China’s move to let one million acres of farmland lie fallow or put it under crop rotation is a sign that the country’s pressing food-safety and environmental woes have become a higher priority on Beijing’s agenda, Caixin reports. The country’s unrestrained economic expansion of more than 30 years has been accompanied by a marked rise in pollution, desertification, water shortages and other environmental disasters that are posing serious threats to the food chain. Analysts said that the pilot program reflected a change in thinking of the Chinese government, which has long been concerned with maintaining high crop yields to ensure grain self-sufficiency and the ability to feed 1.4 billion people. Data on soil pollution used to be kept by authorities as a “state secret.”