Related Keywords: cotton farming, Largest cotton producer, plastic mulch technology, soil residue
China the world’s top cotton producer in 1980s adopted plastic mulch technology, domestic agrotechnicians hailed it as a "white innovation." As film-mulched cotton fields have higher soil temperatures and conserve more moisture than normal land due to the greenhouse effect, which improves seeding, growth and yield. After 30 years of fanatical use of mulch films and inadequate attention to the problems of film residue, agrotechnicians said that the country's cotton fields have been hit hard by plastic pollution.
