Plastic Film Mulching Is a Key Strategy for Coping With Cultivated Land Loss and Driving Green Agricultural Development in the Loess Plateau

Abstract

The connections between agricultural tech, policies, land use change, and development in the Loess Plateau remain unclear. Understanding these is vital for formulating sustainable strategies. This study attempts to quantify the contribution of plastic film mulching to yield increase from the perspective of land‐use change, and to quantify the positive impacts of plastic film mulching from the perspective of agricultural green development. The Random Forest algorithm was used to analyze the correlations between crop yields and relevant indicators, based on data from 1980 to 2020 in the Loess Plateau. From 1980 to 2020, cultivated land steadily declined at an annual rate of 2.5%. Meanwhile, the grain self‐sufficiency rate rose from 62% to 110%. Maize per‐unit yield climbed from 2.55–3.54 t ha−1 in 1980 to 5.19–7.56 t ha−1 in 2020, and wheat from 1.19–1.73 to 3.35–4.58 t ha−1. The total power of agricultural machinery showed a substantial increase of 54.63 × 106 kW from 1980 to 2020, while the consumption of agricultural plastic film rose by 21.89 × 104 tons during the period from 1991 to 2020. Plastic film mulching (17.3%), mechanization (14.7%), and irrigation (16.5%) were key yield boosters. Ecological factors were dominant in green development (3+ positive indicators/10 variables). This study reveals the complex relationships among ecological, social, economic, and technological factors in agriculture. It provides valuable guidance for formulating sustainable agri‐policies in the Loess Plateau and similar regions.