In the new period, great changes have taken place in the social and economic environment both at home and abroad, and hence new requirements have been put forward for the national food security strategy. Rethinking and resolving a series of new problems and new changes of food security under the new situation not only helps deepen the understanding of food security system, but also has positive significance to promote the upgrade of agricultural industry and rural development under the background of supply-side structural reform. At present, food security in China falls into a strange circle, which is the coexistence of excessive production, import, inventory, subsidy and waste. There are large differences in understanding and viewpoints on food security issues among different disciplines such as traditional agricultural school, economic school and resource environment school, which reflects the complexity of food security issues. In the meantime, the concept and connotation of food security, from emphasizing the amount of food basic supply to the individual purchase ability in the market, and to the quality of life and the ability to resist risks, are constantly enriched and extended. It is the inevitable choice and demand of social and economic development. Faced with a new era, under the background of the periodic and structural oversupply of grain in our country, it is imperative to build a new food security strategy of “nutrition, green, diversity, and openness” in our country on the basis of grasping the connotation and characteristics of China’s food security.

Food is one of the basic human needs. Achieving food security is one of the important goals of “The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”. However, there is lack of system review of mutual influence between safeguarding food security and global climate change. Accordingly, this paper reports a critical review of the existing researches related to interactions between ensuring food security and global climate change. Effects of global climate change on the food system, impacts of ensuring food security on global climate change and adapting food security strategies against global climate change were systematically reviewed. The results indicated that, firstly, global climate change had increased uncertainty in the food system which had great impact on China’s food production. Secondly, demand for food was one of the main drivers of global climate change, and the reconfiguration of crop production elements exacerbated global climate change. Thirdly, a synthetic approach is required for food security adaption strategies against global climate change, specifically, in the micro-level promoting technological progress and scientific management, in the meso-level strengthening resources and environment protection, and in the macro-level adhering to the laws of market and improving food policy system. Moreover, under the background of global climate change, research on ensuring food security presents two major trends: one is the change from single discipline, one dimension and single means into multi-disciplinary, multi-scale, multi-factor, comprehensive and integrated approach; the other is to turn a high-carbon food system into a low-carbon and high-efficient food system.

This paper analyzes global agriculture trade and its evolution with complex network methods. Using international trade data during 1986-2013, we selected 57 kinds of agricultural products belonging to six major categories of cereals, oil crops, sugars, fibers, fruits, vegetables and meats, and constructed trade network of international agricultural products at different periods. The evolution trend and current situation of global agriculture trade were quantitatively analyzed. The results show that total trade of international agricultural products increased 2.26 times during 1986-2013. Oil crops had the maximum growth which increased 4.97 times. The number of global agricultural import and export countries involved in agricultural trade network was increasing. By fitting the cumulative distribution function curve of nodes’ degree in the trade network, we can find that the distribution of nodes’ degree satisfies power-law distribution that a majority of nodes have small degree while only a few nodes have large degree. The hub nodes continuously grew up. The density of global agricultural trade network rose while the average path length declined, and the trend of diversification strengthened. The agricultural products import of China depended on a few countries and thus there is potential risk of agricultural products import. On one hand, our country should enlarge opening to extend the source of import and make full use of international resources; on the other hand, it is necessary to strengthen the agricultural foundation and improve the comprehensive production capacity so that we can prevent risks and ensure national food security more efficiently.

