Strategic exchange on the future of agriculture – meeting of the DCZ project steering group in Beijing
On May 12, 2025, the Project Steering Group (PSG) of the Sino-German Agricultural Center (DCZ) met for its annual meeting at the office of the Foreign Economic Cooperation Center (FECC) in Beijing. The project, which is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Regional Identity (BMLEH), is being implemented by IAK Agrar Consulting GmbH (lead partner) together with the Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies (IAMO).
The panel of participants was top-class: representatives from the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MARA), the Foreign Economic Cooperation Center (FECC) and the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) took part. The German side was represented by the BMLEH, the German Embassy in Beijing, the GFA Consulting Group GmbH, the IAK and the DCZ project team.
The meeting aimed to promote strategic dialogue between German and Chinese partner institutions on key issues relating to future-proof, sustainable agriculture. The meeting looked back on the successful activities of 2024, including specialist events on soil management, agrobiodiversity and digital agriculture as well as the 10th Sino-German Agricultural Week (DCAW) with over 400 participants, and also pressed ahead with planning for 2025 with the key theme of “Transformation to climate-resilient agriculture”. The agenda includes expert dialogues, workshops, international conferences and the 11th DCAW. The agriculture ministries of both countries also reaffirmed their interest in working more closely with local governments and the private sector in the future.
In addition, a new bilateral exchange format on the topic of agrobiodiversity was launched as part of an ITD project funded by the BMLEH.
The meeting concluded with a visit to the High-Tech Farming Z-Park in Beijing's Pinggu district – also known as “Agricultural Silicon Valley” – where modern solutions for conserving water and resources in fruit and horticulture as well as dairy farming were presented.