The Potential, Path and Challenge of Soybean Production in China

Soybean occupies an important position in Chinese diet and is related to the security of feed, oil and edible protein. Under the big food perspective, the structural contradiction between China's food supply and demand has gradually emerged. The food production structure has lagged behind the continuously upgraded consumption structure. The outstanding fact is that the soybean supply mainly depends on the international market, which has become a risk to China's food security. Although China's soybean is in the trilemma of low yield and slow growth rate, unstable planting area and mismatch of supply and demand structure, there is still a certain potential for increasing its production. The conventional technological development path for improving soybean yield has limited potential, so it is necessary to take innovative measures and even those that break through the conventional means to increase the yield. Additionally, it is necessary to rely on the improvement of farmers' enthusiasm and technological innovation to tap diversified cultivated land space to expand the planting area. And reducing the demand for soybean feed on the demand side can also effectively alleviate the pressure on the production. However, yield increase paths such as unit yield increase, area expansion and demand adjustment are all facing severe challenges. Economic costs and time costs may restrict the effective release of the potential. It is necessary to avoid "movement-style" production increase methods and explore long-term sustainable methods of increasing soybean production.