In late spring and early summer, the fields of Wuchang City, Heilongjiang Province, are full of tender green rice seedlings. This is China's "hometown of high-quality rice". This year's rice planting area is 2.53 million mu. Farmers are busy working and dare not take it lightly, because during the harvest two years ago, floods swallowed up more than 1 million mu of fertile land, and the soil fertility has not been as good as before in recent years. "Saving food" can be said to be commonplace.
Northeast China is considered the "ballast stone" of the nation's granary, and the burden of grain production on farmers' shoulders is substantial. In February of this year, Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Northeast China again to "focus on grain production," emphasizing that "ensuring national food security is the political responsibility of major agricultural and grain-producing provinces." Last June, China rushed to implement the Food Security Guarantee Law, which took only six months from initial announcement to passage. The law mandates absolute self-sufficiency in grain and requires local governments to incorporate food security into their economic and development plans. However, experts believe the law's vague provisions are unlikely to have a real impact on boosting grain production.
Black soil degradation in Northeast China is particularly problematic, and the successive rollout of grain-producing strategies highlights the urgency of these issues. Starting in 2021, black soil protection was included in the Central Government's No. 1 document, and in 2022, the Black Soil Protection Law was quickly passed. This law calls for the protection of black soil resources and the steady restoration of soil fertility, and imposes severe penalties on those who illegally sell black soil, illegally use black soil for non-agricultural development, and cause black soil pollution and soil erosion. Officials also issued the "Northeast Black Soil Conservation Tillage Action Plan," proposing that conservation tillage (such as no-tillage, minimum tillage, and straw mulching) be implemented on 140 million mu (approximately 1.6 acres) of land between 2021 and 2025.
Corn, soybeans, and rice are the main crops in Northeast China. By the end of 2022, approximately 200 million mu (approximately 166 acres) of high-standard farmland had been established. Between 2020 and 2022, the area under conservation tillage increased from 46 million mu (approximately 166 acres) to approximately 83 million mu (approximately 166 acres). "In some established areas, problems still exist, including low construction standards, substandard quality, small scale operations, and suboptimal black soil protection," said a team of experts led by China Agricultural University, analyzing the challenges facing Northeast China's grain production capacity expansion. "Furthermore, the two projects are independent of each other, with limited integration."
The goal of the campaign to protect the black soil granary is clear, but the path forward is somewhat ambiguous. Chen Zunxian, Professor Emeritus of the Department of Agricultural Chemistry at National Taiwan University, pointed out that conservation tillage action plans must have a clear path and methodology. No-tillage, minimum tillage, and straw mulching all contribute to increasing soil organic matter and carbon sequestration. However, climate, soil characteristics, crops, tillage systems, and soil management methods vary from region to region. The question is how to establish a set of sustainable soil management technologies that can be applied in areas with high productivity and soil carbon sequestration potential, while also considering resilient agricultural development under climate change and balancing farmer returns with national food security. Inducing farmers through legislation or subsidies is the only way to truly promote and achieve results.
If you want farmers to change, you have to take advantage of the situation. For example, after implementing conservation tillage, will crop yields increase and quality improve? This is what farmers care about," said Fang Jian, Chairman of the Green Consumer Foundation. Three years ago, he promoted the "Small Farmers Planting Carbon" project in Taiwan, which officially launched this year in Yongzheng Village, Wuchang City. "This village has over 1,000 hectares of collectively cultivated land. We will conduct trials in different areas to see which farming model is most beneficial. When the increase in soil organic carbon is effective and farmers benefit, other farmers will follow suit."
Northeast China's black soil is a globally important high-yield grain-producing region. However, due to large-scale reclamation and improper farming practices, the fertile surface layer of black soil is being eroded year by year. The sustainability team from Tzu Chi University in Taiwan has also ventured into the fields of Northeast China to conduct experiments on black soil conservation farming methods. They are using the Qifengshan Eco-Village in Heilongjiang as a pilot site. Because rural areas are often used to provide "blood transfusions" to cities, "farmers struggle to consider the complex black soil conservation farming practices while earning cash. After all, factors such as farmers' operating habits, topography, soil erosion conditions, equipment feasibility, costs, yields, and market demand all need to be considered. However, this presents an opportunity for breakthrough in the eco-village."
Farming traditions have been passed down through generations, and changing farmers' habits is no easy task. As a Northeastern proverb says, "Grain in Ear, the shovel begins." From early June to mid-July, the heaviest farming season begins. Farmers are busy turning the soil, removing weeds, and cultivating the soil for seedlings. Only when the crops are thriving and the ground is no longer visible do they "hang up the hoe."
"Surface mulching and grass cultivation are low-cost and effective ways to protect soil resources," said Chen Zunxian, who attended a forum on soil organic carbon in Harbin and noticed the problem of exposed farmland. "When heavy rain comes, if the ground is covered with grass or crop residue, the water flows over the grass. If it's not, the water flows over the soil. The difference is huge."
Saving the soil isn't a one-time effort. Conservation tillage on black soil requires a variety of long-term field trials. Soil management methodologies developed through international research provide crucial data and theoretical support. Chen Zunxian noted that these sustainable soil management trials have shown significant improvement after three to five years, with very stable benefits observed over 10 to 20 years. Backfilling the soil with crop residues can increase organic carbon storage by 0.3 to 0.5 tons per hectare annually; leaving the soil unplowed can increase it by 0.2 to 0.3 tons. Conservation tillage, which cultivates only where plant roots are growing and leaves the rest unturned, can increase organic carbon storage by approximately 0.25 to 0.5 tons.
