Ye Ziwei: Leading the Innovation of Agricultural Development Paradigm with Xi Jinping’s Thought on Ecological Civilization
The first volume of the Selected Works of Xi Jinping on Ecological Civilization collects the most important and fundamental writings of Comrade Xi Jinping on the construction of ecological civilization between December 2012 and April 2025. It provides an authoritative textbook for the whole Party and the people of all ethnic groups to deeply study and implement Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and particularly Xi Jinping's thinking on ecological civilization. The relationship between agriculture and the ecological environment is extremely close; it is a vital field in the construction of ecological civilization, and agricultural development exerts a profound influence on that construction. Currently, our country's agricultural development faces many challenges, and ecological environmental problems have become increasingly prominent. Xi Jinping's thinking on ecological civilization has pointed the way forward for the innovation of the agricultural development paradigm. In the article "Green Water and Green Mountains are Gold and Silver Mountains," President Xi pointed out: "For China to achieve industrialization, urbanization, informatization, and agricultural modernization, it must embark on a new path of development," and "We want green water and green mountains as well as gold and silver mountains. We would rather have green water and green mountains than gold and silver mountains; moreover, green water and green mountains are themselves gold and silver mountains." In the article "A Good Ecological Environment is the Most Universal Public Welfare," General Secretary Xi further noted: "Economic development should not be a case of 'draining the pond to fish' [1] at the expense of resources and the ecological environment, nor should ecological environmental protection be a case of 'climbing a tree to catch a fish' [2] by abandoning economic development. Instead, we must persist in protecting during development and developing during protection, achieving coordination between economic and social development and population, resources, and the environment."
A deep study of the first volume of the Selected Works of Xi Jinping on Ecological Civilization reveals that the exposition of the relationship between ecology and economy in Xi Jinping's thinking on ecological civilization transcends the analytical framework of traditional Western development theories that decouple the two. It further deepens the theoretical logic of how ecosystems participate in social reproduction. From the perspective of agricultural development, Xi Jinping's thinking on ecological civilization has not only redefined the value goals of agricultural development—breaking through the shackles of traditional agricultural development theory—but has also provided scientific guidance for constructing an agricultural development paradigm of "ecology-economy" synergy and promoting global sustainable agricultural development. We must profoundly understand and grasp the original contributions of Xi Jinping's thinking on ecological civilization to agricultural modernization to better promote high-quality development.
Creatively Enriching and Developing the Marxist View of Nature
The leading role of Xi Jinping's thinking on ecological civilization in innovating the agricultural development paradigm is rooted in the inheritance and development of the Marxist view of nature. Based on the people-centered development philosophy, Xi Jinping's thinking on ecological civilization uses systemic thinking to enrich the theoretical understanding of the relationship between ecosystems and social reproduction, providing solid theoretical support for the innovation of agricultural development paradigms.
Marxist political economy holds that the process of social reproduction is a unified whole closely composed of four links: production, distribution, exchange, and consumption. Human beings are a part of nature; nature is the "inorganic body" of man, and labor practice is the basic bond connecting man and nature. This reveals the dialectical unity between man and nature—that is, man acts upon nature through labor to realize the material metabolism and mutual transformation between the two. The ecosystem, as the objective carrier of this material metabolism, is the prerequisite for production and reproduction. However, in Marx's time, the role of the ecosystem was limited more to the production stage; deep-level interactions with the distribution, exchange, and consumption stages had not yet been incorporated into the theoretical horizon. Consequently, the comprehensive and systemic role of natural ecology was not fully revealed.
Under new historical conditions, Xi Jinping's thinking on ecological civilization has enriched and developed the Marxist view of nature while inheriting it. The creative breakthrough of Xi Jinping's thinking on ecological civilization lies in incorporating the ecosystem as a whole into the entire process of social reproduction, extending its functions and values to the complete chain of social reproduction. This ensures that social reproduction is no longer a one-way extraction from the ecosystem by the economic system, but a two-way interaction between the two. It elevates the ecosystem from an external condition of social reproduction to an internal driving force, further deepening the theoretical logic of social reproduction.
