Contemporary Issues, 2nd prize
Feeding China
George Steinmetz
24 June, 2016
A network of sea cucumber pens share Yantai Harbor with an industrial shipyard where oil-drilling platforms are being built. With limited arable land, China turns to the sea to help meet food needs.
Rapidly rising incomes in China have led to a changing diet and increasing demand for meat, dairy and processed foods. China needs to make use of some 12 percent of the world’s arable land to feed nearly 19% of the global population.
New technologies and agricultural reform offer a partial solution, but problems remain as farmers and the young flock to work in cities, leaving an aging rural population, and as land becomes contaminated by industry.
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