Susan McCouch of Cornell University noted that funding of international agricultural research has declined to the point that very promising work goes unfunded. The conference also highlighted the impact of China's population and economic growth on world grain supplies. Worst-case predictions have put China's grain imports at up to 200 million metric tons a year by 2020, nearly equal to total world grain trade today. Lester Brown, president of the Worldwatch Institute, warned that the impending growth in demand for food in China is unprecedented. Pointing to consumption patterns of the country's rapidly urbanizing population, the report notes that as people move from the countryside to the city, they demand less grain and more vegetables, meat, and dairy products, thus reducing the need for grain imports.
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