Analyzing Barriers for Developing a Sustainable Circular Economy in Agriculture in China Using Grey-DEMATEL Approach

The agricultural economy, as an integral branch of the global economy, covering the whole supply chain of agricultural production including cultivation, processing, distribution and consumption, is of great importance to realizing a sustainable circular economy and ecological development. As a traditional agricultural country, China has experienced a series of problems such as a serious waste of resources and a fragile ecological environment during its agricultural economic development. With the background of “the Belt and Road Initiative”, major progress has been witnessed in both ecological development and agricultural circular economy in China. However, the development of circular agriculture in China has to deal with barriers from different stakeholders. This research identifies critical barriers for the government, farmers, and the enterprises to develop circular agriculture. The causal factors, effect factors, and the center of factors are identified and the correlation between the barriers is described using the Gray-DEMATEL method. Based on the analysis results, several policy suggestions are proposed for the government. This paper provides a feasible framework for decision-making to support the development of a sustainable circular economy in agriculture in China.

Evaluation of Development Level of Agricultural Circular Economy in China

The evaluation index system of Chinese agricultural circular economy development was established based on the definition of connotation of the agricultural circular economy and the principle of index selection. It included four aspects, i.e., social and economic development, resource reduction input, resource recycling and ecological environment, as well as 16 indexes. The development level of the agricultural circular economy in China between 1991 and 2012 was evaluated and analyzed by using the comprehensive multi-index model method. The results illustrated that the development levels of the agricultural circular economy in China and its three major regions of eastern region, middle region and western region exhibited rising trends. Investment of reduced resources has become a bottleneck restricting the development of agricultural circular economy in China. There was an obvious regional difference of the development level of the agricultural circular economy in China.

Application of Life Cycle Assessment in Agricultural Circular Economy

Life cycle assessment is a technique to assess potential environmental impacts associated with all the stages of a product, process or service. This paper introduces life cycle assessment into the full process of agricultural circular economy. There are increasing environmental risks associated with agricultural circular economy; however, no appropriate assessment and analysis techniques on environmental impact are available. Due to the lack of special life cycle assessment database and available methodology in agricultural circular economy, we proposed a life cycle assessment technical framework with emphasis on problems associated with traditional agricultural circular economy life cycle assessment. This paper is aimed to produce reliable information on the environmental impact assessment for agriculture policy-makers, producers and consumers to help them choose sustainable development agricultural products and processes.

Integrated Evaluation PPC Model of Agricultural Circular Economy in the Perspective of Ecological Restoration

To solve the obscure and vague problem in present agricultural circular economy evaluation, in this paper we from the perspective of ecological restoration adopt PPC model directly driven by sample data to make the objective evaluation. We choose 17 evaluation indicators in 3 types to compute the affecting factors of agricultural circular economy in 31 provinces and cities in 2007 and make sorting and classification for optimal projection direction and optimal projection value . The research result can provide differentiated agricultural circular economy strategy with theoretical base and supply the integrated evaluation of agricultural circular economy with new method and has practical promotion value.