GREEN AGRICULTURE AND BLUE WATER IN CHINA: REINTEGRATING CROP AND LIVESTOCK PRODUCTION FOR CLEAN WATER

Highlights

• AGD aims for a green environment, sustainable agriculture and clean water.

• Presenting examples of the impact of agriculture on water quality.

• Presenting examples of solutions for sustainable agriculture and improved water quality.

• Integration of livestock and cropping systems is possible on a farm or among farms.

• Providing recommendations for further development of sustainable agriculture.

Abstract

Crop and livestock production are essential to maintain food security. In China, crop and livestock production were integrated in the past. Today, small backyard systems are still integrated but the larger livestock farms are landless and largely geographically separated from crop production systems. As a result, there is less recycling of animal manures and there are lower nutrient use efficiencies in the Chinese food production systems. This, in turn, results in considerable losses of nutrients, causing water pollution and harmful algal blooms in Chinese lakes, rivers and seas. To turn the tide, there is a need for agricultural “green” development for food production through reintegrating crop and livestock production. An additional wish is to turn the Chinese water systems “blue” to secure clean water for current and future generations. In this paper, current knowledge is summarized to identify promising interventions for reintegrating crop and livestock production toward clean water. Technical, social, economic, policy and environmental interventions are addressed and examples are given. The paper highlights recommended next steps to achieve “green” agriculture and “blue” water in China.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

agriculture green development / China / clean water / crop-livestock reintegration

References

[1] Davies W J, Shen J B. Reducing the environmental footprint of food and farming with Agriculture Green Development. Frontiers of Agricultural Science and Engineering, 2020, 7(1): 1–4

[2] Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of the People’s Republic of China (MOA). Agriculture Green Development, 2017. Available at MOA website on April 27, 2020 (in Chinese)

[3] Wang M, Ma L, Strokal M, Ma W, Liu X, Kroeze C. Hotspots for nitrogen and phosphorus losses from food production in China: a county-scale analysis. Environmental Science & Technology, 2018, 52(10): 5782–5791

[4] Wang M R, Ma L, Strokal M, Chu Y N, Kroeze C. Exploring nutrient management options to increase nitrogen and phosphorus use efficiencies in food production of China. Agricultural Systems, 2018, 163: 58–72

[5] Yu C, Huang X, Chen H, Godfray H C J, Wright J S, Hall J W, Gong P, Ni S, Qiao S, Huang G, Xiao Y, Zhang J, Feng Z, Ju X, Ciais P, Stenseth N C, Hessen D O, Sun Z, Yu L, Cai W, Fu H, Huang X, Zhang C, Liu H, Taylor J. Managing nitrogen to restore water quality in China. Nature, 2019, 567(7749): 516–520

[6] Strokal M, Kroeze C, Wang M, Ma L. Reducing future river export of nutrients to coastal waters of China in optimistic scenarios. Science of the Total Environment, 2017, 579: 517–528

[7] Rost S, Gerten D, Bondeau A, Lucht W, Rohwer J, Schaphoff S. Agricultural green and blue water consumption and its influence on the global water system. Water Resources Research, 2008, 44(9): W09405

[8] Dietrich J P, Bodirsky B L, Humpenöder F, Weindl I, Stevanović M, Karstens K, Kreidenweis U, Wang X X, Mishra A, Klein D, Ambrósio G, Araujo E, Yalew A W, Baumstark L, Wirth S, Giannousakis A, Beier F, Chen D M C, Lotze-Campen H, Popp A. MAgPIE 4—a modular open-source framework for modeling global land systems. Geoscientific Model Development, 2019, 12(4): 1299–1317

[9] Janssen A B G, Hilt S, Kosten S, de Klein J J M, Paerl H W, Van de Waal D B. Shifting states, shifting services: linking regime shifts to changes in ecosystem services of shallow lakes. Freshwater Biology, 2020, 00: 1–12

[10] Kroeze C, Gabbert S, Hofstra N, Koelmans A A, Li A, Löhr A, Ludwig F, Strokal M, Verburg C, Vermeulen L, van Vliet M T H, de Vries W, Wang M R, van Wijnen J. Global modelling of surface water quality: a multi-pollutant approach. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 2016, 23: 35–45

