Ministry of Agriculture – Notice on Effectively Carrying Out the 2016 Pilot Work on Agricultural Structural Adjustment

On June 1, the Ministry of Agriculture issued the “Notice on Carrying Out the 2016 Pilot Program for Agricultural Structural Adjustment.” The notice clearly defines the scope and objectives of the pilot program: 1. Continue implementing the “Grain-to-Feed” pilot. Select counties with large corn‑growing areas, a strong foundation in cattle and sheep farming, and a high willingness to adjust cropping patterns as pilot sites, promoting county‑wide implementation. Adopt an approach that uses livestock production to drive crop restructuring, encouraging the cultivation of feed crops such as silage corn, oats, sweet sorghum, and legumes through land transfer or contractual purchase agreements with farmers. After harvest and processing, these crops are converted on‑site into silage feed products for grazing livestock like cattle and sheep, guiding a gradual shift in local livestock feeding practices from corn grain to whole‑plant silage. In 2016, the “Grain-to-Feed” pilot was launched across 17 provinces and autonomous regions—Hebei, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang, Anhui, Shandong, Henan, Guangxi, Guizhou, Yunnan, Shaanxi, Gansu, Qinghai, Ningxia, and Xinjiang—covering 6 million mu. 2. Launch the “Rice-to-Bean” pilot. Focus primarily on replacing corn with soybeans, while also allowing for the substitution of potatoes, forage crops, miscellaneous grains and beans, and oilseed crops, thereby promoting a “one main, four auxiliary” planting model. “One main”: prioritize rotation between corn and soybeans, leveraging soybeans’ nitrogen‑fixing rhizobia to enhance soil fertility and increase soybean supply. “Four auxiliaries”: First, rotate corn with tuber crops such as potatoes, breaking the cycle of continuous monoculture, reducing soilborne pests and diseases (e.g., late blight), and improving soil physical and nutrient profiles. Second, rotate corn with forage crops, following the principle of using livestock production to guide crop selection and using crop diversity to support livestock development; this includes rotating grain corn with silage corn, alfalfa, sainfoin, ryegrass, and oilseed rape. Third, rotate corn with miscellaneous grains and beans, pairing it with low‑water‑consumption, drought‑tolerant, and nutrient‑poor‑soil‑adaptable crops such as millet, sorghum, and oats, thus reducing irrigation needs and meeting diversified consumer demands. Fourth, rotate corn with oilseed crops, including peanuts, sunflowers, and oilseed peonies. In 2016, the “Rice-to-Bean” pilot was implemented across four provinces and autonomous regions—Inner Mongolia, Liaoning, Jilin, and Heilongjiang—covering 5 million mu.