From the perspective of production, Xi Jinping's thinking on ecological civilization elevates the ecological environment to the level of productive forces, rather than merely a prerequisite for production. General Secretary Xi pointed out that "protecting the ecological environment is protecting productive forces, and improving the ecological environment is developing productive forces," profoundly revealing the status of the ecological environment as an inherent attribute of productive forces.
From the perspective of distribution, Xi Jinping's thinking on ecological civilization regards the rational distribution of ecological value as an important part of new relations of distribution. In the article "Systematically Carry Out Ecological Environmental Protection and Restoration to Build a Green Development Demonstration Belt," General Secretary Xi pointed out the need to "accelerate the establishment of a mechanism for realizing the value of ecological products, so that protecting and restoring the ecological environment receives a reasonable return, and damaging the ecological environment pays a corresponding price." This clearly transforms the public services provided by ecosystems into a form of value that can participate in distribution; this transformation is essentially a profound extension of distribution relations into the ecological dimension.
From the perspective of exchange, Xi Jinping's thinking on ecological civilization gradually embeds ecological attributes into the commodity value system. In "A Good Ecological Environment is the Most Universal Public Welfare," General Secretary Xi pointed out that "a good ecological environment is the fairest public product," driving the logic of exchange to shift from being dominated by simple material utility to placing equal emphasis on material and ecological utility. Ecological attributes are transformed into an important component of exchange value through market mechanisms.
From the perspective of consumption, Xi Jinping's thinking on ecological civilization integrates ecological needs with material needs, treating a beautiful ecological environment as an important component of the people's consumption for their livelihoods. General Secretary Xi pointed out that "the environment is the people's livelihood; green mountains are beauty, and blue skies are happiness." This incorporates ecological consumption into the core of the consumption category—that is, the people's demand for fresh air, clean water, and beautiful countryside, just like their demand for daily food, becomes an important component and source of ensuring people's livelihoods and their sense of fulfillment, happiness, and security. This also means that consumption is no longer merely a material extraction from the ecosystem but is directly and closely related to the quality of the ecosystem.
Xi Jinping's thinking on ecological civilization profoundly embodies the people-centered development philosophy and the value of putting the people first. General Secretary Xi pointed out: "For human survival, gold and silver mountains are certainly important, but green water and green mountains are an important part of the people's happy life and cannot be replaced by money. If you have earned money but the air and drinking water are substandard, what happiness is there to speak of!" Xi Jinping's thinking on ecological civilization transcends capital-centered Western values. From the height of the value of "the people's happy life," it creatively proposes the theoretical proposition that "green water and green mountains are gold and silver mountains," fundamentally resolving the antithetical relationship between ecological protection and economic development found in traditional development theories and elevating the two into an internally unified, systemic relationship. This relationship is reflected not only in the repositioning of the ecological environment from the perspective of productive forces, but also in the comprehensive embedding of ecological environmental functions and values into every link of social reproduction.
Leading Agricultural Development Toward a New Paradigm of Harmonious Coexistence Between Man and Nature
An agricultural development paradigm is a systemic framework concerning the value goals, basic theories, and methodology of agricultural development. The traditional agricultural development paradigm centers on increasing agricultural production as its core goal, treating the ecological environment as an external condition for achieving production goals and relying on the exhaustive input of ecological factors. Xi Jinping's thinking on ecological civilization leads agricultural development toward a new paradigm that takes "the people's happy life" as its value goal, regards the ecological environment as a crucial part of value composition, and promotes the formation of a new development paradigm emphasizing synergy between ecology and economy. This new paradigm also breaks through the perspective of a single nation, placing agricultural development within the global vision of jointly building a community of all life on Earth, making agricultural development an important bond connecting the ecological responsibilities and common interests of all countries.
Shifting the goals of agricultural development ensures that it transcends the traditional growth-oriented economic paradigm and transforms into a new economic paradigm based on the well-being of the people. Under the scientific guidance of Xi Jinping's thinking on ecological civilization, the goals of agricultural development have shifted from a single economic objective to an organic unity of diverse goals, including economic and ecological ones. This is essentially a deep shift in the outlook on development and values. In the article "Leading Rural Revitalization with Green Development," General Secretary Xi pointed out: "If the rural ecological environment is good, the land will grow 'gold ingots' [3]; ecology will become a 'money tree'; pastoral scenery, lakeside views, and beautiful villages can become a 'treasure bowl' [4]; and ecological agriculture, wellness and elderly care, forest health retreats, and rural tourism will flourish." The goals of agricultural development are no longer limited to ensuring food security and increasing economic efficiency but are further expanded to providing ecological products, optimizing the human settlement environment, and inheriting agricultural culture. Thus, agriculture is transformed from pure material production into a comprehensive industry that promotes harmonious coexistence between man and nature.
