After a tour of central China’s Henan province — a food production pioneer in the country that enjoys great agricultural cooperation with the United States — agricultural sector insiders from the US said it has been proven that “agriculture is more than just trade and business”.
According to Susan Thornton, vice-chair of the US Heartland China Association, agriculture can be a ballast for stabilizing US-China relations.
She made the comment at the 2026 Heartland Connect & US-China Agriculture Roundtable in Henan’s provincial capital Zhengzhou on Tuesday, which was co-hosted by the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries and the Henan provincial government.
More than 100 participants attended the event, including those from relevant US food and agriculture industry associations, companies, youth organizations, and China-based representatives of US states involved, as well as their Chinese counterparts.
Henan produces nearly one-tenth of the nation’s grain and one-quarter of its wheat by using less than one-sixteenth of the country’s total arable land, said Wang Kai, governor of Henan province.
Speaking of Henan’s ties with the US, Wang noted that “the US is Henan’s second-largest source of agricultural imports and its second-largest market for agricultural exports”.
Last year, the value of agricultural trade between the two sides reached $460 million, accounting for 10 percent of the province’s total agricultural trade, Wang added.
Thornton said that Tuesday’s roundtable “comes at a very important time”, as President Xi Jinping’s warm welcome for US President Donald Trump last month and their summit meeting in Beijing were a successful step for improving stability and predictability in the US-China relationship.
“For America’s farmers, ranchers and agricultural businesses, greater stability creates opportunities to expand exports, new customers, and strengthen rural economies throughout our heartland. And this event is very much in the spirit of continuing work between our two countries’ leaders,” Thornton added.
Mike Koehne, board director of the American Soybean Association, said, “A great example of our friendship and cooperation is soybean imports from the US to China … We are very grateful for the strong relationship we have built with the Chinese grain industry.”
The US soy industry highly values people-to-people communication, and “by engaging with our partners, we deepen our mutual understanding, build trust and explore business opportunities”, he added.
Yang Wanming, president of the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, said that China is willing to work to develop a number of industrial cooperation projects in areas such as grain production and the value-added processing of agricultural products.
The two sides could also work to diversify the agricultural products traded and boost the links of logistics and trade companies between the two countries, he added.
Agribusiness potential
John Zhang, vice-president of US-based irrigation system manufacturer Reinke Manufacturing Co, said that “there is vast scope for cooperation and significant potential for development in the agricultural sector between China and the US” from crop production and scientific research to livestock farming and food processing.
After Monday’s tour to factories of two leading food processing companies — frozen food maker Sanquan and meat processing company Shuanghui in the province, Zhang noted that Henan’s “farm-to-dining table” production features a mature industrial chain and distinct strengths.
“Meanwhile, the US has pioneered agricultural industrialization and modernization early on, and its advanced practices in production equipment and operational management offer valuable lessons,” he added.
When visiting the Sanquan factory on Monday, Anna Ashton, founder of Ashton Analytics, said,”We can buy this brand of dumplings in the United States at some supermarkets, so it’s fun to see them made.”
“We thought it was fun to see how they’re made here, and also how fast it is,” she added.
Some US college students studying agricultural science and young people from farming households were also among the visitors to the food factories, witnessing how the dumplings were made, conveyed and frozen for storage all within the giant factory.
“It is good for Chinese and American students to see each other’s cultures and societies, and see how things work,” Ashton said.
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Key role for agriculture in relations
