Strategic considerations for coordinating food security and farmers’ income growth during the “15th Five-Year Plan” period

Food security is a matter of paramount national importance and a core component of overall national security. Common prosperity represents a defining feature of Chinese modernization, while increasing farmers’ income remains the weakest link in its realization. Both objectives are emphasized in the recommendations for the 15th Five-Year Plan. However, the pursuit of food security and farmers’ income growth often conflicts in practice. The underlying causes lie in the small and fragmented scale of household grain production, rising production costs, and limited room for grain price increases. To reconcile these objectives, this study adopts the perspective of the Big Food View, which emphasizes a holistic understanding of food security. From this standpoint, we argue that policy should follow the principle of comparative advantage: new agricultural business entities should be encouraged to expand appropriately scaled grain production to secure food supply through efficiency and volume-based profitability, while smallholders should be supported in developing high-value, specialty agriculture that meets diverse food demand and broadens income opportunities. Practical measures include promoting moderate-scale land operations, reducing production costs, enhancing value addition in the grain industry, cultivating diversified agricultural sectors, and strengthening policy coordination under the Big Food View framework.