Blog: Learnings from the International Forum on Agriculture Green Development

A rare and valuable opportunity to speak at a global conference held in China saw the Agricultural Industries Confederation’s (AIC) Head of Sustainability Vicky Robinson share the UK agri-supply industry’s drive for modern, sustainable, commercial agriculture.

The Conference - "The 2025 International High-level Forum on Agriculture Green Development: Integrating Food Security, Resource Efficiency and Environmental Stewardship" - brought together a diverse group of around 50 speakers and academics from around the world to discuss green development in agriculture.

"Agriculture Green Development" is a concept that integrates sustainable practices into agriculture to balance economic growth with environmental protection.

It aims to reduce the negative impacts of agricultural activities on the environment while ensuring food security and economic viability.

Sustainable Resource Use (efficient use of water, soil, and other natural resources to minimise waste and degradation), best practice, biodiversity, climate resilience, and technological innovation are all part of this concept – terms which will be familiar to anyone who has already studied AIC’s Sustainability Action Plan launched late last year.

The event was structured around four themes: Agriculture Green Development and transformation trends and policies; New approaches for enhancing the productivity and sustainability of crop production; Rhizobiont theory and its application in green intelligent fertiliser development; and new approaches for integrated system research in agricultural systems, implementation with farmers and policy recommendation.

I was one of four UK speakers, alongside Professor Michael Lee from Harper Adams University, David Webster from Linking Environment and Farming (LEAF), and Dr Yuelai Lu from the University of East Anglia.

As AIC’s Head of Sustainability, I was asked to join the speaker line-up to offer an industry perspective on integrated system research and implementation with farmers and policy makers.

I was pleased to share the work of AIC and presented key aspects of our Sustainability Action Plan.

I took questions about the wider supply chain, data collection and the role of AIC as the UK agri-supply industry’s trade association, and saw a keen interest in the Action Plan and the work of our Member businesses.

What I discovered

Throughout the three-day conference, my very minimal knowledge of the agricultural industry in China rapidly grew against the backdrop of the tropical zone that Hainan Island sits in.

An excursion to visit the Science Technology Backyard (STB) project introduced me to a range of new crops, including jack fruit, areaca nut and dragon fruit, with the more typical tropical crops of coconut, mango, banana and rice.

With between 154m and 200m smallholder farmers (less than 0.6ha) farming 60% of the land.

STBs are a China-wide concept initiated by the China Agricultural University (CAU) to empower these farmers to implement sustainable agricultural production; Masters and PhD students live in the community whilst undertaking their research.

The STB model has proven successful in boosting rural development and transforming agricultural practices in various regions.

It's a great example of how science and technology can be effectively integrated into everyday farming to achieve sustainable development goals.

Key takeaways

For me, the key takeaways from the trip included:

• The focus on food security by the Chinese Government. The New Food Security Law was introduced in 2024 to:
  • ensure ‘absolute security’ (95%) in staple grains (wheat rice, maize, soybeans) for food use and basic self-sufficiency in all other grains: produce and process as much as possible in China (85%).
  • reduce food losses/waste
  • control land use, protect farmland, establish a strict system for protecting the quality of cultivated land, and establish a monitoring network for cultivated land
  • take measures for soil improvement, improve crop rotation and fallow periods, encourage return to crop straw to the field, promote green and efficient grain production technologies
  • stipulate measures to increase crop farmer income
• To achieve this, an extra 50mt of wheat/corn is needed by 2050, plus an increase in chicken and pork production by 33%.
• Currently, China imports 9% of corn and 83.4% of soya
• Soya is a particular challenge – there is 4m ha of maize/soya intercropping, but results have shown a decrease in maize yield which, being the main crop, has resulted in farmers not being keen to increase the area
• Solutions to the yield challenge are through technological developments, including the rhizobiont theory involving manipulation of the root/microbe interactions to increase yield potential and nutrient use efficiency as the following slide illustrates:

Plus, green intelligent fertiliser: fertiliser which has can provide the plant with the relevant nutrients when the plant indicates a need for them produced using low cost and with low emissions based on products with a precise formulation as detailed in the following slide:

• Fertiliser intensity is 2.5 – 3 x Europe and the US. China produces and consumes the following:

• N budget and losses are 50% higher than Europe and the US. Nitrogen Use Efficiency has increased from 31% in 2003 to 47% in 2022,and phosphorus balance has increased from 22% in 2003 to 57% in 2022, but it is still too large with an extra 545kg p/ha gained between 2003 and 2022.
• There has been a four-fold increase in manure in the last 60 years in China, but the total amount of manure N recycled into cropland decreased by 30% between 2007 and 2017. This is as a result of a spatial redistribution of crop and livestock farms.
• Manure disposal is a challenge with a ban on disposing of manure on land around chicken/pig/dairy farms; it has to be exported onto arable land.

So, there are some real challenges to achieving the productivity gains the Chinese Government wants to see whilst addressing and reducing the environmental impact of current systems. This is what the Agriculture Green Development approach seeks to achieve.

Connections and conclusions

The three-day meeting concluded with a final discussion on the strategy for National Agriculture Green Development.

This was structured around a model bringing together three strands:

• Problems – low yield/high yield and low efficiency
• Research and Innovation - Green Technologies, Green Intelligent Fertiliser and Rhizobiont theory
• Solutions – transformation through regional green agricultural development incorporating Science Technology Backyards

With new connections made and the opportunity to talk about the invaluable work AIC Members are undertaking, I'm grateful for the opportunity.

This was an unforgettable trip during which I experienced the culture and hospitality of China whilst immersing myself in the agricultural sector over three long but fascinating days.

Author

Vicky Robinson

Head of Sustainability, AIC

Vicky Robinson is Head of Sustainability and is responsible for leading and co-ordinating AIC's work on sustainability. 

A 2019 Nuffield Scholar, Vicky was previously Technical Director at Linking Environment and Farming (LEAF), which followed 22 years working for Natural England and its predecessors on agri-environment delivery, policy development and implementation.

Email:

[email protected]

Phone:

01733 385230

Read lessmore