[11] Chen X, Strokal M, Van Vliet M T H, Stuiver J, Wang M, Bai Z, Ma L, Kroeze C. Multi-scale modeling of nutrient pollution in the rivers of China. Environmental Science & Technology, 2019, 53(16): 9614–9625

[12] Wang M R, Kroeze C, Strokal M, van Vliet M T H, Ma L. Global change can make coastal eutrophication control in China more difficult. Earth’s Future, 2020, 8(4): e2019EF001280

[13] Wang M, Strokal M, Burek P, Kroeze C, Ma L, Janssen A B G. Excess nutrient loads to Lake Taihu: opportunities for nutrient reduction. Science of the Total Environment, 2019, 664: 865–873

[14] Liu X, Beusen A H W, Van Beek L P H, Mogollón J M, Ran X, Bouwman A F. Exploring spatiotemporal changes of the Yangtze River (Changjiang) nitrogen and phosphorus sources, retention and export to the East China Sea and Yellow Sea. Water Research, 2018, 142: 246–255

[15] Yang J, Strokal M, Kroeze C, Wang M R, Wang J F, Wu Y H, Bai Z H, Ma L. Nutrient losses to surface waters in Hai He basin: a case study of Guanting reservoir and Baiyangdian lake. Agricultural Water Management, 2019, 213: 62–75

[16] Vermeulen L C, van Hengel M, Kroeze C, Medema G, Spanier J E, van Vliet M T H, Hofstra N. Cryptosporidium concentrations in rivers worldwide. Water Research, 2019, 149: 202–214

[17] Ippolito A, Kattwinkel M, Rasmussen J J, Schäfer R B, Fornaroli R, Liess M. Modeling global distribution of agricultural insecticides in surface waters. Environmental Pollution, 2015, 198: 54–60

[18] Strokal M, Ma L, Bai Z H, Luan S J, Kroeze C, Oenema O, Velthof G, Zhang F S. Alarming nutrient pollution of Chinese rivers as a result of agricultural transitions. Environmental Research Letters, 2016, 11(2): 024014

[19] Bai Z H, Ma W Q, Ma L, Velthof G L, Wei Z B, Havlík P, Oenema O, Lee M R F, Zhang F S. China’s livestock transition: driving forces, impacts, and consequences. Science Advances, 2018, 4(7): eaar8534

[20] Griggs D, Stafford-Smith M, Gaffney O, Rockström J, Ohman M C, Shyamsundar P, Steffen W, Glaser G, Kanie N, Noble I. Sustainable development goals for people and planet. Nature, 2013, 495(7441): 305–307

[21] Chadwick D, Wei J, Yan’an T, Guanghui Y, Qirong S, Qing C, Tong Y A, Yu G H, Shen Q R, Chen Q. Improving manure nutrient management towards sustainable agricultural intensification in China. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 2015, 209: 34–46

[22] Ma L, Velthof G L, Wang F H, Qin W, Zhang W F, Liu Z, Zhang Y, Wei J, Lesschen J P, Ma W Q, Oenema O, Zhang F S. Nitrogen and phosphorus use efficiencies and losses in the food chain in China at regional scales in 1980 and 2005. Science of the Total Environment, 2012, 434: 51–61

[23] Hou Y, Ma L, Gao Z L, Wang F H, Sims J T, Ma W Q, Zhang F S. The driving forces for nitrogen and phosphorus flows in the food chain of china, 1980 to 2010. Journal of Environmental Quality, 2013, 42(4): 962–971

[24] Bai Z H, Ma L, Qin W, Chen Q, Oenema O, Zhang F S. Changes in pig production in China and their effects on nitrogen and phosphorus use and losses. Environmental Science & Technology, 2014, 48(21): 12742–12749

[25] Bai Z H, Jin S Q, Wu Y, Ermgassen E, Oenema O, Chadwick D, Lassaletta L, Velthof G, Zhao J, Ma L. China’s pig relocation in balance. Nature Sustainability, 2019, 2(10): 888

