said the Food News Agency
Many people engaged in conventional chemical agriculture believe that ecological agriculture has low yields and is not worth developing. This view also affects many members of the general public who have little knowledge of agriculture. Yuan Yong, a senior agronomist at the Dongxi Sub-district Agricultural Comprehensive Service Center in Jianyang City, Sichuan, has gone from being a township agricultural technician who "brings pesticides to the countryside for training" to helping farmers transform into ecological planting. He has experienced two very different ways of farming, and his comparison of the two can be useful for those who are new to agroecology.
In the view of the Food Communication Agency, improving agricultural technology is an urgent need for the development of ecological agriculture, but what is the current level of agricultural technology training inside and outside the circle? What kind of technical training do farmers need?
In order to understand the actual situation more broadly, the Food Communication Agency is carrying out a thorough survey of ecological agriculture technology training. Whether you are a farmer or an organization planning to carry out agricultural technology training, please fill out the questionnaire and give us more feedback "link".
● In December 2023, the author of this article, Yuan Yong, introduced his and his partners' experience in exploring climate-friendly ecological planting technologies in Sichuan at the "Community Practice Exchange Meeting on Agricultural Climate Change" held by the Yunnan Sili Ecological Alternative Technology Center.
After graduating from Forestry University in 94, I returned to a small town agricultural technology station in my hometown to engage in agricultural technology extension work, and it has been 30 years.
In the first few years of work, I used what I learned in college to teach farmers how to use pesticides, fertilizers and herbicides, and often took pesticides to the countryside for training, and then sold them to farmers at a lower price than the market price (at that time, it was called the combination of technology and materials). Seeing these results, I felt that I was helping farmers increase production and income, and I was doing good deeds, and I felt a sense of achievement.
However, as time went by, I discovered a very strange phenomenon, the more pesticides were used, the better they were, and the more they were used, the more serious the pests and diseases. Fertilizers are being used more and more, and more machinery is being used to cultivate the land, but the soil is becoming more and more compacted and barren. Then I began to reflect on what went wrong, especially the pests and diseases, was the time, concentration, type, and method of pesticide use wrong? Or did the pests evolve too fast? Why did the pests evolve so fast? How should these problems be solved? If this continues, what about the environmental pollution caused by a large number of pesticides? Although I had already reflected at that time, I have not found a real solution to the problem, so I began to consult experts.
However, the answer I got once again left me confused: one view is that regular pesticide prevention is necessary to prevent outbreaks, and the other view is that it cannot be prevented regularly, and pests and diseases should be sprayed before spraying, otherwise too much pests and diseases will be used to enhance the resistance of pests and diseases. Unfortunately, in practice, these two diametrically opposed approaches have failed to solve the problem, and the vicious cycle of more and more pests and diseases is still escalating, and I have always been puzzled.
In 2009, I had the privilege of participating in an organic rice project, which used technical measures such as plastic film mulching, no-tillage opening, chicken manure instead of chemical fertilizers, and biogas slurry instead of pesticides instead of chemical inputs instead of pesticides. To our and the farmers, we and the farmers were very surprised that more than 10 acres of experimental rice that year had a bumper harvest, with a yield of more than 500 kilograms per mu (the average yield of conventional chemical planting that year was more than 400 kilograms), and the outbreak of rice leaf roller borer that year, the surrounding farmers could not control it with pesticides, and we used biogas slurry to play a very good effect.
At that time, I had an epiphany that the way to completely solve pests and diseases was not to study how to use and what pesticides to use, but not to use pesticides. In the past, I have not been able to jump out of the shackles of pesticides, thinking that pests and diseases are inseparable from pesticides. Similarly, in the past, it was thought that the fertilizer efficiency of farmers was very slow, the nutrient content was low, and the yield would be seriously reduced without chemical fertilizer, but practice told me that the yield would also be high without chemical fertilizer.
With this practice, I saw the fact that without pesticides, fertilizers, herbicides, you can also grow good crops. Although I didn't know the truth at the time, it at least gave me the confidence to take another path, which is the "organic" path. I think such a good technology must be promoted as soon as possible. So, in 2010, another expert and I promoted the establishment of a cooperative in another village to promote organic rice, and the technical points are basically the same as the previous year's experiment, except that the chicken manure is turned into oil (50-100 catties per mu) plus other farm fertilizers owned by farmers, such as pig manure, sheep manure, chicken manure, etc. Similarly, dozens of acres of rice were also very successful that year, most of them were stable yields (about 450 kilograms per mu, which was comparable to the yield of pesticides and fertilizers used at that time), and there were some increased yields, and only two households had a little reduced yield due to the low-lying flooding of rice fields.
