What progress has China made in agriculture green development over the past five years？

Reconciling the tasks of producing adequate amounts of nutritious food for the increasing global population while preserving the environment and natural ecosystems simultaneously is an enormous challenge. The concept of agriculture green development (AGD) was detailed in 2017 and the necessary governmental policies were developed to address the aforementioned challenge in China and to help achieve the related global sustainable development goals. AGD emphasizes the synergy between green and development; current agriculture has to transform from the intensive farming with high inputs, high environmental impacts and low resource-use efficiency to a more sustainable agriculture, in order to ensure an adequate supply of nutritious food while delivering environmental integrity, improved economic profitability, and social equity. The AGD special plan distinguishes three main systems, including the natural system, the food system, and the human and social system. The food system has four subsystems: (1) green crop production, (2) green integrated crop-animal production, (3) green food and industry, and (4) green ecological environment and ecosystem services.

Prof. Fusuo Zhang and Jianbo Shen from China agricultural university and their team present the progress of AGD that has been made over the past 5 years and makes recommendations for more research and development, in order to better deliver agricultural green and sustainable development on national and international scales. The AGD research program was established as a collaboration between several universities, governments and the private sector in China, under the guidance of China Agricultural University in Beijing. Also, international universities are involved; for example, there is an ongoing joint PhD research program between Wageningen University and China Agricultural University involving 90 PhD students over a period of 7 years (2019−2025). The four research themes of the AGD research program each receive roughly similar financial research support.

In the past five years, the AGD research program has made innovative developments in the theory and practice of the four research themes. The research theme of Green Crop Production focuses on developing innovative crop production methods and technologies for producing adequate amounts of healthy and nutritious plant-based food with reduced agrochemical inputs and lower environmental impacts. The research has three key and interlinked foci: (1) green cropping systems with high resource use efficiency, (2) healthy soil systems which deliver multiple ecosystem functions and which have a high resilience, and (3) soil-crop system management with green intelligent fertilizers. The theme of Green Integrated Crop-Animal Production aims at exploring ways to better integrate crop and animal production systems for improved nutrient cycling, enhanced feed production and feed use efficiency, and increased animal productivity. The theme of Green Food and Industries aims at adding value to food products for both consumers and producers, at lowering the environmental footprint of food products and at boosting and transforming food industries. The theme of Green Ecological Environment and Ecosystem Services focuses on quantifying and minimizing the overall impact of food production and consumption on the environment, and on developing landscapes and measures to improve biodiversity and ecosystem services. A green eco-environment necessitates the implementation of green practices throughout the whole food production-consumption chain.

At the same time, the group has acquired a series of new understandings in all four themes, which have important implications for the implementation of AGD in practice. AGD requires a multistakeholder approach, fueled by innovative and interdisciplinary research. Synergistic realization of multiple goals is a key requirement for AGD, Interactions and coupling mechanisms within systems require more attention. Joint actions have to be taken by governments, farmers, supply industries, consumers, educators, extension services and researchers to support AGD. This requires strong coordination and public awareness campaigns. The additional perspective is that international and regional cooperation, knowledge sharing, technology transfer, talent training and consultation are essential for AGD. China is ready to work with other countries to deepen cooperation, help more countries and more people share the benefits of development, and make new and greater contributions to building a community with a shared future for humankind without poverty and with common development goals.

This study has been published on the Journal of Frontiers of Agricultural Science and Engineering in Volume 11, Issue 1, 2024, DOI：10.15302/J-FASE-2024535.