Stabilized fertilizers, enhanced with urease or nitrification inhibitors, have emerged as pivotal tools for China’s agricultural green transition, balancing crop productivity, resource efficiency, and environmental sustainability. Globally, Germany and other EU countries have pioneered inhibitor-integrated fertilizer policies, driving emission reductions. Despite China’s later start, breakthroughs in local production, diversified formulations (covering six major fertilizer categories) and standardized systems have positioned it as a global leader, with 90% of the raw material capacity and 3 Mt annual output (4% of the total fertilizer production). Meta-analysis of over 900 trials (2014–2018) demonstrates stabilized fertilizers increase yields by 9.2%, nitrogen use efficiency by 11.2% and lower N₂O emissions by 28.4% in staple crops. Field studies further reveal multifunctional benefits including 60% higher nitrogen efficiency, 60% emission cuts, 20%–50% fertilizer savings and enhanced climate resilience. To maximize impact, advancing technology innovation, refining application protocols and fostering cross-sector collaboration are critical. This paper provides strategic insights to accelerate China’s sustainable agriculture transition and global climate goals.

Due to its high-temperature and high-pressure operating environment, food/feed puffing machines are prone to faults such as cavity blockage and cutter wear. This paper presents the design of a fault diagnosis system for puffing machines (food/feed processing equipment that expands or puffs agricultural products), based on a convolutional neural network and a multi-head attention mechanism model, which incorporates Bayesian optimization. The system combines multi-source information fusion, capturing patterns and characteristics associated with fault states by monitoring various sources of information, such as temperature, noise signals, main motor current and vibration signals from key components. Hyperparameters are optimized through Bayesian optimization to obtain the optimal parameter model. The integration of convolutional neural networks and multi-head attention mechanisms enables the simultaneous capture of both local and global information, thereby enhancing data comprehension. Experimental results demonstrate that the system successfully diagnoses puffing machine faults, achieving an average recognition accuracy of 98.8% across various operating conditions, highlighting its high accuracy, generalization ability and robustness.

China’s high rice yield is primarily achieved through intensive fertilizer application and substantial water resource consumption, which has resulted in significant environmental risks. There is an urgent need to develop innovative green technologies that simultaneously ensure high yield and production efficiency to achieve sustainable rice production. This paper systematically analyzes both nationwide challenges and region-specific constraints affecting rice production. The proposed solutions focus on three key innovations: constructing high-yield populations, coupling aboveground and belowground, and improving soil fertility. Implementation of these green high-yield and high-efficiency technologies demonstrates potential to maintain or increase yields while achieving three critical improvements: enhanced nitrogen use efficiency, reduced irrigation water consumption and decreased greenhouse gas emissions. To facilitate large-scale adoption, priority should be given to developing rice-related products, integrating rice-upland rotating system and establishing localized implementation models based on these technological innovations.

The implementation of green technologies has facilitated the sustainable development of China’s agriculture. However, the impact of green technologies in China’s major crops production, their mechanisms of action and their future potential have not been systematically investigated. This study used national statistics data to summarize the impact of technological innovation on production and efficiency of major grain crops in China, and to identify which technologies have made the most important contributions. National statistics data showed changes in grain production (58% increase), total planting area (8.6% increase) and structure, nutrient input (0.83 Mt decrease) and reactive nitrogen losses, and optimized planting and fertilizer structure in 2022 compared to 2000. Of these, the proposal of integrated soil-crop system management significantly decreased reactive nitrogen losses and greenhouse gas emissions by 30% and 11%, respectively. Root zone nutrient regulation techniques, such as in-season nitrogen management, increased yields by 8% and decreased nitrogen rate by 25%. Rhizosphere nutrient regulation technology increased yield by 20.2% and decreased nitrogen rate by 20%–30%. According to predictions, integrated soil-crop system management will demonstrate significant advantages in both unit area yield and total yield by the year 2050. The adoption of integrated soil-crop system management is expected to increase the total production of rice, wheat and maize by 45.8, 115 and 360 Mt, respectively. Currently, China’s agriculture is confronted by significant challenges, including rising food demand, excessive inorganic nutrient inputs, and low utilization rates of organic resources. Three key recommendations arise from this study: the implementation of precise management for organic manure; the promotion of enhanced-efficiency fertilizers; and the adoption of new technologies including integrated soil-crop system management combined with rhizosphere nutrient regulation and intelligent nutrient management. These measures will drive the development of green, high-yield and efficient agriculture.

The development of green technologies for improving winter wheat yield and nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) is crucial for ensuring national food security and reducing carbon footprint. This study outlines China wheat yield progress and establishes a three-stage theory for this. The key constraints from a soil-crop system perspective were identified: population-individual competition, dry matter accumulation and distribution, and soil quality degradation. To address these constraints, an optimized soil-crop system is proposed. (1) Adopting rational dense planting using optimal densities of 330–375 plants m⁻² for large-spike cultivars and 225–270 plants m⁻² for medium-spike cultivars to establish robust populations. (2) Enhancing soil quality and reducing carbon footprint by the adoption of straw return combined with a strategy of deep plowing and rotary tillage to improve soil fertility quality, reducing carbon footprint by 1.87 Mg CO₂ eqv ha⁻¹. (3) Using wide-space drill sowing of 6–8 cm sowing belts to minimize interplant competition, coupled with moderate density to stimulate deep-root nitrogen uptake. (4) Optimizing the canopy optimization by delayed sowing (mid-October to early-November) combined with density adjustment enhances light interception efficiency. This integrated soil-crop system management demonstrates long-term effectiveness, increasing grain yield, NUE and reducing carbon footprint. These findings provide practical solutions for green and efficient production of winter wheat.