[26] Le C, Zha Y, Li Y, Sun D, Lu H, Yin B. Eutrophication of lake waters in China: cost, causes, and control. Environmental Management, 2010, 45(4): 662–668

[27] Chang N, Zhang Q, Wang Q, Luo L, Wang X C C, Xiong J, Han J. Current status and characteristics of urban landscape lakes in China. Science of the Total Environment, 2020, 712: 135669

[28] Chen X J, Strokal M, Kroeze C, Ma L, Shen Z Y, Wu J C, Chen X P, Shi X J. Seasonality in river export of nitrogen: a modelling approach for the Yangtze River. Science of the Total Environment, 2019, 671: 1282–1292

[29] Li X L, Janssen A B G, de Klein J J M, Kroeze C, Strokal M, Ma L, Zheng Y. Modeling nutrients in Lake Dianchi (China) and its watershed. Agricultural Water Management, 2019, 212: 48–59

[30] Janssen A B G, de Jager V C L, Janse J H, Kong X, Liu S, Ye Q, Mooij W M. Spatial identification of critical nutrient loads of large shallow lakes: implications for Lake Taihu (China). Water Research, 2017, 119: 276–287

[31] Wang M, Strokal M, Burek P, Kroeze C, Ma L, Janssen A B G. Excess nutrient loads to Lake Taihu: opportunities for nutrient reduction. Science of the Total Environment, 2019, 664: 865–873

[32] Kong X, He Q, Yang B, He W, Xu F, Janssen A B G, Kuiper J J, van Gerven L P A, Qin N, Jiang Y, Liu W, Yang C, Bai Z, Zhang M, Kong F, Janse J H, Mooij W M. Hydrological regulation drives regime shifts: evidence from paleolimnology and ecosystem modeling of a large shallow Chinese lake. Global Change Biology, 2017, 23(2): 737–754

[33] Ma C, Strokal M, Kroeze C, Wang M R, Li X L, Hofstra N, Ma L. Reducing river export of nutrients and eutrophication in Lake Dianchi in the future. Blue-Green Systems, 2020, 2(1): 73–90

[34] Chu Y M, Shen Y J, Yuan Z J. Water footprint of crop production for different crop structures in the Hebei southern plain, North China. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 2017, 21(6): 3061–3069

[35] Jiang Y. China’s water scarcity. Journal of Environmental Management, 2009, 90(11): 3185–3196

[36] Chen X, Strokal M, Van Vliet M T H, Stuiver J, Wang M, Bai Z, Ma L, Kroeze C. Reply to comment on “Multi-Scale Modeling of Nutrient Pollution in the Rivers of China”. Environmental Science & Technology, 2020, 54(3): 2046–2047

[37] Wang J, Beusen A H W, Liu X, Bouwman A F. Aquaculture production is a large, spatially concentrated source of nutrients in Chinese freshwater and coastal seas. Environmental Science & Technology, 2020, 54(3): 1464–1474

[38] Tong Y, Bu X, Chen J, Zhou F, Chen L, Liu M, Tan X, Yu T, Zhang W, Mi Z, Ma L, Wang X, Ni J. Estimation of nutrient discharge from the Yangtze River to the East China Sea and the identification of nutrient sources. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 2017, 321: 728–736

[39] Sun H Y, Shen Y J, Yu Q, Flerchinger G N, Zhang Y Q, Liu C M, Zhang X Y. Effect of precipitation change on water balance and WUE of the winter wheat–summer maize rotation in the North China Plain. Agricultural Water Management, 2010, 97(8): 1139–1145

[40] Xu Z C, Chen X Z, Wu S R, Gong M M, Du Y Y, Wang J Y, Li Y K, Liu J G. Spatial-temporal assessment of water footprint, water scarcity and crop water productivity in a major crop production region. Journal of Cleaner Production, 2019, 224: 375–383

[41] Haug R T. The practical handbook of compost engineering. 1st, ed. Engineering & Technology. New Rork: Routledge,2018, 752. eBook ISBN: 9780203736234

