Prospects of Organic Agriculture in China

 Organic agriculture refers to the planting industry that uses organic fertilizers to meet the nutritional needs of crops or the breeding industry that uses organic feed to meet the nutritional needs of livestock and poultry without completely or basically using artificially synthesized fertilizers, pesticides, growth regulators, and livestock and poultry feed additives in production , let's take a look at the development prospects of organic agriculture together! Prospects for the Development of Organic Agriculture in China From the perspective of market sales, although organic food accounts for less than 5% of all food sales in the world, it is undeniable that organic agriculture has become the most active sector in the agricultural sector. In the long run, the prospects of organic agriculture are favorable, but there are still many practical problems in the Chinese market, which will increase the variables of organic agriculture in the short term. Today, organic agriculture has become the most popular agricultural investment field for entrepreneurs. It not only attracts investors with a professional background like Zhang Tonggui, but also attracts a large number of "cross-border" entrepreneurs, such as Liu Chuanzhi, Ding Lei, Liu Qiangdong and Wang Jianlin.

Advantages of Organic Farming Development in China

1. China is a large agricultural country with a long history and has a traditional organic agriculture foundation, so farmers are easy to accept the concept of developing organic agriculture, and they have accumulated rich experience in long-term practice.

2. Agriculture in some areas of China is relatively backward, which in a sense is also a favorable condition for the transformation to organic agriculture. For example, in some remote mountainous areas or poor areas, pesticides and chemical fertilizers are seldom or not used. In fact, many agricultural products are organic food. As long as they are properly developed and managed, they can become organic agriculture.

3. Organic agriculture is a labor-intensive industry, and China's rural labor resources are the most abundant.

4. Since the 1980s, China's green agriculture has been vigorously promoted, laying the foundation for the development of organic agriculture. Since the 1990s, organic agriculture has also developed to a certain extent in China, and there has been a certain amount of organic food exports. Internationally, China’s organic soybeans, peanuts, tea, rice, wheat, cotton, organic dried fruits, wine, honey, and Chinese herbal medicines Waiting for imports.

China National Standard for Organic Agriculture

1. Production standards: It stipulates the general specifications and requirements for organic production of crops, edible fungi, wild plants, livestock and poultry, aquatic products, bees and their unprocessed products, and is applicable to the whole process of organic production, mainly including crop planting and edible fungus cultivation , wild plant collection, livestock and poultry breeding, aquaculture, bee breeding and transportation, storage and packaging of their products.

2. Processing standards: It stipulates the general specifications and requirements for organic processing, which is applicable to the whole process of processing, packaging, storage and transportation using unprocessed products produced in GB/T19630.1 as raw materials, and includes the content of organic textiles, The scope of application of this part is cotton or silk fiber products, excluding wool and other products.

 3. Labeling and sales: It stipulates the general specifications and requirements for the labeling and sales of organic products, and is applicable to the labeling and sales of products produced or processed according to GB/T19630.1 and GB/T19630.2 and certified.

4. Management system: It stipulates the general norms and requirements of the management system that should be established and maintained during the production, processing and operation of organic products, and is applicable to producers, processors, operators and related supply links of organic products.

Is Unmanned Equipment the Agriculture's Future?

In the air, plant protection drones fly and circle; in the field, planters equipped with the Beidou system drive in an orderly manner; in the pond, "Black Liqiao" turns into "chip fish", sweeping the mobile phone, every fish can be traced back to the source. In rural areas, more and more villages are using "digital brains" - online remote real-time monitoring of rural dwellings, garbage transfer stations, large-scale farms, etc., straw burning, urban and rural public space governance and other rural living environment governance Puzzles are gradually solved...  

Agricultural autonomous vehicle sprays vegetable fields

According to the "2021 China Agricultural Production Digitalization Research Report", the current application of digital technology in China's agricultural production is in the process of transitioning from the application period to the development period. 5S technologies such as remote sensing technology, geographic information system and global positioning system are used in agriculture. The application is relatively mature. Big data and cloud computing are widely used and are in a period of rapid development; AI and the Internet of Things have entered the agricultural field and are gradually being applied in agricultural production. At present, the application of digital technology in production has achieved big data production monitoring, drone plant protection, refined farming, and yield forecasting.

