Inside the conference hall of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) headquarters in Rome, Italy, on October 15, a young man from Tianjin stepped onto the stage.

Speaking in clear, confident English, Liu Yuanrui, a master's student studying at Tianjin University, and one of three Chinese chosen to address the audience, delivered a message that resonated beyond national borders.

"No single model can solve all problems once and for all," he said in his address. "China's rural digitization exploration might inspire young entrepreneurs in Africa, while European social innovation practices can inject new vitality into our projects."

For Liu, the moment was the peak of a journey that began on the narrow paths of his hometown on the outskirts of Tianjin. Now, he stood at the heart of global food and agriculture governance, sharing lessons rooted in local soil with ministers, experts and young leaders from around the world.

Breathing heritage, shared future 

The event at which Liu spoke, Youth Action on Green Agri-Heritage, was a standout side session of the 2025 World Food Forum (WFF) held in Rome on October 10-17. Co-hosted by the FAO's Youth and Women Unit, FAO country offices in Laos and Mongolia, the World Food Forum (China) and the China Internet Information Center, with support from Tsinghua University in Beijing and the UNDP SDG (United Nations Development Programme Sustainable Development Goals) Innovation Lab in Chengdu, it brought together more than 50 delegates, agricultural experts and officials from over a dozen countries and regions.

Their shared mission: to protect traditional agricultural systems—rice terraces, ancient tea forests and stone-walled irrigation networks, not as relics of the past, but as living systems that continue to nourish communities, safeguard biodiversity and preserve cultural identity. Chinese participants aptly referred to them as "breathing heritage": dynamic and enduring examples of human-nature symbiosis. However, this heritage is now under mounting threat from mechanization, urban sprawl, climate change and aging rural populations. 

The 2025 WFF convened under the theme Hand in Hand for Better Foods and a Better Future—a fitting setting as it aligned with major anniversaries: the 80th for both the UN and the FAO, and the 50th for China-European Union diplomatic relations.

Within this wider context, the youth-led event distinguished itself by framing "farming civilization" as a unifying thread across cultures, fostering collaboration and shared learning among regions rich in agricultural legacy.

Gao Anming, Editor in Chief of China International Communications Group, emphasized this point in his address: "Agricultural cultural heritage is the crystallization of wisdom from the symbiosis between humans and nature, and it offers timeless insights into sustainable development." He also highlighted the success of the Youth Action on Green Agri-Heritage program launched earlier this year, where young participants from over 10 countries proposed 12 innovative projects and co-produced six micro-documentaries. These were screened during several events held on Jeju Island, the Republic of Korea, and Vientiane, capital of Laos, with more than 400 attendees participating in person. Meanwhile, the initiative's multilingual media coverage and related social media posts reached a global audience of over 200 million.

"In a world marked by accelerating climate change, biodiversity loss and growing threats to food security, agricultural heritage offers invaluable solutions," Liu told Beijing Review. "The UN SDGs (a 2030 global blueprint to reduce inequality and protect our planet)—ending poverty, achieving zero hunger and tackling climate change—can all draw inspiration from this traditional knowledge. In today's fast-paced technological era, we must preserve these traditions even as we innovate on their basis, using modern technology to validate, refine and share ancient wisdom."

From field paths to podium 

For Liu, the journey to the FAO stage in Rome was a year in the making. Growing up on the rural outskirts of Tianjin, he developed a deep, personal respect for food and the land that sustained his family. Simple meals of cabbage and rice taught him early on that every grain had value, a lesson that would later fuel his commitment to rural development.

Beyond his academic studies, Liu stayed grounded, literally. He joined rural support teams, venturing deep into villages to speak with farmers, document cultural traditions, and assess how heritage was being preserved and passed on. As leader of the Supporting Farmers, Building Dreams in the Countryside initiative, he organized a national public interest competition that gathered students from more than 10 universities to design sustainable tourism plans for a township in Gansu Province in northwest China, transforming local heritage into a catalyst for economic renewal.

That commitment extended beyond China. As co-founder of the Concrete Dreams, Silk Road Pioneers international research team, Liu led fieldwork across five countries, covering more than 28,000 km in 2024. The team visited Chinese-funded enterprises, infrastructure sites, universities and international institutions, producing five policy reports that were later incorporated into Tianjin's 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) for the construction sector, a blueprint that outlines the municipality's goals for the next five years.

All of Liu's groundwork culminated in the core message he brought to Rome: Agricultural heritage is not a relic of the past, but a living, evolving system with the power to drive sustainable development. And he was far from alone in that belief.

From Laos, Ekasith Vanmany presented his country's efforts to build a national framework that involves youth in heritage preservation. From Mongolia, herder Namjildorj B. shared how traditional pastoral knowledge is being passed down while maintaining ecological balance in the grasslands.

Chinese delegates added further depth to the conversation. Gu Shijing from Zhejiang Province highlighted organic farming as a route to ecological resilience. Hou Yuying from Fujian Province shared how traditional Chinese agricultural wisdom is being integrated into modern food systems. From France, Noé Gabriel Alexandre Michon, collaborating with Tsinghua's rural revitalization platform, showcased how discarded plastics are transformed into cultural products, connecting circular economy innovation with heritage preservation.

For Liu and his peers, the answers to global challenges lie not only in policy or innovation, but in concrete action rooted in tradition and guided by a shared vision of a more sustainable future. "Young people are natural networkers, building transnational and cross-sector cooperation through diverse platforms and mechanisms to form a 'youth alliance' for tackling global issues," Liu explained. "The WFF is a vivid example of this, where young representatives from different countries and backgrounds come together to share experiences, exchange ideas and coordinate actions. This networked model of cooperation will become a defining feature of future global governance."

Eyes on the world 

At the dialogue's opening ceremony, senior FAO officials immediately set a clear and urgent tone. Kazuki Kitaoka, Director of the FAO's Youth and Women Division, emphasized that agricultural heritage systems are more than historical artifacts; they represent an ongoing dialogue between humanity and nature, rich in ecological wisdom and holding vital clues for future food security.

FAO's Representative in Mongolia Diao Qingyun urged young people not just to benefit from change, but to become "co-creators" of more resilient and equitable agrifood systems.

For Liu, who has backpacked across 12 countries over the years, sometimes for research, sometimes to attend international forums, sometimes simply to feel the pulse of unfamiliar cultures, the Rome dialogue was not an endpoint, but another chapter. "Going out is not to prove something," he said, "but to come back better."

From his childhood in Tianjin's fields to long hours in the university library, and now to speaking on an FAO stage, Liu's journey mirrors that of many in China's rising generation: firmly rooted in local soil, yet increasingly fluent in global conversations on sustainability, equity and a shared future. Next summer, he plans to lead a team to East African countries, including Kenya, to conduct research on China's overseas projects under the Belt and Road Initiative, a China-proposed framework to boost connectivity along and beyond the ancient Silk Road routes.

As the dialogue in Rome concluded, one message stood out clearly from the young participants: Agricultural heritage is not a nostalgic luxury. It is a living piece of infrastructure for food security, climate resilience and cultural continuity. Safeguarding it requires more than preservation; it calls for bold innovation, and a generation ready to step forward. Like Liu, they stand at the crossroads of tradition and transformation, bringing grounded stories from the fields to the world. BR

(Print Edition Title: Harvesting Hope)  

Copyedited by Elsbeth van Paridon 

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