The Conservation Tillage Research Team has been studying no-till and other conservation tillage methods on China's lands for decades. The team's work has led to the publication of more than 200 papers and development of more than 30 equipment prototypes.
The Department of Agricultural Mechanization in the former Beijing Agricultural Engineering University founded the Conservation Tillage Research Team in 1991. In May 1999, the Ministry of Agriculture founded the Conservation Tillage Research Center (CTRC) in China Agricultural University (CAU).
In 2019 and 2022, the China Institute for Conservation Tillage of CAU and the Key Laboratory of Agricultural Equipment for Conservation Tillage were established. Hongwen Li is head of CTRC. He has more than 20 years of expertise in agriculture machines and equipment for conservation agriculture.
Since its establishment, CTRC obtained more than 100 patents on conservation tillage equipment and published more than 200 papers, including more than 60 papers in English. One of the center's papers, “Improving China’s Food and Environmental Security with Conservation Agriculture," was honored as one of the global Top 15 Most Significant Conservation Ag (CA) Research Works by No-Till Farmer in 2021.
CTRC also developed more than 30 conservation tillage machine prototypes, most of which have become commercial machines in China. In addition, the center has received 12 awards and honors from country, ministries and provinces in China, including 4 national awards for conservation tillage technology and equipment research in dryland agriculture (2002); key technology and equipment of no-till wheat seeding in two crops a year area of north China (2009); conservation tillage technology (2013); key technology and equipment of high-speed precision sowing with less tillage or no-tillage for maize in north China (2019).
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