Whether China will be able to continue its rapid industrial development depends largely on whether the 800 million of its people in agriculture and rural economies can keep pace. Low productivity and slow growth of rural income indicate the system has significant challenges and risks. The 16 papers here compare China to other high-performing Asian economies, offer strategic and political ideas on boosting rural development, analyze current reforms, link agriculture to the industrial state, assess the impact of the World Trade Organization, and take lessons from Taiwan. Other papers cover new measures to improve productivity, country-level production efficiencies, the impact of land fragmentation on rice production, future prospects for grain and means of handling peak demand for it, income risk and acreage in terms of soybeans and corn, commercial crops and grain crops, farmers' insurance, and price behavior in China's wheat futures market. Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)