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Integrated livestock sector nitrogen pollution abatement measures could generate net benefits for human and ecosystem health in China

Nature Food volume 3, pages 161–168 (2022)Cite this article

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Abstract

Nearly one quarter of global meat production occurs in China, but a lack of detailed spatial livestock production data hinders ongoing pollution mitigation strategies. Here we generate high-resolution maps of livestock systems in China using over 480,000 farm surveys from 2007 to 2017, finding that China produced more livestock protein with fewer animals and less total pollution impact through better breeding, feeding and manure management in large-scale livestock farms. Hotspots of production can be observed across the North China Plain, Northeastern China and the Sichuan Basin. The Clean Water Act reduced manure nutrient losses to water by one third, but with limited changes to methane and ammonia emissions. Integrated production and consumption abatement measures costing approximately US$6 billion could further reduce livestock pollution by 2050, realizing benefits of up to US$30 billion due to avoided human health and ecosystem costs.

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Fig. 1: Distribution of livestock production in China on a county scale.
Fig. 2: Changes in N balance of the livestock system from 2007 to 2017 in China.
Fig. 3: Changes in livestock system performance from 2007 to 2017.
Fig. 4: Manure recycling to croplands.
Fig. 5: Health, ecosystem and climate effects of livestock pollution in 2017 in China.
Fig. 6: Future scenario of livestock pollution in China.

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Data availability

Data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article and its Supplementary Information files, or are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. Source data are provided with this paper.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant nos 42061124001, 41822701 and 41773068) and the International Science & Technology Innovation Program of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAASTIP).

Author information

Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Zhiping Zhu, Xiuming Zhang.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Environmental and Sustainable Development in Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agriculture Sciences, Beijing, China

    Zhiping Zhu, Hongmin Dong & Yue Li

  2. College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China

    Xiuming Zhang, Sitong Wang & Baojing Gu

  3. School of Agriculture and Food, The University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

    Xiuming Zhang

  4. Policy Simulation Laboratory, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China

    Sitong Wang & Baojing Gu

  5. UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Penicuik, UK

    Stefan Reis

  6. European Centre for Environment and Health, University of Exeter Medical School, Truro, UK

    Stefan Reis

  7. Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Agricultural Resources and Environment, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China

    Baojing Gu

Authors
  1. Zhiping Zhu
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Contributions

Z.Z., H.D. and B.G. designed the study. B.G. performed the research. X.Z. and S.W. analysed the economic data and prepared the distribution maps. H.D. and Z.Z. provided the census data and helped interpret the results. B.G. wrote the paper, S.R. revised the paper and all other authors contributed to the discussion of the paper.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Hongmin Dong or Baojing Gu.

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Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Peer review

Peer review information

Nature Food thanks Xuejun Liu and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Extended data

Extended Data Fig. 1 Locations of the farms in agricultural pollution source censuses in 2017.

(a) All animals; (b) Pig; (c) Dairy cattle; (d) Beef cattle; (e) Chicken; (f) Sheep/goat. Base map is applied without endorsement from GADM data (https://gadm.org/).

Extended Data Fig. 2 Distribution of livestock numbers in China on county scale in 2017.

All numbers are converted to pig units. 1 dairy cattle = 10 pigs; 1 beef cattle = 5 pigs; 3 sheep/goat = 1 pig; 15 layer chickens = 1 pig; 60 broiler chickens = 1 pig. Base map is applied without endorsement from GADM data (https://gadm.org/).

Extended Data Fig. 3 Distribution of livestock numbers.

in China on county scale in 2007. All numbers are converted to pig units. 1 dairy cattle = 10 pigs; 1 beef cattle = 5 pigs; 3 sheep/goat = 1 pig; 15 layer chickens = 1 pig; 60 broiler chickens = 1 pig. Base map is applied without endorsement from GADM data (https://gadm.org/).

Extended Data Fig. 4 Distribution of livestock N production in China on county scale in 2017.

Base map is applied without endorsement from GADM data (https://gadm.org/).

Extended Data Fig. 5 Distribution of livestock N excretion in China on county scale in 2017.

Base map is applied without endorsement from GADM data (https://gadm.org/).

Extended Data Fig. 6 Distribution of livestock N loss to water in China on county scale in 2017.

Base map is applied without endorsement from GADM data (https://gadm.org/).

Extended Data Fig. 7 Distribution of NH3 emission from livestock production in China on county scale in 2017.

Base map is applied without endorsement from GADM data (https://gadm.org/).

Extended Data Fig. 8 Distribution of manure recycle to croplands in China on county scale in 2017.

Base map is applied without endorsement from GADM data (https://gadm.org/).

Extended Data Fig. 9 Distribution of manure N2O emission in China on county scale in 2017.

Base map is applied without endorsement from GADM data (https://gadm.org/).

Extended Data Fig. 10 Locations of the monitoring points for per animal feed use, excretion generated, pollutant emission and manure treatment in 2007 and 2017.

Base map is applied without endorsement from GADM data (https://gadm.org/).

Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Tables 1–4 and Figs. 1 and 2.

Reporting Summary

Source data

Source Data Fig. 3

Source data for Fig. 3.

Source Data Fig. 4

Source data for Fig. 4.

Source Data Fig. 5

Source data for Fig. 5.

Source Data Fig. 6

Source data for Fig. 6.

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Zhu, Z., Zhang, X., Dong, H. et al. Integrated livestock sector nitrogen pollution abatement measures could generate net benefits for human and ecosystem health in China. Nat Food 3, 161–168 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-022-00462-6

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