[42] Foged H, Flotats Ripoll X, Bonmatí Blasi A, Palatsi Civit J, Magrí Aloy A, Schelde K M. Inventory of manure processing activities in Europe. Technical Report No. I concerning “Manure Processing Activities in Europe” to the European Commission, Directorate-General Environment, 2012: 138

[43] Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of the People’s Republic of China (MOA). Utilization of Livestock and Poultry Manure Resources. Action Plan for 2017–2020, 2017. Available at MOA website on March 2019 (in Chinese)

[44] Cao Y B, Wang X, Bai Z H, Chadwick D, Misselbrook T, Sommer S G, Qin W, Ma L. Mitigation of ammonia, nitrous oxide and methane emissions during solid waste composting with different additives: a meta-analysis. Journal of Cleaner Production, 2019, 235: 626–635

[45] Tong B, Wang X, Wang S, Ma L, Ma W. Transformation of nitrogen and carbon during composting of manure litter with different methods. Bioresource Technology, 2019, 293: 122046

[46] Alfa M I, Adie D B, Igboro S B, Oranusi U S, Dahunsi S O, Akali D M. Assessment of biofertilizer quality and health implications of anaerobic digestion effluent of cow dung and chicken droppings. Renewable Energy, 2014, 63: 681–686

[47] Manyi-Loh C E, Mamphweli S N, Meyer E L, Okoh A I, Makaka G, Simon M. Inactivation of selected bacterial pathogens in dairy cattle manure by mesophilic anaerobic digestion (balloon type digester). International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2014, 11(7): 7184–7194

[48] Jie Y, Buisonjé F, Melse R. White paper. Livestock Manure Treatment Technology of the Netherlands and Situation of China. Report 1048. Wageningen, the Netherlands: Wageningen Livestock Research, 2017, 33

[49] Mondor M, Masse L, Ippersiel D, Lamarche F, Massé D I. Use of electrodialysis and reverse osmosis for the recovery and concentration of ammonia from swine manure. Bioresource Technology, 2008, 99(15): 7363–7368

[50] Jaffer Y, Clark T A, Pearce P, Parsons S A. Potential phosphorus recovery by struvite formation. Water Research, 2002, 36(7): 1834–1842

[51] Burton C H. The potential contribution of separation technologies to the management of livestock manure. Livestock Science, 2007, 112(3): 208–216

[52] Flotats Ripoll X, Foged H, Bonmatí Blasi A, Palatsi Civit J, Magrí Aloy A, Schelde K M. Manure processing technologies. Technical Report No. II concerning “Manure Processing Activities in Rurope” to the European Commission, Directorate-General Environment. Project reference: ENV.B.1/ETU/2010/0007.Agro Business Park in cooperation with GIRO Centre Tecnologic, 2012, 184

[53] Oenema O, Witzke H P, Klimont Z, Lesschen J P, Velthof G L. Integrated assessment of promising measures to decrease nitrogen losses from agriculture in EU-27. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 2009, 133(3–4): 280–288

[54] Wang L. Situation and outlook of feed utilization in dairy industry of China. Dissertation for the Master’s Degree. Beijing: China Agricultural University, 2005 (in Chinese)

[55] Chadwick D R, Williams J R, Lu Y, Ma L, Bai Z H, Hou Y H, Chen X P, Misselbrook T H. Strategies to reduce nutrient pollution from manure management in China. Frontiers of Agricultural Science and Engineering, 2020, 7(1): 45–55

[56] Jiao X Q, Zhang H Y, Ma W Q, Wang C, Li X L, Zhang F S. Science and Technology Backyard: a novel approach to empower smallholder farmers for sustainable intensification of agriculture in China. Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2019, 18(8): 1657–1666

[57] Chen X, Cui Z, Fan M, Vitousek P, Zhao M, Ma W, Wang Z, Zhang W, Yan X, Yang J, Deng X, Gao Q, Zhang Q, Guo S, Ren J, Li S, Ye Y, Wang Z, Huang J, Tang Q, Sun Y, Peng X, Zhang J, He M, Zhu Y, Xue J, Wang G, Wu L, An N, Wu L, Ma L, Zhang W, Zhang F. Producing more grain with lower environmental costs. Nature, 2014, 514(7523): 486–489

