During the spike in global grain prices a decade ago, Chinese officials urged agribusinesses to secure farmland overseas to fill the country's growing food deficit.
Now the country has 1,300 companies which have made $11.7 billion in total investments in agriculture, forestry, and fisheries in 85 countries and regions, according to the agriculture ministry. To help propel the Belt and Road Initiative's infrastructure-building campaign, Chinese leaders have recently rebranded these foreign farm investments as a form of international cooperation.
