DES MOINES (AP) – Some analysts are predicting a big increase in China’s corn imports, which could mean added income for U.S. farmers.

But it also could mean higher food prices worldwide, particularly for meat as livestock feed prices rise.

U.S. farmers said they’re cautious, but hopeful, about doing more business with China, which needs more corn to feed its expanding livestock herds that supply meat to its growing middle class.

China has historically grown the corn it needs domestically, but land and water shortages, combined with a resistance to labor-saving equipment, are making that difficult.

The chairman of the market research firm Shanghai JC Intelligence Co. Ltd., Hanver Li, has estimated China’s corn imports will climb from 1.7 million tons this year to up to 15 million tons by 2015.