[58] Cui Z, Zhang H, Chen X, Zhang C, Ma W, Huang C, Zhang W, Mi G, Miao Y, Li X, Gao Q, Yang J, Wang Z, Ye Y, Guo S, Lu J, Huang J, Lv S, Sun Y, Liu Y, Peng X, Ren J, Li S, Deng X, Shi X, Zhang Q, Yang Z, Tang L, Wei C, Jia L, Zhang J, He M, Tong Y, Tang Q, Zhong X, Liu Z, Cao N, Kou C, Ying H, Yin Y, Jiao X, Zhang Q, Fan M, Jiang R, Zhang F, Dou Z. Pursuing sustainable productivity with millions of smallholder farmers. Nature, 2018, 555(7696): 363–366

[59] Zhang F, Chen X, Vitousek P. Chinese agriculture: an experiment for the world. Nature, 2013, 497(7447): 33–35

[60] Zhang F, Cui Z, Fan M, Zhang W, Chen X, Jiang R. Integrated soil-crop system management: reducing environmental risk while increasing crop productivity and improving nutrient use efficiency in China. Journal of Environmental Quality, 2011, 40(4): 1051–1057

[61] Li A, Kroeze C, Kahil T, Ma L, Strokal M. Water pollution from food production: lessons for optimistic and optimal solutions. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 2019, 40: 88–94

[62] Wang Y, Zhu Y, Zhang S, Wang Y. What could promote farmers to replace chemical fertilizers with organic fertilizers? Journal of Cleaner Production, 2018, 199: 882–890

[63] Jiang Y, Hellegers P. Joint pollution control in the Lake Tai Basin and the stabilities of the cost allocation schemes. Journal of Environmental Management, 2016, 184(Pt 3): 504–516

[64] Huang J C, Chen Q W, Peng J, Gao J F. Quantifying the cost-effectiveness of nutrient-removal strategies for a lowland rural watershed: insights from process-based modeling. Ecological Modelling, 2020, 431: 109123

[65] Strokal M, Kahil T, Wada Y, Albiac J, Bai Z, Ermolieva T, Langan S, Ma L, Oenema O, Wagner F, Zhu X, Kroeze C. Cost-effective management of coastal eutrophication: a case study for the Yangtze river basin. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 2020, 154: 104635

[66] Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of the People’s Republic of China (MOA). Zero growth in synthetic fertilizer use from 2020 onwards, 2015. Available at MOA website on April 27, 2020 (in Chinese)

[67] Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of the People’s Republic of China (MOA). Guidelines for Optimizing Pig Breeding Distribution in the Southern Water Network area, 2015. Available at MOA website on April 27, 2020 (in Chinese)

[68] Quilliam R S, van Niekerk M A, Chadwick D R, Cross P, Hanley N, Jones D L, Vinten A J A, Willby N, Oliver D M. Can macrophyte harvesting from eutrophic water close the loop on nutrient loss from agricultural land? Journal of Environmental Management, 2015, 152: 210–217

[69] Li W, Yang Q. Wetland utilization in Lake Taihu for fish farming and improvement of lake water quality. Ecological Engineering, 1995, 5(1): 107–121

[70] Chang W Y B. Integrated lake farming for fish and environmental management in large shallow Chinese lakes: a review. Aquaculture Research, 1989, 20(4): 441–452

Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the support of the Dutch Talent Program Veni-NWO projects of Maryna Strokal (0.16.Veni.198.001) and Annette B.G. Janssen (VI.Veni.194.002). We also acknowledge the KNAW-MOST project “Sustainable Resource Management for Adequate and Safe Food Provision (SURE+)” (PSA-SA-E-01) and The National Key Research and Development Program of China (2016YFE0103100).

Compliance with ethics guidelines

Maryna StrokaL, Annette B.G. Janssen, Xinping Chen, Carolien Kroeze, Fan Li, Lin Ma, Huirong Yu, Fusuo Zhang, and Mengru Wang declare that they have no conflicts of interest or financial conflicts to disclose. This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

The Author(s) 2020. Published by Higher Education Press. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)