Can a shared interest in agriculture and food security help ease the increasingly tense relations be­­tween the United States and China? A new paper written by Iowa State University (ISU) agricultural economist Wendong Zhang and a colleague argues it can.

The paper, titled “Finding Firmer Ground: The role of agricultural cooperation in U.S.-China Relations,” highlights the fact that when it comes to agriculture, the international rivals need each other despite the growing political rifts.

“We were thinking about what the agricultural sector can do to improve U.S.-China relations in the current situation and the path forward to cooperate despite the political rhetoric in both countries,” said Zhang, who was born in...