The annual Central Rural Work Conference was held in Beijing on December 17-18, 2024, formulating plans for work related to agriculture, rural areas and rural residents in 2025. The conference issued a package of powerful measures to consolidate the foundations of agriculture, make rural areas and people's lives more prosperous, and build the country's strength in agriculture.

In the context of current global volatility, China's development is facing more uncertainty, so agricultural and rural development will play a more prominent role as the "ballast" of economic and social stability. Against this backdrop, making solid progress in strengthening agriculture becomes one of the important factors for ensuring China's high-quality economic and social development.

Food security has always been a matter of national significance. In 2024, despite the impact of natural disasters, China once again achieved a record harvest, with grain output reaching 700 billion kg for the first time. This large harvest and those preceding it play a fundamental role in ensuring stable economic and social development.

This year's conference once again focused on food security, calling for firm actions to ensure it. Such actions include ensuring red lines related to arable land are not crossed, promoting the development of high-quality farmland and strengthening support for the development and application of agricultural science, technology and equipment. The conference also stipulated cultivated land should not be transferred for non-agricultural uses, and science and technology must be applied to improve the quality of cultivated land and increase the output of grain.

Increasing the incomes of rural residents is another focus of the conference and a goal of rural revitalization. With the continuous increase in rural incomes, the gap between urban and rural areas and between regions in China is narrowing, and development is becoming more balanced.

China has achieved good results in rural revitalization. This year's conference proposed that in 2025, the country will, based on the sound experience in rural revitalization, expand channels for rural residents to increase their incomes through measures such as strengthening county economies and ensuring rural migrant workers have stable jobs.

High grain output, steady increase in rural residents' incomes, and stability and harmony in rural areas provide a solid foundation for China to pursue high-quality economic and social development.