What can an academic meeting do for the field?

2015 the sixth National Symposium on New Fertilizer was recently held in Jinan, Shandong Province. What practical problems can an academic conference on new fertilizers solve for chemical fertilizer reduction and agricultural production? After listening to the meeting for a day and a half, the reporter recognized the efforts of the experts attending the meeting-- to adjust the direction of research and development and serve the field.

Since the birth of the new fertilizer, it has naturally attached the high-cost "aristocratic temperament". To bring new fertilizers into the field is not only the need of agricultural modernization and fertilizer reduction, but also one of the ways to improve the quality and efficiency of chemical fertilizer industry.

The "three major problems" of Dr. Shen Bing, organizer of the conference and director of the New Fertilizer Professional Committee of the Chinese Society of Plant Nutrition and Fertilizer, point to field production. He said that by 2020, China will achieve zero growth in chemical fertilizer consumption, which will speed up the transformation and upgrading of the chemical fertilizer industry, and new fertilizers will face unprecedented opportunities for development. Zero growth of chemical fertilizer must rely on "large products, large formulations, big crops". "large products" refers to conventional nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium fertilizers such as urea, diammonium, potassium chloride and conventional compound fertilizers, which are modified to increase efficiency and improve utilization efficiency. "large formula" refers to the soil testing formula for compound fertilizer, which has a wide range and strong adaptability in large areas. the production scale of the base is large, and the production cost is relatively low. "Big crops" refers to crops planted in a large area, such as corn, rice, wheat, cotton, vegetables, fruit trees, etc., which have a wide planting area and a large amount of fertilizer. Shen Bing believes that only by solving these three major problems can the utilization rate of chemical fertilizer be improved and zero growth be guaranteed.

Zhao Bingqiang, chief scientist of the new fertilizer team of the Institute of Agricultural Resources Planning of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, is also the leader of the "technological Innovation Alliance of Chemical Fertilizer value-added Industry". His report is filled with the smell of bumper harvests in the fields. He said that value-added fertilizer (Value-addedFertilizer) is a kind of synergistic fertilizer, which specifically refers to the fertilizer modified synergistic products produced by adding natural active substances such as alginic acid, humic acid and amino acid in the fertilizer production process. From 2014 to 2015, the Ministry of Agriculture used new products of zinc humic acid urea and zinc humic acid ammonium phosphate value-added fertilizer in the demonstration counties of wheat high yield in 17 provinces. In Dezhou, Shandong Province, in cooperation with the Municipal Bureau of Agriculture, they will create a target per mu yield of 800kg of winter wheat, 1000 kg of summer corn per mu and 1800 kg of overall yield per mu in 12 counties and cities. In 2014, Zhang Xinyue, a farmer in Linyi County, applied zinc humic acid urea and diammonium, and produced 701 kilograms of wheat per mu, which was known as the "wheat grain king" of that year. He believes that the construction of China's green fertilizer system needs to be driven by scientific and technological innovation, R & D and production of new fertilizers with environmental and yield-increasing benefits.

Professor Cao Yiping of China Agricultural University, who answered the telephone consultation on fertilizer technology for farmers for 10 years, first emphasized the feelings and reactions of farmers. She said: although China's new fertilizers are developing rapidly, the scientific evaluation system is weak, there is confusion between true and false in the market, and there are many new terms for chemical fertilizers, so it is difficult for farmers to judge and then deter them. The whole agrochemical service is very important for farmers to make good use of the new fertilizer and finally achieve benefits. Production and sales enterprises and grass-roots agrotechnical personnel need to work together to achieve full service, especially pay attention to after-sales service, otherwise it is easy to cause problems.

Chen Mingliang, deputy director of the Chemical Fertilizer Institute of Shanghai Chemical Research Institute, believes that the new fertilizers include slow / controlled release fertilizers, biological fertilizers, commercial organic fertilizers, multi-functional fertilizers, synergistic fertilizers and water-soluble fertilizers. According to the variety of products, there are 28 standards for other and new fertilizers in China, accounting for 15% of the total. At present, 18 fertilizer standards are being drafted and 16 fertilizer standards are to be revised by the National Technical Committee for Standardization of Fertilizer and soil conditioning agents. The trends of high efficiency, compound, long-term effect, diversification, functionalization and low carbon of fertilizer application in the field will be comprehensively considered.

In order to make new fertilizers really go into the field to solve the problem of reducing and increasing efficiency of chemical fertilizers, not only farmers need science popularization, but also enterprises need science popularization. Researcher Bai Youlu, chairman of the Chinese Society of Plant Nutrition and Fertilizer, pointed out that the society should be based on the construction of the national fertilizer system, clearly serve the industry, and work with enterprises to build a popular science base. In fact, enterprises are in great need of strengthening theoretical guidance, because many "innovations" appeared more than a hundred years ago, and scientific application is always more valuable than "hype". Enterprises should devote more energy to serving for increasing grain production and serving for environmental security and sustainable development of agriculture. Tolerance is especially needed among peers, because meeting each other is always short-lived, while healthy competition and cooperation will last longer.

An academic conference is also short-lived, but it is like a spotlight that brings together the high opinions and pragmatic spirit of all parties. If you dig deeply, its impact on agricultural production will be realistic and long-term.