Turning Waste into Fertilizer: Eco-Burden to Wealth
At present, Beijing's Yanqing District is in the peak season for picking fresh sweet corn in Jiuxian Town. The sweet and sticky fresh sweet corn has attracted a large number of tourists. "A single cor...
At present, Beijing's Yanqing District is in the peak season for picking fresh sweet corn in Jiuxian Town. The sweet and sticky fresh sweet corn has attracted a large number of tourists. "A single corn cob can be sold for up to 5 yuan, and it is only with the application of organic fertilizer that such quality and taste can be achieved," said Zhang Zhixin, a sweet corn grower from Da Ba Lao Village in Jiuxian Town, expressing satisfaction with this year's harvest.
Organic fertilizers are not only widely used in the cultivation of fresh sweet corn in Yanqing but also in Pinggu, Miyun, Shunyi, and other places. In recent years, Beijing has adhered to green agricultural development, promoting the reduction of agricultural inputs, the resource utilization of waste, and the ecologicalization of industrial models, to promote a comprehensive green transformation in agricultural development. The recycling of agricultural waste has become a new benchmark for Beijing's ecological agriculture.
The Plant Nutrition and Resource Environment Research Institute of the Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences (hereinafter referred to as "Zihuan Suo") leverages the advantages of expert resources, committed to researching the utilization technology of organic waste as fertilizer, and promoting the application of technical achievements and experience in the suburbs of Beijing. Now, pilot work has started in multiple places, showing initial results, and a number of typical cases of ecological recycling of agricultural waste have emerged.
Strengthening the "Ecological Recycling" Technical Foundation
Recently, the reporter visited the fresh sweet corn base of Zihua Suo in Yanqing and saw the "Nong Ke Nuo 336" variety, which is well-received in the market. "This is a fresh corn variety bred by our corn research institute. It has made the history of sweet and sticky corn being mutually exclusive, truly achieving both sweet and sticky kernels on the same ear of corn, forming a special quality with sticky as the main and sweet in the sticky, with a high content of folic acid of 347 micrograms per 100 grams of corn, which is one of the highest known folic acid-containing corn varieties," introduced by Senior Agronomist Suo Lina of Zihua Suo.
Wang Shuguo, the person in charge of Beijing Yifa Ecological Agriculture Cooperative, was overjoyed when talking about the corn yield: "This year is another good year, there are no major natural disasters, and the current yield is good. We are in order sales, more than 500 acres of fresh sweet corn have been booked for half, and the income per acre can reach about 5,000 yuan."
Whether high-quality fresh sweet corn can be grown largely depends on the soil, and Zihua Suo has done a lot of work for this. Since 2014, Suo Lina has been a technical support expert, taking Beijing Bao Lu Yuan Ecological Agriculture Development Farmers' Professional Cooperative in Jiuxian Town, Yanqing District as the counterpart technical service unit and demonstration point, carrying out technical services and transformation research including research and effect tests of high-temperature aerobic rapid composting technology for corn straw, soil testing analysis and improvement, and optimization and effect tests of soil conditioner products.
"At the beginning, the demonstration point mainly used the pile fermentation method. Through 10 years of joint research and development, the conditions of technology, equipment, and supporting venues have been comprehensively improved. It has two resource utilization disposal lines for agricultural and forestry organic waste with slot-type high-temperature aerobic fermentation technology as the core, has the formal fertilizer registration certificate of Beijing City, and has become the designated government procurement unit for organic fertilizer in Beijing City, responsible for centralized digestion and resource utilization treatment of agricultural and forestry waste (including kitchen waste) in the whole district of Yanqing, and assists in handling some agricultural and forestry waste in Haidian District," said Suo Lina.
Building a "Green Recycling" Service System
Not long ago, the green recycling "three carbon" technology mode of agricultural and forestry waste created by Zihua Suo was selected as one of the top ten scientific and technological advancements in China's ecological environment in 2023. Liu Jifeng, the director of Zihua Suo, said: "There has been a new breakthrough in soil carbon sequestration and emission reduction. This is the first project selected by the Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences in the field of ecological and environmental protection, marking that China's waste treatment has entered a new stage of green recycling."Researcher Wei Dan from the Institute of Resources and Environment introduced that, in response to the bottleneck of slow carbon transformation and low efficiency in returning waste to the field, the Institute has constructed a "three-carbon" green cycle technology model for agricultural and forestry waste. This includes waste "micro-environment regulation" directed carbon preservation and decomposition technology, soil carbon increment and fertilizer cultivation technology for returning to the field, as well as a regionally adaptive farmland coupling ecological low-carbon technology model.
