Cultivate Healthy Soil to Strengthen the Foundation of Agricultural Industry Development

Organic agriculture is a method of agricultural production that follows certain organic agricultural production standards: it does not use organisms and their products obtained through genetic engineering in production, does not use chemically synthesized pesticides, chemical fertilizers, growth regulators, feed additives and other substances, follows natural laws and ecological principles, coordinates the balance between crop farming and livestock farming, and adopts a series of sustainable agricultural techniques to maintain a sustained and stable agricultural production system.

The development of the organic industry can improve the sustainable development capacity of agriculture, reduce and control agricultural source pollution over a larger geographical area, increase farmers' income, and achieve a win-win outcome for economic benefits and ecological protection.

China's organic agriculture began in the 1980s. It developed on the basis of China's ecological agriculture, and the development of ecological agriculture played an important role in the development of organic agriculture. The development of China's ecological agriculture is not only a new alternative to long-term traditional agricultural production practices, but also an ecological and organic evolution, laying a good foundation for the development of organic agriculture. China's organic agriculture has gone through a stage of research and exploration and a stage of laying the foundation, and in recent years has entered a stage of standardized and rapid development. In 2012, the production area of China's organic agriculture industry grew from 232,000 hectares in 2002 to 1.85 million hectares, ranking third in the world. It can be said that the organic agriculture industry has become a "sunrise industry" with great development potential.

Although organic agricultural products contain business opportunities and high profits, like any new industry, the pioneering development of the organic industry faces enormous challenges and many risks that cannot be determined or controlled. First, the investment cycle is long, the input is large, and the risk is high, so practitioners need to have strong capital strength. Second, counterfeit and inferior products are prevalent, many certified enterprises one-sidedly pursue output while ignoring quality, and organic industry enterprises lack funds and lag behind in technology, among other problems. Third, there are strict requirements for the environment, soil and the use of various pesticides and chemical fertilizers in the production process. Especially in terms of soil, there are relatively large constraining factors. According to surveys, the soil organic matter content currently supporting agricultural development in China has declined considerably compared with the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China. The reasons for this are, on the one hand, neglect of investment in organic fertilizers: chemical fertilizers are convenient and quick to apply and produce immediate results, which has gradually weakened people's understanding of organic fertilizers and greatly reduced investment in organic fertilizers. On the other hand, the natural sources of organic fertilizers have continuously narrowed, reducing the proportion of organic matter in the land. The soil for producing organic agricultural products must meet the corresponding standards; otherwise, the agricultural products grown from it cannot be called organic food. Effectively cultivating healthy soil and improving land quality has become a top priority that must be solved in many regions for developing the organic agriculture industry.

Organic agriculture is the trend and direction of modern agricultural development, and also a high-end form of urban agriculture. Only by pooling wisdom and gathering ideas from all sides and adopting practical and effective ways to solve problems in development can we continuously advance the healthy development of China's organic agriculture industry.

First, we should expand sources of organic fertilizer and increase the amount of organic fertilizer input; strengthen research on the application of biological fertilizers, improve the application technology of biological fertilizers, and rationally apply simple mineral fertilizers and other methods to enhance soil organic matter, improve soil fertility, and consolidate the land foundation for organic agriculture.

Second, the government should increase policy support and financial support for organic agriculture and create a favorable environment for the development of organic agriculture. Strong government support is the most important key factor in the development of organic agriculture. Countries such as Germany and France spare no effort in supporting research and development of the organic industry through financial appropriations, income tax reductions and exemptions, and other means. These policies have played a role in leveraging great results with little effort for those countries' organic agriculture industries. China should also increase policy and financial support for research and development and technology extension of organic agricultural production and technology, and provide subsidies to producers of organic agricultural products.

Third, vigorously promote the construction of a culture of integrity throughout society and cultivate civilized consumers. According to the awareness of consumers at different consumption levels in different regions, and according to consumers' different shopping habits and cognitive habits, carry out long-term and continuous consumer education to increase consumers' degree of recognition of organic food. In addition, begin to establish a platform for equal dialogue between consumers and producers, eliminate consumers' doubts about farmers engaged in organic agricultural production, gradually realize fair trade between urban and rural areas, and promote the healthy and sustainable development of organic agriculture.

Fourth, efforts should be made to achieve large-scale production of famous, special and excellent products of each province, city and county in accordance with the requirements of the organic industry. It is necessary to strictly follow the norms and standards of the organic industry and build them into benchmarks for China's food safety, so that the organic industry becomes truly high-end modern agriculture. Against the background of Chinese people paying increasing attention to food safety, organic food has attracted a large number of loyal "adherents" with its safety and high quality; the rise in national income has also enabled people to afford the relatively high price of organic food. Strict compliance with standardized norms can fully guarantee the safety of organic agricultural products; only by safeguarding the safety and high-quality attributes of the organic industry can the reputation and market of the organic industry prevail widely.

As the highest level of global modern agricultural development, the organic industry has huge potential market demand in China in the future. As the highest realm of food safety, we sincerely hope that more investors will pay attention to and devote themselves to the organic industry. At the same time, we also hope that the competent government departments will strictly enforce the certification standards and supervision and inspection of the organic industry, so that ordinary people can safely enjoy the results brought by the development of the organic industry, and farmers can also obtain greater benefits and higher income from it.