He stated that many sustainable soil management techniques are available internationally. For example, adding organic matter or applying compost can increase organic carbon storage by 0.3 to 0.6 tons per hectare annually, while growing green corn can increase it by 0.25 to 0.5 tons. Furthermore, adopting crop rotation systems, such as rice and dryland farming, can increase organic carbon storage by 0.2 tons per hectare annually. Therefore, regardless of the sustainable soil management method, the organic carbon storage rate never exceeds 1 ton. Currently, the organic matter content of Northeast China's black soil has declined significantly, with an estimated loss of 0.72 tons of organic carbon per hectare annually. Increasing soil carbon storage is not easy.
Chen Tsun-hsien has been conducting field experiments across Taiwan to explore the carbon storage potential of different soil management methods. His results show that implementing organic farming methods in grass-grown experimental plots can increase soil carbon storage by 10% to 30% compared to the control group. Flatland afforestation can also effectively increase carbon storage. Furthermore, conventional farming methods lose an average of 0.2 to 2.2 tons of organic carbon per hectare per year. Implementing organic and sustainable management methods increases organic carbon storage by 0.32 to 1.29 tons. However, neither shallow tillage nor shallow plowing methods are effective in achieving the soil carbon sequestration targets of the United Nations' 4/1000 Initiative.
Soil is not only crucial to food security but also to the very lifeblood of the environment. "Soil is Earth's largest carbon reservoir, holding 1.5 trillion tons of carbon," Fang Jian said, seeking solutions from the "Smallholders Planting Carbon" project and exploring the value chain of sustainable development. "By reducing tillage, increasing mulch, and using less fertilizer and pesticide, we can not only reduce carbon dioxide emissions, making the land, crops, and people healthier, but also generate carbon credits through international certification."
Chen Zunxian reminded that sustainable farming creates many ecological service values, not only reducing emissions and increasing soil carbon sinks, but also helping to maintain biodiversity in the soil, purifying water quality, and promoting climate change adaptation.
In recent years, climate shocks have exacerbated the challenges facing China's grain-producing region. This year, droughts hit parts of North, Central, and South China from spring to summer, resulting in generally poor wheat growth. According to the latest data from the European Copernicus Climate Change Service, last month was the second-warmest April on record, with the global average temperature 0.6°C above the 1991-2020 average and 1.51°C above the pre-industrial period (1850-1900).
The 2021 "White Paper on Northeast Black Soil" released by the Chinese Academy of Sciences also highlighted the climate vulnerability of Northeast China's granary: Over the past 50 years, the average temperature of Northeast China's black soil has increased by 0.34°C per decade. Climate warming increases microbial activity, accelerating the microbial decomposition of soil organic matter and leading to a decline in soil fertility. Droughts are also becoming more frequent, and in some years, rainfall surges. Due to its heavy clay texture and poor drainage, black soil is highly susceptible to waterlogging.
In recent years, the sudden shift from drought to flood has severely impacted harvests in Northeast China. In 2020, Liaoning Province suffered a severe drought, resulting in widespread corn yield reductions and even complete crop failure in some fields. In 2023, the outer circulation of Typhoon Dusurui ravaged Beijing and Hebei before continuing northward. Heavy rainfall caused flooding in Heilongjiang and Jilin provinces, turning Wuchang's rice granary into a swamp, affecting over one million mu (approximately 1,000 acres). Last summer, Wuchang City was again hit by torrential rains, flooding many villages and rice paddies and severely impacting farmers.
"Farmers are the first victims of climate change, and they feel it particularly deeply," said Fang Jian, who held a consultation meeting with small farmers in Wuchang after the floods last year. With climate disasters now so frequent, farmers are realizing the urgency of self-help. "They feel they have to do something, right?"
It wasn't just Wuchang that was hit by heavy floods. Farmers in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan, and eastern Taiwan who participated in the "Small Farmers Carbon Planting" project were also hit by heavy rains. In 2023, the experimental fields in Changliangli, Hualien, experienced two strong typhoons. Fang Jian took soil samples after the rice harvest in November. There was some loss of surface organic matter (about 1.3 per ten thousand), but the organic carbon in the lower soil (20 to 50 centimeters) increased by 0.4%.
Field trials among small farmers in Changliang, Hualien, have yielded initial results. "They reduced fertilizer and chemical tillage, and soil organic matter began to increase. After the typhoon, their rice fields suffered less damage than those around them who didn't participate, which was a great encouragement for them," Fang Jian said of the farmers' feedback. "However, this is still some distance from scientific evidence. We must identify the underlying causes and, through various experimental designs, understand the relationship between changes in farming practices and soil microorganisms and nutrients."
From Taiwan to the Northeast, farmers began to embark on the road of self-help, and gradually realized that people not only depend on the weather for their livelihood, but also on the soil for their livelihood. To put it bluntly, to save food, we must first save the soil.
"Soil is like the earth's skin," Fang Jian said. "Don't keep scratching, picking at it, cutting it, or applying medicine to it. Excessive human intervention will eventually cause the skin to ulcerate."
The saying "If the skin is gone, where will the hair be attached?" provides an apt metaphor. When the black soil in Northeast China becomes thinner and yellower, it not only destroys the food security of more than one billion people, but also threatens the land on which future generations depend for their livelihood.