Agricultural subsidies have been a vital component of agricultural policies in many Asian and African countries since the 1960s, acting as a key driving factor for facilitating the sustainable transformation of agrifood systems. China and Africa are chosen as case studies because they represent two distinct regions with large population sizes and facing common challenges. This study reviews the evolution, design and implementation of agricultural subsidy policies in China and Africa, highlighting their successes and challenges. The results show that China and Africa aim to enhance agricultural productivity and ensure food security, offering incentives to farmers to increase production and address challenges, such as poverty reduction. However, there are significant differences in the structure and scale of agricultural subsidies. China’s policy is comprehensive and oriented toward sustainable development, while African policies tend to be more targeted and often focus on specific areas such as fertilizer subsidies and seed distribution. While both regions have made significant progress in transforming their agrifood systems, they continue to grapple with common, but context-specific, challenges. This study developed recommendations to guide future efforts toward sustainable transformation of agrifood systems in China and Africa. This will involve repurposing agricultural subsidies to promote green sustainability, enhancing support for agrifood policies and collaboration between China and African countries, and strengthening investments in agrifood systems in both regions.

Securing sufficient, sustainable and resilient food production with judiciously using mineral fertilizers, while protecting the eco-environment is essential for agricultural sustainable development worldwide. However, the existing agricultural scientific paradigm fails to align with practical production realities, while confronting dual contradictions: reconciling higher grain yields with lower environmental impacts and balancing agricultural economic growth with environmental conservation imperatives. This paper proposes the next-generation “12345” agricultural research paradigm, rooting research in agricultural development, linking knowledge and action across multistakeholders via cross-discipline systematic research. Green technology for increasing grain crop production and efficiency, as a typical example, is used to implement this new scientific paradigm. The components of this paradigm are giving as comprising three key elements, (1) high-yield population construction, (2) efficient rhizosphere regulation technology and (3) healthy soil cultivation. Next the paper examines green technology versus common farmer practice for thousands of fields across the main agricultural production regions in China, achieving substantially increased crop yields and reduced mineral nitrogen fertilizer inputs, thereby enhanced nitrogen use efficiency and reduced environmental footprints. Green technology is offered as being an effective agricultural scientific paradigm to ensure food and environmental security, providing a new example for worldwide food security in the future.

Agriculture is undergoing a pivotal transformation, shifting from a singular focus on food security to interdisciplinary research that encompasses food security, environmental protection and sustainable use of resources. The growing global population and climate change exert the urgency to adopt sustainable practices that balance crop productivity and environmental stewardship. The merit of the approach of past agricultural research, typically centered on single processes and limited to specific disciplines and goals, is now a subject to debate. There is need for a multi-objective approach, an enhancement of the whole industry chain enhancement (involves service from the initial raw material stage to the final consumer) and a holistic approach for sustainable agricultural development. To address these challenges, this article presents an innovative agricultural system research approach. This approach integrates interdisciplinary research and advocates for a combined top-down and bottom-up strategy. The concept of innovative agriculture refers to redesigning systems through technological integration for large-scale application, ultimately aiming to enhance overall crop production, environmental sustainability and efficiency. The top-down approach sets yield targets and environmental thresholds at various scales, aligning with national objectives for food security, resource use efficiency and ecological sustainability. This method determines the necessary technical systems and integration methods. In contrast, the bottom-up approach based on Science and Technology Backyard, analyzes the factors that constrain high crop yields and efficiency, and develops systematic methods to achieve high yield and high efficiency. The integrated agricultural research approach can simultaneously address food security challenges, enhances resource use efficiency, and protect the environmental sustainability. This is essential for advancing sustainable agricultural practices in the face of increasing global demands and environmental concerns.

Human activities are the main contributors to non-point source pollution. Understanding the relative contributions of various sources to pollutant discharge is essential for effective water quality management. This study aimed to quantify ammonia nitrogen (NH₃-N), total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) to the environment from crop and livestock production, and residential sewage in the Haixi Region of the Erhai Lake Basin, south-west China, using integrated data from farmer surveys, literature reviews and statistical data. The results revealed that the NH₃-N, TN, TP and COD discharges were 72.9, 264.1, 29.2, and 1453.3 t·yr⁻¹, respectively, in 2022 in Haixi Region. Shangguan township, as a high-intensity discharge area, accounted for 21%–44% of the total discharges of four pollutants. Maize, vegetables and beans crops were the largest contributors to water pollution in Haixi Region, which are responsible for 6.3, 94.1, and 5.5 t·yr⁻¹ of NH₃-N, TN, and TP, respectively. Dairy cattle and pig rearing were the main contributors in the livestock production. Compared to crop and livestock production, NH₃-N discharged from residential sewage were 186% higher, while the other three pollutants were 59%–71% lower. These findings support the refined management of agricultural activities in accordance with water quality protection policies of Erhai Lake Basin.