Summary of the 1st Independent Food System Dialogue (FSD) in China

China’s first independent Food System Dialogue (FSD) took place between 17:00 and 19:00 on
18th December in Beijing. Multiple stakeholders from universities, the government, research
institutes, organizations representing farmers, NGOs, private sectors, and other actors alike,
gathered virtually and on-site to provide substantial input and recommendations to the UN food
system Summit in 2021. More than 2,600 participated in the dialogue. This FSD, co-organized
by the Academy of Global Food Economics and Policy(AGFEP) of China Agricultural
University, National Academy of Agriculture Green Development of China Agricultural
University, World Resources Institute Food and Land Use Alliance (FOLU) and the Center for
Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD) of Zhejiang University, is the first time that
multiple stakeholders gather together in China to share their experiences of food systems, and
propose ways of building a more sustainable food system. Results from the dialogue will be used
as inputs for next year’s UN Food System Summit during the UN General Assembly.

Dr. Shenggen Fan, Dean of the Academy of Global Food Economics and Policy(AGFEP), China
Agricultural University and former Director General of the International Food Policy Research
Institute (IFPRI), chaired the dialogue. The discussion and recommendations by each participant
are summarized as below.

Dr. David Nabarro (the Curator of the Food System Dialogue and special envoy of the World
Health Organization (WHO)) pointed out that
• The food system has made big improvement and provide nutritious food to most human
beings, but the current food system faces many challenges.
• In some places, the food consumption leads to malnutrition and sickness, and in some
places, food production is damaging the environment. The food system contributes
probably 25% of greenhouse gas emissions. Many people are facing major stresses during
the COVID-19 pandemic.
• To get food system right, there must be a shift. In order to quickly shift the food system to
a good place. Structured multi-stakeholder dialogues and independent dialogue in all
nations are necessary.
• The food system dialogue (FSD) encourages the evolvement of all stakeholders to discuss
how the food system would impact the Sustainable Development Goals. David Nabarro
also encourages Chinese authorities to organize national dialogue in the coming months.

Dr. Fusuo Zhang (Academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE), Dean of CAU
Institute of Green Agricultural Development and Director) added
• To ensure food security and produce enough food with less inputs and lower environmental
costs, we need technological innovation and mechanisms innovation to improve
production efficiency, increase productivity, and reduce environmental pressure.
• How can we ensure that the food we produce makes a greater contribution to human
nutrition and health? Aside from higher production, improved efficiency, the production
sectors must think about the supply of nutrition.
• Coordination of production, human life, and ecology. In the future, our food system will
not only provide food produce, it will also be the foundation of our happy life. We must
 reshape our food system into a system in which humans live in harmony with nature, which
requires the collaboration of actors not only in natural sciences, but also in history, politics,
and economics.

Jianmin Xie (Deputy Direct-General of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of China)
discussed
• The food system in China should be transformed to a safer, more sustainable, fairer and
more resilient.
• Policies, technology and investment play an important role in ensuring food security.
• President Xi Jinping has announced that China will hold an International Food Loss and
Food Waste Conference next year. China will pay more attention to and promote the
solution of food waste and food loss problems.
• China's food system is resilient, which provides a solid foundation for dealing with
complex and sudden domestic and global challenges and has made important contributions
to the stable development of China's economy and society.
• China advocates that all countries in the world work together to maintain global food
security and fully support the preparations for the UN Food System Summit next year. The
independent dialogue held today can form relevant suggestions and provide useful
references for the summit.

Dr. Kevin Chen (Chair Professor of China Academy for Rural Development at Zhejiang
University and Senior Research Fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute
(IFPRI)) shared his views on China's nutrition security from four aspects,
• The nutritional status of Chinese residents is facing severe challenges. The intake of
salt and oil is excessive, and some people consume too much meat. The overweight and
obesity rate of adolescents is very high. At the same time, there are also A large number of
hidden hungry people have insufficient intake of trace elements, especially low-income
groups who lack iron and zinc.
• There is a general lack of specialized institutions to promote nutrition knowledge and
promote nutrition improvement in rural and urban communities, and it is suggested
that the agricultural, nutrition, and environmental departments should coordinate with
government to establish top-down mechanisms.
• Research and investment in nutrition is very insufficient. To improve food nutrition,
R&D and investment are necessary so that scientific researchers can carry out innovative
exploration to deal with nutrition safety.
• It is necessary to start with changing consumers’ behaviors and guiding them to develop
healthy habits.

Dr. Jianbo Shen (professor at the School of Resources and Environment of China Agricultural
University and deputy dean of the National Academy of Agriculture Green Development) shared
his views on sustainable food systems.
• The "Global Food System” had made many contributions to the development of the world
in the past. However, due to the lack of unified coordination among producers, consumers,
and various stakeholders, our food system faces many challenges. With global pandemic
this year, this dilemma has been exacerbated.
• The entire global food system is unsustainable, so it must be transformed. One of his recent
 articles proposes that in the next 25 or 50 years, the global sustainable food system should
develop in the direction of HERS, with H for healthier, E for fairer, R for more resilient,
and S for more sustainable. He also points out that economic policies and technological
innovation must work together to make more sustainable food system.