About 60% of people in China rely on rice as a staple food, illustrating the important role of paddy in safeguarding national grain security. So the accurate understanding of paddy consumption and supply-demand balance is very important. Previous estimates have focused on paddy rice consumption, but few have studied the regional and historical changes in the supply-demand balance. In this study, we studied the changes of amount and structure of paddy consumption in China during 2000-2014 based on statistic data in different paddy end-use sectors (food, industrial, feed, seed) and different provinces. We calculated the actual edible rice consumption based on urban and rural population and edible rice per capita, estimated the industrial paddy consumption based on the outputs and paddy usage coefficient of food industry products, no-food industry products, computed the feed paddy consumption based on the production of pigs and poultry products and the grain ratios of feed to meet, and calculated the seed paddy consumption based on the seeding area and the seed consumption per hectare. The results are: 1) Per capita apparent consumption of paddy in China was significantly higher than that in other countries and the world average. 2) During the period of 2000-2014, the supply-demand balance of paddy has gradually turned from tight relation and even shortage of supply in some years into a surplus of supply. 3) Most of paddy was consumed as edible grain, but the proportion has decreased significantly and the proportion of industrial and feed consumption has increased. 4) In 2014, China’s paddy stock-consumption ratio was nearly 70%, and the stock increased by 2.72 times in the past ten years. 5) Two thirds of the provinces in China were difficult to reach self-sufficiency in paddy supply in 2014. Ten provinces were self-sufficient, but only five provinces of them were more than 3.0 million tons surplus. Policy implications of these findings are consequently discussed, including firmly advancing market-oriented reform of paddy and strengthening research on the mechanism of inter-provincial grain supply chain.

Along with the rapid development of China’s economy and urbanization, people’s living standard improves continuously. More and more people are switching from grains to animal foods, such as meat, poultry, egg, fish and milk products. Now, China is the world’s top consumer of meat and grain. China’s feed grain consumption is large and it increases rapidly, which has become the primary factor of food security. Therefore, it is of great practical significance to accurately determine the characteristics of regional supply and demand balance of feed grain in China, which can help formulate relevant policies of agriculture. Based on the analysis of grain conversion coefficient of livestock products at provincial level, this paper examined the statue and causes of regional supply and demand equilibrium of feed grain. The results showed that: 1) China’s feed grain consumption increased rapidly in recent years, from 21 730×10⁴ t in 2000 to 30 549×10⁴ t in 2015. 2) Pig raising was the main part of feed grain consumption in China which accounted for 44.4% of the total consumption in 2015. It was followed by eggs and poultry consumption whose proportions were 15.8% and 12.7%, respectively. The feed consumption of dairy cows, beef cattle, mutton sheep and aquaculture was low and the proportions were between 5%-9%. 3) The shortage of feed grain in China was 4 276×10⁴ t in 2015. There was a feed grains surplus in the north and a terrible shortage in the south. Heilongjiang, Jilin and Inner Mongolia in northeast of China have become China’s most important feed grain supply area. The phenomenon of “sending grains from the north to the south” is rational allocation of grain resources from the perspective of food conversion coefficient and feeding structure. This paper provides three policy recommendations: 1) According to the experience of developed countries, Chinese consumption of beef and dairy products is small. In 2015, per capita milk consumption was only one-third of the national recommended volume. So it is suggested that more beef and milk products should be produced and consumed. 2) The agricultural production in China has been following the policy of “taking grain as the key link” for a long time. China’s agriculture should be switched from grain-oriented planting structure to three-element structure that mainly contains grain crops, commercial crops and forage crops. 3) In the past, China’s food security relied more on domestic grain production and ignored the international market. Our land and water resources were all exploited to meet the growing demands of agricultural products. To ensure the food security and preserve the environment, we should make full use of the international market and develop agricultural trades with more countries.

