Based on field research, the Innovation Team of Resources Utilization and Regional Planning of Agriculture empirically categorized five typical MSM modes for pig production, and further discriminated farmers' heterogeneous characteristics on corresponding mode adoption. This study revealed the development status and future trends of manure treatment in pig farming.

Relevant research results were published in the top international environmental science journal Waste Management under the title "Recognition on characteristics and applicability of typical modes for manure & sewage management in pig farming: A case study in Hebei, China".

According to researcher Yin Changbin, scale-up intensive pig farming can increase profitability by economies of large scale, but it also exacerbates environmental pollution caused by the disordered discharge of manure and sewage. MSM is critical to mitigate environmental pressure and reuse livestock waste. However, the corresponding MSM measures adopted by pig farmers are multitudinous in reality, due to the diversity of MSM methods and heterogeneity of farmers' characteristics and behaviors It is of practical significance to explore the current mainstream MSM mode, analyze the mode characteristics, and identify the driving factors for farmers to choose the corresponding mode.

This study indicated a comprehensive perception of pig's MSM application in Hebei, China. Firstly, classify the existing hodgepodge of MSM methods from a macroscopic viewpoint, categorize a legible recognition of five typical MSM modes (i.e., traditional simple mode(TSM), mixed processing mode(MPM), semi-biogas mode(SBM), professional processing with simple utilization mode(PPSUM) and professional processing with full utilization mode(PPFUM)) from a statistic-categorized view based on quantitative typology

Furthermore, exploring farmers' preferences for the corresponding mode by heterogeneity analysis, The applicability of the corresponding mode was reflected in the synthesis deliberation, involving farming structure, land, farmers' characteristic and their subjective awareness. Farmers' education level and pro-environmental perception are significantly promoted to adopt technology-intensive MSM modes. Scale upgrading has a positive effect on mechanization adoption and diversified strategies application. Land as an unalterable objective factor restricted the extension of MSM modes based on field returning.

Conclusions clarified typical MSM modes and provided references to individual pig farms on appropriate mode selection, further enhancing the efficiency of MSM and contributing to the sustainability of green development of pig farming in China.

This research was funded by the National Social Science Foundation of China. Shi Boyang, a doctoral student from China and Belgium, is the first author of the paper, and researcher Yin Changbin is the corresponding author. It is reported that Waste Management is a TOP journal in the first area of environmental science, with the latest impact factor of 8.816, aiming to provide scientists with a variety of unique review articles related to waste treatment.

Paper link: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0956053X22002719?dgcid="coauthor