In recent years, China has carried out major actions for green agricultural development, vigorously developed ecological and circular agriculture, and steadily promoted the recycling and utilization of agricultural waste resources, and made positive progress. First, the level of comprehensive utilization of straw has steadily increased. Since 2019, the comprehensive utilization of straw has been implemented nationwide, supporting 2,579 counties and sub-counties to promote straw utilization, implementing scientific straw return technology models according to local conditions, accelerating the multiple and efficient utilization of straw from the field, and encouraging enterprises to carry out large-scale and industrial utilization. The overall utilization rate of straw across the country has stabilized at more than 88%, and a pattern of mainly agricultural use and multiple utilization has basically taken shape. Second, the resource utilization of livestock and poultry manure has achieved remarkable results. Gradually expand the coverage of the whole county to promote the resource utilization of livestock and poultry waste, and effectively improve the livestock and poultry waste treatment capacity of large-scale farms. We carried out trials of green farming and circular agriculture, supported 299 counties in major animal husbandry provinces, major grain and vegetable producing areas, and key ecological protection areas, and carried out trials of local manure consumption and nearby return to fields throughout the county to promote local and nearby return of manure to fields. The comprehensive utilization rate of livestock and poultry manure reached 79.4 percent, realizing the transformation from treatment to use. Third, effective treatment of waste agricultural film and pesticide packaging waste has been achieved. We have severely cracked down on the use of non-standard plastic mulch in the market and in the fields, promoted the use of thick plastic mulch and fully biodegradable plastic mulch, and promoted the scientific use and recycling of plastic mulch and the recycling and disposal of pesticide packaging waste, with the recycling and disposal rates of agricultural film and pesticide packaging waste reaching 80% and 78.9%, respectively. Fourth, science and technology provide stronger support. We will strengthen innovation in key technologies for the resource utilization of agricultural waste, establish national innovation alliances for the utilization of agricultural waste and the treatment of livestock and poultry manure, and deepen cooperation between enterprises, universities, research institutes and enterprises. Monitoring points such as straw returning to the field, manure pollution composition and mulch residue should be built to find out the bottom number, establish a ledger, and grasp the dynamic changes in time.

With the steady improvement of production capacity of grain, livestock and poultry, fruits and vegetables and the continuous improvement of industrial development level in China, agricultural waste shows a trend of stabilizing scale, producing concentration, and high-value utilization. However, there are still blocked points in the path of agricultural waste resource utilization, there are shortcomings in the policy mechanism, and the utilization level still has room for improvement. The importance and urgency of accelerating the construction of agricultural waste recycling system and promoting the green, low-carbon and circular development of agriculture have become more prominent. From the point of view of cognition, agricultural waste has multiple attributes, "discard for harm, use for benefit." Different production and operation subjects have different understandings, it is difficult to supervise agricultural environmental protection, and the market-oriented utilization mechanism is not perfect, which affects the stable development of the agricultural waste resource utilization industry. From the technical point of view, there are still bottlenecks in the core technologies such as low-cost pretreatment, clean and efficient transformation of agricultural waste and the creation of high-value utilization products, and the standard specifications for resource utilization are not perfect. From the benefit point of view, the collection and transportation cost of agricultural waste is high, especially the high content of livestock and poultry manure sewage, the collection of "pull water", the use of "pull water", the comprehensive utilization cost is high and the product price is limited, the lack of market competitiveness. From the model point of view, the rapid development of large-scale centralized farming models such as "building pig farming" and facility agriculture has increased the difficulty of local utilization of agricultural waste and nearby consumption.

Recently, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs issued the "Guiding Opinions on Accelerating the Comprehensive Green Transformation of Agricultural Development and Promoting Rural Ecological Revitalization", which clearly requires that by 2030, the level of waste resource utilization has been significantly improved, the comprehensive utilization rate of livestock and poultry manure has reached more than 85%, and the comprehensive utilization rate of straw has been maintained at more than 88%. To achieve this goal, we must strengthen policy guidance, technical support, typical demonstrations, and main body cultivation to ensure effective results. First, improve the processing capacity. We will continue to carry out major actions to promote the utilization of livestock and poultry manure as a resource throughout the county, comprehensively utilize straw, and scientifically use and dispose of agricultural film. Promote the utilization of agricultural waste resources through the integrated regional system, support eligible agricultural production and operation entities, and further improve the level of facilities and equipment for the utilization of agricultural waste such as manure, straw, and agricultural film. At the same time, cultivate a number of social service subjects to carry out such services as manure return to the field, straw collection, storage and utilization, and agricultural film recycling and disposal, innovate the organization and operation of agricultural waste resource utilization and joint agricultural belt farming model, and form the technical model, organizational mode and operation mechanism for developing green farming and recycling agriculture. Second, we will strengthen scientific and technological support. The utilization of waste resources cannot be separated from the innovative application of science and technology. Strengthen scientific and technological research on key technologies and equipment for agricultural waste treatment and high-value utilization, focus on breakthroughs in technical equipment and products such as lightweight, simplified and low-cost collection and transportation, efficient and clean transformation, recycling and carbon sequestration, and high-value utilization, and integrate complete sets of equipment and technical models suitable for different scenarios such as major grain producing areas, large-scale farms, facility agricultural parks, and third-party centralized processing. Improve the technical level of agricultural waste resource utilization. We will formulate and revise national and industry standards for high-value conversion of agricultural waste and fertilizer return to field utilization, and further improve the standard system for the resource utilization of agricultural waste. Third, improve long-term mechanisms. We will strengthen the mechanism for coordination between agriculture, rural areas, the ecological environment, and market regulation, and establish and improve a pattern of coordinated management and coordination between multiple departments. We will improve the investigation and monitoring mechanism for agricultural production and sewage discharge, waste resources, and mulch residue, continue to carry out long-term positioning monitoring of straw returning to the field, manure production and sewage discharge, manure returning to the field, and agricultural film residue, improve the agricultural waste resource ledger, and realize the dynamic management of agricultural waste resource utilization.

Source: Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs