China’s breakneck plan to safeguard its future

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China is about to do to the global supply chains for grains, livestock and food products what it has already done to the world’s energy and transport systems.

The country is pursuing what amounts to world dominance in the mass manufacture of protein, launching a breakneck plan to end its strategic dependence on food imports and insure its people against the long-term famine risks of climate change.

The Politburo’s 15th five-year plan is marshalling all levers of finance and state power to overcome land and water limits, placing food security on a par with defence as an existential imperative for national survival.

Analysts at consultancy Systemiq say the Communist Party is activating the same playbook already used for solar power, electric vehicles and batteries to reach 70 per cent or more of the world market from a standing start in less than 15 years – a pattern also visible in its push for semiconductors, nuclear fusion, quantum computing and pharmaceuticals.

It is developing genetically modified seeds and crops, but it is also targeting the fast-growing industries of cellular agriculture, lab-grown proteins and food from precision fermentation: Frankenfoods to some, the saviour of humanity to others.

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Systemiq foresees a protein revolution picking up speed through the 2030s and 2040s that will radically change what the Chinese people eat, with spillover effects across Asia and the world. It estimates that half of China’s fish and beef consumption, and 40 per cent of its dairy products, will come from “alt-protein” sources by the mid-century.

The country’s leaders have fretted about their food vulnerability for a long time. China has 15 per cent of the world’s population, 8 per cent of its arable land, and 6 per cent of usable freshwater – and some of that is........

© Brisbane Times