Current state of chemical fertilizer use: farmers willing to use organic fertilizer if subsidized

“Fertilizing is already like smoking marijuana, you can't do without it”

During the spring plowing season, in Congyan Village, Yingqiu Town, Changle County, Weifang City, Shandong Province, the reporter met 53-year-old farmer Tang Lixin, who was irrigating the field together with his wife. Tang Lixin said his plot totals 4 mu, and since it rained on the 27th day of the 12th lunar month last year, there has been no more rain, so he is irrigating with well water from the edge of the field while applying urea.

At the edge of Tang Lixin's field there is still half a bag of urea. Tang Lixin said that since the autumn sowing of wheat, he has been applying compound fertilizer at 150 jin per mu, costing 270 yuan; then at this time of the greening stage, he applies 25 jin of urea. “This is how it has been done for the past 10 years or so, just farming by experience.” What the reporter saw at the field edge was basically heavy watering and heavy fertilizing.

In Fujin City, Heilongjiang, farmers preparing for spring plowing also have an equally huge demand for chemical fertilizer.

The more than 80,000 jin of chemical fertilizer at the home of major grain grower Liu Junli is piled up like a small mountain. This year his rice planting area reaches more than 80 shang (one shang equals 15 mu), with chemical fertilizer use per shang at around 1,100 jin, including 2 bags of potassium fertilizer, 4 bags of diammonium phosphate, 2 bags of urea, 3 bags of ammonium sulfate, and some silicon fertilizer, etc. In earlier years, chemical fertilizer use per shang was only 700 to 800 jin.

Talking about investment in chemical fertilizer, Liu Junli said that in the past, chemical fertilizer was used sparingly, only 20 to 30 jin per mu, and some farmyard manure was also applied; now, as the scale of farming has expanded, much more chemical fertilizer is applied. In recent years, the amount of chemical fertilizer input has kept increasing, by more than 50 jin per shang every year, otherwise it feels like grain output will decline and he feels uneasy.

Regarding the use of chemical fertilizer, Liu Gang, chairman of the Lünong Agricultural Cooperative in Tongjiang City, Heilongjiang Province, has a deeper understanding. At present, the cooperative operates more than 8,000 mu of land. Liu Gang said that the larger the scale of farmers' farming, the more boldly they dare to invest in chemical fertilizer. Now, with large-scale operations, they mainly rely on chemical fertilizer to increase output. For a cooperative of his scale, chemical fertilizer use per shang is about 10% higher than that of farmers farming less land.

“Now farmers' farming is supported by chemical fertilizer. We also know that using too much chemical fertilizer will cause soil fertility to decline and soil to become compacted, but this is like smoking marijuana, you can't do without it.” Liu Gang said.

Reducing usage: the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak

As the saying goes, “farming without manure is just muddling along blindly.” The use of farmyard manure can reduce chemical fertilizer use and improve soil fertility. But farmers feel that large-scale use of farmyard manure is unrealistic.

Tang Lixin said he had not used manure fertilizer for 10 years or so. First, using chemical fertilizer is convenient; second, nowadays no household raises pigs anymore, and there is no habit of collecting and piling manure. “When we used soil fertilizer before, at autumn sowing one bag of compound fertilizer was enough; now without soil fertilizer, at autumn sowing we have to use one and a half bags of compound fertilizer.”

Liu Junli told the reporter that every year he buys some pig manure from farms, ferments it and applies it to the land, but only on a small scale; the grain grown is enough for his own family to eat, and other plots still have to rely on chemical fertilizer to achieve stable and increased yields. “Farmyard manure is indeed very beneficial for reducing pollution and improving soil fertility, but there is not such a large supply, and transportation costs are also high, so it can only be used on a small scale.”

In addition, unscientific fertilization methods also increase chemical fertilizer use. In interviews, farmers generally reported that their fertilization method is mainly a one-time application before planting.

⟦NL> “One-time fertilization causes great waste. When the seedlings have just emerged, they actually do not need so much nutrition, and after nitrogen fertilizer is applied to the field it easily evaporates and becomes nitrogen gas. By the time the seedlings grow up, the nutrients have been lost about as much as they can be, and the actual utilization rate of chemical fertilizer is only about 60%.” Liu Gang said.

It is understood that layered fertilization or staged fertilization can reduce chemical fertilizer use, but labor costs will increase greatly. Liu Gang said that staged fertilization can improve crops' absorption rate of chemical fertilizer, thereby reducing the amount used, “but if one shang uses 200 yuan less chemical fertilizer and staged fertilization is adopted, labor costs will increase by 300 yuan, so farmers will still choose to apply more fertilizer.”

If there are subsidies, farmers are willing to use organic fertilizer

In Hualong Town, Shouguang City, Shandong Province, there is a family farm covering 230 mu, mainly growing vegetables. The reporter saw on site that in the farm's greenhouses, integrated water and fertilizer facilities are uniformly used. The facility cost for each greenhouse is 800 yuan and can be used continuously for 6 years, saving water, fertilizer and labor.

The farm belongs to the Shouguang City Facility Vegetable Soil Quality Improvement Technology Demonstration Zone, and since 2014 it has used microbial fertilizer, high-carbon organic fertilizer, soil testing and formula fertilization technology, and integrated water and fertilizer. From its appearance, scientific fertilization has made the soil more loose.

In a cucumber greenhouse, farm owner Jia Chongshan picked up a handful of soil and told the reporter that now after using bio-organic fertilizer (a kind of processed rice husk manure), the soil is no longer compacted, and is fine and loose; after watering it permeates easily and dries quickly, is less prone to breeding diseases, and crops absorb it quickly and grow well, so less chemical fertilizer can be used.

“The organic fertilizer used now has national and local subsidies, so the price is basically the same as using ordinary fertilizer. If one day there are no subsidies, certainly many farmers will still choose ordinary fertilizer, because after all ordinary fertilizer is cheaper.” Jia Chongshan said.

Tang Lixin also wants to use organic fertilizer; with organic fertilizer, at least the soil will not become compacted. “But organic fertilizer is too expensive. Farming itself does not make much money. Granular organic fertilizer costs 120 yuan per bag, while urea costs 80 yuan per bag. If the state could provide a subsidy of 40 yuan, bringing it to the same price as urea, we would also be willing to use organic fertilizer.” Tang Lixin said.

In addition to the price of organic fertilizer, some major grain growers have other concerns.

In recent years, Heilongjiang has vigorously promoted the use of organic fertilizer. Liu Junli said that the input amount of organic fertilizer is too large, nearly double the current amount of chemical fertilizer per shang. If used on a large scale, the fertilizing machinery would have to be replaced, greatly increasing costs. “Ordinary people consider efficiency when farming. It is not that there is no way to use less chemical fertilizer; the key is to make it worthwhile for farmers so that they have enthusiasm.”