Dual-Exchange Fertilizer Conference: Advancing Scientific Fertilization to Develop Modern Agriculture
On October 22-23, the 16th National Fertilizer Information Exchange and Product Trade Fair, hosted by the National Agricultural Technology Extension Service Center, was held at the Nanning International Convention and Exhibition Center in Guangxi.
This Dual-Exchange Fertilizer Conference, centering on the theme of "advancing scientific fertilization and serving modern agriculture," organized activities including fertilizer product display and trading, keynote report meetings, the "Farm Owner" Era Forum, national agricultural-enterprise cooperation formula fertilizer exchange, and the National Soil Testing and Formula Fertilization Work Achievement Exhibition. It attracted more than 500 fertilizer enterprises from across the country to exhibit, with numerous distributors and large-scale growers coming to observe, and professional visitors exceeding 30,000 person-times.
⟦NL> Emphasis on Product Innovation, Displaying a Decade of Achievements
The product display at this National Dual-Exchange Fertilizer Conference set up five major exhibition areas: compound fertilizer, new-type fertilizer, fertilizer machinery, packaging equipment, agricultural materials products, and the soil testing and formula fertilization achievement exhibition, centrally showcasing new products, new technologies, and new achievements of fertilizer and related production enterprises.
Reporters observed on site that in addition to fertilizer products, there were also displays of soil conditioners, soil water-retaining agents, straw decomposition agents, plant growth regulators, soil and fertilizer analysis and testing instruments, fertilizer processing and application machinery, agricultural water-saving and water-fertilizer integration facilities, and other products. Among them, new-type multifunctional fertilizer products occupied half of the exhibition, becoming a major highlight of this Dual-Exchange Fertilizer Conference, demonstrating the achievements China's fertilizer industry has made in independent research and development and product innovation.
The soil testing and formula fertilization project began implementation in 2005, and this year marks its tenth year. During the Dual-Exchange Fertilizer Conference, soil and fertilizer technology extension departments from across the country comprehensively displayed the main achievements of soil testing and formula fertilization work in various regions over the past decade through pictures, text, video, physical objects, and other forms.
Transforming Development Mode, Advancing Scientific Fertilization
"Scientific fertilization can bring increased yield and improved benefits, while irrational fertilization can bring increased costs and environmental damage. Transforming the agricultural development mode, improving the utilization efficiency of agricultural inputs, and advancing scientific fertilization are inevitable choices for developing modern agriculture." Zeng Yande, Director of the Planting Industry Management Department of the Ministry of Agriculture, stated at the opening ceremony of the Dual-Exchange Fertilizer Conference that over the past decade, China's grain output increased by 342.5 billion jin, vegetables increased by nearly 200 million tons, and fruits increased by 80 million tons. The sustained and stable growth of agricultural product output is inseparable from the role and contribution of fertilizers. Since 2005, the central government has strongly supported soil testing and formula fertilization, achieving remarkable results. According to estimates, the per-unit yield of major grain crops increased by 9%-10%, cumulatively reducing irrational fertilization by more than 10 million tons, and the fertilizer utilization rate reached over 33%, an increase of 5 percentage points compared to 2005. While achieving results, rich experience has also been accumulated, laying the foundation for scientific fertilization.
To realize the Chinese Dream, the foundation lies in "agriculture, rural areas, and farmers." Zeng Yande said that a strong agriculture cannot do without scientific fertilization for increased production and income; beautiful rural areas cannot do without scientific fertilization for energy conservation and emission reduction; and prosperous farmers cannot do without scientific fertilization for cost savings and efficiency improvement. He hoped that through the platform of the Dual-Exchange Fertilizer Conference, fertilizer research institutions, enterprises, and users would join hands, strengthen exchanges, jointly plan for scientific fertilization, advance sustained and stable agricultural development, and make new contributions to ensuring national food security.
Highlighting the Exhibition Theme, Taking the Pulse of Industry Trends
The keynote report meeting of the National Dual-Exchange Fertilizer Conference has become an important stage for policy interpretation, information release, and innovative thinking on industry development in China's fertilizer sector.
At the keynote report meeting, Zeng Yande, Director of the Planting Industry Management Department of the Ministry of Agriculture, gave a presentation titled "Modern Agriculture and Scientific Fertilization," explaining the development of modern agriculture and scientific fertilization in China. Chen Shengdou, Director of the National Agricultural Technology Extension Service Center, provided a detailed analysis of the 2014 domestic chemical fertilizer market situation and predicted the 2015 market trend. The paper "Achieving Higher Crop Yields at Lower Environmental Cost" by Professor Zhang Fusuo of China Agricultural University and others was published in the British journal Nature and caused tremendous repercussions in the global industry. At the keynote report meeting, Professor Zhang Fusuo's report based on this content pointed out the direction for future scientific fertilization development.
With the vigorous development of new-type agricultural business entities, large-scale growers, farm owners, cooperatives, and other new-type agricultural business entities are becoming increasingly active on the agricultural stage, becoming a new force in developing modern agriculture. The traditional agricultural materials marketing model has entered an era of transformation, and fertilizer marketing has entered the farm owner era. The organizing committee of this National Dual-Exchange Fertilizer Conference specially organized the "Farm Owner" Era Forum and Training. The training activity took "Farm Owner Era: Anticipating Harmony Between Soil, Fertilizer, and Environment" as its theme, organizing more than 300 large-scale growers and farmers from areas surrounding Nanning to attend, inviting relevant experts to explain scientific fertilization and soil fertility improvement techniques for rice, sugarcane, banana, citrus, and other crops, and to promote and popularize scientific fertilization knowledge.