Food consumption is the basic content of household consumption. The study obtained the first-hand data of 207 rural households food consumption in Shandong Province which is one of the main grain producing areas in China by field research for three days tracking weighing based on stratified sampling nearly one month. The structure and characteristics of food consumption of rural households in typical areas of China at this stage are quantitatively analyzed and the characteristics of residents’ food consumption in different regions, income levels and family sizes are compared. The result indicated that: 1) Vegetables occupy the highest proportion (41.0%) in the food consumption of rural households in Shandong, while the main consumption of grain is flour and its products (59.0%) and the main consumption of meat is pork (71.9%). 2) In three cases, compared with Dezhou city and Weifang city, the consumption of non-grain food like drinks, cooking oil and condiments in Jinan city is higher while the consumption of grain is relatively lower; families with higher incomes consume less vegetables, flour and other grain, condiments and cooking oil and consume more meat, fruits, aquatic products and milk. Households with smaller populations consume more food per capita than larger households. 3) Comparing the proposed food intake data with the balanced pagoda recommended to Chinese residents by the Chinese Nutrition Society, we found that cooking oil and salt consumed by residents in rural areas in Shandong was slightly higher and consumption of milk and dairy products, aquatic products, eggs and fruits were obviously inadequate. Under the new era of rural revitalization background, improving the food consumption structure of rural residents and their nutrition level are the most basic and urgent tasks for improving living standards in rural areas. This study provides a reference for further improving the accurate acquisition of the basic data of Chinese residents’ food consumption needs and provides a scientific basis for the formulation of relevant policies.

Food is highly related to the national security and people’s livelihood. The efficient supply of food depends on the efficient operation of the whole food system. At present, domestic research on food system is rare, therefore, systematically sorting out the research progress abroad can provide a good reference for China’s food system research. In order to better grasp the research context of the food system, this paper studies foreign food system research literature by document analysis. Relevant theories, methods and main research fields of food system research are summarized and analyzed. Food system is the organic integration of economic, social, and ecological sustainable development consisting of the interaction of subsystems such as production, processing, distribution, consumption, and waste disposal based on the elements of material, capital, technology, culture, and political system. Food Footprint, GIS Analysis, Food Domain Analysis, Stakeholder Analysis, Life Cycle Theory, Elasticity Theory, Food Landscape and Scenario Analysis are the most commonly used methods in food system study. Focusing on the research content, globalization and localization of food systems, food system planning, resources and environmental effects on the food system, food safety and policy research are systematically reviewed. Based on the study of food system research abroad and existing research foundations and social needs in China, the focuses of China’s food system research are proposed, including empirical studies on food systems at different scales, interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research, the design of quantitative index systems for food systems, the impact of technological innovation on food systems, and research on stakeholders in food systems, etc.

Food security ensures anybody can get enough food for survival and health at any time. During 2015-2050, the potential of domestic agricultural resources is close to the limit, and the overall plan of China’s food security need change. Food security means nutrition security at the individual level and the food availability, including food production and food imports, at the national level. The paper analyzed the balance between grain supply and demand during 2015-2050 in context of personal nutrition security and national food availability in China. The results of analysis showed that, in case of maintaining the existing grain production capacity, the total grain security degree is 110.88%-117.49%, the food grain security degree reaches 158.57%-168.02%, and the feed grain security degree is 79.41%-84.15%. This situation provides a tolerance space to achieve dynamic equilibrium of supply and demand of grain in grain market, also an opportunity for national food policy adjustment. In order to establish food security system in the new period to ensure the general balance of supply and demand of grain in China, the paper suggests: 1) to make regulations of basic farmland to maintain sustainable grain production capacity at the resources side; 2) to gradually develop larger professional grain production entities at the production side; 3) to make full use of modern network technology and electronic business model to develop modern national and regional as well as international market system of grain; and 4) to adjust the structure and size of grain reserves.

Grain subsidy policy is an important measure to ensure grain production, farmers’ income and national food security. In order to provide a reference for the government to improve the present grain subsidy policies, this paper analyzed the general features of grain subsidy policies over the past 63 years extending from 1953 to 2016, and explored the details of the policy changes by dividing the history of grain subsidy into three phases. Meanwhile, the spatial and temporal changes of subsidy policies in four procedures, i.e. grain production, grain processing, grain storage and market sales were analyzed. It is found that the categories, the objects, the scope and the goal of the grain subsidy policy changed greatly during the initial phase (1953-1978), the adjustment phase (1979-2003) and the reform and development phase (2004-2016). The subsidy funds have been increasing over the past years though there are regional variations. The grain subsidy tended to support the main producing areas and economically developed areas more. Problems in current grain subsidy policies in China are mainly reflected in the following aspects: the gap between the goal and the real effect, the identification and clarification of the objects and scope of the subsidy, the structure and component of the subsidy, the role and influence of the policy, and the farmers’ awareness and perception of the subsidy policy. This study attempts to serve as a reference to improve grain subsidy policy making and increase the effectiveness of the implementation.

