Wafangdian Transforms Crop Straw from Waste to Wealth with Green Utilization

As early spring arrives in southern Liaoning, ice and snow melt, and all things revive. In Wafangdian City, renowned as the “Hometown of Apples” and “Hometown of Big Cherries”, a green agricultural transformation is quietly unfolding in the fields. Once a troublesome waste that polluted the environment and posed fire risks if improperly handled, crop straw has now become a valuable resource under the overall promotion of Wafangdian Municipal Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Affairs. 

People’s Network reports that in 2024, Wafangdian produced 307,700 tonnes of crop straw, with a comprehensive utilization rate as high as 96.52%. The city has successfully turned straw from “a handful of fire” to “a handful of money”, and from “an ecological burden” to “green wealth”, writing a remarkable green chapter in straw comprehensive utilization. 

Feed utilization has paved an ecological path to prosperity. Dalian Shengda Animal Husbandry Co., Ltd., located in Jiulong Sub-district of Wafangdian, is a national-level standardized breeding demonstration farm covering 200 mu with 960 dairy cows in stock. It consumes more than 3,000 tonnes of local straw annually. “We have built special fermentation pools for silage and yellow silage of crop straw, which not only solves the problem of straw disposal but also ensures the feeding safety and nutrition of dairy cows,” said the farm manager. 

Through refined processing by Total Mixed Ration (TMR) machines, the coarse straw is turned into a “power source” for dairy cow milk production. Benefiting from scientific feeding management, the average annual milk yield per cow of the company reaches 11.5 tonnes. In 2024, the feed utilization of straw in Wafangdian reached 142,700 tonnes, accounting for 49% of the total straw, realizing “manure returning to the field” and reducing breeding costs while increasing farmers’ income. 

Straw is also converted into green energy to explore clean new heating. In Wujianfang Village, Paoya Township, the production workshop of Wafangdian Jiayuan Biomass Technology Development Co., Ltd. is bustling with machines. Bundles of waste straw and sawdust are processed into biomass pellet fuel with a diameter of 6-8mm through a 630-type pellet production line.

Guangming Net explains that biomass energy is a sustainable green energy source, and crop straw, as an important part of it, has enormous utilization potential. “Plants store about 10 times the energy consumed by the world’s major fuels every year, but currently, less than 1% of it is used as energy,” said the company’s manager. The company has an annual production capacity of over 10,000 tonnes, converting straw into new fuel that can replace coal and oil. 

To support the “dual carbon” goal, Wafangdian has actively built a “formed fuel + clean stove decentralized heating” model. Over the past four years, the city has purchased 1,300 energy-saving biomass heating stoves for households. Local farmers feedback that this heating method is clean, safe and labor-saving with intelligent automatic feeding, and its cost is about 20% lower than coal-fired heating. 

Wafangdian has also built a diversified circular agriculture model around the “five-way utilization” of straw, forming an industrial model of “collection and storage + processing + utilization” with 10 straw collection and storage points and a storage capacity of over 50,000 tonnes. In terms of fertilizer utilization, enterprises produce organic fertilizer by fermenting straw chaff with cattle and sheep manure, forming a closed loop. 

Lin Shumin, a senior agronomist and leader of the “Vegetable” Science and Technology Mission, vigorously promotes the straw bio-reactor technology, which converts straw into CO2, heat and nutrients for crops, effectively preventing soil-borne diseases. The technology is promoted over 3,000 mu annually. Additionally, Wafangdian has established 4 “National Straw Comprehensive Utilization Demonstration Bases” to set benchmarks for straw utilization.

A relevant person in charge of Wafangdian Municipal Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Affairs stated that the city adheres to the principle of “government guidance, market operation, farmer participation and joint promotion”. The once-unwanted straw is now releasing new momentum for green development through industrial chain extension, painting a magnificent picture of high-quality and eco-friendly circular agriculture in southern Liaoning.