Mushroom farmers on cusp of green transition

At a factory in Xixia county, Henan province, workers are installing high-temperature and high-pressure sterilizers that will be utilized to make mushroom spawn bags.

"With these six sterilizers in place, all the nearby shiitake mushroom growers will be able to make spawn bags in our factory every spring, with a daily output of nearly 50,000 bags," said Sun Jianfeng, director of the factory.

Sun said electrical devices have been widely utilized over the past few years in local mushroom farming, in order to advance the industry's green transformation and reduce carbon consumption.

In the past, the farmers could only burn coal to dry the shiitake mushrooms and sterilize the mushroom spawn bags, which not only hampered quality control, but also resulted in severe environmental problems.

"Now these tasks can be effectively accomplished with the help of the electrical devices," said Sun.

In addition, a large number of smart greenhouses in the county are helping farmers control temperature, humidity, ventilation and sunlight in real time, Sun added.

The local power supplier has played its part, by expanding three 110 kilovolt substations and building a new 35 kV substation, to better meet surging demand for electricity in Xixia.

Efforts have also been made to renovate 14.7 kilometers of 35 kV transmission lines and 275.29 km of 10 kV transmission lines.

With a history of over 30 years in shiitake mushroom farming, Xixia is currently home to more than 200,000 mushroom growers and the industry contributes to 60 percent of the county's total income.

After the green transformation, the use of electrical devices in sterilization alone will help the county save more than 40 million yuan ($5.52 million) in production costs and reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by 70,000 to 90,000 metric tons.

Their efforts conform to China's action program on peaking carbon emissions before 2030.

The action program urges rural areas to reduce carbon emissions by promoting the application of renewable energy — such as biomass and solar — in agricultural production and farmers' daily lives.

It also stresses efforts to ensure the reasonable use of fertilizers, pesticides and agricultural films, and further upgrade power grids in rural areas.

Sun Hongwu, vice-president of Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, said advancing the low-carbon transition of agriculture could help China allocate production factors more effectively and thereby accelerate its economic growth.

Sun said China should invest more in the research and development of low-carbon technologies targeting agriculture, including big data and cutting-edge storage and processing technologies that could reduce pollution.

"Polyculture practices such as integrated rice-fish farming should also be widely promoted across the country," said Sun.