Regarding the subject of value, Xi Jinping's thinking on ecological civilization adheres to a people-centered approach, promoting the sharing of agricultural development achievements by all people—not only the people of this generation but also those of the next; the subjects of sharing include not only rural residents but also urban dwellers. This breaks through the single perspective of traditional agricultural development theory, which focused more on the income of agricultural producers. It incorporates consumers, urban residents, and even future generations into the category of value subjects, constructing a new agricultural value pattern oriented toward the whole people and intergenerational sharing. Such agriculture makes cities and villages, producers and consumers, and current and future generations a community for ecological-economic development of shared participation and shared benefits.
Reconstructing the value of agricultural production factors transforms the ecological environment from an exogenous constraint on agricultural development into an endogenous driving force. Agriculture is an organic unity composed of ecosystems and economic systems; agricultural production is a process in which natural reproduction and economic reproduction are intertwined. From the perspective of traditional agricultural economics, the goal of agricultural development is the maximization of economic reproduction, while natural resources are viewed as production factors to be consumed and utilized in economic reproduction—an external variable; natural conditions are viewed as constraints on economic reproduction, and investment in ecological protection is viewed as a cost of economic reproduction. This understanding has not only led to the continuous degradation of the ecological environment but has also caused agricultural development to fall into a vicious cycle of diminishing marginal returns and intensified resource consumption. Xi Jinping's thinking on ecological civilization has fundamentally changed this understanding.
In the article "Protecting the Ecological Environment is Protecting Productive Forces, and Improving the Ecological Environment is Developing Productive Forces," General Secretary Xi pointed out: "Green water and green mountains are both natural wealth and social and economic wealth." This means that agricultural development should not merely be an exhaustive input of ecological factors but should be the healthy survival of the ecosystem. Ecological value must be discovered and treated as the logical starting point of agricultural development. In "If Man Does Not Fail the Green Mountains, the Green Mountains Will Not Fail Man," General Secretary Xi pointed out: "Investment in the ecological environment is not a futile or ineffective investment, but a basic and strategic investment related to the high-quality and sustainable development of the economy and society." This positioning shifts agricultural development from "ecology-consuming" to "ecology-value-adding." Agricultural development is no longer simply at the cost of resource consumption; instead, ecological resources must be protected, activated, and managed. Biodiversity, water resources, and soil quality—traditionally seen as ecological constraints—are transformed into important components of ecological productive forces. This allows ecological resources to increase in value through healthy utilization, thereby achieving an overall improvement in agricultural efficiency, quality, and benefits. It is clear, therefore, that Xi Jinping's thinking on ecological civilization is not a marginal improvement on the traditional agricultural development paradigm. Instead, through the reconstruction of the value of ecological factors, it breaks the antithetical relationship between ecological constraints and agricultural production in traditional theory, driving a major shift in agricultural development concepts that is of revolutionary significance.
Breaking through the traditional agricultural production function to form a new development mode of "ecology-economy" system synergy. Traditional agricultural production functions are often established on the basis of linear relationships between inputs—such as land, labor, and capital—and outputs, focusing on marginal output growth brought by factor inputs and scale expansion while generally ignoring the organic interaction between the ecosystem and agricultural production. As ecological constraints become increasingly prominent, this linear, extensive production function can no longer support the practical needs of high-quality agricultural development. In "Persisting in the Systemic Thought that Mountains, Waters, Forests, Fields, and Lakes are a Life Community," General Secretary Xi pointed out: "Ecology is a unified natural system; it is a natural chain in which various natural elements are interdependent and realize circulation." This important discourse fundamentally broadens the theoretical horizon of the agricultural production function, highlights the coupling of agricultural and ecological systems, and injects a new connotation of "ecology-economy" mutual synergy and cyclic interaction into the agricultural production function.
