Where Does Organic Agriculture Go in the Future? Analysis of Development Directions and Prospects
The rise of organic agriculture in China began in the 1980s, while long-term positioning trials have been quite limited. The main long-term positioning trials nationwide include the Quzhou Experimental Station of China Agricultural University in Handan City, Hebei Province, the Songjiang Nature Organic Vegetable Research and Development Base in Shanghai, the Shanghai BioFarm organic farm, and the organic vegetable base of Nanjing Yiyang Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Co., Ltd.
Among them, the organic agriculture positioning trial at the Quzhou Experimental Station of China Agricultural University began in March 2002. The trial set up 3 comparison models: 1. conventional planting model; 2. pollution-free planting model; 3. organic planting model.
After 13 years of long-term research, the main trial results show that: 1. The crop yield of the organic planting model can equal or even exceed that of the conventional planting model; 2. The organic planting model can greatly improve soil physical, chemical and biological properties; 3. The organic planting model is clearly superior to conventional planting in increasing vegetable Vc, soluble sugar, titratable acid, soluble solids and total amino acids, and in reducing nitrate content; 4. The soil nitrogen pollution risk of the organic planting model is not obvious and nitrogen retention is obvious; the nitrate nitrogen content in the 2-meter soil layer of organic soil is 50% of the conventional control; 5. The organic planting model shows strong disease resistance, and organic soil can significantly improve disease resistance.
From the long-term positioning trial research results of organic agriculture in Quzhou, the following insights can be drawn: 1. Organic agriculture can achieve high yields. With guaranteed inputs and after the conversion period, organic crop yields can fully achieve high yields; the occurrence of low yields is closely related to low nutrient inputs and soil that has not completed conversion; 2. Organic soil is the healthiest soil. Organic soil shows high levels in terms of soil micromorphology, organic matter, soil nutrient indicators and biodiversity; healthy soil is the foundation of healthy plants and healthy animals; 3. Organic soil has fewer disease occurrences. Many years of organic planting trials show that organic soil and organic planting systems show lower disease incidence, and this trend is becoming more and more obvious; organic soil shows obvious disease resistance; 4. Organic agriculture has low environmental risk. Research on soil nitrate accumulation, greenhouse gases N2O, CO2, etc. shows that the organic planting model shows lower environmental risk, indicating that organic agriculture is an environmentally friendly planting model.
Long-term trials of organic agriculture have revealed some scientific and technical sticking points faced in sustainable agricultural development, which can provide some policy, technical and organizational guidance for the next step of agricultural development.
At the policy level, China's macro decision-making on agricultural development should consider: 1. In-depth analysis and summary of the experience of agricultural transformation in developed countries, and establish basic laws and regulations for China's agricultural environmental protection transformation from the top-level design; 2. Strengthen the environmental protection and ecological functions of agriculture, environmental protection and other departments, accordingly establish government management institutions at different levels, and coordinate the supporting systems of relevant scientific research institutions and universities; 3. Coordinate national agriculture-related subsidy policies, cancel subsidy policies that are not conducive to environmental protection, and adjust and establish a subsidy and preferential policy system for environmentally friendly agriculture; 4. Revise the certification and management system for ecological agricultural products; green labels need to propose specific proportions for reducing chemical fertilizers and pesticides, encourage the development of organic agriculture, and implement an ecological compensation system for ecological farms, organic farms, etc.; 5. Launch a new round of national ecological agriculture construction action plans, and effectively coordinate the overall layout and construction of agriculture and the environment at the regional level; 6. Carry out soil, water and atmosphere monitoring networks and rural ecological environment construction planning, etc.
At the technical level, measures that should be taken include: 1. Attach importance to basic and applied research on organic agriculture at the national level, and recognize that organic agriculture research will lead the sustainable development of China's agriculture in the future; 2. Encourage universities to train organic agriculture research and technical personnel, especially grassroots technical personnel; 3. Vigorously support research and promotion of alternative technologies related to organic agriculture, including organic biological fertilizer technology, biological pest and disease control technology and various ecological technologies; 4. Promote international exchange of organic agriculture technology, especially cooperation on organic technology among China, Japan and South Korea in the Asian region.
At the organizational level, the establishment of large-scale organic farms, collaboration among organic farms, and cooperation between organic producers and consumers should be encouraged; at the same time, the establishment of organic agriculture alliances and platforms should be encouraged to accelerate the integration and linkage of technology, markets and information.
Organic agriculture should not be regarded as a "high-end" pursuit serving a niche, but should serve as the guide and commanding height of China's sustainable agricultural development. It not only means new ground for technological innovation, but also means a new direction for industrial development and the main battlefield for new-type farms.