U.S. Organic Agriculture Observation

 After ten days of systematic investigation and communication, I really like the organic agricultural production and sales system in the United States, which is simple and generous and can enter the ordinary households.

Standardized and efficient organic agricultural production

Production will always be the cornerstone of organic systems. We visited Mcgrathfamilyfarm, a medium-to-large organic farm where many varieties of fruits and vegetables are grown.

Farmers, the Fill family, came to California in 1867 to operate their farm and are now in the third generation. The farm covers an area of ​​more than 3,000 mu (500 acres), and the crops currently planted include strawberries, tomatoes, watermelons, horned melons, a variety of beans, large thistles, broccoli, dandelions, corn, sorghum, raspberries, etc. some poultry.

The farm is certified organic and all farming is done organically. The farm employs 20 people, of which 15 are engaged in farm work, and 5 are responsible for sales and transportation. The farm has its own nursery room, and there is an organic shop at the entrance, which mainly sells organic produce from the farm and nearby farms.

Thailand launches 5-year plan for ASEAN organic agriculture base

According to reports from Thailand China Daily on March 7, the Ministry of Agricultural Cooperatives of Thailand announced that the five-year organic agriculture development master plan from 2017 to 2021 was over-completed and will be implemented on the basis of the existing 1.5 million Thai mu of organic farms and 90,000 farmers. The next target plan is to become an organic agricultural planting and production base in ASEAN, and strengthen the international competitiveness of Thailand's organic agricultural products.

The next five-year goal of the Thai government is to continue to improve the production and income-generating capacity of organic agriculture in Thailand on the existing basis, and to build Thailand into an organic agricultural planting production base in ASEAN. It will be carried out from the following aspects: 1. Encourage big data research and development and technological innovation; 2. Improve agricultural labor productivity and improve organic agricultural supply chain management; 3. Improve organic agricultural standards and certification systems; 4. Develop marketing to improve organic agriculture know.

In 2022, the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives has allocated a budget of 850 million baht to continue to promote the organic agriculture development plan, with a total of 94 projects, namely, 48 in the research field with a budget of 177 million baht; 21 in the production and management field with a budget of 552 million baht; organic agriculture Standard field 25 budgets of 122 million baht.

1000 Ecological Farms will be built across China By 2025

On December 22, 2021, the Agricultural Ecology and Resource Protection Station of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and the China Agricultural Ecological Environmental Protection Association announced the list of the first batch of ecological farms in the country, and a total of 132 production entities won the title of "ecological farms". After the release of the list, what is an ecological farm and why it is necessary to build an ecological farm has become a hot spot of social concern. Longze Yunong Organic Agriculture (Beijing) Co., Ltd. and other first batch of subjects to obtain the title of ecological farms welcomed a large number of people visiting, studying or visiting during the "two festivals" which coincided with the New Year's Day and the Spring Festival.

One month after the release of the list, at the end of January 2022, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs issued the "Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Construction of Ecological Farms", pointing out that promoting the construction of ecological farms is an important measure to implement Xi Jinping's thought on ecological civilization, and explore effective paths for agricultural modernization. A powerful tool to promote the green development of agriculture. By 2025, through scientific evaluation, follow-up monitoring and guidance services, build 1,000 national-level ecological farms across the country, and drive the construction of 10,000 local ecological farms in various provinces.

Challenges Facing Organic Agriculture

1. Lack of public cognition and test credit system.

Organic agriculture is still a new thing in China. Most ordinary consumers lack understanding of organic products. In order to make consumers widely aware of and accept organic products, a lot of publicity and popularization of organic agricultural knowledge is needed. It is difficult to distinguish between organic products and conventional products in judgment, which will inevitably lead to doubts from consumers. In addition, there are actual hidden quality problems, which makes organic agriculture face the challenge of credibility.

Very few certification bodies are only interested in immediate interests and only value growth in volume, making consumers doubt the validity of organic product certification. If the organic product certification agency does not carry out inspection and certification activities in strict accordance with the standards, it will lead to unqualified organic products entering the market, affecting the interests of consumers, and causing consumers to lose confidence in organic products. Therefore, the establishment of the industry self-discipline and integrity system of employees is the cornerstone of China's organic agriculture and the foundation of market development.

