Promoting grain production through high-standard farmland construction:Evidence in China

Food security is a strategic priority for a country’s economic development.In China,high-standard farmland construction(HSFC)is an important initiative to stabilize grain production and increase grain production capacity.Based on panel data from 31 sample provinces,autonomous regions,and municipalities in China from 2005–2017,this study explored the impact of HSFC on grain yield using the difference-in-differences(DID)method.The results showed that HSFC significantly increased total grain production,which is robust to various checks.HSFC increased grain yield through three potential mechanisms.First,it could increase the grain replanting index.Second,it could effectively reduce yield loss due to droughts and floods.Last,HSFC could strengthen the cultivated land by renovating the low-and medium-yielding fields.Heterogeneity analysis found that the HSFC farmland showed a significant increase in grain yield only in the main grain-producing areas and balanced areas.In addition,HSFC significantly increased the yields of rice,wheat,and maize while leading to a reduction in soybean yields.The findings suggest the government should continue to promote HSFC,improve construction standards,and strictly control the“non-agriculturalization”and“non-coordination”of farmland to increase grain production further.At the same time,market mechanisms should be used to incentivize soybean farming,improve returns and stabilize soybean yields.

Impact of slope farmland use change on ecosystem services value in China,2000-2020

Slope farmland is an important component of farmland resources in China.The utilization and change of slope farmland have significant effects on ecosystems,and understanding the impact of slope farmland change on ecosystem services(ESs)is critical for effective land utilization and ecosystem protection.This study aims to analyze slope farmland changes in China between 2000 and 2020 and quantify the impact of these changes on ESs by the use of a land use dynamic attitude study,and an ecosystem services value(ESV)equivalent.Results show that the area of slope farmland in China was mainly concentrated on slopes of 2°-6°,and exhibited a downward trend between 2000 and 2020.There were significant differences in the spatial distribution of the farmland,which was mainly located in the Taihang,Qinling,Wushan,and Xuefeng mountains.ESV increased by$179.235 million due to the conversion between slope farmland and forest,grassland,and construction land from 2000-2010.Conversely,from 2010 to 2020,ESV decreased by$2613.919 million due to the conversion of forest and grassland to slope farmland as well as the conversion of slope farmland to construction land.

An Improved Farmland Fertility Algorithm with Hyper-Heuristic Approach for Solving Travelling Salesman Problem

Travelling Salesman Problem(TSP)is a discrete hybrid optimization problem considered NP-hard.TSP aims to discover the shortest Hamilton route that visits each city precisely once and then returns to the starting point,making it the shortest route feasible.This paper employed a Farmland Fertility Algorithm(FFA)inspired by agricultural land fertility and a hyper-heuristic technique based on the Modified Choice Function(MCF).The neighborhood search operator can use this strategy to automatically select the best heuristic method formaking the best decision.Lin-Kernighan(LK)local search has been incorporated to increase the efficiency and performance of this suggested approach.71 TSPLIB datasets have been compared with different algorithms to prove the proposed algorithm’s performance and efficiency.Simulation results indicated that the proposed algorithm outperforms comparable methods of average mean computation time,average percentage deviation(PDav),and tour length.

Effects of nitrogen and phosphorus additions on soil microbial community structure and ecological processes in the farmland of Chinese Loess Plateau

Microorganisms regulate the responses of terrestrial ecosystems to anthropogenic nutrient inputs.The escalation of anthropogenic activities has resulted in a rise in the primary terrestrial constraining elements,namely nitrogen(N)and phosphorus(P).Nevertheless,the specific mechanisms governing the influence of soil microbial community structure and ecological processes in ecologically vulnerable and delicate semi-arid loess agroecosystems remain inadequately understood.Therefore,we explored the effects of different N and P additions on soil microbial community structure and its associated ecological processes in the farmland of Chinese Loess Plateau based on a 36-a long-term experiment.Nine fertilization treatments with complete interactions of high,medium,and low N and P gradients were set up.Soil physical and chemical properties,along with the microbial community structure were measured in this study.Additionally,relevant ecological processes such as microbial biomass,respiration,N mineralization,and enzyme activity were quantified.To elucidate the relationships between these variables,we examined correlation-mediated processes using statistical techniques,including redundancy analysis(RDA)and structural equation modeling(SEM).The results showed that the addition of N alone had a detrimental effect on soil microbial biomass,mineralized N accumulation,andβ-1,4-glucosidase activity.Conversely,the addition of P exhibited an opposing effect,leading to positive influences on these soil parameters.The interactive addition of N and P significantly changed the microbial community structure,increasing microbial activity(microbial biomass and soil respiration),but decreasing the accumulation of mineralized N.Among them,N24P12 treatment showed the greatest increase in the soil nutrient content and respiration.N12P12 treatment increased the overall enzyme activity and total phospholipid fatty acid(PLFA)content by 70.93%.N and P nutrient contents of the soil dominate the microbial community structure and the corresponding changes in hydrolytic enzymes.Soil microbial biomass,respiration,and overall enzyme activity are driven by mineralized N.Our study provides a theoretical basis for exploring energy conversion processes of soil microbial community and environmental sustainability under long-term N and P additions in semi-arid loess areas.

Influence of Straw Incorporation on Maize Yield,N Accumulation and Remobilization on Slope Farmland in Northeast China

Slope farmland is a main type of agricultural land throughout northeast China.Long-term high intensity utilization and unreasonable farming have caused the deterioration of soil resources and a decrease in crop production.Here,it was hypothesized that crop straw incorporation might help to reduce nutrient losses and increase maize yields across time and space.A field experiment for testing straw management practices on maize across three slope positions(top,back and bottom slopes)was conducted in Northeast China in 2018 and 2019.In this study,the dry matter accumulation(DMA),N accumulation(NA),N remobilization,postsilking N uptake and grain yield were measured under SI(straw incorporation)and NSI(no straw incorporation)across three slope positions of 100-m-long consecutive black soil slope farmland during the maize(Zea mays L.)growth stages.Compared with NSI,SI significantly increased DMA and NA at the silking and maturity stages.SI typically increased the N remobilization in all slope positions,and significantly increased N remobilization efficiency and contribution of N remobilization to grain on the back and bottom slopes.However,post-silking N uptake was only increased by SI on the top slope.SI generally increased the crop yield in three slope positions.In the SI treatments,the bottom slope was the highest yield position,followed by the top,and then the back slopes,suggesting that the bottom slope position of regularly incorporated straw might have increased the potential for boosting maize yield.Overall,the study demonstrated the outsized potential of straw incorporation to enhance maize NA and then increase the grain yield in black soil slope farmland.

Construction of Legal System of China's Farmland Protection under the Coexistence of Multiple Objectives:Historical Logic,Practical Problems and Optimization Paths

[Objectives]To explore the evolution of the legal system of farmland protection and explore the rules and characteristics of policy development based on the theory and logic of institutional change since China's reform and opening up,reveal the problems and deep-seated reasons of its legislation,clarify the direction of farmland protection in the new period,and solve the"non-agricultural""non-grain"and ecological problems of farmland.[Methods]Literature analysis and inductive deduction methods were used.[Results]The evolution of the farmland protection legal system has gone through the process of"national consciousness-policy guidelines-institutional system",the change from"single subject to multiple subjects";change from the use of"one-way administrative means to coordinated use of administrative,economic and technical means".The practical problems of the farmland protection legal system are mainly due to the insufficient systematization of the farmland protection legal system itself,the generalization of quantity protection,the transformation of quality protection,and the absence of ecological protection.[Conclusions]It is recommended to improve the existing farmland protection legal system from the establishment of the Farmland Protection Law,the improvement of the farmland protection public participation mechanism and supervision mechanism,the establishment of the farmland quality construction and improvement system,the differentiated farmland occupation and supplementation balance system,and the ecological restoration system.

Zoning Control of Health of Farmland System

In addition to the quality and quantity of farmland, the health of farmland has also become an important research direction in the field of farmland protection. In order to comprehensively evaluate the relationship and distribution of health and farmland production capacity, the depression area behind the Yellow River in Henan Province is taken as the research object. Using production capacity evaluation data and system health evaluation results, the health status and production capacity of farmland in the region are coupled. The results show that high productivity farmland is most distributed in areas with moderate health risks, while low productivity farmland is more distributed in areas with low health risks. Based on their coupling characteristics, the depression area behind the Yellow River can be divided into five types, and management and protection strategies can be formulated separately.

Coupling Research on the Process of Transfer of Surplus Labor Forces and Scaling-up of Farmland

On the basis of giving an overview of efficiency research on transformation of land from fragmentation to scale economy, by using the concept of coupling in physics, this paper expounds the behavior basis of transfer of surplus rural labor forces in China and transformation of land from fragmentation to scaling up, and analyzes behaviors of all parties and equilibrium outcomes in the three stages concerning the transformation of agricultural land from fragmentation to scaling up as follows. At the first stage of coupling, after multitudinous rural surplus labor forces emerge, the farmers begin to go to city seeking jobs. In this period, the amalgamation of land management has not occurred and the single farmer's land has not yet concentrated. The total land area of single farmer has not yet increased and the total amount of farmers has not yet decreased. At the second stage of coupling, driven by living standards and income, multitudinous rural surplus labor forces begin to live in the city permanently in fact, and the scale management of rural land begins to arise. Foreign funded enterprises begin to enter agriculture, and the industrialization management of agriculture is equipped with the most fundamental conditions due to the occurrence of scaling up of land. At the third stage of coupling, the transfer of rural surplus labor forces basically ends. The property rights of agricultural land or the management forms also, in a large measure, concentrate. The obstacles to agricultural scaling-up management are solved fundamentally, and the income gap between urban areas and rural areas is narrowed. Urban-rural population migration is no longer the main form of China's population migration. This stage has not yet been realized in China and it is the future state of villages. Finally, through the two cases researched by the predecessors, we verify the research results of the preceding two stages, which provides reliable reference for transformation of China's agricultural land management, and policy formulation of transfer of surplus labor forces.

Design of Farmland Water Conservancy and Irrigation Management System Based on GIS

The farmland irrigation project is an important part of China's water conservancy project. To keep abreast of the farmland water conservancy and various related environmental parameters,we can use the external sensors to acquire real-time data,employ the computer technology,networking and communication technology,database technology,geographic information system( GIS) technology,component technology and other advanced modern information technologies combined with the automated water conservancy technology,in order to build an accurate,efficient,fast,comprehensive,standardized decision support system integrating farmland water conservancy and irrigation information collection,transmission,storage,management and analysis. In this paper,we give details about the overall framework design of farmland water conservancy and irrigation management system based on GIS,information collection and data input,and information processing and data output,to provide a reference for the digital water conservancy construction in China.

Review of Current Status and Research Approaches to Nitrogen Pollution in Farmlands

In this paper, the history, current status, and research approaches to nitrogen pollution were reviewed using systems analysis and deductions. The seriousness of N pollution world-wide was highlighted and recommendations were made to address the situation. A new hypothesis based on phytoremediation, which means the use of plants to directly or indirectly degrade or remove contaminats from soil and water, was proposed.

Investigations on Nitrate Pollution of Soil, Groundwater and Vegetable from Three Typical Farmlands in Beijing Region, China

The aim of this study was to determine the nitrate pollution status of soil, groundwater, and vegetable from three typical farmlands （croplands, vegetable fields, and orchards） in Beijing region. During the investigation, hundreds of the soil, groundwater, and vegetable samples from three typical farmlands were collected and analyzed. In addition, attributes of all samples were recorded for data analysis. The results showed that nitrate was substantially accumulated in soil profiles, while the soil nitrate concentrations of vegetable fields and orchards were higher than those of croplands. Nitrate concentration in 0-30 cm soil of vegetable field and orchard were 3.8 and 1.2 times of that of cropland, respectively. Nitrate content of groundwater in vegetable field was 13.8 mg L-1 （with the over-standard ratio 44.8%）, which was 2.8 folds of that in cropland. Nitrate concentration of groundwater under orchard was 9.3 mg L-1 （with the over-standard ratio 23.5%）, which was 1.9 folds of that in cropland. High concentrations of the nitrate in vegetables were detected, particularly green leafy vegetables ranked first with 2 685.5 mg kg-1, followed by rhizome vegetables, cabbages, and fruit vegetables. The nitrate over-standard ratios of rhizome vegetables, green leafy vegetables, fruit vegetables, and cabbages were 80.9, 37.9, 29.7, and 2.2%, respectively. The results revealed that the high nitrate concentrations of soil, vegetable, and groundwater might result from the high fertilization dose.

Arrangement of High-standard Basic Farmland Construction Based on Village-region Cultivated Land Quality Uniformity

As an important constitute of land consolidation, high-standard basic farmland construction is an important means to protect the quantity, quality and ecological environment of cultivated land. Its target not only lies in the increase of cultivated land quantity, but also the improvement of cultivated land quality, agricultural production conditions and ecosystem environments. In the present study, the quality evaluation method and construction arrangement of cultivated land were explored to facilitate the process of decision-making and implementation for high-standard basic farmland construction(HSBFC) with administrative village as the unit. Taking the land comprehensive improvement project area in Quzhou County, Handan City, Hebei Province as a case study, the whole process of the study comprised of three steps: 1) establishment of the evaluation model of cultivated land quality uniformity based on regional optimum cultivated land quality, and construction of the uniformity evaluation index system from the aspects of soil fertility quality, engineering quality, spatial quality and eco-environment quality, according to the new concept of cultivated land quality; 2) calculation of cultivated land quality uniformity by grading indicators, assigning scores and weighting sums, exploring the local homogenization characteristics of regional cultivated land quality through spatial autocorrelation analysis, and analyzing the constraints and transformative potential of barrier factors; 3) arrangement of HSBFC according to the principle of concentration, continuity and priority to the easy operation. The results revealed that the value of farmland quality uniformity for the administrative villages in the study area was between 7.76 and 21.96, and there was a difference between various administrative villages. The regional spatial autocorrelation patterns included High-High(HH), Low-Low(LL), High-Low(HL) and Low-High(LH). These indicate that regional cultivated land quality has local homogenization characteristics. The most restrictive factors in the study area were the medium and low transformation difficulty indexes, including soil organic matter content, farmland shelterbelt network density, field regularity and scale of the field. In addition, there were also high transformation difficulty indicators in some areas, such as sectional configuration. The project area was divided into four partitions: major construction area, secondary construction area, general construction area, and conditional construction area. The cultivated land area of each subarea was 1538.85 ha, 1224.27 ha, 555.93 ha, and 1666.63 ha, respectively. This comprised of 30.87%, 24.56%, 11.15% and 33.42% of the total project area, respectively. The evaluation model and index system could satisfy the evaluation of farmland quality and diagnosis of obstacle factors to facilitate the subsequent construction decision. The present study provides reference for the practice of regional HSBFC, and a new feasible idea and method for related studies.

Subsidence control and farmland conservation by solid backfilling mining technology

Solid backfilling mining technology, which decreases the height of fissure zone and caving zone, and alleviates the subsidence, is a new technology for farmland conservation. Based on the situation analysis of farmland destruction in mining area, three ways for farmland protection were proposed. In order to improve the feasibility of this technology, the limited filling materials should be used to increase resources recovery ratio, and then the surplus materials could be backfilled into goaf. An index, namely farmland conservation ability, was put forward to optimize the ways for farmland conservation. At last, the Wanbei coal mine was taken as a case for farmland conservation. It was shown that 3240 t dull coal was substituted and 52 hm2 farmland was conserved by solid backfilling mining in this coal mine.

Assessment of High-standard Farmland Construction Effectiveness in Liaoning Province During 2011–2015

At present, the large-scale construction of high-standard farmland in China has improved the quality of cropland and crop production and enhanced the eco-environmental security. To obtain a comprehensive understanding of high-standard farmland construction in Liaoning Province of China during the 12 th five-year period(2011–2015), through on-the-spot investigations and remote sensing monitoring, this study assessed the construction effectiveness of ten typical sampling projects in Liaoning Province and then presented practical suggestions. The main conclusions were as follows. 1) The ranges of increase in productivity of the ten sampling projects in Liaoning Province all surpassed the goal of 1500 kg/ha. 2) Among all sampling project areas, the levels of productivity stability of nine sampling projects were higher than that of the surrounding farmland in a severe drought year. However, the productivity stability of the high-standard farmland construction project in Faku County, Yiniupu Town, declined by 1.04% compared with the surrounding farmland. 3) Except for the high-standard farmland construction project in Dengta City, Dengta Irrigation Region, the productivity uniformity of the other nine sampling projects increased by 3.30%–88.10%. 4) Eight of the ten sampling projects belonged to Class 1, and two projects belonged to Class 2, showing that the effectiveness of high-standard farmland construction in Liaoning Province was quite good.There were some suggestions for high-standard farmland construction in the future. All departments should strengthen cooperation and formulate corresponding protection and development strategies suitable for local conditions. Additionally, lasting management mechanisms should also be established. Using remote sensing monitoring to assess the high-standard farmland construction effectiveness during the 12 th five-year period could provide experience and decision-making support for high-standard farmland construction in the future.

Effect of farmland shelterbelts on gully erosion in the black soil region of Northeast China

The black soil region of northeast China is one of the most important grain-producing areas in China. Increasingly severe gully erosion in this region has destroyed much farmland and reduced grain production. We analyzed SPOT5 imagery from 2007 and TM imagery from 2008 to describe the distributions of gullies and farmland shelterbelts in Kedong County and to assess the effect of farmland shelterbelts on gully erosion. The ima- gery revealed 2311 gullies with average density of 418.51 m km-2, indicating very serious gully erosion. With increasing slope gradient there was an inverse trend between gully density and shelterbelt density, indicating that farmland shelterbelts can prevent gully erosion. The defense effect of farmland shelterbelts against gullyerosion varied with distance： for distances 〈120 m, the defense effect was consistent and very strong; for distances of 120-240 m, a weak linear decrease was found in the defense effect; and for distances 〉240 m, the defense effect of the shelterbelts was significantly weaker. We recommend an optimal planting density of farmland shel- terbelts for the prevention of gully erosion at 1100-1300 m km-2.

Study on Environmental Risk and Economic Benefits of Rotation Systems in Farmland of Erhai Lake Basin

This study was designed to find out an optimised planting system of reducing non-point （source） pollution by analyzing the reasons and the factors of influence non-point pollution in farmland of Erhai Lake basin. The results showed that incomes, residual nitrogen in soil, and the loss of nitrogen in surface water in rice-garlic system were higher than those in rice-fava bean system. There were positive correlations between the nitrogen loss of farmland, nitrogen inputs, residual nitrogen in soil, and incomes of farmland. Economic benefits and environment benefits are both appropriate, if the area of rice-garlic system would be reduced to 53% and the area of rice-fava bean system increased to 36% of total cropping area in the investigated watershed. Adjustment of planting structure and introduction of reasonable rotation systems is considered an effective measure of controlling agricultural non-point pollution in watersheds of Erhai Lake.

Effects of heavy metal pollution on farmland soils and crops:A case study of the Xiaoqinling Gold Belt,China

This paper focuses on the heavy metal enrichment and heavy metal pollution degree associated with mining activities in some crops and the soils of different parent materials in the Xiaoqinling Gold Belt.According to the geochemical analysis results of the soils observed in the gold belt,the soils are most highly enriched in Pb,followed by Cr,Cu,and Zn.Furthermore,they are relatively poor in Hg,Cd,and As.It is also shown that the heavy metals in all kinds of soils have the same geochemical characteristics in the gold belt.As for the crops(such as corn and wheat)in the gold belt,Zn and Cu are the most abundant elements,followed by Pb and Cr.Meanwhile,Hg,Cd,and As were found to have relatively low concentrations in the crops.The heavy metals in wheat and corn have the same geochemical characteristics in the gold belt in general.Compared to the aeolian loess soils and the crops therein,heavy metals are more enriched in diluvial and alluvial soils and the crops therein.As shown by relevant studies,the Hg,Pb,Cd,Cu,and Zn pollution are mainly caused by mining activities.Corn and wheat in the gold belt have a high tendency of risk exposure to heavy metal pollution since they are mostly affected by mining activities and feature high background values of heavy metal concentrations.Furthermore,wheat is more liable to be enriched in heavy metals than corn is grown in all types of soils.The Hg pollution in soils leads to Hg accumulation,increasing the risk of Hg uptake in crops,and further affecting human health.This study will provide a scientific basis for the control and management of heavy metals in farmland soils of mining areas.

Heavy Metal Contamination in Farmland Soil and Bioremediation Measures: A Case Study of the Mining Area in Shaoguan

With the rapid development of mining,the soil heavy metal contamination is increasingly serious in Shaoguan,directly affecting the production of crops. This paper analyzes the farmland soil heavy metal contamination in the mining area of Shaoguan and the causes of heavy metal contamination in recent years,brings forward the bioremediation measures to control soil heavy metal contamination,and points out the development direction of bioremediation in farmland soil heavy metal contamination in the mining area.

Losses of Soil Organic Carbon and Nitrogen and Their Mechanisms in the Desertification Process of Sandy Farmlands inHorqin Sandy Land

Soil organic carbon(SOC)and total nitrogen(N)concentrations from bulk soils and soil particle size fractions in the different extent of desertified farmlands(potential, light, medium, severe, and most severe desertified farmlands)were examined to quantitatively elucidate losses of carbon and nitrogen and its mechanisms in the desertification process. Particle size fractions(2 -0.1 mm, 0.1 - 0.05 mm, <0.05 mm)were obtained by granulometric wet sieving from 30 sandy soils(0 - 15cm depth)of different desertified extent. It was shown that soil physical stability index(St)in most severe desertified farmlands was 5 -7% and St in other farmlands was less than 5 %, which contributed to very low soil organic matter content. This was the intrinsic cause that sandy farmlands in Horqin sandy land was subject to risk of desertification. Desertification resulted in considerable losses of SOC and N. Regression analysis indicated that SOC and N content reduced 0.169 g kg-1 and 0.0215 g kg-1 respectively with one percent loss of soil silt and clay content. Losses of SOC and N were mostly the removal of fine particle size fractions(silt and clay, and a less extent very fine sand)from the farmlands by wind erosion, which were rich in organic matter and nutrients, as well as the depletion of organic C and N associated with coarse particles(>0. 05 mm)in desertification process. The concentrations of C and N associated with sand(2 - 0.1 mm and 0.1 - 0.05 mm)significantly decreased with increase of desertified extent. Silt and clay associated C and N concentrations, however, were less changed, and in contrast, were higher in soils under most severe desertified extent than in soils under potential and severe desertified extent. The percentage of distribution in sand(>0.05 mm)associated C and N significantly increased with increase of desertified extent, suggesting that stability of SOC decreased in the desertification process.

Pool Sizes and Turnover of Soil Organic Carbon of Farmland Soil in Karst Area of Guilin

The three-pool and first-order model separates the mineralizable organic carbon into active,slow,and passive carbon pools.This paper used the model and decomposition curves of the soil organic carbon to fit the active pool and its decomposition rate,slow pool and its decomposition rate.The results showed that the size of the active pool from different profiles accounted for 2.09%-3.08% of the total soil organic carbon and the mean residue time was 3.57-17.21 days.And the size of the slow pool accounted for 3.19%-43.55% and the mean residue time was 1.12-4.94 years.Acid hydrolysis（6M HCl） was used to fractionate the passive organic carbon,which accounted for 50.83%-94.44% of the total soil organic carbon.