Hands-on learning transforms cognition
Since 2010, I started my own road of ecological agriculture, along the way, gradually come into contact with people with the same concept, and also have the opportunity to study in some ecological agriculture bases, especially when a friend gave me a copy of the book "The Revolution of a Straw", after reading through it twice, my perception of agriculture was completely subverted. This book tells me that real science is to follow the laws of nature, that is, Lao Tzu's idea of the unity of nature and man, Taoism and nature, and that agriculture needs to consider not only technology, but also from a philosophical level, such as world view, how to recognize the relationship between man and nature.
● The principles of natural farming summarized by Masanobu Fukuoka, author of "A Revolution of a Straw".
Click on the schools and developments of natural farming and organic agriculture in Japan to learn about the schools and developments of natural farming and organic agriculture in Japan.
The mechanical view of nature of modern agriculture is based on the Western industrial civilization, which is centered on people, the environment is for people, the purpose of development is the unlimited growth of the economy, and it is believed that science and technology can do everything. The premise of all this is that nature's resources are infinite and that there are no side effects when using these resources. But the facts tell us that these two premises are inherently problematic. As a result, his cognition changed from "organic" to "ecological", and gradually abandoned agricultural film (when he first started to promote ecological rice, he was still using plastic film covering), and began the real ecological road.
Later, he continued to practice in different crops and different regions, and successively participated in some exchange activities of rural construction and the training of ecological agriculture system in some public welfare institutions, coupled with his own practice, and gradually formed a set of localized ecological agriculture technology system, and began to promote and practice in a larger scope. In the past 10 years of engaging in the practice and promotion of ecological agriculture, there have been successes, failures, understanding, doubts, opportunities and challenges, and it is this rich experience and practice that has made me think more and change, and more and more determined to be on my own path of ecological agriculture.
Misunderstandings about ecological agriculture
In this process, I found that many people have misconceptions about ecological agriculture, which are mainly reflected in:
First, "ecological agriculture is a kind of regression". Mistakenly thinking that ecological agriculture is traditional agriculture or primitive agriculture, that is, simply without pesticides, fertilizers, herbicides, and no scientific and technological content, it seems to have returned to the primitive slash-and-burn farming. In fact, the real ecological agriculture is to follow the way of nature, to discover, learn and make good use of the power of nature itself, to achieve the unity of nature and man, this is the real science.
●Beijing Tianfuyuan Biodiversity Farm is a model of following the way of nature: symbiosis between weeds and vegetables, combination of planting and breeding, and retention of wildflowers and grasses to control pests
Click on Tianfuyuan: From the city gold collar to the rural village woman, agriculture has been her life, and learn about the farm's way of advocating Zhimin's cooperation with nature to manage life.
The second is "the development of ecological agriculture, half of the people will starve to death". The premise of this understanding is that ecological agriculture will inevitably reduce yields, because according to the theory of nutrient return, the agricultural products taken from the soil will eventually not return to the soil, and the nutrients in the soil will become less and less, so they must be supplemented with chemical fertilizers, otherwise the yield will be reduced. This theory seems to be correct, but practice has found that there is no problem of yield reduction without chemical fertilizers, but the yield will return to the potential of the variety itself, but there will be no "super high yield". Our practice for many years has found that the general grain and oil crops planted by ecology are basically stable, and the yield of drought and other disasters is even higher than that of chemical agriculture (the stress resistance of ecological agriculture is stronger), and the yield of vegetables and fruits will be reduced a little, because the output of vegetables and fruits in modern agriculture is not normal, and it is a high yield "urged" by a large number of chemical fertilizers. Although the yield is high, the energy is low, the nutritional value is low (these have been studied), and the increase in production comes at the cost of a large number of inputs, pressure on the environment, and consumption of resources. In addition, people with this understanding believe that the "doctrine of nutrient restitution" is the truth, and have never reflected on the limitations of this theory itself. In fact, there are many forms and channels for the return of nutrients (energy), such as wind, thunder and lightning, and rainfall are all ways of nature's ability to circulate, especially the inexhaustible solar energy, as long as there are enough green plants in the cultivated land, solar energy can be continuously converted into energy and nutrients through photosynthesis (of course, contrary to the laws of nature, the pursuit of excessive and too fast high yields).
