Overseas Experience in Environment-conserving Agriculture Is Worth Learning From
After the end of World War II, along with Japan's rapid economic development and the extensive development of its land, and with the pursuit of high agricultural output and high productivity as the goal, Japan's rural resources and environment also became very severe. On June 10, 1992, the Japanese government, in the "New Directions for Food, Agriculture, and Rural Policy" it issued, proposed for the first time the development of environment-conserving agriculture and made it a new goal of agricultural policy. Generally speaking, environment-conserving agriculture refers to sustainable agriculture that fully harnesses agriculture's own material cycling function, continuously coordinates with productivity, and reduces environmental load through reduced use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and the like.
Japan's environment-conserving agriculture is composed of three major systems: policy and law, agricultural technology, and agricultural certification. (1) The policy and law system. Overall, through legislation Japan has codified agricultural environmental protection policies and measures, advanced agricultural environmental protection policies and measures in legislative form, improved the system of agricultural environmental protection laws and regulations, governed agricultural environmental pollution according to law, and at the same time intensified law enforcement so that the relevant laws could be implemented. (2) The agricultural technology system. Japan attaches great importance to investment in agricultural scientific research and education, treats science and technology as the breakthrough point for developing environment-conserving agriculture, emphasizes cooperation among the government, the private sector, and research institutions, develops agricultural biotechnology, new pesticides, new cultivation methods, and so on, and at the same time adopts preferential measures to actively promote the use of the above technologies. (3) The agricultural certification system. 1. The organic agricultural product certification system. Organic agricultural products entering the Japanese market must be certified by a certification body registered with the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. 2. The eco-farmer certification system. Japan's “National Conference for the Promotion of Environment-conserving Agriculture” specially designed the “eco-farmer” logo in 2000 and officially began using it in 2003.
The lessons of environment-conserving agriculture for our country: First, transform the traditional mode of agricultural production and adhere to the strategy of sustainable agricultural development. It is necessary to transform the high-input, high-output, high-energy-consumption mode of agricultural production, advocate “low-input” agriculture that minimizes external inputs such as chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and machinery, develop agriculture on the premise of protecting the environment and ecological balance, and seek harmony with the environment while maintaining upward production. Second, improve the legal system for agricultural environmental protection and strengthen policy support for the development of environment-friendly agriculture. Specialized laws or regulations for the protection of agricultural environmental resources should be formulated and implemented more quickly, and agricultural environmental protection and the protection of agricultural natural resources should be further coordinated. Third, establish environment-friendly agricultural organizations and improve an authoritative certification system. Through the establishment of national and local environment-friendly agricultural organizations, guide production, product processing, and sales, and test and verify relevant technologies. At the same time, improve an authoritative agricultural certification system so that different types of environment-conserving agriculture and agricultural products all gain market recognition. Fourth, intensify environmental education and publicity so that environment-conserving agriculture becomes deeply rooted in people's hearts. Public education on environmental awareness as well as food safety education and environmental publicity should be strengthened, so as to accelerate the opening up of markets for organic agricultural products and pollution-free agricultural products.
In general, environment-conserving agriculture, which is conducive to ecological civilization and environmental protection, is sustainable agriculture and, in the long run, represents the direction of modern agricultural development. Therefore, attention should be paid to studying and absorbing the development experience of foreign countries, including Japan, regarding similar environment-conserving agriculture, so as to provide reference and lessons for our country's agricultural ecological transition, the coordinated development of resource utilization and ecological environmental protection, and the building of ecological civilization.