In early March 2022, members of the "Dryland Soil Conservation and Productivity Improvement Model" research team of the Institute of Applied Ecology (IAE), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), started their project work in Changtu. The higher-grade project, "Degraded Black Soil Fertility Restoration and Productivity Improvement in Shenyang Demonstration Zone," is a Strategic Priority Research Program of CAS which involved research on fermentation, storage and efficient utilization of livestock and poultry waste (LPW), soil fertility improvement and safe use of organic manure, and assessment of LPW land carrying capacity, etc.

Project team experts, Zhang Xudong, Xie Hongtu, Zhang Yulan, Jiang Zhiyang, and the director of Changtu County Livestock and Poultry Waste Resource Utilization Working Team, Zhang Jun, visited pig farms, dairy farms and egg laying poultry farms in Changtu County to inspect the utilization of animal waste resource.

With the fast development of livestock and poultry breeding industry in Liaoning Province, it is vital to make full use of livestock and poultry waste, and innovate technical solutions (e.g., coupling with conservation tillage measures such as Corn Straw Return to the Field) to promote black soil conservation and utilization.

In the hard time of COVID-19,  the project team made contact with Changtu County through telephone and online meetings. The two sides have now established a comprehensive cooperation and have made a work plan together to carry out a combined Centralized Composting and In-situ Fermentation Mode to make better use of livestock and poultry waste.