On March 5th, Zhang Dongming, deputy mayor of Tieling City, Fu Yitai and Yan Zhi, director and deputy director of the Science and Technology Bureau of Tieling, Zhang Yang, deputy mayor of Changtu County, visited the Institute of Applied Ecology (IAE) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) to discuss cooperation affairs.  

Ma Yuehong, vice president of the Shenyang Branch of CAS, Zhang Jiong, director of the Science and Technology Cooperation Division, Xu Yanhui, deputy division director, Zhu Jiaojun, director of IAE, Fang Yunting, deputy director of IAE, Zhuo Junchen, deputy director of IAE, Wang Xugao, head of the Science and Technology Division of IAE, joined the discussion. The meeting was presided over by Wang Xugao.  

At the beginning of the meeting, Zhang Dongming explained that the purpose of his visit was to strengthen cooperation with IAE in order to better contribute to the implement of the national black soil conservation strategy. For this purpose, Tieling City will build a national Food Security Industrial Belt, vigorously develop high-standard farmland and high-standard water conservancy facilities, and develop conservational agriculture, intelligent agriculture, ecological agriculture and organic agriculture system to achieve recycling use of black soil resources.  

Ma Yuehong, on behalf of the Shenyang Branch of CAS, expressed welcome and thanks to the visitors from Tieling. She stated that the Chinese Academy of Sciences, as the national top-notch force for scientific and technological research, will make full use of its resources to guarantee the smooth proceeding of the "Black Soil & Granary" conservation initiative, and will provide all-round scientific and technological support to guarantee the national food security. 

Zhu Jiaojun extended his welcome to the visiting leaders from Tieling City. He thanked them for their long-term support, and expressed his full confidence in future cooperation between the two sides. He said that IAE will take the "Black Soil & Granary" initiative as an opportunity to drive breakthroughs in scientific research. IAE will vigorously develop environment friendly technologies (e.g., no-tillage farming and reduced application of fertilisers) to advance the implementation of the national agricultural strategy of "storing grains with sufficient field and high-level technology." 

Fang Yunting detailed IAE's discipline advantages, scientific research teams, historic contributions, and the strategic planning for black soil conservation. He said that IAE has more than 60 years of rich experience in ecological research in different ecosystem types (e.g., forests, farmland, rivers, lakes, grassland and sandy land) and has a lot of scientific and technological outputs. As the inventor of the "Lishu (agricultural) model", IAE will establish a 10,000-mu grain production demonstration zone in Liaoning to extend advanced agricultural technologies, and promote the implementation of "Black soil & Granary" strategy. 

Afterwards, visiting leaders and experts of IAE conducted in-depth strategic discussions. At the end of the meeting, Zhang Dongming stated that Tieling City will highlight the black soil conservation work and provide all-round support such as policies, land and funds to establish a research base and a demonstration zone in Liaoning and create a "Liaoning model" for the conservation and utilisation of black soil in Northeast China.