The U.S. Grains Council (USGC) helped host a delegation of Chinese officials in town last week for the U.S.-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT) meeting, including offering a tour of Chairman Chip Councell’s farm on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.

The meeting was held at a time when there are several issues overhanging the trade relationship between the United States and China, which will be impacted further by the change in U.S. administration when President-elect Donald Trump takes office in January.

While no solid agreements emerged from the sessions – including on issues of biotechnology, which are critical to U.S. grain farmers – they offered an important opportunity for U.S. and Chinese officials and industry to share ideas during the transition period and discuss impediments to further trade between the two countries.

As the world’s two largest economies, the United States and China account for approximately one-third of the world’s gross domestic product (GDP), one-third of the world’s outward foreign direct investment, and one-sixth of the world’s exports of agricultural products. Two-way agriculture trade between the countries has grown consistently over the last decade, reaching $35.6 billion in 2015.

China is an important buyer of U.S. grain products, proving to be the top buyer of U.S. sorghum last marketing year by more than a billion dollars; the second-largest purchaser of U.S. ethanol last marketing year; and a critical buyer of U.S. distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS) despite ongoing antidumping and countervailing duties investigations, which are opposed by the U.S. industry.

While in town, Chinese officials including Yang Yi, director-general of the Foreign Economic Cooperation Center at China’s Ministry of Agriculture (MOA), and five other members from the Ministry of Agriculture and the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) saw grain production for themselves on Councell’s farm, about an hour away from Washington, D.C.
There, they asked questions about how producers from Maryland integrate sustainable farming practices, conservation plans and nutrient management plans into their farm operations as well as how the government incentivizes producers to undertake these practices. They also saw modern precision farming equipment including GPS-navigated tractors and combines.

The U.S. Grains Council has worked in China for nearly 35 years on a variety of programs, focused heavily on education about modern livestock production and other efforts to help improve Chinese land, air and water quality.