National Geographic

88 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC • FEBRUARY 2018``````meat factories and dairies, sustainably mindedhigh-tech farms, even organic urban ones.China is grappling with a daunting conun-drum: how to feed nearly one-fifth of the world’spopulation with less than one-tenth of its farm-land, while adapting to changing tastes. Thirtyyears ago about a quarter of the country’s peo-ple lived in cities, but by 2016, 57 percent of thepopulation was urban, living in a China that iswealthier and more technologically advanced,with a diet that increasingly resembles that ofthe West. The Chinese eat nearly three times asmuch meat as in 1990. Consumption of milk anddairy quadrupled from 1995 to 2010 among urban``````By Tracie McMillanPhotographs by George Steinmetz#### W atching Jiang Wannian andPing Cuixiang harvest a sixth of an acre of daikonseed in the north-central province of Gansu feels alittle like traveling back in time.In a dry valley ringed by dusky mountains, ona brick-paved lot, Jiang drives a rusted tractorover a hip-deep mound of dried plants. As theycrush down, Ping, Jiang’s wife, plunges a home-made pitchfork into the straw and arranges it foranother pass. Eventually Jiang and Ping workside by side, wiry figures with tawny skin. It’shot, but they are swaddled in clothes to protectthemselves from the dust and the sun. They havehandsome faces, taut and lined from years oflaboring outdoors, and they turn them skywardas they throw fine chaff up and watch ruddy seedrain down. This rhythm continues for hours. Ina singsong voice Ping encourages the wind, mur-muring, “Blow, blow!” Machines can do this workin minutes, but they are too expensive for Jiangand Ping. Instead they still thresh the daikon byhand, just as farmers did centuries ago.Jiang and Ping represent one story of Chinaand its farms. More than 90 percent of all farmsin China are less than 2.5 acres, and the averagefarm size is among the smallest in the world.But this is not the only story. Over the past fourdecades China has caught up to the agricultur-al development that took the Western world 150years to achieve—and reimagined it to boot.Every kind of agriculture is now happening allat once: tiny family farms, gleaming industrial