From the perspective of the productive forces, the traditional agricultural production function emphasized the simple accumulation and linear expansion of factors. In 2013, General Secretary Xi Jinping creatively pointed out: "Mountains, rivers, forests, farmlands, and lakes are a life community"; four years later, "grasslands" were incorporated into this system; and in 2021, while attending the deliberation of the Inner Mongolia delegation at the Two Sessions [5], General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "It is necessary to coordinate the systematic governance of mountains, rivers, forests, farmlands, lakes, grasslands, and sands—here, the word 'sand' must be added." This profoundly reveals that enhancing agricultural productive forces does not have to rely solely on the expansion of factors; it can rely more on the effective synergy and benign interaction between agricultural production and the ecosystem. This represents a creative development and profound transcendence of traditional theories of productive forces.
From the perspective of the production process, traditional agricultural production followed a linear metabolic model of "natural resources → products → waste," relying on the unidirectional consumption and high-intensity utilization of ecological resources, which inevitably led to the continuous degradation of the ecological environment and the depletion of natural resources. Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization advocates for green, circular, and low-carbon development, promoting the construction of a circular metabolic system of "natural resources → products → waste → recycled resources" within the agricultural field, enabling ecological factors to continuously undergo self-repair, accumulation, and value appreciation within the economic cycle. In this circular system, agricultural waste is no longer a pollutant to the ecological environment but rather ecological capital that can re-enter the production chain for reuse. This both reduces external resource inputs and restores the ecosystem. Guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization, agricultural production uses new circular methods to overturn the conclusion that "agricultural development inevitably leads to ecological degradation."
Expanding the global vision of agricultural development provides an inclusive development path for the joint construction of a community of all life on Earth. In "Jointly Building a Community of All Life on Earth," President Xi Jinping pointed out: "The international community must strengthen cooperation, think in one direction and work toward one goal, to jointly build a community of all life on Earth." The production methods and development paths of agriculture are closely linked to the quality of the global ecological environment and are major issues that must be addressed in building such a community. Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization stands at the strategic height of "ecological civilization is the historical trend of human civilization's development." Guided by the concept of joint construction, it reconstructs the relationship between agriculture and ecology and expands the global vision of agricultural development. In "Working Together to Advance Global Ecological Civilization and Strive to Build a Clean and Beautiful World," President Xi Jinping pointed out: "Building an ecological civilization concerns the future of humanity. The international community should walk hand in hand to jointly seek a path for global ecological civilization construction."
In the current international context where unilateralism and protectionism continue to rise, Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization places agricultural development within the grand horizon of building a community of all life on Earth, advocating a global governance outlook based on extensive consultation, joint contribution, and shared benefits. This important thought transcends the zero-sum game narrative long pursued by major Western powers, leading people to profoundly realize that in the face of ecological issues, all countries are not competitors where one's win is another's loss, but rather a community of shared interests, responsibilities, and future, bound together for better or worse. Agro-ecological governance is closely related to global food security, ecological stability, and human well-being. It is necessary to promote the establishment of long-term mechanisms for win-win cooperation in global agro-ecological governance, achieving knowledge sharing, shared responsibility, and shared interests to form a more equitable, rational, and inclusive path for global agricultural development. In this process, Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization guides Chinese agriculture to deepen green development. By protecting agricultural biodiversity and promoting low-carbon agricultural development, China makes significant contributions to global ecological civilization construction. The agricultural germplasm resource banks established by China preserve a large number of rare and endangered crop varieties, providing genetic resources for global biodiversity conservation. Furthermore, China has transferred environment-friendly agricultural technologies, such as Juncao [6] technology, to many developing countries, helping to solve problems like poverty, soil erosion, and desertification. These practices are not merely "technical assistance" in the Western discourse system, but a vivid implementation of the concept of building a community of all life on Earth in the agricultural field, powerfully proving that China is a committed man of action and an important contributor to global green development.
Promoting the Realization of Agricultural Modernization Characterized by Ecological Priority and Green Development
In "New Quality Productive Forces are Themselves Green Productive Forces," General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Green development is the defining feature of high-quality development" and "unswervingly follow the path of ecological priority and green development." The future of agricultural modernization must be a future of ecological priority and green development. To deeply study and implement Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization, the agricultural sector must focus on improving agricultural competitiveness and comprehensive efficiency, strengthening systems thinking, adhering to overall planning and all-round consideration, and promoting a benign interaction between rural economic development and ecological environmental protection. This will better address the vital task of how agricultural development can promote the harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature, fully demonstrating the theoretical penetration and practical leadership of Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization.
