This Is How Trustworthy Agricultural Products Are Produced

It is not difficult for a single base or a single farm to grow trustworthy agricultural products, but when scaled up to an entire region, how can all agricultural products across the area be made safe and trustworthy?

Qujiang District, Quzhou City, Zhejiang Province, located at the source of the Qiantang River, has proposed building "trustworthy agriculture," using the most rigorous standards and the strictest management to safeguard "safety on the tip of the tongue." After years of perseverance, Qujiang's modern agricultural system has produced results: in 2014, the district's agricultural product inspection pass rate reached 98.7%, and in the first 8 months of this year it reached 99.3%. Qujiang District was recently recognized by the Ministry of Agriculture as one of the first batch of pilot counties for agricultural product quality and safety.

How are trustworthy agricultural products "refined"? A reporter visited Qujiang to find out.

Standardized production: Give every entity standards to follow, and let technology that "suits the local conditions" take root

Trustworthy agricultural products are grown.

At Chen Jianhai Family Farm in Lianhua Town, baskets of freshly picked peppers and tomatoes are bright and tender in color. The lady of the house, Shen Aizhen, said proudly: "Our vegetables are snapped up at the market!"

"What makes them special?" the reporter asked.

"We spray sugar water and apply organic fertilizer, absolutely green and trustworthy!" Shen Aizhen answered while explaining: brown sugar plus yeast is made into microbial fertilizer to inhibit pest growth; chicken manure is mixed into organic fertilizer, and the vegetables grown have good taste. "These inconspicuous local methods not only save fertilizer but also reduce pesticide use," she said.

To make new agricultural technologies "suit the local conditions," Chen Jianhai invited experts and visited large growers, and worked out technical standards suited to the locality. Today, his 200 mu of greenhouses, from planting to harvest, are all operated "according to the formula," and every greenhouse has a "growth file." "My average income per mu can reach 15,000, all thanks to the 'trustworthy' brand," Chen Jianhai said.

At present, Qujiang has developed 1,041 family farms, with an operating area of 168,000 mu, accounting for 64.6% of the district's cultivated land. Driven by them, major crop and livestock industries such as citrus, grapes, strawberries, and pigs have all developed local standardized production technology model charts.

Family farms have strength and technology, but what about ordinary farmers?

Many farmers choose to join forces. In Wutan Village, Lianhua Town, 107 households joined the Hongyan Strawberry Production and Marketing Group, with more than 300 mu of land under unified standards and unified management, cooperatively developing trustworthy agriculture.

"Growing strawberries now is not as casual as before; every step has norms," said villager Dong Xinquan. The "norms" he referred to are the group's "Strawberry Standardized Production Technology Model Chart," which clearly lays out everything from water sources and input control to daily management. Group leader Xu Liuquan is more like a "supervisor," watching every link so nothing goes wrong. Dong Xinquan has tasted the benefits: "Use less chemical fertilizer and more rapeseed cake, and the strawberries we grow are just sweet; 1 jin can sell for several yuan more."

There is also the driving effect of large growers. Chen Xuerong of Yantou Village, Jinwang Town, learned grape-growing techniques while working in a neighboring village and returned to start his own business. "I buy soil fertilizer and seedlings from large growers; following large growers means less risk," he said.

Policies are supportive. Qujiang allocates 10 million yuan each year in special funds for trustworthy agricultural products, used for subsidies for farmer training, new variety promotion, socialized services, and other aspects.

"One entity, one set of standards, one model chart, one production file, one brand" - Qujiang persists in the "five ones" to promote standardized production. The district has implemented standardized agriculture on 270,000 mu, built 6 provincial-level demonstration parks, and 72 branded agricultural products have passed "three products" certification. Many farmers are thoroughly familiar with standardized technologies such as green prevention and control and biological fertilization.

Standardization drives agricultural transformation. Up to now, the district has completed soil testing and formulated fertilization on 530,000 mu-times, promoted 13,500 tons of organic fertilizer, and reduced chemical fertilizer use by 510 tons and pesticide use by 108 tons.

Full-process control: Full coverage of the testing network, establishment of a "negative list" for project funds, and life-long exclusion from policy subsidies for serious violators

Trustworthy agricultural products are also managed into being. From field to table, how is the whole process supervised?

Strictly control market access. At Chen Jianhai Family Farm, there is a dedicated rapid testing room. "Every batch of vegetables must be tested for pesticide residues, and only after passing can it be released," the technician said.

Is the testing room expensive to invest in? "Just twenty or thirty thousand yuan, and the government basically subsidized all of it. The key is that everyone feels secure; 'trustworthy' is the lifeline of the farm," Chen Jianhai said.

