Food calms tensions

We can take a lesson from how a picnic on a Coon Rapids farm helped to thaw the Cold War.

This is an editorial from the Aug. 3 Storm Lake Times Pilot

China is Iowa’s top pork customer and among the leading consumers of our soy. It also is the leading pork producer in the United States through subsidiary Smithfield Foods. Our fortunes are intertwined through trade. Food security remains China’s foremost concern, and our recent trade war caused Beijing to re-evaluate its dependence on both pork and soy amid a world food crisis.

China is attempting to limit imports of both from us. The United States remains hamstrung by the 2018 trade war that imposed a 25% tariff on U.S. ag imports, as China turns to other markets for pork (Spain, for example) and soy (Russia, which is using Chinese assistance to expand production).

Meantime, fighter jets and gunships test Taiwan. Tensions are high. World markets are in flux. The Chinese government is under immense economic pressure thanks to a jarring Covid response. Guns are pointed at ships setting sail full of grain from Ukraine, which had been a prominent supplier of corn to China. Somehow, those ships are allowed safe passage so far by Russia, beholden to China through an agreement brokered by Turkey.

These are delicate times. So it was good to hear that President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Xinping spoke for more than two hours on the phone last week about various topics, including trade. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen also visited with the Chinese vice-chairman about food security specifically.

This could be the start of a return to a less hostile relationship with China, which is terribly important to global stability.

“Hungry people are dangerous people,” Roswell Garst said at the height of the Cold War. The seed corn titan hosted Soviet leader Nikita Krushchev at his Coon Rapids farm to talk about improved agriculture as the threat of nuclear war loomed. A picnic under a tent in the yard broke the ice, opened lines of communication, and ratcheted down tension. It was a side-trip in diplomacy that mattered.

Just a few days ago, a high-ranking Chinese official accused the United States of using food as a weapon. There was similar talk before Krushchev’s historic visit. Now would be a good time for President Biden to dispatch Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and former ambassador to China Terry Branstad to open a discussion with China on food security, resiliency and sustainability.

We should start with an agenda to clear out trade barriers that restrict the flow of food. We should assure China that we are a reliable supplier of protein, agricultural technology and know-how to help fulfill rising expectations among the Chinese people. We should recommit to sharing research on livestock disease, soil and water conservation, and new crop uses in a changing climate. We must engage with China, a key player in South American development, over destruction of the Amazon Rain Forest as it gives way to Chinese soy and beef demand.

Iowa forged ag trade paths in China. Branstad and Xi have a cordial relationship dating back to the 1980s when Xi visited a farm near Muscatine. Iowa State University has long-standing crop science arrangements in China. Because of that persistent effort to build trade, Iowa has more to lose from friction. China was shocked to realize its dependence on U.S. (primarily Iowa) soy and pork. It moved to build up its grain and frozen pork reserves, and more recently has backed off U.S. pork purchases as other suppliers emerge at a lower cost.

Vilsack and Branstad can do a lot to keep the lines of communication open. Iowa profits from a healthy relationship with China. Improved trade and shared understanding lead to progress on other fronts, like support for Russia and pushing for human rights. China will act like an enemy if we treat it like one. Better to come together over enhanced food security and stability, which can lead to more fruitful and rational discussions on climate and peace. Beat swords into plowshares. It worked to thaw the Cold War. We need a similar spirit today.

Read this and other opinions by Art Cullen at the Storm Lake Times Pilot. Please consider a subscription. Thanks.