legendary agriculture scientists who made significant contributions to our world: Norman Borlaug, Yuan Longping, and George Washington Carver. USHCA launched the first U.S.-China Agriculture Roundtable virtually with the belief that U.S.-China cooperation is essential for our planet to successfully deal with the critical global challenges of our time.
“I’d like to express my appreciation to all the participants in today’s Roundtable, as you look to facilitate cooperation in agriculture to support our mutual goals of food security, climate smart agriculture, and of course trade facilitation. Agriculture has been a real stabilizing force in the U.S.-China relationship. It's an area where we need to continue to cooperate on both food security and sustainability. The U.S.-China bilateral relationship overall is the most consequential for our country, and it's going to play a significant part in affecting the course and history of the 21st century."
“Our gathering today underscores the critical importance of U.S.-China cooperation in agriculture. As two of the world's largest agricultural producers, our collaboration is not just beneficial—it is essential. The challenges we face are immense and global in nature: food security, climate change, and the need for sustainable agricultural practices are pressing issues that demand our collective action and ingenuity.”
USHCA wishes to thank the many partners, co-organizers, hosts, attendees, and agriculture leaders from both countries for their support and participation, and for making the 4th U.S.-China Agriculture Roundtable a success. American sponsors and supporters for this year’s Agricultural Roundtable included U.S. Soybean Export Council, Bayer, U.S. Grains Council, Continental Grains, Smithfield, Syngenta, Genective, and Marathon Ginseng. USHCA is also grateful for the general support of our organization by the Ford Foundation, Henry Luce Foundation, and Carnegie Corporation of New York, which enabled the planning and execution of this special program.
“It is important for colleagues from China and from the U.S. to come together to discuss topics of mutual interest, and opportunities for collaboration, but also to reaffirm our desire to work together as partners and like-minded people who are interested in advancing this long-term relationship in mutually beneficial ways. "
As in previous years, this year’s Agriculture Roundtable included 3 segments:
- Opening Celebration / Trade & Business Dialogue hosted by Shandong province, the #1 Ag province of China
- Ag Education Dialogue hosted by China Agricultural University
- Think Tank Dialogue hosted by Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
Months before the event took place in China, USHCA Chairman & President, former governor of Missouri Bob Holden wrote to Chinese President Xi Jinping about this upcoming Agriculture Roundtable. Inspired by President’s Xi’s call for more people-to-people exchanges and invitation for 50,000 American youth to visit China in the next 5 years at the special reception and dinner in his honor last November in San Francisco, USHCA planned to expand the participants of this annual event to include more diverse agriculture stakeholders and students, Governor Holden shared in his letter.
Following a very positive and encouraging reply from Chinese President Xi Jinping, USHCA proceeded to organize 2 special delegations: the Ag & Food Business Delegation and the Ag Education Delegation to attend the event in China. The Ag & Food Business Delegation featured agribusiness representatives from 9 states across the Heartland, including Arkansas, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, South Dakota, Texas, comprising producers of soy, rice, corn, sorghum, dairy, and beef. The Ag Education Delegation independently visited three Chinese agricultural universities and a Provincial Academy of Agricultural Sciences. Student members were able to join their Chinese colleagues in broad discussions on agricultural and rural transitions, emphasizing the great benefits of student-to-student friendships. The delegation’s students represented eight 1890 land-grant universities. Also joining the education delegation were eight 1890 faculty members, the President of Kentucky State University and Dean of agriculture at Tuskegee University.
“It was great to meet and support rising agricultural leaders from U.S. 1890 land-grant institutions, U.S. agricultural businesses and entrepreneurs, and USDA commodity associations like the U.S. Soybean Export Council and U.S. Grains Council. The U.S. participants re-engaged and exchanged information in people-to-people and business-to-business ties. The U.S. agricultural industry has been working in China for over 40 years and I enjoyed seeing participants in Jinan as part of the agricultural business roundtable.”
“There is no more important educational and research collaboration that has occurred between China and the U.S. over the past century than that of Sino–U.S. higher education. The benefits for both China and the U.S. are countless and the impacts evident in the progress of both nations…The Ag Education Delegation was intentionally inclusive of 1890 US land-grant universities. These historically black higher education institutions and Chinese agricultural universities are well matched in collaborating on the great global issues associated with rural poverty, climate change, rapid technological changes among many others.”
Throughout the 3 dialogues, farmers, CEOs, students and experts not only underscored the uniquely complementary relationship around agriculture between the U.S. and China, a primary market for U.S. agricultural exports, but also expressed a strong desire in both countries to leverage the long history of pragmatic agricultural partnership to address shared global challenges such as global food security and climate change.
“These people to people, citizen diplomacy initiatives have never been more important… It is up to us non-governmental entities and sub-national organizations to propose and promote ideas for partnerships that can direct the official government to government relationship to calm, peaceful waters.”
“It’s wonderful that we have the participation and support of a wide spectrum of American Agriculture stakeholders at this event. They are not only working hard to protect and expand the global export market for our farmers but also doing their part to build peace through pragmatic agricultural collaborations,”
The 2024 U.S.-China Agriculture Roundtable generated meaningful outcomes, opening new possibilities for U.S.-China collaboration around agriculture at the province-state level. These outcomes included new MOUs signed between Shandong Province and American Agriculture trade associations, multiple MOUs between Chinese and American universities for agriculture education exchange programs, and new business opportunities for American producers.
The 4th Annual U.S.-China Agricultural Roundtable reinforced the ongoing agriculture partnership between China and the U.S. while elevating the importance of collaboration to tackle global challenges through sustainable practices, technological innovation, and educational exchanges. Amid global food security concerns, this collaboration serves as a vital demonstration of international cooperation to enhance global food stability and foster understanding. Given both the U.S. and China’s pivotal roles as leading agricultural producers, consumers, and importers, sustained dialogue between the two nations is crucial for shaping resilient food systems and protecting food security worldwide.
We look forward to continuing the momentum and further cultivating these relationships next year in the 5th Annual U.S.-China Agriculture Roundtable, to be held on American soil.
Congratulations to USHCA for a job well done!
Congratulations! These are exactly the kinds of interactions we need to begin to reduce the tensions between the US-China.
This is a step forward in collaboration that can encourage the US-China to collaborate for World Peace. Thank you.