The 2015 National Launch Conference on the Promotion of Humic Acid Fertilizers and the Associated Application Technology Training Session were solemnly held.

On April 8, the “2015 National Humic Acid Fertilizer Promotion Launch Conference and Application Technology Training Session,” co-hosted by the National Agricultural Technology Extension Center of the Ministry of Agriculture and Shandong Nongda Fertilizer Technology Co., Ltd., was grandly held in Tai’an, Shandong. More than 60 participants—including experts from the Ministry of Agriculture, the China Humic Acid Industry Association, and representatives from Shandong, Anhui, Jiangsu, Henan, Hebei, as well as distinguished distributors of Shandong Nongda Fertilizer and large-scale farmers—gathered in Feicheng, the “Peach Township,” to summarize and discuss the efficacy of humic acid when applied to summer corn.

The meeting was chaired by Director Yang Fan of the Soil and Fertilizer Technology Division at the National Agricultural Technology Center of the Ministry of Agriculture. Director Gao Ruijie of the Shandong Provincial Soil and Fertilizer Workstation delivered the opening address, highlighting the principal activation methods for humic acid and the key factors influencing these processes. He also provided a detailed overview of the current status of humic acid’s application as a fertilizer additive and soil conditioner. In addition, Director Gao noted that Nongda Fertilizer Co., Ltd. was among the first enterprises in Shandong Province to research, produce, and promote humic‑acid‑based fertilizers. Over recent years, the company has remained committed to advancing the adoption and utilization of such products, playing a pivotal role in driving their domestic dissemination and application.

Ma Xuewen, Chairman and General Manager of Shandong Nongda Fertilizer Technology Co., Ltd., delivered a speech on behalf of the company. He outlined the establishment and evolution of Nongda Fertilizer, as well as the company’s history of research and development and its efforts to promote humic acid‑based fertilizers. Mr. Ma also briefed the attendees on the company’s progress in developing controlled‑release and slow‑release fertilizers, soil conditioners, and microbial fertilizers. Through this collaboration with the National Agricultural Technology Extension Center to conduct trial demonstrations of humic acid fertilizers across five provinces nationwide, and guided by the original vision of “enabling more farmers to use better fertilizers,” the initiative has bolstered both the R&D and sales of the company’s humic acid products. Moving forward, Nongda Fertilizer will continue to partner with the National Agricultural Technology Extension Center to carry out trial and demonstration projects for innovative fertilizer formulations.

Sun Zhao, a senior agronomist at the National Agricultural Technology Extension Center, provided a detailed overview of the fertilizer efficacy of Shandong Agricultural University’s humic‑acid–based fertilizers across ten experimental sites in five provinces. Based on plot‑scale trials and demonstration projects conducted at these sites, Mr. Zhao analyzed how different fertilization regimes affected summer corn yield, fertilizer use efficiency, and economic returns, highlighting the superior performance of humic‑acid fertilizers compared with conventional compound fertilizers. The ten‑site trials demonstrated that, under identical application methods and rates, humic‑acid fertilizers increased yield by an average of 7.8% per mu and improved fertilizer use efficiency by an average of 8.6 percentage points. Moreover, a single application of humic‑acid‑containing controlled‑release fertilizer yielded an additional average income of 105.9 yuan per mu compared with conventional split‑application practices. In eight of the ten sites, the trends in fertilizer efficacy were consistent, underscoring the strong representativeness of the trial results.

Qian Guoping, Deputy Chief Agronomist at the Anhui Provincial Soil and Fertilizer Station, and Ma Ronghui, an agronomist at the Shandong Provincial Soil and Fertilizer Station, respectively summarized and analyzed the trial results of humic acid fertilizers in their respective jurisdictions, and presented the findings from the demonstration trials of Nongda Fertilizer Industry’s humic acid fertilizers.

Zeng Xiancheng, Chairman of the China Humic Acid Industry Association, and Qin Xiuzhi, Deputy Secretary-General, attended the conference at invitation. Chairman Zeng delivered a report titled “Humic Acid: A Practical Choice for Enhancing the Quality and Efficiency of Fertilizers.” He highlighted humic acid’s intrinsic characteristics and outlined its beneficial effects in promoting sustainable agricultural development—namely, by improving fertilizer use efficiency, elevating fertilizer quality, optimizing soil structure, and enhancing crop quality.

The attending distributor representatives, Qin Zhiqing from Gucheng, Hebei, and Dong Yuzhen from Pingdu, Shandong, each shared their experiences in promoting humic acid fertilizers and presented case studies of fertilizer application.

Chen Shigeng, Director of the Shandong Agricultural University Fertilizer Technology Center, represented the company in presenting an overview of Nongda Fertilizer’s development and technological innovations over its 20-year history.

In March 2014, to promote the adoption of humic‑acid‑based novel fertilizers, the National Agricultural Technology Extension Center, in collaboration with Shandong Nongda Fertilizer Co., Ltd., took the lead in conducting trials and demonstrations of humic‑acid fertilizers on summer corn across five provinces nationwide. The trial sites were primarily located in major summer‑corn‑producing counties, with one small‑plot trial and one demonstration site established in each county. In 2015, Shandong Nongda Fertilizer Co., Ltd. will continue its collaboration with the National Agricultural Technology Extension Center on trials of new fertilizers, further expanding along four dimensions—geographic coverage, crop varieties, experimental treatments, and the range of fertilizer performance indicators—under the “four‑expansion” principle. This enhanced cooperation will help accelerate the widespread adoption of humic‑acid fertilizers.