China is obsessed with food security. Climate change will challenge it
food production indoors, where temperature and humidity can be controlled and output increased. This year the state called for 40% of vegetables to be grown inside facilities such as greenhouses by 2030 (the current number is 30%). Fertiliser and water can be used more efficiently in these settings.
A report on the plan in state media spoke of farms “freed from a dependence on nature" and boasted of an enormous greenhouse already growing dragon fruit and figs in the Gobi desert. Out in the extreme heat, pigs fatten up more slowly, cows produce less milk and chickens lay fewer eggs. All of them are also at greater risk of dying.
So livestock is moving indoors, too. A 26-storey pig farm in central China is the biggest in the world. It can slaughter 1.2m pigs a year (pork is China’s favourite meat).
With cows, it is harder. But many now spend their days in sheds being cooled down. At a farm in the northern province of Hebei, cows are periodically doused with water and blasted with air from giant fans hung from the roof.
Each cow’s location is monitored by a computer and the sprays automatically adjusted to avoid waste. Such practices have spread rapidly through the dairy industry, says James Su, whose company supplies the cooling equipment. “Everyone is praying before each summer starts," he says.
Grains are a tougher challenge still. Most need to be grown at scale, so an open field is the best option. China has been developing drought- and heat-resistant varieties of rice, wheat and other crops.
The planting of genetically modified (GM) maize has been allowed in some areas (Mr Xi visited one in May). But, in general, the government takes a cautious approach to such technology. For the moment it is still reliant on GM seeds
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