Forty years of China’s eco-agriculture: Looking back and looking forward—To commemorate the 30th anniversary of Professor MA Shijun’s death, the founder and promoter of eco-agriculture concept

This paper has reviewed the concept and background of Eco-agriculture proposed and promoted by Prof. Ma Shijun. Looking back the past 40 years’ development of China’s eco-agriculture, the authors think eco-agriculture has been widely accepted and has been integrated into the new era of ecological civilization; technical economic system has been established and ecological economic benefits have been increasing; the eco-agricultures’ critical role for carbon neutrality has been gradually evolved. And also the key challenges of eco-agriculture have been pointed out: engineering and systematical level are not high enough; the degree of connecting to the Carbon Market is not enough; eco-agriculture foods need to be recognized more by consumers in the market; policy supports to eco-agriculture development are not sufficient; international trade volume of eco-agriculture products are pretty small. Looking forward, the authors think eco-agriculture are to be more engineering, intelligent and lower carbon; market value of eco-agriculture products are to be enlarged; supporting policies for eco-agriculture are to be more acupunctured and coordinated; China’s eco-agriculture development model and credibility of eco-agriculture foods are to be more recognized internationally.