In Heishansi Village, Xiwengzhuang Town, Miyun District, more than 10,000 kilograms of waste such as chestnut shells are generated annually, and now they have also achieved "turning waste into treasure". Walking into the core demonstration base of the Heishansi Village membrane composting site, a nano-membrane fermentation equipment is working, "using agricultural and rural waste such as chestnut shells, dead branches, mushroom residue, and walnut oil residue as raw materials, adding fermentation agents to form fermentation conditions. The product after fermentation can not only be used as organic fertilizer for returning to the field but also for making substrates for flowers and Chinese herbal medicines," said Ding Jianli, the person in charge of the base.
It is understood that this technology model has been adopted by the United Nations Development Programme and has become the main promoted model for the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs for the management of degraded farmland. Its achievements have created a demonstration project in the Miyun water source protection area.
Unearthing the treasure resources on agricultural waste and turning waste into treasure, transforming inconspicuous peach branches into organic fertilizer. In Pinggu District, Beijing, after the annual peach picking season, fruit farmers will trim a large amount of peach branches, and the traditional treatment method is mostly to discard or burn the branches indiscriminately. Now, fruit farmers pack the peach branches into bundles and send them to the production workshop. Wang Jianchun, the person in charge of the Guotao base in Liujiadian Village, Liujiadian Town, said: "One ton of peach branches can be exchanged for 0.8 tons of organic fertilizer, and the enthusiasm of the people is increasing. Now the base peach garden applies about 200 jin of organic fertilizer per mu of land to improve the soil, and the grown peaches are large in size, good in appearance, and crisp and sweet in taste. A 10 jin box can be sold for 100 yuan."
"The peach gardens in the whole town have basically changed to apply organic fertilizer. With the guidance of the team led by Professor Sun Yanxin from the Institute of Resources and Environment, not only has the sweetness of the peaches been improved, but the quality of the land has also been greatly improved," said Jian Guoqing, the deputy mayor of Liujiadian Town.
Ensure the support of the "cultivation cycle" system
The resource utilization of livestock and poultry manure pollution is an important link connecting planting and breeding, which is related to the health of humans, animals, and the environment, as well as food safety.
Reporters learned that the Miyun base of Beijing Haihua Yuntuo Energy Research and Development Center Co., Ltd. has integrated multidisciplinary professional and technical talents and scientific and technological achievements from the Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, established the Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences Expert Workstation, and formed a team of experts in livestock breeding, crop planting, and waste treatment, with a total of 10 team members, led by researcher Li Jijin.
"Centering on the circular agriculture model with biogas as the link, our team carries out the resource utilization of biogas residue and biogas liquid, improving quality and efficiency, and cultivating soil fertility. It has played a great role in improving the agricultural ecological environment and promoting the development of green and low-carbon agriculture," said Li Jijin.
The company's chairman, Li Tingting, introduced that with the support of the Institute of Resources and Environment, the company has promoted 32,000 tons of biogas residue organic fertilizer, promoted the application area of organic fertilizer to 15,700 mu, promoted the irrigation and fertilization area of biogas liquid to 19,700 mu, absorbed 141,000 cubic meters of biogas liquid, increased corporate profits by 6.93 million yuan, and achieved significant economic, ecological, and social benefits.Beijing's districts and counties are exploring new paths of "agriculture + environmental protection" according to local conditions. In addition to livestock and poultry manure being turned into organic fertilizer and returning to the soil, vegetable residues and melon vines are also transformed from "waste" to "treasure." Shunyi District is exploring the resource utilization of vegetable field waste, recycling an average of 120,000 tons of vegetable field waste per year, and producing about 30,000 tons of organic fertilizer, achieving the cycle of taking from the field and giving back to the field, further improving soil and enriching soil fertility.
The reporter visited the production workshop of Beijing Organic Bio-technology Co., Ltd., where the original randomly piled and discarded melon and vegetable residues, stems and leaves, dead branches and other agricultural and forestry waste were recycled here. After technological processing, they were made into organic fertilizer and paving materials.
According to Liu Zijian, the general manager of the company, there were problems such as a single waste treatment process and a lack of a comprehensive integrated treatment technology model in the early stage of the company. Since the establishment of a waste R&D center with the Resource and Environment Institute, researcher Sun Qinping led the team to provide targeted guidance on the technical chain of waste efficient fermentation, odor reduction, detection and analysis, and product diversification, which improved the overall technological level of the company and expanded the product business channels. Liu Zijian said that the company has also formulated a comprehensive pollution prevention and control project construction plan for regional planting and breeding integration, and carried out demonstration projects for pollution prevention and control technology. The waste recycling rate in the technical application area reached more than 97%.
In Changping, Daxing and other districts, the Resource and Environment Institute is also actively exploring the comprehensive utilization of planting and breeding, promoting the cycle of planting and breeding, "turning waste into treasure," and achieving a virtuous cycle of agricultural production ecology. Liu Jifeng said that the Resource and Environment Institute will continue to study the technology of organic waste fertilizer utilization, promote the transformation of technological achievements, and help "ecological burden" become "green wealth," assisting in establishing a new benchmark for Beijing's ecological agriculture.