Yazhou Lu (Secretary-General National Rural Industry Integration and Development Alliance)

shared his views on the role of Small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) in the transformation
of the food system.
• SMEs are the key actors that directly connects government resources with farmers.
• To reshape the food system, the roles of SMEs should not be ignored.
• He concluded that SMEs help 1) ensure effective food supply so that we can afford and eat
well, 2) develop innovative functions to provide products with fewer resources, 3) guide
the transformation of consumption concepts,4) promote collective actions of the
government, universities, research institutions, enterprises, financial institutions, social
organizations, and the media.

Yi Jian (the founder of the Good Food Fund) believes that the transformation of the food system
has become the intersection of all the most urgent issues.
• If we can change the food system, we can focus on many sustainable development issues.
He believes that the current vigorous promotion of the transformation of the food system
is in a very favorable policy environment, which is a very rare historical opportunity.
• He introduced the work that the Good Food Fund has already done in promoting the
transformation of the food system, such as organizing the "Good Food Summit",
establishing the "Good Food Festival", organizing "Leadership Training" and other
activities to link the food system with many stakeholders, including agricultural producers,
university and research institute personnel, business operators and chefs, etc. Good Food
Fund has been deeply involved in publicizing and promoting sustainable diet, improving
human health, natural environment, etc. for many years and has achieved certain results.
• Jian Yi said that he himself is in charge of the action track of consumer transformation in
the five action tracks of the United Nations Food System Summit next year. He has already
done a lot of work and got some preliminary information and he will do more He also said
that today’s dialogue is very important and will help strengthen cooperation in various
fields to jointly promote the transformation of the food system.

Lin Xinyi (Executive Director of Agriculture and Sustainable Development of Pinduoduo

Group) shared her views on the Role of e-commerce platforms in the food system,
• As one of the emerging domestic agricultural e-commerce platforms, Pinduoduo
experienced the transition of lifestyles and the stimulated online consumption of
agricultural products travel restrictions, especially during the pandemic. Users are more
inclined to purchase agricultural products such as fresh fruits and vegetables online.
• Pinduoduo provides a seamless connection between producers and consumers for the
agricultural industry chain. In traditional circulation channels, farmers cannot receive user
demand information timely and are in a weak position in the market chain. Through the
new e-commerce platform, the original decentralized long-tail demand at the front end is
quickly aggregated into explosive demand within a short window, which is more in line
with the seasonal circulation characteristics of agricultural products. This can affect the
 production at the farmer side, and then at what price it will eventually be sold to consumers.
• Based on the application of new technologies such as distributed AI, consumers can use e-
commerce platforms to find smarter and customized solutions and products, which will
also help guide the establishment of healthy eating habits.

Dr. Shi Yan (the founder of Sharing Harvest Farm) shared three thoughts on establishing a
healthy food system,
• Compared with traditional agriculture, short food supply chains can effectively hedge the
impact of emergencies during the COVID pandemic.
• Traditional farming culture in China already has its own food nutrition and medical system.
How to effectively integrate this system with low-cost promotion of rural revitalization and
food system transformation is a topic worth exploring.
• It is necessary to encourage more urban consumers in promoting the transformation of the
food system. Under the background of the simultaneous emergence of citizens going to the
countryside and farmers entering the city, China has now formed a middle-class group with
a population of nearly 300 million + population, but at present, the enthusiasm of this group
in promoting the transformation of the food system has not been fully mobilized.
• We need to advocate top-level design and policy design to pay more attention to a large
number of social innovation practices in rural areas. Gaps are to be filled in China to
promote and educate consumers and farmers about the concept and importance of organic
agriculture.

Haijun Zhao (Food and Land Use Coalition (FOLU) China Project Manager for the World
Resources Institute (WRI) China Food and Natural Resources Program) advocated the
international think tanks should:
• Play the role of bridge, booster and integrator in the transformation of the food system.
• Provide experience and reference for the transformation of China's food system based on
the experiences and practices of other countries around the world.
• Summarize and share China's experience. He believes that the transformation and
upgrading of China's food system should focus on both production and consumption at the
same time, focusing on the "reduction, quality, and efficiency" of the entire food system,
rather than being limited to the supply side.
• Help China proactively integrate into major global agendas such as climate change,
biodiversity, and food security, and play a role in promoting the integration and
coordination of responsibilities of relevant departments in the food system.

Dr. Shenggen Fan concluded that

• Current food system is facing massive challenges such as the degradation of natural
resources, climate change, hunger and malnutrition. Transformation of food systems is
necessary and urgent.
• The ideal food system must be able to a) produce healthy food, b) protect our water
resources and biodiversity, and c) be able to deal with climate issues.
• Our food system transformation will also focus on two aspects, namely resilience and
inclusiveness. These have become particularly important during and after COVID-19.
Overall, Dr. Fan concluded, that technology, policy, investment, e-commerce platforms and
many others are share same importance, but the key is that everyone contributes to the future
transformation of the food system. What we eat not only contributes to our nutrients and body
health, but also is tightly bonded to earth, greenhouse gas emissions, water, soil, and
biodiversity.