In today's agricultural field, facility agriculture is increasingly becoming an important force in promoting agricultural modernization. Its development is of great significance to ensuring the supply of agricultural products, improving agricultural production efficiency, and promoting farmers' income.
Development status of facility agriculture industry
In recent years, China's facility agriculture has achieved significant development achievements, but it also faces some challenges.
From a positive perspective, the scale of facility agriculture in China is constantly expanding. In terms of facility horticulture, greenhouses have sprung up like mushrooms in various places, covering multiple types such as connected greenhouses, solar greenhouses, plastic greenhouses, etc. In regions such as Shandong and Hebei, large-scale facility vegetable cultivation provides abundant fresh vegetables for local and surrounding markets; In Gansu, Xinjiang and other regions, the widespread use of solar greenhouses enables the production of various fruits and vegetables even in winter. Facility aquaculture has also made significant progress, with the continuous promotion of technologies such as net cage aquaculture and land-based aquaculture, and the increasing scale and standardization of animal husbandry.
However, there are also some problems in the development of facility agriculture in our country. On the one hand, the level of facilities still needs to be improved, and some areas have relatively simple facilities with poor ability to resist natural disasters. Once encountering severe weather, such as strong wind, rainstorm, blizzard, etc., facilities are easily damaged, affecting agricultural production. On the other hand, the degree of mechanization is relatively low, and the production process still relies heavily on human labor, resulting in high labor intensity and low labor productivity. In addition, facility cultivation techniques are not yet fully matched and standardized, with relatively low technological content and a lack of quantitative indicators. They mainly rely on experience in variety selection, cultivation management, and other aspects.
Support policies for facility agriculture in various provinces and cities in my country
China attaches great importance to the development of facility agriculture at the national level and has introduced a series of policies. In December 2019, the "Notice of the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs on Issues Related to the Management of Facility Agriculture Land" pointed out that facility agriculture belongs to the internal structural adjustment of agriculture and can use general arable land without implementing a balance between occupation and compensation. If the planting facilities do not damage the cultivated layer of the land, permanent basic farmland can be used without the need for supplementary delineation. Facility agriculture land does not require approval.
In January 2020, the "Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Strengthening Key Work in the Areas of Agriculture, Rural Areas, and Farmers to Ensure the Timely Achievement of Comprehensive Well off Society" mentioned strengthening the construction of modern agricultural facilities, supporting early implementation of projects, and effectively expanding agricultural investment; Agricultural facility land can use cultivated land, and it is strictly prohibited to engage in non-agricultural construction under the name of agricultural facility land. To solve the problem of rural development land use, under the premise of complying with national spatial planning, the surplus rural collective construction land through village renovation, land consolidation and other methods should be prioritized for the development of rural industrial projects.
In April 2021, the General Office of the Ministry of Natural Resources issued the "Opinions on Improving the Mechanism for Early Detection, Early Prevention, and Strict Investigation", requiring the implementation of a strict farmland protection system and resolutely curbing the problem of new illegal occupation of farmland. In December 2023, the General Office of the Ministry of Natural Resources issued the "Policy Guidelines for Rural Revitalization Land Use (2023)", which mentioned a series of measures such as optimizing the national spatial pattern, strengthening use control, and actively revitalizing existing resources to effectively enhance the ability of natural resources to serve and guarantee rural revitalization land, improve grassroots land management level, and better serve local economic development.
The Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and the Department of Finance of Zhejiang Province have issued the "Implementation Rules for Subsidies (Assistance) for the Improvement of Agricultural Facility Greenhouse Construction in Zhejiang Province", clarifying that the subsidy targets are farmers and agricultural production and operation organizations engaged in agricultural production within the province, including rural collective economic organizations, farmer professional cooperative economic organizations, agricultural enterprises, and other organizations engaged in agricultural production and operation.
Liupanshui City has received a discount of 13 million yuan on loans for modern facility agriculture construction in 2024, targeting farmers, family farms, farmer cooperatives, agricultural enterprises, as well as various agricultural business entities such as agricultural socialized service organizations and rural collective economic organizations.
Multiple regions have issued modern facility agriculture loan subsidy policies, such as Jingde County, Anqing City, Ningguo City, Huancui District of Weihai City, Langxi County, and others. The purpose of the loan is to obtain loans from banks for the construction and expansion of production facilities, equipment, and technological transformation projects in the fields of facility planting, facility animal husbandry, facility fisheries, agricultural product origin refrigeration and preservation logistics, and drying facilities that meet the requirements of the National Modern Facility Agriculture Construction Plan (2023-2030).
The General Office of the People's Government of Shandong Province has issued implementation opinions on the development of modern facility agriculture, proposing that the goal is to ensure stable production and supply, and meet the diversified and high-quality consumption needs of the market. With the development of new agricultural productivity as the core, we will deeply explore the potential of facility planting, facility animal husbandry, facility fisheries, and comprehensive utilization of saline alkali land, and build an intensive, efficient, green, and low-carbon development pattern for modern facility agriculture. By 2025, the total output value of facility agriculture in the province will reach 550 billion yuan, and by 2030, the total output value of facility agriculture in the province will reach 660 billion yuan.
The Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of Gansu Province has issued a notice on the application for the 2024 Central Financial Modern Facility Agriculture Construction Award and Subsidy Fund. The scope of the award and subsidy focuses on supporting the acceleration of the application and promotion of modern water-saving technologies and equipment, highlighting the development of heat storage and insulation, soilless water-saving Gobi facility agriculture, intensive seedling cultivation center construction, and the renovation and upgrading of old solar greenhouses and plastic greenhouses, promoting the transformation of facility structure and water-saving control equipment towards mechanization and intelligence. The reward and subsidy method is "build first, supplement later", and the reward and subsidy standards are subject to dual control limits, clarifying the reward and subsidy ratio and the maximum reward and subsidy limit for a single entity.
Benxi City has released the implementation plan for facility agriculture subsidies in 2024, which covers large-scale facility agriculture communities with high comprehensive benefits, strong disaster resistance and avoidance capabilities, and high stability, as well as old facility agriculture communities that have been renovated and upgraded. The subsidy method follows the principle of "build first, supplement later", and provides financial subsidies to newly built facility agriculture that have passed the acceptance inspection and old facility agriculture that has been renovated and upgraded.
The General Office of the People's Government of Zhengzhou City has issued the "Implementation Plan for Accelerating the Development of Modern Facility Agriculture in Zhengzhou City (2024-2030)", in order to implement the spirit and relevant deployment of the National Conference on the Promotion of Modern Facility Agriculture Construction, accelerate the high-quality development of modern facility agriculture in Zhengzhou City, and enhance the stable production and supply capacity of "vegetable basket" agricultural products.
The Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of Gansu Province has issued the "Implementation Plan for the Award and Subsidy of Modern Facility Agriculture Construction in Gansu Province in 2024". In order to implement the spirit of the central and provincial rural work conferences, deeply practice the concept of big agriculture and big food, and develop food resources through multiple channels, the provincial government will coordinate the use of special funds from the central government to award and subsidize the construction of modern facility agriculture in various regions.
In 2024, the subsidy for agricultural greenhouse facilities in Zhejiang Province will be released, with a maximum subsidy of 5 million yuan for a single project. The subsidy targets farmers and agricultural production and operation organizations engaged in agricultural production within Zhejiang Province. The subsidy scope includes the construction and scrapping of agricultural facility greenhouses, as well as the upgrading and renovation of manual rolling shutter equipment. Zhangzhou has also released a greenhouse subsidy policy, clarifying the subsidy targets, content, and standards.
Development prospects of facility agriculture
Technological innovation drives industrial upgrading: In the future, facility agriculture will continuously introduce advanced technology and equipment. In terms of intelligence, precise monitoring and regulation of the environment inside the facility will be achieved. Through technologies such as sensors and the Internet of Things, the growth status of crops will be monitored in real time, and environmental factors such as temperature, humidity, light, water and fertilizer will be automatically adjusted to improve production efficiency and product quality. At the same time, biotechnology, new material technology, etc. will also be widely applied in facility agriculture, such as gene editing technology to cultivate excellent varieties, research and development of new covering materials, etc.
The trend of scale and industrialization development is obvious: with the continuous promotion of land transfer policies, facility agriculture will gradually develop towards scale and industrialization. Large agricultural enterprises, cooperatives and other new business entities will become the main driving force for the development of facility agriculture. They can integrate resources, improve the production efficiency and economic benefits of facility agriculture. Build large-scale facility agricultural parks to achieve centralized seedling cultivation, production, processing, and sales integration, reduce costs, and enhance market competitiveness.
Green and sustainable development has become an inevitable choice: Against the backdrop of increasing environmental awareness, facility agriculture will pay more attention to green and sustainable development. On the one hand, we will strengthen the conservation and utilization of resources, such as adopting efficient irrigation techniques, energy-saving equipment, etc., to reduce the consumption of water, electricity and other resources; On the other hand, we will reduce the use of fertilizers and pesticides, promote green prevention and control technologies, produce green and organic agricultural products, and meet consumers' demand for food safety.
Market demand continues to grow: With the improvement of people's living standards, the demand for high-quality, off-season agricultural products continues to increase, and the market prospects for facility agriculture are broad. Especially for urban residents, the demand for fresh and safe vegetables, fruits, flowers and other agricultural products will continue to grow, providing strong market momentum for the development of facility agriculture. Meanwhile, facility agriculture can also provide support for the processing, preservation, transportation, and other aspects of agricultural products, extending the industrial chain and increasing added value.
In short, facility agriculture, as an important component of modern agriculture, has broad development prospects. With the support of policies, facility agriculture will make greater contributions to the modernization of agriculture and rural revitalization in China through technological innovation, large-scale development, and green sustainable development. We have reason to believe that facility agriculture will experience even more vigorous development in the future.
Reprint to "official account of Facility Agriculture Information"
