Green agriculture does not mean returning to traditional farming

Driven by modern science and technology, China's agricultural output growth has outpaced population growth, successfully achieving the goal of “producing more.” However, under the output-oriented development model, the long-term continuous increase in agricultural production has also come at a heavy cost to resources and the environment. The irregular use of modern agricultural inputs such as fertilizers, pesticides and additives has planted numerous hidden dangers, and agricultural product quality and safety incidents occur from time to time. How agriculture can “go green” has become an issue requiring close attention and serious resolution. The “Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Accelerating the Advancement of Ecological Civilization Construction” issued not long ago explicitly requires “coordinated advancement of new industrialization, informatization, urbanization, agricultural modernization and greening.” Greening has become an important component of China's modernization drive, and naturally an important guideline for agricultural modernization as well. “Going green” is the new goal for agricultural development in this new stage.

It should be noted that in recent years there have been quite a few misconceptions about green agriculture, some of which have even spread widely and had considerable influence. For example, whenever chemical fertilizers, pesticides, feed and additives are mentioned, many people feel aversion; whenever the quality and safety of agricultural products is mentioned, many people think of developing organic agriculture or purely natural agriculture. In some public opinion campaigns and advertising promotions, quality and safety are often equated with not using chemical fertilizers or pesticides, and not feeding feed or additives. In such a social atmosphere, when proposing the new goal of making agriculture green and achieving green-oriented agricultural development, it is essential to prevent going to extremes and to prevent the one-sided rejection and exclusion of the application of modern scientific and technological achievements in agriculture. Making agriculture green is by no means about retreating to the traditional agriculture that existed before industrial civilization. The agriculture of that time was of course green and organic, but how could that kind of agriculture possibly feed today's vast population? Crop farming without chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and livestock farming without feed and additives, can exist on a small scale, but can hardly become the mainstream of modern agriculture. Research on China's several-thousand-year history of agricultural development shows that under conditions of using human and animal power, keeping farmland under continuous cropping without fallow and relying on human and livestock manure to maintain soil fertility, achieving a balance of nitrogen, the main nutrient element, allowed grain yields of only 100 kg per mu. This is far removed from the 400 kg per mu that modern agriculture can achieve.

The green agriculture we are now pursuing is essentially intensive agriculture supported by science and technology and based on modern inputs. Chemical fertilizers and pesticides are not terrifying monsters; the key lies in scientific fertilization and rational pesticide use. Feed and additives do not necessarily fail to produce high-quality livestock products; the key lies in scientific feeding and compliance with standards. In the next stage of agricultural development, the application of soil testing and formula fertilization should be expanded in facility agriculture and horticultural crops such as vegetables, fruit trees and tea plants, and full coverage of soil testing and formula fertilization for major crops should be achieved as soon as possible. Specialized pest and disease control service organizations with rapid response and efficient service should be established, the integration of specialized unified pest control and green control should be vigorously promoted, and the level of organization in pest and disease control should be effectively raised. The formulation and revision of standards for pesticide and veterinary drug residues should be accelerated, a set of concise and easy-to-understand production technical operating procedures should be formulated and promoted as soon as possible, the construction of standardized horticultural crop parks, standardized livestock and poultry farms and healthy aquaculture farms should be advanced, and new types of agricultural business entities should be strongly supported in carrying out standardized production.

Developing agriculture with green concepts requires a series of profound adjustments in aspects such as input use, origin environment protection, production and operation methods, and marketing systems. Compared with output-oriented agriculture, the production cost of green agriculture is certain to be substantially higher. To give producers the enthusiasm to develop green agriculture, they must receive sufficiently high returns. How can green agriculture be priced, and how can consumers pay for the greening of agriculture? Experience in some places shows that cultivating agricultural product brands and attaching green labels to products is a feasible path. With brands, consumers can reduce information search costs and strengthen their confidence in consumption and willingness to buy. Small-scale agriculture run by individual households cannot form brands; it is necessary to raise the degree of organization in agricultural production and develop farmers' cooperatives. A good cooperative should not only follow the basic principles of the cooperative system and give play to the principal role of farmers, but also have a well-known product brand. Establishing internet platforms is conducive to farmers' cooperatives cultivating brands and selling products directly.

Making agriculture green requires joint action by the whole of society. The government should act proactively, accelerate the formulation and improvement of standards and technical specification systems for the production, operation and use of agricultural inputs, accelerate the construction of a nationwide agricultural product quality traceability management information platform, and implement a system of agricultural product quality labeling. The media should treat in a scientific and rational manner the problems existing in production in certain localities and with certain individual products, and must not exaggerate the severity of problems merely to attract attention, and should truly be responsible to producers and consumers.