Unlocking nitrogen management potential via large-scale farming for air quality and substantial co-benefits
China's sustained air quality improvement is hindered by unregulated ammonia (NH<sub>3</sub>) emissions from inefficient nitrogen management in smallholder farming. Although the Chinese government is promoting a policy shift to large-scale farming, the benefits of this, when integrated with nitrogen management, remain unclear. Here we fill this gap using an integrated assessment, by combining geostatistical analysis, high-resolution emission inventories, farm surveys and air quality modeling. Smallholder-dominated farming allows only 13%-31% NH<sub>3</sub> reduction, leading to limited PM<sub>2.5</sub> decreases nationally due to non-linear PM<sub>2.5</sub> chemistry. Conversely, large-scale farming would double nitrogen management adoption rates, increasing NH<sub>3</sub> reduction potential to 48%-58% and decreasing PM<sub>2.5</sub> by 9.4-14.0 μg·m<sup>-3</sup> in polluted regions. The estimated PM<sub>2.5</sub> reduction is conservative due to localized NH<sub>3</sub>-rich conditions under large-scale livestock farming. This strategy could prevent over 300 000 premature deaths and achieve a net benefit of US $68.4-86.8 billion annually, unlocking immense benefits for air quality and agricultural sustainability.
Authors
- Daniel Jacob (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6687-7169)
- Pinya Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7034-7868)
- Weishou Shen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9452-5665)
- Yixin Guo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4958-7044)
- Ruijun Dang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7662-3816)
- Jianbing Jin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2868-9343)
- Qing Zhu
- Cheng Gong (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3313-7620)
- Ke Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9181-3562)
- Lei Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2889-8900)
- Lin Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1049-3104)
- Jingyi Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9763-500X)
- Hong Liao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3747-6534)
- Kaihua Liao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9933-4868)
- Hong Liao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9315-4839)
- Teng Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9427-8609)
- Yang Yang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-0526-637X)
- Ye Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5383-2690)
Institutions
- Harvard University (US)
- Hohai University (CN)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HK)
- Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology (CN)
- Peking University (CN)
- Watershed (GB)
- Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology (CN)
- Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry (DE)
- Lanzhou University (CN)
- University of Hong Kong (HK)
Publication Details
- Journal
- National Science Review
- Published
- 2024-09-13
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1093/nsr/nwae324
- Citations
- 15
- Primary Topic
- Soil and Water Nutrient Dynamics
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 3.76
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology