Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, a series of strategic measures of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council have promoted the development of factory-based agriculture, strengthened the restoration of degraded soil, and formed a major demand for peat and peat products. The peat resource introduction, processing and promotion application industry has become a strategic emerging industry that is urgently needed in China. What are the advantages of peat? What is the current status of peat introduction, processing, promotion and application in my country? How to apply it more rationally next? On the occasion of the first China-Europe peat train being included in Gansu, a reporter from Benliu News interviewed Professor Meng Xianmin , a professor at the Peat Research Institute of Northeast Normal University.
Meng Xianmin: Professor of Peat Research Institute of Northeast Normal University, currently the executive vice president of the Peat Industry Branch of the China Humic Acid Industry Association, executive vice president of the China National Committee of the International Peat Society, and member of the matrix expert group of the International Peat Society. From 1978 to 1982, he studied in the Department of Soil Agriculture of Shenyang Agricultural University and obtained a bachelor's degree in agriculture. From 1993 to 1994, he was sent to the Macquare Soil Institute in the UK. From 1996 to 1997, he served as a senior technical official of the Wetland International-China Project. From 1997 to 2000, he studied in Environmental Science and Engineering at the Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Sciences and received his Ph.D. in Science. He has participated in and presided over 18 national scientific and technological research projects and provincial and ministerial scientific and technological projects, won 2 third prizes in national scientific and technological progress, 4 second prizes in provincial and ministerial levels, 4 authorized invention patents, 64 public papers in core journals, edited and published 3 monographs such as "Peat Engineering", and published 204 peat blog posts.
Meng Xianmin has been engaged in peat resource exploration and evaluation and peat development and utilization research for a long time, and is one of the promoters of the formation and development of my country's peat industry.
Reporter: What are the unique advantages and characteristics of peat?
Meng Xianmin: peat is the predecessor of coal and is the product accumulated year by year due to incomplete decomposition of dead plant residues. Peat is one of the eleven major non-metallic strategic resources in my country. Depending on the type of plant residues, peat can be divided into three types: herbal peat, woody peat and moss peat. Although our country has a certain amount of herbal peat resources, it lacks woody peat and moss peat resources with higher economic value. The large-scale introduction, processing and promotion of peat resources is because peat has three distinct characteristics.
1. Peat has irreplaceable characteristics and advantages of other mineral resources. The organic matter content of peat is as high as 90%-95%, which is 2-3 times the organic matter content of commercial organic fertilizers and livestock and poultry manure. Peat contains humic acid 30%-60%, which is 6-20 times the humic acid content of commercial organic fertilizers and livestock and poultry manure. Peat is the best fertile soil material among existing agricultural inputs. Peat has ventilation, permeability, large buffer capacity and strong water-retaining and fertilizer-retaining capabilities. It is the best raw material for matrix preparation in the world and is an indispensable basic raw material for seedling production and matrix cultivation. 2. Peat is germ-free, insect-free eggs, grass seeds, hormones, antibiotics, and does not spread pests and weeds. Peat is a truly natural, green, healthy and organic agricultural input without any environmental burden. 3. Peat has a light capacity and a high compression ratio, low transportation cost, and is convenient for long-distance transportation. Peat has stable grade, soft structure, affordable price, easy to commercially process, and easy to achieve mechanized, automated and digital production.
It is gratifying that peat is an updated resource. The total area of the global peatland is 4 million square kilometers, of which 86% are continuous accumulation peat lands. The total amount of new peats worldwide is about 4 billion cubic meters, while the global peat mining annually is less than 100 million cubic meters, and the peat new volume is 40 times that of peat mining. Therefore, the 1978 United Nations General Assembly resolution (33/148) defines peat as a renewable resource, which was further confirmed by the European Commission in 2020 and grants peat companies in various countries the right to have a license to mine. Peat mining objects are mainly used to those peat wastelands, peat farmlands and peat forests that have degenerated and cannot continue to accumulate peat. After peat is mined, these peats can be rebuilt into wetlands to restore their peat accumulation functions and benefits.
Reporter: What fields are peat used at home and abroad?
Meng Xianmin: peat application fields are very wide. Before 2015, 50% of peat was mined in Europe for power generation and heating, and the other 50% were used for seedling production, matrix cultivation, soil improvement and edible fungi production.However, since 2010, global oil, natural gas and coal prices have been sluggish, peat energy utilization has gradually decreased, and the proportion of horticulture utilization has increased significantly. Although peat is widely used in the fields of industry, energy, environmental protection and chemical industry, the dominant and mainstream application areas are still four major areas of seed cultivation, matrix cultivation, soil improvement and functional fertilizer preparation in the field of modern agriculture. Among them, seedling cultivation and matrix cultivation belong to the high-tech field of modern agriculture, and soil health restoration, arable land quality improvement, three-dimensional greening and abandoned mine ecological restoration all belong to the high-tech field of ecological environment engineering.
uses peat as the source of organic materials. According to the obstacles in the target soil, the nutritional needs of crops and the target yield, targeted functional materials and appropriate amounts of inorganic nutrients can be scientifically added. Through a specific process, digital fertile soil products can be prepared to achieve high yield and high quality crops and increase yield and income, and rebuild an agricultural production environment with clean water bodies, fresh air and safe soil, effectively balance the relationship between agricultural green development and ecological environment protection, food safety and farmers' income increase, and achieve the organic unity of production, life and ecology.
Reporter: How much demand is in my country’s peat market?
Meng Xianmin: Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Party Central Committee and the State Council have put forward the concept of innovation, coordination, green, open and shared development and the decision to build the "Belt and Road", vigorously advocate scientific and technological innovation and green production, and strive to improve the sustainable development capabilities of society, economy and environment. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs clearly put forward a green agriculture and quality agriculture strategy, actively promote agricultural scientific and technological innovation and input technology progress, promote the development of factory-based agriculture, and strengthen soil environmental restoration, thus forming a major demand for peat and peat products. According to the scale of my country's factory-based agriculture development, degraded arable land restoration, sponge city construction and abandoned mine restoration, my country's total peat demand can reach up to 300 million cubic meters per year, and peat processing and sales can create an output value of 500 billion yuan. Because the promotion and application of peat products can drive the new output value of 25 trillion yuan in related industries such as factory-based agriculture, ecological environment restoration, etc., effectively promote the domestic economic circulation and form a new economic growth point.
Reporter: What are the significance of the introduction, processing, promotion and application of peat?
Meng Xianmin: I think there are four main points.
1. Increase efforts to introduce high-quality peat resources abroad will help promote China's economic external circulation and strengthen international industrial cooperation. The "Belt and Road" connects the domestic peat market with foreign peat suppliers. The Chinese market has unique size and potential, but peat resources are poor; foreign peat resources are rich, but demand is weak. Allocate resources from a global scale, encourage central enterprises and state-owned enterprises to go global with capital and technology, and bring back the resource profits, which can meet the domestic market's demand for high-quality moss peat, woody peat, coconut bran and wood fiber resources; increase the introduction of foreign peat resources, and use the advantages of the "Belt and Road" platform to promote the free flow of peat factors, efficient allocation of resources and deep integration of markets in countries along the route, carry out full industrial chain, high-level and deep-level peat cooperation, work together to create green innovation momentum, serve the improvement of my country's factory-based agriculture and arable land quality, and on the basis of introducing and digesting foreign resources, technology, equipment, and certification, innovate and develop, overtake on the curve, obtain independent intellectual property rights, and promote China's peat industry to the middle and high end of the global industrial value chain.
2. Accelerating the development of peat introduction and processing industry will help seize market opportunities and promote the development of peat strategic emerging industries. Peat resources and products are biodegradable, environmentally-depressible, and scientific and technological green agricultural inputs that are aimed at factory-based agriculture and improving cultivated land quality in terms of life cycle; in terms of resource and product categories, they are strategic non-metallic mineral resources (3.1.9) issued by the State Council (2018 edition). belongs to the comprehensive utilization industry of non-metallic mineral resources in terms of product processing method (7.3.1).Accelerating the pace of introduction of foreign peat resources, domestic processing and promotion and application can promote the formation and development of strategic emerging industries for deep processing and promotion and application of domestic peat, cultivate emerging industry clusters of peat processing and promotion and application, drive the development of factory-based agriculture, degraded soil restoration, commodity organic fertilizer preparation, urban three-dimensional greening and mining ecological construction, and promote the sustainable development of my country's economy, society and environment. Accelerating the development of strategic emerging industries for the introduction, processing and promotion and application of peat will help promote the construction of peat processing industry clusters and promotion and application industry clusters, gather various factors and resources, build a source, agglomeration area and peat cluster for the development of emerging peat processing and treatment industries, form a peat innovation growth pole, increase the added value of peat products technology, enhance the independent innovation capabilities of peat emerging industries, promote the formation of new peat technologies, new products and new business formats, and accelerate the formation of new momentum for economic and social development.
3. Accelerating the promotion and application of peat products will help promote the development of factory-based agriculture and promote the progress of agricultural science and technology. Seedling cultivation and matrix cultivation belong to modern agricultural high technology, and three-dimensional greening and mine restoration belong to modern environmental ecological projects. Accelerating the introduction, processing and promotion of peat will be conducive to gathering modern factory-based agricultural production factors such as big data, Internet of Things, artificial intelligence , water and fertilizer integration, building a modern agricultural industrial park with "production + processing + market", giving full play to the functions of technology integration, industrial integration, entrepreneurship platform, core radiation, etc., driving the professionalization, standardization and intensive production of new agricultural operators, promoting the upgrading of all links of agriculture and the appreciation of the entire chain, reducing the pressure on natural resources of water, soil, temperature and light, alleviating the contradiction between economic development and environmental capacity , achieving agricultural efficiency, farmers' income, and rural greening, guiding and cultivating emerging markets, providing users with high-quality supply, and meeting consumers' quality needs. With the help of peat matrix products, we can achieve three-dimensional urban greening and promote sponge city construction, provide high-quality vegetables and flowers and beautiful and fresh living space for the urban environment and citizens' families, and meet the people's higher-level material and cultural life needs.
4. Accelerate the introduction, processing, promotion and application of peat, which will help improve the soil quality of fruit and vegetable camellia planting and rebuild soil health. Accelerating the introduction, processing and promotion of peat can drive the promotion and application of peat soil conditioners in the improvement and fertilizer of degraded soil in facilities agriculture, effectively improve soil structure, regulate soil acid and alkali, increase soil organic matter and nutrients, improve soil microbial activity, solidify soil heavy metals, repair polluted soil environment, and while improving the quality of agricultural product output, create a "green water and green mountains" of the agricultural environment and achieve green development and sustainable development under the new normal of the economy.
Reporter: What suggestions are there for the healthy development of China's peat supply chain?
Meng Xianmin: peat is an irreplaceable strategic resource for modern agriculture and environmental restoration. We have the following suggestions: First, increase public publicity and education efforts, enhance the understanding of the great significance of peat introduction, processing, and promotion and application of peat, and form an atmosphere for the whole society to support and encourage peat introduction, processing, and promotion and application of peat; second, promote the acquisition and capacity of peat property rights of state-owned enterprises and state-owned enterprises in Russia, Belarus , Malaysia and other countries, change the disadvantages of relying solely on procurement and not being able to control resources from the source, realize the cross-border full-industry chain operation of peat, rapidly expand peat production capacity, reduce peat introduction costs, and meet the rapidly growing peat demand in China. Third, support General Administration of Customs to strengthen cooperation in peat trade information exchange, certification and accreditation, standard measurement and statistical information, and reduce peat non-tariff barriers. Layout peat customs declaration agencies in provincial capitals along the Eurasian Railway, simplify peat customs clearance conditions, formulate customs peat testing standards, and reduce misjudgment of peat category quality.
At the same time, it is clear that peat is positioned as an agricultural means of production, and it is exempted from value-added tax in the introduction, processing and promotion and application of peat, so as to reduce user costs, encourage the introduction, processing and promotion of peat resources, and promote the development of modern agriculture and the restoration of degraded environments.
adopts a variety of financial support methods to promote the construction of peat processing industry clusters and promotion and application industry clusters, gather various factors and resources, increase the added value of peat products technology, build a source of development, agglomeration zones and peat industry clusters for emerging peat processing and treatment industries, form a peat innovation growth pole, and accelerate the formation of new momentum for economic and social development.
Carry out scientific and technological research based on national conditions and market demand, establish an all-weather peat mining technology system, significantly increase peat production capacity, and reduce peat mining and transportation costs. Vigorously carry out innovation in peat processing technology and application technology, increase the added value of peat products technology, and occupy the high end of the peat value chain.
text丨Benliu News reporter Wang Sixuan
