With the increase of global population, grain-popula- tion relationship has attracted great attention worldwide. In China, grain-population relationship has become an increasingly impor- tant economic concern. Of central importance to the food security debate in China is the geography of grain supply and demand. This paper uses a grain demand and supply index (DSR) to analyze the spatial-temporal relationship between population and grain in China from 1949 to 2007 at national and provincial scales. The results are examined in three periods. (1) From 1949 to 2007, with the increase of grain production, the relationship between popula- tion and grain of China improved considerably. (2) Over the past 35 years (1970-2005), on the whole the grain producing areas have had grain surplus and contributed to the nation by providing grain, but the ability to provide sufficient grain is not stable. (3) Over the past 15 years (1990-2005), decreases in planting area brought pres- sure on national grain food security. The paper concludes that the key to providing more food for the main food producing provinces is increasing yield on the basis of steady plant area.
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