Establishment of ecological farms in the development of ecological agriculture: historical perspective, current progress, and future outlook

The construction of ecological farms has a profound significance in the development of ecological agriculture in China. This study reviewed the domestic and international developmental trajectory of ecological agriculture and ecological farm concepts as well as policy practices. By applying the bibliometric method, this study conducted a thorough analysis of the differences in themes and publication numbers across domestic and international studies on ecologcial agriculture over the years. Additionally, this study highlighted advancements and frontiers in related researches, particularly emphasizing the development of ecological agricultural models, sustainability of ecological agriculture, scale of ecological farms, and advancements in understanding the role of ecological agriculture in mitigating and adapting to climate change. Finally, the study offered comprehensive recommendations for the establishment of ecological farms in China, leveraging the insights gained from the information. The findings were as follows: 1) Although the research and practice of ecological agriculture in China started late, it had experienced rapid development, forming an integrated ecological agriculture development system that encompassed “concept-research-practice-policy”. 2) Over the past 30 years, global interest in ecological agriculture and ecological farms had seen an exponential rise. However, a decline had been observed in the quantity and quality of the literatures published in Chinese journals since 2017. 3) From the perspective of research themes, both the researches on eco-agriculture in China and global researches contributing to international journals commonly addressed issues such as “climate change” and “ecological risks”, while domestic journals tended to concentrate more on specific policy implementation targets such as “ecological farm” “family farm” and “leisure agriculture”. 4) Previous research on the impact of ecological agriculture on sustainability and the environment had provided evidence supporting its positive effects on various fronts, such as farmers’ nutritional inputs and incomes, preservation and restoration of ecosystem services, and soil carbon sequestration. In the context of the farm scale, the consensus among most studies focusing on small farm households was that larger farms exhibited poorer agricultural production performance but better environmental performance. Additionally, concerning ecological agriculture models, scholars had conventionally employed qualitative pattern determination centered on specific agricultural or farm characteristics, relying on subjective evaluation methods. However, modern theories and methods such as unsupervised machine learning had provided an alternative approach that enables quantitative and objective determination. 5) Despite this, research gaps persisted both domestically and internationally, particularly in areas such as quantitative assessments of ecological agriculture models, the relationship between ecological agriculture measures and their impact on food production, the connection between farm scale and performance, and the effectiveness of ecological agriculture measures in mitigating and adapting to climate change. Based on these insights, this study proposed the following strategic recommendations to promote and advance the establishment of ecological farms in China: prioritizing theoretical research and technological development in the field of ecological farming, strengthening top-level policy design for constructing ecological farms, establishing robust monitoring mechanisms for policy implementation, and emphasizing the creation of brands and promoting ecological farm development to enhance public awareness of these type of farms.