SHANGHAI, CHINA (JUNE 22, 2018) – Solutions from the Land (SfL) Co-Chairman Fred Yoder is joining National Association of Farm Broadcasting (NAFB) members and affiliated industry representatives on a two-week trip to China to get expert reaction to markets and agriculture there. Yoder will be sharing with producers, traders and government officials the benefits of implementing land management practices that can ensure increased, sustainable production that will remain resilient in the face of a changing climate. Read along with Fred’s journey here.
In his discussions, Yoder will emphasize the full range of goods and services that sustainably managed farms, forests and livestock operations can deliver from the land -food, feed, fiber, energy and a wide range of ecosystems services. He also will also share with Chinese agricultural leaders the merits of large landscape, working-lands conservation initiatives, as well as climate smart agriculture (CSA). Yoder also chairs the North American Climate Smart Agriculture Alliance.
“I believe there is substantial interest in China in the new land management model, in which agriculture, forestry and conservation take effective, collaborative steps toward facing 21st-century challenges,” Yoder said. “Rather than managing land through top-down silo programs designed to separately address individual objectives and challenges -be it food, fiber, clean water, energy, habitat, health, wildlife or biodiversity -the SfL model embraces an integrated approach, through which multiple stakeholders join forces to improve the resiliency of agricultural and forestry landscapes and deliver multiple goods and services.”
CSA strategies to be shared by Yoder include the use of agricultural landscapes to sequester carbon, and the promotion of practices that generate healthy soils, clean water and wildlife habitat, all while meeting a growing demand for the food needed for a global population that is expected to grow from a current 7.7 billion people to nearly 10 billion in 2050 and more than 11 billion by 2100.
Yoder acknowledged the ongoing trade dispute between the United States and China. However, he said the mission to the Asian giant brings with it an eye to the future and comes at a critical time when one of the world’s fastest growing agricultural economies will need to plan for optimal food, feed and fiber production in the face of increasingly harsh climactic conditions.
“What needs to be emphasized is adaptive management strategies, and the scope and magnitude of additional mitigation services that agriculture can deliver in China and go a long way toward meeting UN sustainable development goals,” Yoder said. He cited, as an example, the world body’s goal of protecting, restoring and promoting sustainable use of land-based ecosystems, sustainably managing forests, combating desertification, halting and reversing land degradation and halting the loss of biodiversity.
The group, which is being led by former Agriculture Secretary John Block, a member of SfL’s 25x’25 senior advisory board, landed in Shanghai today and will return to the United States July 4 after stops in Beijing, where members will meet with U.S. Ambassador (and former Iowa governor) Terry Branstad; and the major cities of Xi’an, Chengdu and Guangzhou, where the group will examine commerce conducted utilizing U.S. agricultural products.
The trip will end with a two-day stay in Hong Kong. There, the delegation will meet with Consul General Kurt Tong and get a briefing on the U.S. agriculture market there from Agriculture Trade Officer Alicia Hernandez. Briefings will also be offered by representatives of the U.S. Soybean Export Council, U.S. Meat Export Federation, U.S. Wheat Associates and the U.S. Poultry and Egg Export Council.
For additional information, contact SfL President Ernie Shea at 410-952-0123 or Eshea@SfLDialogue.net.
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Solutions from the Land (SfL)is a not-for-profit corporation focused on land-based solutions to global challenges. SfL’s mission is to identify and facilitate the implementation of policies, practices and projects at a landscape scale that will result in land being sustainably managed to produce food, feed, fiber and energy while protecting and improving critical environmental resources and delivering high value solutions to combat climate change. For more on Solutions from the Land, click HERE.