China has become a major importer of agricultural products. Arable land resource is implicit in agricultural products. This paper aims to study the pattern of agricultural products trade and external dependence based on the analysis of virtual land resources of agricultural products. The agricultural products discussed in this paper are mainly land resources intensive products, including seven categories (grain, oil, cassava,vegetable oil, cotton, sugar and feed meal), comprising of 24 specific varieties. This study analyzed and evaluated the virtual land resources from the consumer’s perspective based on the trade data from 2000 to 2016. The results showed that Chinese virtual land resources import has increased from 675×10⁴ hm² in 2000 to 5 928 ×10⁴ hm² in 2016. The USA and Brazil are the largest exporting country to China, the exported volume increased from 342×10⁴ and 146×10⁴ hm² to 2 101×10⁴ hm² and 2 192×10⁴ hm² respectively, accounting for more than 70% of the total import of virtual arable land. The external dependence of agricultural land in China reached 30.5% in 2016, accordingly the dependence on Brazil and USA being 11.3% and 10.8%. The large quantities of land intensive agricultural products import alleviate the pressure of being short of arable land resource in our country to a certain extent, and ensure food security.

Government has paid much attention to grain security, especially to grain production security. The grain subsidy has encouraged the farmers to produce more and more grain. In recent years, the grain occupation has been much more than the grain demand, which leads to great pressure on grain stock. The grain subsidy is unsustainable. It is necessary to calculate the grain consumption in order to determine the relationship between grain occupation and grain consumption and develop grain security system. In this study, we calculated the actually edible grain consumption based on the urban and rural population and the edible grain per capita, estimated the industrial grain consumption based on the outputs of grain industry products and the grain coefficient for each grain industrial product, computed the feed grain consumption based on the production of meat, beef, mutton, egg, milk and aquaculture products and the ratios of feed to meat, calculated the seed grain consumption based on the seeding area and the seed consumption per hectare, and estimated the grain loss as 5% of the grain production. The ideal edible and feed grain consumption in balanced diet was calculated based on “Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents (2016)” with urban and rural population and their edible grain per capita. The total ideal grain consumption in balanced diet were obtained by combining the ideally edible and feed grain consumption, the actual industrial and seed grain consumption, and grain loss. The results indicated that: 1) In 2013, most of rice, wheat, maize and potato were supported domestically, while the soybean occupation mainly depended on imports. 2) Most of rice and wheat were consumed as edible grain. The consumptions of maize and soybean were mainly used for feed grain. Potato was mainly used in industrial production and feed. In balanced diet, the edible consumption of potato and soybean increased apparently. 3) The grain occupations were much higher than the consumptions, while the soybean occupation was close to soybean consumption. 4) The consumption of rice and wheat in productions were much more than as edible grain. Only 39% of current rice and wheat production could meet the edible grain consumption in balance diet and 59% of current rice production and 43% of current wheat production could meet the actually edible grain consumption. Considering the grain security index of 1.2, 71% of current rice production and 52% of current wheat production could meet the actually edible grain consumption. In the future, government should pay more attention to the edible grain production of rice and wheat, develop supervisory system and provide financial and technical support for production, transportation, storage and trading of rice and wheat. The rice and wheat in industrial product, feed and seed and other consumption should be regulated by market, supplemented by government guidance and technical support. Thus, it would be helpful for the sustainability of the grain production and consumption.