From April 20—21, Agricultural Information Institute (AII) of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) hosted the first China Agricultural Outlook Conference. Key speakers included: Vice Minister of Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) Chen Xiaohua, CAAS Party Secretary Chen Mengshan, MOA Director General of Department of Market and Economic Information Zhang Hecheng, OECD Deputy Director of Trade and Agriculture Directorate Raed Safadi among others. The Conference was presided by the Vice President of CAAS Wu Kongming.

The《China Agricultural Outlook (2014—2023)》was released during the course of the conference. Pressing topics pertaining to Cereals, Cotton, Oilseed, Sugar, Meat, Dairy Products, Vegetables, Agricultural Resources and Environmental Management, and Agricultural Support Policies among others, were also discussed. The Conference saw a total of 18 topical reports released, fostering research, discussion and information exchange in addressing individual topics on current and decade long agricultural outlooks, concerning Agricultural production, consumption, and market trends.

During the Conference Chen Xiaohua spoke on the topic of the shifting circumstances in China's strategy for attaining food security. Chen Xiaohua asserts that to properly implement China's food security strategy under these presently changing circumstances, support must be given to strengthen the foundations of foodstuffs production: To 1) strictly safeguard the extant 1.8 billion mu of arable land, 2) introduce science to agricultural practices, 3) improve agricultural production support policy system 4) continue adhering to the overall plan of “Dual Resources, Dual Markets”, scientifically planning the sequence of prioritization for Agricultural Development, setting up trade strategy in important agricultural products as early as possible.

In his speech, Chen Xiaohua points out, the first ever AII organized session of the “China Agricultural Outlook Conference” has begun work as described in the Chinese Agricultural Outlook. This Conference marks China's first centralized exhibition of results from research in agricultural monitoring and early warning, results borne of innovation stemming from cooperation between Chinese scientists and officials. AII will continue to research Agricultural Outlook, agricultural monitoring and early warning, and food security in addition to other areas of research, in the hopes of attaining positive outcomes.

Zhang Hecheng presented a special report on China's agricultural information system for monitoring and early warning in which it is stated that a 4 point framework is necessary to form an agricultural information system with Chinese Characteristics. 1) To monitor details and statistics of the 6 key indicators: consumption, trade, stocks, price, production costs, and profits. 2) To highly prioritize and support the national forecasting task force 3) To establish a unifying system to disseminate information. 4) To establish an information service system for agricultural producers and operators.

The Executive Chairperson of the Conference, the Director General of AII Xu Shiwei presented the《China Agricultural Outlook (2014—2023)》. The Report points out: during the outlook period, China agricultural output in all major sectors will steadily increase. Among them production in rice, wheat, sugar, and vegetables will experience steady growth. Production in Aquatic Product, Beef and Lamb, Feed, Maize, and Eggs will experience faster growth. Dairy production will experience an annualized growth rate of 3.5%, representing the sector which will see the most rapid growth. Demand for agricultural products is rising at a brisk pace; among them domestic consumption of milk, maize, sugar and fruit will increase at an annual rate of over 2%, consumption of meat, wheat, rice, cotton and vegetable will rise steadily, the Chinese people will firmly grasp in their own hands the future of their nation's food security.

In recent years, China has redoubled efforts aimed at monitoring and early warning its Agricultural markets, the Ministry of Agriculture has set up an expert committee dedicated to forecasting the Agricultural markets, teams have been established which will analyze 18 agricultural commodities including cotton, oil, meat, dairy, fruits and vegetables. Simultaneously, as a national task force, AII will vigorously develop theories on Agricultural Monitoring and Early Warning together with research and applied techniques; to build up systems and models for China Agricultural Monitoring and Early Warning, to establish conditions needed for comprehensive techniques in Monitoring and Early Warning, and to lay the technological foundations for China Agricultural Outlooks. With support from the Ministry of Agriculture, in 2013 AII successfully hosted the “2013 World Agricultural Outlook Conference” in cooperation with the FAO and OECD, gathering many insights for the first session of the domestic conference on Agricultural Outlook.

The convocation of this Outlook Conference represents the results of the implementation of Agricultural Monitoring and Early Warning with Chinese Characteristics, and heralds an early release of signals to the market; to effectively guide the market, and to actively address a new chapter in the ever changing international situation.

Over 500 participants including researchers and scientists, officials and representatives from the OECD, United States, Australia, and various international experts attended in the Conference.