Food and Agriculture

CEF Associate, Susan Chan Shifflett, Interviewed by the Guardian on China’s Food Security and Safety

For the past three decades an onslaught of urban development, desertification, and pollution has been eating away at China’s once-endless sprawl of tiny farms. China is facing radical challenge to feed its large population. “You have urbanization — people travel abroad,” says Susan Chan Shifflett, China Environment Forum’s associate. “They go to France, they see cheese, and they think, ‘why can’t I have brie in China?’ They’re changing their diets — meat consumption has quadrupled over the past 30 years.”

A Global Choke Point Report: China's Water-Energy-Food Roadmap

The water-energy-food nexus is creating a complicated challenge for China and the world. Energy development requires water. Moving and cleaning water requires energy. Food production at all stages—from irrigation to distribution—requires water and energy. As the most populous country and the world’s manufacturing hub, China demands all three resources in ever increasing amounts, leading to shortages that are creating serious choke points to the country’s development. Pressure on water is at the heart of these resource constraints facing China.

Food Security & Population Dynamics in the Sahel

Africa’s Sahel region is one of the most harsh environments on the planet with one of the highest birth rates as well. Food security, particularly when combined with population dynamics and the impact of climate change, is a monumental challenge. The Wilson Center’s Roger-Mark De Souza just returned from Niger, where he met with experts from a variety of countries for the purpose of identifying what works and what doesn’t. We discuss what he learned in this edition of Wilson Center NOW.

CEF Associate, Susan Chan Shifflett, Quoted by Politico on Future China-US Apple Trade

The USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is ramping up talks with China, the world’s largest producer of apples, to allow both countries to ship more of the produce item across borders. China produced roughly half of the world’s supply, but it is a much bigger consumer of apples than exporter, according to the USDA, and the country will likely ship mostly Fuji apples to the United States, which will not add up to much — about 10,000 tons per year. The U.S., meanwhile, is the world’s largest exporter of fresh apples.

Richard Fritz

From Farm to Roundtable: Innovative Partnerships to Improve China's Meat Supply Chains

The first amendments to China's Food Safety Law are likely to pass this year and they will bring new tracking and training systems, stricter health standards, and higher penalties for illegal production and management of food and food additives. To increase the efficiency, safety and sustainability of the country's food supply chains, especially meat, the Chinese government and industries also have expanded partnerships with international organizations.

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Bill Westman

Erin Simon

Scaling the Mountain: Women, Health, and the Environment in Nepal

From the mountains and foothills of the Himalayas to the Terai plains, climate change is rapidly changing life in Nepal. Many communities however, are not strangers to environmental stress; for decades, rapid population growth alongside agriculture and fuelwood collection have degraded land and diminished forests.