On October 29, 2023, the Agriculture Division of the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE) convened a meeting in Yiwu City, Zhejiang Province to review and accept the research project on forest farming development led by CAE member Jiang Jianchun. The review group included several CAE members and financial experts. More than 40 representatives attended the meeting.

Forests are natural "food banks" and crops cultivated in forest are green, high-quality and nutritional, so increasing the effective supply of forest crops is a strategic component in an all-encompassing approach to food. The project team conducted a comprehensive and systematic research on China's forest crops industry, especially resources, development and challenges related to growing Polygonatum, hazelnuts and macadamias. The research also conducted in-depth analysis of the needs, approaches and goals of the sector's future development. The project led to one research report, one policy proposal, reports on the three specialty products, and two articles published.