Meng Xianmin, Professor of Peat Research Institute of Northeast Normal University： The introduction and development of peat has become a strategic emerging industry in China.
Our reporter talks with Meng Xianmin, a professor at the Peat Research Institute of Northeast Normal University.
The introduction and development of peat has become a strategic emerging industry in China.
Meng Xianmin
Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the State Council has taken a series of strategic measures to promote the development of factory farming, strengthen the restoration of degraded soil, and form a great demand for peat and peat products. The introduction, processing, popularization and application of peat resources has become a strategic emerging industry that needs to be developed urgently in China. What are the advantages of peat? What is the current situation of peat import, processing, popularization and application in China? How to apply it more reasonably in the next step? When the first China-Europe Peat Class was listed in Gansu, the reporter interviewed Meng Xianmin, a professor at Peat Research Institute of Northeast Normal University.
Meng Xianmin: Professor of Peat Research Institute of Northeast Normal University, executive vice president of Peat Industry Branch of China Humic Acid Industry Association, executive vice president of China National Committee of International Peat Society and member of matrix expert group of International Peat Society. From 1978 to 1982, he studied in the Department of Soil Agronomy of Shenyang Agricultural University, and obtained a bachelor’s degree in agronomy. From 1993 to 1994, he was sent to Macquarie Soil Research Institute in England. From 1996 to 1997, he served as a senior technical officer of wetlands international-China Project. From 1997 to 2000, he studied environmental science and engineering in the Graduate School of China Academy of Sciences and obtained a doctorate in science. He has participated in and presided over 18 national scientific and technological research projects and provincial scientific and technological projects, won 2 third prizes for national scientific and technological progress, 4 second prizes at provincial and ministerial levels, authorized 4 invention patents, published 64 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 exploration and evaluation of peat resources and research on peat development and utilization for a long time, which is one of the promoters of the formation and development of peat industry in China.
Reporter: What are the unique advantages and characteristics of peat?
Meng Xianmin: Peat is the predecessor of coal and the product accumulated year by year due to incomplete decomposition of dead plant residues. Peat is one of the eleven non-metallic strategic resources in China. According to the different types of plant residues, peat can be divided into three types: herbaceous peat, woody peat and moss peat. Although China has a certain reserve of herbaceous peat resources, it lacks woody peat and moss peat resources with higher economic value. Large-scale introduction, processing and popularization of peat resources are due to its three distinct characteristics.
First, peat has irreplaceable characteristics and advantages of other mineral resources. The content of organic matter of peat is as high as 90%-95%, which is 2-3 times that of commercial organic fertilizer and livestock manure. Peat contains 30%-60% humic acid, which is 6-20 times that of commercial organic fertilizer and livestock manure. Peat is the best fertile soil material for improving soil in existing agricultural inputs. Peat is the best substrate preparation raw material in the world, and it is an indispensable basic raw material for seedling production and substrate cultivation because of its ventilation, water permeability, large buffer capacity and strong water and fertilizer conservation ability. 2. Peat has no germs, no eggs, no grass seeds, no hormones, no antibiotics, and does not spread diseases, weeds and pests. Peat is a real natural, green, healthy and organic agricultural input without any environmental burden. 3. Peat has light bulk density, high compression ratio and low transportation cost, which is convenient for long-distance transportation. Peat has stable grade, soft structure, affordable price, convenient commercial processing and easy realization of mechanization, automation and digital production.
Happily, peat is a renewable resource The total area of peat land in the world is 4 million square kilometers, of which 86% belong to the continuous accumulation of peat land. The total amount of new peat in the world is about 4 billion cubic meters every year, while the annual global peat exploitation is less than 100 million cubic meters, and the new peat production is 40 times that of peat exploitation. Therefore, in 1978, the United Nations General Assembly resolution (33/148) defined peat as a renewable resource, which was further confirmed by the European Commission in 2020, and granted peat enterprises in various countries the right to exploit with licenses. Peat mining targets mainly face those degraded peat wasteland, peat farmland and peat woodland, which can not continue to accumulate peat. After peat mining, these peat fields can be rebuilt as wetlands to restore their peat accumulation functions and benefits.
Reporter: What fields are peat used at home and abroad?
