On June 7th, the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences released the "Report on the Development of China's Agricultural Industry 2024" (hereinafter referred to as the "Report"). "With the increase of per capita GDP and the continuous upgrading of residents' diets, China will significantly increase the demand for animal based foods and fats in the future. The demand for staple foods will significantly decrease, and the total demand for meat consumption will exceed 100 million tons." Ye Yujiang, Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, said that the current food consumption of Chinese residents is shifting from staple food to a diversified consumption model of "food, meat, vegetables, fruits, and fish", and the dietary structure will pay more attention to nutrition and health. The report is based on a dietary reference frame and integrates the average recommended values of various diets to construct an ideal dietary model for China. The simulation results based on ideal diet show that Chinese residents will pay more attention to nutrition and health in their diet. "In the future, Chinese residents should significantly increase the proportion of high-quality protein, vegetables, and fruits consumed in dairy and aquatic products, moderately reduce the proportion of grains, edible oils, and meat, and strive to obtain more comprehensive and balanced nutrition while consuming sufficient energy, thereby improving the national health level." Hu Xiangdong, Director of the Institute of Agricultural Economics and Development, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, said in an interview with reporters. The report suggests that by 2050, due to the transformation of residents' food demand structure towards nutrition and health, China can reduce the planting area of grain and the production capacity of meat and eggs, and reduce meat production by 28%. Among them, pork production can be reduced to 40.02 million tons; Eggs were reduced by 10% to 27.2 million tons. "However, considering the difficulty and economic cost of changing dietary habits, the transformation of residents' dietary structure is a long-term process that requires coordinated efforts from all parties to promote and continuously promote the popularization and promotion of knowledge on nutritious and healthy diets, and strengthen the development of nutrition and health-oriented agriculture." Cao Fangfang, an assistant researcher at the Institute of Agricultural Economics and Development of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, suggests that in order to meet the food consumption needs of residents, it is necessary to coordinate the domestic and international markets and resources, adjust and optimize the agricultural production structure, and vigorously promote the high-quality development of the dairy and aquaculture industries. The agricultural product processing industry connects agriculture, rural areas, and farmers on one end, and industry, cities, and citizens on the other, making it an indispensable "reservoir" for agricultural development. "The current residents' dietary consumption habits and preferences are undergoing profound changes, and more and more consumers are pursuing more convenient, healthy, and diversified food. This will bring significant opportunities to China's agricultural product processing industry." Han Xinru, Associate Researcher at the Institute of Agricultural Economics and Development, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, said. According to the report, in 2022, China's agricultural processing industry trade competitiveness index ranked 64th out of 146 countries worldwide, at a moderate level. Among the 11 categories of processed agricultural products in the food industry, except for fish and fruit and vegetable processed products that have certain international competitiveness, the international market share of other categories of products is relatively low. "This means that there is still significant growth potential for China's agricultural product processing industry in the future." Hu Xiangdong stated that the next step should be to continuously optimize the regional layout of agricultural product processing industry, promote the agglomeration of agricultural product processing industry in rural areas, strengthen scientific and technological innovation support, support scientific research institutes, universities and leading enterprises to jointly build innovative platforms for agricultural product processing industry, accelerate the improvement of relevant standard systems, vigorously develop new quality productivity, cultivate new driving forces for the development of agricultural product processing industry, and empower the comprehensive revitalization of rural areas. (Lai Xin She)