2. Some organic agricultural enterprises pay more attention to certification, but less attention to standard implementation and consultation.

Some organic enterprises only pay attention to the results of organic certification, but do not pay enough attention to the implementation of organic agricultural production standards. As a result, one set is written and another set may be done, resulting in a low level of real organic production technology. Driven by market interests, a very small number of enterprises are eager to achieve success but do not implement standards seriously, do not actively improve product quality and management level, try to take shortcuts, and even try to directly spend money on certification.

3. The research on organic agricultural production technology is lagging behind, and the service system is not perfect.

Organic agricultural production requires a set of different production technologies as a guarantee. Organic agricultural production faces many problems such as pest control, soil fertilization, variety selection, product quality and production efficiency. In addition, my country lacks projects and funds for organic agricultural production research and scientific research and development, and there are few domestic institutions specializing in organic agricultural research and teaching, especially lack of research, development and consultation on organic agricultural production technology and production materials. Influence the sustainable development and improvement of organic agriculture.

4. The production scale of organic agriculture is small, the cost is high, and the production and market demand are out of touch.

The scale of organic agricultural production in China is generally small, resulting in high unit production costs. In addition, the market development is not perfect, the service system is not perfect, and the sales cost is higher, resulting in high prices of organic agricultural products in the domestic market, affecting the popularization and market capacity of organic agricultural products. expansion. At present, organic agriculture in my country mainly focuses on planting products, with many primary products and lack of organic processed products.

Organic agricultural production can only realize its value through the market and meet the needs of consumers. Without the market, organic agriculture has no basis for development. Therefore, organic agricultural production must adapt to market needs and act according to market rules to achieve healthy and sustainable development.

5. The market is not regulated enough, and counterfeit organic products seriously damage the interests of consumers.

The domestic organic food market is still in the initial stage of development, the means of market supervision are not perfect and the strength is not strong enough, and a standardized and orderly market system has not been formed. Since it is difficult to intuitively judge the authenticity of organic agricultural products, it is difficult for consumers to feel the difference between them and conventional agricultural products after consumption, which provides an opportunity for unscrupulous businessmen.

Market issues are one of the most critical issues for the development of the organic business. Only when organic products reflect their true value in the market can they fundamentally mobilize the enthusiasm of the producers, processors and traders who are engaged in the organic business. Only by regulating the market of organic products can we prevent the emergence and proliferation of counterfeit and shoddy products, and can make consumers trust organic products, which cannot be separated from organic products. If organic products cannot reflect their true value for a long time, and if the market for organic products cannot be trusted by consumers, the organic business will not only not develop, but will gradually shrink until it disappears.

6. Government support is not enough.

Governments at all levels still lack clear policy and financial support for the development of organic agriculture. The environmental and social benefits of organic agriculture should be given due recognition and attention. In order to encourage organic agriculture, most developed countries formulate subsidy policies for organic agriculture in their own countries, provide subsidies to certified production and processing enterprises, and provide a considerable amount of financial support to scientific research and consulting institutions of organic agriculture every year. The development of organic agriculture is beneficial to the ecological environment.

What impressive development of Organic Farming in USA inspires us?

The development of organic Farming in the United States

Organic agriculture in the United States was developed relatively early. In the late 1980s, with the growth of consumers' demand for healthy food without chemical preparations and the improvement of farmers' awareness of the environmental pollution caused by chemical preparations, more and more farmers began to engage in organic agricultural production. In the 1930s and 1940s, some insightful farmers in the United States were influenced by the organic farming enlightenment. Support and begin to practice, the most representative of which is J.I.Rodale, the founder of organic agriculture in the United States, who founded Rodale Organic Farm in 1945. Organic food production in the United States began to introduce a registration system from the 1940s to the 1970s, and began to enter a period of rapid growth after the 1980s. According to the statistics released by the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM), the organic agricultural area of the United States in 2005 was 1.6 million hectares, ranking fourth in the world. At present, all 50 states in the United States have engaged in organic agricultural production. Among them, California is the largest and most developed agricultural state in the United States. The organic agricultural area accounts for 14.4% of the total organic area in the United States, and the total value of organic agricultural products also accounts for 38.4% of the United States.