Meng Xianmin: Peat has a wide range of applications. Before 2015, 50% of peat mined in Europe will be used for power generation and heating, and the other 50% will be used for seedling production, substrate cultivation, soil improvement and edible fungi production. However, since 2010, the global prices of oil, natural gas and coal have been depressed, the utilization of peat energy has gradually decreased, and the proportion of horticultural utilization has greatly increased. Although peat is widely used in industry, energy, environmental protection and chemical industry, the dominant and mainstream application fields are seedling cultivation, substrate cultivation, soil improvement and functional fertilizer preparation in modern agriculture. Among them, seedling cultivation and substrate cultivation belong to the high-tech field of modern agriculture, and soil health restoration, cultivated land quality improvement, three-dimensional greening and ecological restoration of abandoned mines belong to the high-tech field of ecological environment engineering.
Taking peat as the organic material source, according to the obstacle factors existing in the target soil, the nutritional demand and target yield of planted crops, scientifically adding targeted functional materials and appropriate inorganic nutrition, digital fertile soil products can be prepared through specific technological processes, so as to achieve high yield and high quality of crops, increase production and income, rebuild the agricultural production environment with clean water, fresh air and safe soil, effectively balance the relationship between agricultural green development and ecological environment protection, food safety and farmers’ income, and realize the organic unity of production, life and ecology.
Reporter: How big is the demand for peat market in China?
Meng Xianmin: Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the State Council, the CPC Central Committee, has put forward the development concept of innovation, coordination, green, openness and sharing and the decision of "One Belt, One Road" construction, vigorously advocated scientific and technological innovation and green production, and made great efforts to enhance the capacity of social, economic and environmental sustainable development. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs clearly put forward the strategy of green agriculture and quality agriculture, actively promoted the innovation of agricultural science and technology and the technical progress of inputs, promoted the development of factory farming, and strengthened the restoration of soil environment, thus forming a great demand for peat and peat products. According to the development of factory farming, the restoration of degraded farmland, the construction of sponge city and the restoration of abandoned mines, the total demand of peat in China can reach 300 million cubic meters per year, and the processing and sales of peat can create an output value of 500 billion yuan. The popularization and application of peat products can drive the new output value of factory farming, ecological environment restoration and other related industries to 25 trillion yuan, effectively promoting the internal circulation of domestic economy and forming a brand-new economic growth point.
Reporter: What are the significance of the introduction, processing and popularization of peat?
Meng Xianmin: I think there are four main points.
First, increasing the introduction of foreign high-quality peat resources is conducive to promoting China’s economic external circulation and strengthening international industrial cooperation. The "Belt and Road" connects the domestic peat market with foreign peat suppliers. The market size and potential of China are unique, but the peat resources are poor; Peat resources abroad are abundant, but the demand is weak. Allocating resources from a global scale, encouraging central enterprises and state-owned enterprises to go abroad with capital and technology, and bringing back resource profits can meet the domestic market demand for high-grade moss peat, woody peat, coconut bran and wood fiber resources; To increase the introduction of foreign peat resources, we can rely on the advantages of the "Belt and Road" platform to promote the free flow of peat elements, efficient allocation of resources and deep market integration in countries along the route, carry out high-level and deep-seated peat cooperation in the whole industry chain, work together to create green innovation power, serve the quality improvement of factory farming and cultivated land in China, and innovate and develop, overtake in corners and obtain independent intellectual property rights on the basis of introducing and digesting foreign resources, technology, equipment and certification.
Second, accelerating the development of peat import and processing industry is conducive to grasping market opportunities and promoting the development of peat strategic emerging industries. Peat resources and products are biodegradable, have no environmental burden, and are oriented to factory farming and cultivated land quality improvement. In terms of resources and product categories, it belongs to the Strategic Nonmetallic Mineral Resources (3.1.9) in the Guiding Catalogue of Key Products and Services of Strategic Emerging Industries (2018 Edition) issued by the State Council. In terms of product processing, it belongs to the comprehensive utilization industry of nonmetallic mineral resources (7.3.1). Speeding up the introduction of foreign peat resources, domestic processing and popularization and application can promote the formation and development of domestic peat deep processing and popularization and application of strategic emerging industries, cultivate peat processing and popularization and application of emerging industrial clusters, promote the development of factory farming, the restoration of degraded soil, the preparation of commercial organic fertilizer, urban three-dimensional greening and mine ecological construction, and promote the sustainable development of China’s economy, society and environment. Accelerating the introduction, processing and popularization of peat and the development of strategic emerging industries is conducive to promoting the construction of peat processing industrial clusters and popularization and application industrial clusters, gathering all kinds of essential resources, creating the development source, gathering area and peat cluster of peat processing emerging industries, forming the growth pole of peat innovation, improving the technical added value of peat products, enhancing the independent innovation ability of peat emerging industries, promoting the formation of new technologies, new products and new formats of peat, and accelerating the formation of new kinetic energy for economic and social development.