The third is "increasing the labor force and inefficiency". Many people think that without pesticides, they can only catch insects manually, and if they don't use herbicides, they will manually weed, and without chemical fertilizers, they can only use farm fertilizer, which will consume a lot of manpower. This kind of understanding does not actually understand ecological agriculture. Not using pesticides does not mean that pests and diseases will break out, not using chemical fertilizers does not require a lot of farm fertilizer, and not using herbicides does not mean that manual weeding is required. Although ecological agriculture does not use pesticides, but the pests and diseases will be very light, basically will not affect production, because ecological agriculture is from the soil this fundamental, the use of no-tillage straw mulching to raise the soil well, crops are naturally healthy, resistance is also strong (our practice also proves this, the longer the ecological planting time, the healthier the soil, the more fertile, the looser, the lighter the crop pests and diseases, even if there are outbreaks of pests and diseases around, will not be affected, therefore, many plant protection experts are doubting whether we go to pesticides in the middle of the night); If the weeds are reasonably retained, the biodiversity is enough, the ecology will be naturally balanced, and the diseases and pests will not break out into "pests". Therefore, without arable land, the soil will be loose, no pesticides, but there will be no outbreak of pests and diseases, no chemical fertilizer (or even farm fertilizer), the soil will become more and more fertile, and these are the forces of nature rather than manpower, which is the most labor-saving and efficient.
Fourth, "the capital investment is very large". In fact, the inputs of ecological agriculture are more from nature, sunlight, microorganisms, earthworms, weeds, insects, straw, are all from nature, the soil is not tillage, and there is no need for machinery, if the old seeds are used, the money to buy seeds is one-time. The love for the environment, the love for Mother Earth, and the love for crops that really need to be paid need to put aside self and prejudices to observe nature, and learn from nature with a humble attitude, although these do not cost money, but they are more valuable and important than "money".
A few thoughts on ecological agriculture
The function of agriculture is "eating", not "money". There is an essential difference between agriculture and industry, agriculture is a living system, industry is a mechanical system, and there will definitely be problems with guiding living agriculture with inanimate industrial concepts (theories). Secondly, the consumption of agricultural products is rigid, everyone regardless of status, rich or poor, must and can only consume so much every day, the consumption of industrial products is unlimited, there is more money to consume, no money to consume less, therefore, industrial products can be said to be "economies of scale", agricultural products will appear "overcharged" consequences. Also, agricultural products have a very strong seasonality and shelf life, which follows the laws of nature, while industrial products do not have such a strong seasonality and shelf life, and follow the laws of the economy and the market. The characteristics of agriculture are destined to be social functions (to ensure that there is food and eat healthily), ecological functions (to reduce environmental pollution caused by industry) and political functions (to ensure national food security), rather than economic functions (to make money), and it is very difficult to achieve the overall prosperity of farmers only by selling agricultural products (agricultural products are in surplus at any time, and consumption is rigid). That is to say, the greatest value of agriculture lies in "eating", not in selling for money, which is destined by the characteristics of agriculture itself, and is not subject to human will. If pesticides and fertilizers are used to increase production and income, the result is that the health problems, environmental problems, and climate change caused by the money earned will bring greater and more lasting harm to everyone.
The key to success in agroecology lies not in technology, but in perception and mentality. Practice has found that the technology of ecological agriculture is simpler than that of modern agriculture, there is no high technology, let alone any facilities and machinery (nature is the most sophisticated instrument), and it is difficult to produce high-quality papers, because many "high-tech" are handed over to nature, and even some people doubt its effect because they think the technology is too simple. Therefore, the key to the success of ecological agriculture is not technology, but the difficulty of changing the habitual thinking and superstition and dependence on modern Western science and technology formed over the years.
●The cucumber which grows naturally without a growth regulator is curved and straight. Image source: Beijing Organic Farmer's Market "Ugly Fruit Confessions Exhibition".
Do not judge ecological agriculture by the standards of modern agriculture. I often hear farmers who have just done ecological agriculture say that why my ecological vegetables grow worse than others who use pesticides and fertilizers, and the problem lies in the understanding of "poor". Under the influence of modern agriculture, everyone regards "large, good-looking (tender green, etc.), regular shape" and so on as the standard of "good", and ignores that these characteristics are only under the "protection" of pesticides and fertilizers, and ecological agriculture believes that the appearance of crops in their natural state is the best.
The key to promoting ecological agriculture lies in life, not production. The promotion of ecological agriculture in one place cannot be discussed in terms of production, because in today's society, agriculture is not the main source of income for farmers in most areas, nor is it their main concern. Instead, we should link ecological agriculture with their lives, so that they realize that the significance of developing ecological agriculture is not to increase production and income, but to fundamentally solve health problems, environmental problems, and solve the problems of living space and living conditions for the next generation, which is the only way for everyone to live a happier and more sustainable life. Therefore, to promote ecological agriculture, we must start from enriching rural culture, improving the degree of organization of farmers, caring for left-behind people, caring for health and other lives.
The business model of ecological agriculture is best based on farmers' cooperation and mutual assistance between urban and rural areas. The principle of biodiversity of ecological agriculture is destined to be difficult to succeed in corporatization and enterprise scale operation, and only by relying on farmer cooperatives can we achieve that rural households can focus on production, cooperatives focus on brand and sales, and then use cooperatives to connect urban consumers and realize urban-rural mutual assistance.