McDonald’s China backs local potato supply chain for fry quality

McDonald’s China, Syngenta Group China and McCain China signed a memorandum in Beijing on June 24 to tighten the local potato supply chain behind the chain’s fries. Announced at the 4th China International Supply Chain Expo, the deal aims to improve farming, supply and processing with sustainable practices and smart technology.

The pilot will test science-based planting methods built around soil health, customized crop stewardship, precision fertigation, integrated pest management, intelligent field monitoring and digital farming. It will draw on Syngenta’s agronomic inputs, digital farming solutions and nationwide MAP technical service centers. Syngenta Group China president Su Fu said the industry faces mounting pressure from yield and resource constraints, while McDonald’s China chief supply chain officer Jim Shi said McDonald’s dedication to consistent taste and quality begins with potato cultivation right from the farm.

The backdrop is a potato sector in China that has long been under strain from fragmented small-scale farming, rising labor costs, soil deterioration and underdeveloped processing.

McDonald’s China entered mainland China on October 8, 1990, with its first restaurant in Shenzhen, and is now the company’s second-largest market globally, its fastest-growing market and its largest market outside the United States for franchising. Local sourcing exceeded 90% by purchase value in 2024. The company bought nearly 800,000 metric tons of supplies and raw materials, and its partners have invested more than 12 billion yuan since 2018, including a 1.5 billion yuan smart supply-chain industrial park in Hubei that opened in 2024 and a Zhejiang project that began construction in 2025.

McDonald’s China and 11 supplier partners launched McChain at the 2025 China International Supply Chain Expo, and more than 10% of its supplier relationships are older than 30 years while more than 50% are older than 10 years. McCain China managing director Liu Linlin said the companies have long partnered in China on shared values of quality and long-termism, and the agreement will advance sustainable agricultural technology, shared gains for farmers and partners, plus digital traceability and quality assurance for fries.