3. Accelerating the popularization and application of peat products is conducive to promoting the development of factory farming and the progress of agricultural science and technology. Seedling cultivation and substrate cultivation belong to modern agricultural high technology, and three-dimensional greening and mine restoration belong to modern environmental ecological engineering. Accelerating the introduction, processing, popularization and application of peat is conducive to gathering modern factory farming 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 play to the functions of technology integration, industrial integration, entrepreneurial platform, core radiation, etc., promoting the specialization, standardization and intensive production of new agricultural business entities, and promoting the upgrading of agriculture and the value-added of the whole chain. Reduce the pressure on natural resources such as water, soil, temperature and light, alleviate the contradiction between economic development and environmental capacity, realize agricultural efficiency, increase farmers’ income and increase rural greening, guide and cultivate emerging markets, provide users with high-quality supply and meet consumers’ quality needs. With the help of peat substrate products, the three-dimensional greening of cities can be realized, the construction of sponge cities can be promoted, high-quality vegetables and flowers and beautiful and fresh living spaces can be provided for the urban environment and citizens’ families, and the needs of people’s higher-level material and cultural life can be met.
4. Accelerating the introduction, processing, popularization and application of peat is conducive to improving the soil quality of fruit, vegetable and camellia planting and rebuilding soil health. Accelerating the introduction, processing, popularization and application of peat can promote the popularization and application of peat soil conditioner in improving and fertilizing degraded soil in protected agriculture, effectively improve soil structure, adjust soil acidity and alkalinity, increase soil organic matter and nutrients, improve soil microbial activity, solidify soil heavy metals, repair polluted soil environment, improve the output and quality of agricultural products, create a "green mountain" of agricultural environment, and realize green development and sustainable development under the new economic normal.
Reporter: What suggestions do you have for the benign development of peat supply chain in China?
Meng Xianmin: Peat is an irreplaceable strategic resource for modern agriculture and environmental restoration. We have the following suggestions: First, strengthen public publicity and education, enhance the domestic public and management departments’ understanding of the great significance of peat introduction, processing and popularization, and form an atmosphere in which the whole society supports and encourages the introduction, processing and popularization of peat; Secondly, we will promote state-owned enterprises and state-owned enterprises to invest in the acquisition of peat property rights and capacity improvement in Russia, Belarus, Malaysia and other countries, change the disadvantage of relying solely on procurement but not controlling resources from the source, realize the transnational operation of peat in the whole industrial chain, rapidly expand peat production capacity, reduce the cost of peat introduction, and meet the rapidly growing demand for peat in China. Third, support the General Administration of Customs to strengthen cooperation with relevant countries in peat trade information exchange, certification and accreditation, standard measurement and statistical information, and reduce non-tariff barriers to peat. Arrange peat customs declaration agencies in provincial capitals along the Eurasian Railway, simplify peat customs clearance conditions, formulate customs peat detection standards, and reduce misjudgment of peat quality.
At the same time, the positioning of peat as agricultural means of production is clarified, and the value-added tax in the introduction, processing and popularization of peat is exempted, so as to reduce the user cost, encourage the introduction, processing and popularization of peat resources, and promote the development of modern agriculture and the restoration of degraded environment.
Adopt various financial support means to promote the construction of peat processing industry cluster and popularization and application industry cluster, gather all kinds of factor resources, improve the added value of peat products technology, create the development source, gathering area and peat industry cluster of peat processing and emerging industries, form peat innovation growth pole and accelerate the formation of new kinetic energy for economic and social development.
According to the national conditions and market demand, we will carry out scientific and technological research, establish an all-weather peat mining technology system, greatly improve peat production capacity and reduce peat mining and transportation costs. Vigorously carry out peat processing technology and application technology innovation, improve the added value of peat products technology, and occupy the high end of peat value chain.
Running News Lanzhou Morning News reporter Wang Siwei
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