2. Advanced experience in the development of organic agriculture in the United States

(1) A good policy and regulatory environment. The US government is mainly committed to promoting the formulation of organic product regulations and national certification standards, and popularizing standardized production methods. Ensure that the products purchased by consumers meet a unified standard. In order to further promote the development of organic agriculture and protect the environment, the federal government provides financial subsidies for the certification of some organic food producers according to the situation.

(2) The concept of organic production is ahead of its time. Paying attention to ecological environmental protection, the organic agricultural production in the United States regards biological control and composting as two magic weapons, especially the use of biological nitrogen fixation and organic matter (plant residues, manure) nitrogen cycle of leguminous plants to provide nitrogen nutrition for crops, weeds, etc. , Pest control mainly relies on crop rotation, natural enemies, biodiversity, grasses, resistant varieties, etc., use chemical control as little as possible, and pay close attention to the impact of agricultural production on the ecological environment. Pay attention to protecting wildlife resources.

(3) Organic agricultural research is oriented to production. Each state university in the United States has set up agricultural technology extension offices in each local area, which fully undertakes the local agricultural technology extension work. The research results can be quickly transformed into productive forces, and the agricultural scientific research, teaching and production are closely integrated, forming a unique "three-in-one" model, which effectively improves the role of agricultural technology in agricultural development.

(4) The degree of networked agricultural information management and services is high. The United States attaches great importance to the use of information technology to achieve social information sharing and information transparency, and the development of information technology and information systems has benefited American agriculture.

(5) Active Agricultural Cooperative Organizations A large number of various agricultural cooperative organizations are active in the United States. Such as agricultural cooperatives and agricultural product industry associations. Its main role is to safeguard the common interests of farmers and to promote and sell agricultural and sideline products. 

3. The enlightenment of the development of organic agriculture in the United States

(1) Establish a national organic industry management department to coordinate and support the healthy development of the organic industry. Under the premise that my country has successively promulgated the "Agricultural Product Quality Safety Law" and "Food Safety Law", it is urgent to improve the legal system of organic agricultural products. As a supplement to relevant laws, it is recommended that the Ministry of Agriculture formulate departmental regulations as soon as possible, and issue the "Organic Agricultural Products Management Regulations" to further effectively regulate the production of organic agricultural products.

(2) Accelerate the pace of scientific and technological innovation and promote the organic integration of production, education and research. Organic agriculture has higher requirements for the ecological environment, science and technology, and inputs. We must closely rely on science and technology, and we should focus on strengthening basic research on organic agriculture. At present, it is necessary to focus on researching and solving the technical difficulties of organic agricultural production, taking into account the improvement of organic food deep processing technology, increasing the value-added potential of organic products, and promoting the rapid and healthy development of organic agriculture.

(3) Strengthen the construction of agricultural information infrastructure. Make full use of network information resources With the gradual establishment of my country's socialist market economic system, accurate, sensitive and efficient information is becoming more and more important in promoting agricultural and rural economic development. Therefore, when we strengthen the construction of agricultural infrastructure. More attention should be paid to strengthening the construction of agricultural information infrastructure. At the same time, the comprehensive development and utilization of domestic and foreign information resources. To create conditions for organic farmers. Make full use of social information resources through the network to solve their own difficulties in the process of organic prenatal, intranatal and postnatal. Take organic farming to a new level.

(4) Vigorously cultivate leading enterprises and rural cooperative economic organizations. Speed ​​up the process of agricultural industrialization At present, my country's organic industry economy is not yet developed. The production scale of organic agriculture is small. The quality of farmers is low. Whether it is from the experience of the development of organic agriculture in the United States, or from the actual development of our own production. It is very necessary to increase the support for the leading enterprises in the industrialization of organic agriculture and rural economic cooperation organizations. There is an urgent need to develop various types of farmers' professional cooperative economic organizations. To effectively organize thousands of organic farmers. Lead organic farmers into the market. Go international. Form a pattern of organic specialized production, large-scale operation, and industrialized development under the conditions of a market economy, especially under the premise of the household contract responsibility system