Agricultural management practices in China enhance nitrogen sustainability and benefit human health

Jiakun Duan; Hongbin Liu; Xiuming Zhang; Chenchen Ren; Chen Wang; Luxi Cheng; Jianming Xu; Baojing Gu

doi:10.1038/s43016-024-00953-8

Agricultural management practices in China enhance nitrogen sustainability and benefit human health

Nat Food. 2024 Apr 2. doi: 10.1038/s43016-024-00953-8. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Jiakun Duan^#^{1

2}, Hongbin Liu^#³, Xiuming Zhang^{1

2}, Chenchen Ren^{1

2

4}, Chen Wang^{1

2}, Luxi Cheng^{1

2}, Jianming Xu^{1

5}, Baojing Gu^{6

7

8}

Affiliations

¹ College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
² Policy Simulation Laboratory, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, People's Republic of China.
³ Key Laboratory of Nonpoint Source Pollution Control, Ministry of Agriculture, Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China.
⁴ Department of Global Ecology, Carnegie Institution for Science, Stanford, CA, USA.
⁵ Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Agricultural Resources and Environment, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
⁶ College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China. bjgu@zju.edu.cn.
⁷ Policy Simulation Laboratory, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, People's Republic of China. bjgu@zju.edu.cn.
⁸ Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Agricultural Resources and Environment, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China. bjgu@zju.edu.cn.

^# Contributed equally.

PMID: 38565650
DOI: 10.1038/s43016-024-00953-8

Abstract

The potential of enhanced agricultural management practices to drive sustainability is rarely quantified at grassroots level. Here we analyse nitrogen use and loss in Chinese cropland, drawing from data collected in 2,238,550 sites in two national agricultural pollution source censuses from 2007 to 2017. We find an upswing of 10% in crop yields and an 8% reduction in nitrogen pollution during this period, owing to the promotion and adoption of various management practices (including the combination of organic and chemical fertilizers, straw recycling and deep placement of fertilizer). These practices have collectively contributed to an 18% increase in nitrogen use efficiency in the country. By fully embracing them, we project that annual cropland pollution could be further reduced by up to 1.4 Mt of nitrogen without compromising crop yields. Environmental and human health benefits are projected to consistently outweigh implementation costs in the future, with total benefits reaching US$15 billion.