The need for sustainable agriculture is apparent.Ottawa—China wants to fulfill its domestic food needs by importing more from non-Western countries and that could have a serious impact on efforts to reduce climate change, says a report written for the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute (CAPI).The Chinese approach undermines efforts to introduce sustainable agriculture globally and is creating serious environmental damage, says the report prepared by Ted Bilyea, a CAPI Distinguished Fellow.As the largest food-importing nation, China has an enormous impact on the global food trade and must “take greater responsibility for the development of sustainable international food trade- both for its own sake and for the world's sake.”The change in its food-buying pattern “is disrupting investment in sustainable intensification in regions of low carbon intensity agriculture,” he said. Meanwhile many countries China is turning to “are imposing forms of export restrictions on food to maintain their food security and affordability, but adding to volatility in prices and global access.”Global food production has already been badly disrupted by the Ukraine invasion as well as economic and supply chain disruptions as agriculture productivity growth “is dragged down by climate change, groundwater disappearance, soil contamination, disease, geopolitical trade disruption and infrastructure.”Crops that might have fed people now are being used to produce biofuels while livestock production is declining “in a number of countries due to high feed costs related to the war, climate challenges, increasing disease and environmental curbs to lessen water pollution,” Bilyea said.The number of people facing acute food insecurity has soared from 135 million to 345 million since 2019, and 50 million people in 45 countries are approaching famine, while food affordability is a growing crisis in Canada.“It is important to identify which countries have production truly surplus to their own needs, and have material and reliable export supplies to offer. This means identification and examination of what net food exports look like for major staple food commodities,” he said.“As the multilateral institutions governing rules-based international trade have eroded, it should not be surprising that the investment needed to drive sustainable intensification required to feed more people has declined in the face of geopolitical/geoeconomic maneuvering.“What is perhaps surprising is that the handful of commodity net surplus suppliers have not been able to come together to create a more secure agri-food investment climate,” Bilyea said.The current shows how the global agri-food system cannot readily respond to food crises when geopolitical/geoeconomic barriers disrupt growth of a sustainable food supply. It is a considerable accomplishment when China can be fairly self-sufficient in many of its key staples from its domestic production.But when and where it cannot, the global markets cannot supply China without drastically shorting other net importers – unless the sustainable net exporters can securely invest to regularly supply China,” he said.“It would seem in China's best interest to take a proactive role in the development of sustainable international trade – to guarantee their own food security, as well as the food security of other countries in a peaceful world.”