Agricultural risks and risk management in the current context of Chinese economy

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to provide a big picture of the current context of Chinese economy, the government policies on agriculture, and the role of agricultural risks and risk management against this background. Design/methodology/approach - The new Chinese economic challenges are laid out upfront. Relevant agricultural issues are then provided, with statistics; next, risks and risk management topics are introduced and controversial issues in agriculture are discussed. Relevant policies reflected in the State Council's No. 1 documents in both 2012 and 2013 are introduced and filled in each section. Findings - The Chinese economy may slow down after decades of fast development. Food security is still a top priority, even with the income rise. Increased labor cost may transform Chinese agriculture from the traditional labor intensive field management into a modern agriculture characterized by high input use and larger scale. Research limitations/implications - The research implication is directing economists focusing on Chinese agricultural risks to grasp the opportunity of the Chinese government investing in agricultural research and development, to look more broadly, to involve multidisciplinary research with the natural sciences, and to refer to the situation of modern agriculture. Practical implications - There are some policy implications. Further liberalization of land ownership is called for, as is the development of infrastructure. Originality/value - This paper addresses the objectives in putting agricultural risks and risk management into the overall big picture of the Chinese economy and government policies.