"This QR code label is the 'trustworthy' mark, and it also reminds me to plant carefully," said Li Renguang, owner of Gaolaozhuang Family Farm in Quanwang Town. He created a unique method in his dragon fruit orchard: thick sugarcane peel is spread on the ground as fertilizer, enzymes made from discarded fruit serve as nutrients for the trees, chickens catch insects and geese weed. The farm's dragon fruit pesticide residue inhibition rate is controlled below 25%, far lower than the 50% pass line.

In addition to self-inspection, there are also random spot checks. At the testing station of the Lianhua Town Agricultural Service Center, the reporter saw samples of Chen Jianhai's lettuce and wood ear vegetables being sent here. Technician Wu Fang said: "Every day, quality co-management officers from each village go to take samples. Whether large growers or small households, samples are randomly taken and sent here for testing."

At present, all 21 townships in Qujiang District are equipped with monitoring stations, 105 family farms have established rapid testing rooms, and 272 administrative villages are equipped with agricultural product quality and safety co-management officers, achieving full coverage of the agricultural product testing network. Agricultural products from family farms and leading enterprises must pass self-inspection and may enter the market only with a certificate of passing rapid testing at the place of origin.

The strictest control of agricultural product quality. Qujiang District has established a "negative list" for project funds. Business entities involved in major agricultural product quality and safety incidents shall never enjoy relevant policy subsidies for life; those failing spot checks twice in a row shall not enjoy policy subsidies for two years.

Institutional development promotes the credit system. Since the beginning of this year, 39,900 batches of agricultural products have been tested, and 376 batches of provincial-level quantitative spot checks of fruits, vegetables, livestock and poultry products, among others, have been completed, with a pass rate of 99.3%.

With QR codes attached, quality is traceable. Many products in Qujiang have shifted from being sold by the truckload or by weight to being sold by the piece. For example, soft-seed pomegranates fetch as much as more than 100 yuan each on the market, becoming "golden fruits" in the market.

Ecological recycling: Strictly control the production area environment and realize sustainable development of "resources - products - renewable resources"

Trustworthy agricultural products cannot be separated from good mountains, good water, and good air. Qujiang has made great efforts to strictly control the production area environment.

Tear down pig sheds and build vegetable sheds. In Hunan Town at the source of the Wuxi River, some pig farmers have switched to growing high-mountain vegetables. Wu Dexiang, deputy mayor of Hunan Town, said that protecting a river of clear water in the hometown and improving the ecology will make industrial development more sustainable.

Reduce at the source, reduce in the process, reduce in emissions. Over the past two years, the district has cut nearly 2 million pigs in raising volume. One hundred large-scale breeding farms have adopted models such as industrialized pollution treatment and ecological absorption, installed pollution treatment facilities, and achieved harmless treatment of dead pigs.

To develop ecological agriculture, Qujiang has accelerated the cultivation of a closed circular industrial chain. Ninglian Animal Husbandry Company in Lianhua Town has linked up an agricultural "ecological chain" through a circular economy, turning waste into treasure. Here, pig farm wastewater becomes concentrated biogas slurry and becomes a "hot commodity" for family farms, selling for 150-200 yuan per ton; pig manure is collected and fermented into organic fertilizer, yielding more than 2 million yuan in profit a year.

Beside the ten-thousand-mu wild rice stem fields in Duze Town, Liao Jiandong Family Farm has built a processing plant. "After harvesting the wild rice stems, we use the leaves to make mushroom sticks, which not only saves more than 100,000 yuan in costs but also increases production by 10%," Liao Jiandong said. Discarded leaves have become treasures; a green feed production line has been built and organic fertilizer processed, realizing sustainable development of "resources - products - renewable resources."

Build a soil environment monitoring and early warning system, conduct a general survey of the soil environment of family farms and enterprises across the district, and do not grow fruit or vegetables where the environment does not meet standards.

Pay attention to details. At many family farms, the reporter saw a simple small house. A person in charge of the district agriculture bureau introduced that this is a pesticide waste recycling point, where used pesticide bottles and bags can be placed for centralized recycling and treatment to avoid environmental pollution. At present, the recycling rate of discarded packaging from cooperatives and family farms has reached more than 95%, and the harmless treatment rate has reached 100%.

Ecological agriculture is a new topic for Qujiang and also faces new challenges. Zhang Fengxiu of Gengtou Village, Hunan Town, admitted frankly that with pig farms closed, it is difficult to transform to alternative industries, and he hopes for more policy support; Yu Jinshan, former party secretary of Poshi Village, said that ecological forests cannot be cut, and the chestnuts and tea in the mountains have not been made strong, so the mountain economy still needs new paths.

Qujiang's decision-makers recognize that the ecological environment is the greatest advantage, and persisting in building trustworthy agriculture, driving the transformation of Qujiang's agriculture as a whole and increasing farmers' income, will surely enable green waters and green mountains to yield mountains of gold and silver.