Synergistically advance ecological protection and food security. Ecological protection is the cornerstone of food security. A healthy ecosystem provides stable water and soil resources, a diverse biological environment, and balanced climatic conditions for food production. Once the ecosystem is damaged—such as through soil degradation, water pollution, or loss of biodiversity—it leads to the deterioration of the basic conditions for food production, causing fluctuations in food capacity or even reduced yields, ultimately threatening food security. In the long run, without the sustainability of the ecosystem, food security loses the natural foundation for its existence. Food security, in turn, constitutes the rational boundary of ecological protection. Ensuring food security is the basic objective of agricultural development; ecological protection cannot deviate from this realistic demand and move toward extremes. Achieving a stable food supply through scientific production methods within the limits of ecological carrying capacity is itself a rational utilization and protection of the ecosystem. If ecological protection is emphasized one-sidedly while food security is ignored, it may lead to fallow land and shrunken production capacity, which could instead trigger wider ecological destruction, such as the over-reclamation of other ecological zones due to food shortages. Therefore, food security demarcates a boundary of necessity for ecological protection: ecological protection must take the assurance of basic food supply as a prerequisite and achieve ecological optimization on the basis of guaranteed food capacity.
The key to synergistically advancing ecological protection and food security is to promote the green transformation of food production methods. Through eco-friendly farming practices such as crop rotation, fallowing, and green pest control, we can maintain ecosystem health while enhancing food capacity. By leveraging ecological restoration technologies to improve production conditions, we can strengthen the disaster-resilience of food production, thereby forming a benign cycle where "stable ecology leads to stable capacity, and stable capacity protects the ecology," realizing the organic unity of ecological sustainability and food security.
Synergistically advance green transformation and increase farmers' income. Increasing farmers' income provides the lasting impetus for green transformation. Farmers are the principal subjects of the green agricultural transformation; only by enabling farmers to obtain tangible benefits can their endogenous motivation to participate in green development be stimulated, making green transformation a continuous and conscious action. Green transformation opens new paths for increasing farmers' income. Traditional agricultural production modes rely on resource consumption and chemical inputs, which are not only low-efficiency but also susceptible to market fluctuations. Green transformation promotes a shift toward eco-friendly production, imbuing agricultural products with ecological value attributes. This reconstructs the agricultural value system and broadens the channels for farmers to increase their income, turning "green" into a new growth point for farmers' earnings. Synergistically advancing these two goals requires establishing and improving mechanisms for realizing the value of ecological products, such as through refining the pricing system for green agricultural products, improving ecological protection compensation mechanisms, and developing diversified business models like rural health and wellness tourism. This ensures that farmers' ecological investments receive a rational return, allowing them to gain new sources of income during the green transformation.
Synergistically advance ecological governance and industrial upgrading. Industrial upgrading provides sustainable support for ecological governance. Traditional agricultural production often relies on high-intensity resource development and unidirectional extraction from the ecosystem; its characteristics of low added value and high consumption are themselves significant inducements for ecological problems. Industrial upgrading—by optimizing industrial structures and extending industrial chains—promotes the transition of agricultural production from extensive to intensive and from resource-consuming to circular-utilization. This reduces the pressure on ecological governance at the source while enhancing the added value of the industry and providing the material basis for ecological governance.
Ecological governance sets the direction and creates the conditions for industrial upgrading. By setting environmental standards and regulating the boundaries of resource development, ecological governance forces out backward production capacities that do not meet ecological requirements and guides factors such as capital and technology to aggregate in green industries, driving the transformation of industrial structures toward eco-friendly directions. Simultaneously, the improvement of the ecological environment brought by governance can optimize the basic conditions for agricultural production, providing natural advantages for developing high-value-added ecological agriculture and other new business formats, further expanding the space for industrial upgrading. To synergistically advance ecological governance and industrial upgrading, we must use ecological governance as a lever to push the agricultural industrial structure toward green, high-quality, and specialized development, forming industrial chains characterized by clean production and resource recycling, and achieving a benign interaction between ecological governance and industrial development.