Published by ChinaMNC · Yanji

Jilin's Straw Utilization Incentives: What Foreign Founders Operating Agribusiness in China Should Know

Jilin province issued measures supporting comprehensive straw utilization, including burning bans, subsidies for straw return, feed, and substrate use, and support for collection and storage centers and industrial projects. Here is what the policy means for foreign founders running or registering agribusiness, bioenergy, or biomass companies in China.

Key takeaways for foreign founders

The General Office of the Jilin Provincial People's Government issued a notice on August 15, 2026, publishing measures to support comprehensive straw utilization (document number 吉政办规〔2026〕1号, released August 25, 2026). For foreign founders considering a company in China in agriculture, biomass energy, feed, or new materials, the notice signals where provincial subsidy money and project support are directed — and where compliance obligations, especially burning restrictions, will apply to operations on the ground.

This is a provincial policy document, not a company registration rule. It does not change entity types, registered capital requirements, or licensing procedures. Its relevance is practical: if your China company plans to process, collect, or use crop straw in Jilin, the measures describe the subsidy categories, the responsible government departments, and the compliance boundaries you will encounter when applying for support or working with local governments.

Burning controls define where operations can take place

The notice designates no-burn zones across the province: within one kilometer of railways, expressways, national and provincial highways, and airports; within 50 meters of forest edges; and on conservation tillage plots. County governments draw the conservation tillage boundaries annually and may adjust them. Open burning of straw is fully prohibited in these zones. Outside them, limited burning is managed in a scientific and orderly way. The provincial ecology and environment department, with other departments, is to produce a "one map" of no-burn zones and integrate it into a provincial straw burning supervision platform, while relevant local regulations are drafted or revised.

What this means for your company: any straw collection, storage, or processing site should be checked against the no-burn map before you sign a land or facility lease. Local environment departments enforce the rules, and city and county governments carry primary responsibility, so your local partner or site landlord will be sensitive to these boundaries.

Subsidies for straw return to farmland

The measures set several per-mu subsidies, implemented by the provincial agriculture department and city and county governments:

• Organic fertilizer from straw: in typical black soil counties, projects that apply organic fertilizer made from straw and other materials receive at least RMB 150 per mu, based on annual task areas set by the province.
• Conservation tillage: where straw coverage exceeds 60%, the subsidy ceiling rises to RMB 80 per mu; adding one of strip tillage, harrowing-mixing, or deep loosening raises it by RMB 25 per mu, to a ceiling of RMB 105 per mu. Subsidies for coverage below 30% are cancelled province-wide, and burned plots are not subsidized after verification.
• Full straw return: counties with large straw resources may use central awards to major grain-producing counties (20% portion), straw utilization funds, and provincial project funds for autumn operations such as deep plowing or crushing-mixing of corn straw, or rice paddy puddling and dry-leveling, at RMB 80 per mu.

Collection, storage, and processing infrastructure

County governments are to organize orderly removal of straw from fields not covered by return-based practices, using manual removal on slopes where machinery cannot operate. The provincial agriculture department supports baling and transport to lower farmers' costs and improve collection efficiency.

Counties with large straw resources may use straw utilization funds to build county-level collection, storage, and processing centers, township transfer stations, and village-level temporary storage points, following the province's construction guidelines for distributed straw collection and processing centers. Project operators with high straw consumption — green hydrogen, green methanol, feed, biomass cogeneration, environmentally friendly boards, carbon-based products, and polylactic acid — may build supporting collection and processing centers. Operators must maintain protective measures and implement safety management responsibilities.

What this means for your company: a foreign-invested enterprise in biomass processing may be able to pair its plant with a subsidized collection and storage network. Expect safety and site-management requirements as conditions of support.

Feed, substrate, and industrial project support

Counties may use straw utilization, major grain-producing county, cattle and sheep调出 major county, and grassland ecological protection subsidy funds for feed use. For households storing and processing more than 100 tons of yellow silage fermented feed or ruminant compound feed, the subsidy is RMB 35 per ton of straw; new, renovated, or expanded silage pits of 500 cubic meters or more receive RMB 30 per cubic meter.

For substrate use, counties with large straw resources may subsidize straw-based substrates for edible fungi, rice seedlings, and horticultural crops at RMB 60 per ton of straw.

Counties may also coordinate regular assistance funds for straw utilization industrialization projects that fit funding directions and are closely linked to households at risk of returning to poverty.

The provincial development and reform commission, industry and information technology department, and energy bureau are to guide localities to prepare and reserve projects — green hydrogen, green methanol, biomass cogeneration, biodegradable new materials, environmentally friendly boards, carbon-based products, and polylactic acid — in line with central budget investment directions, and to seek central budget investment support. The provincial government investment fund is to increase its support for straw utilization projects.

Practical steps for foreign founders

• Confirm the site against the no-burn map. Ask the local ecology and environment bureau or your county government contact for the current boundaries before leasing land or building storage.
• Identify the funding channel first. Subsidies flow through county governments and specific provincial departments (agriculture, animal husbandry, development and reform, energy). Your application route depends on whether your project is return, feed, substrate, or industrial.
• Structure the China entity to match the activity. A wholly foreign-owned enterprise or joint venture is typical for processing and manufacturing; feed production and biomass energy may involve additional sector approvals. Verify licensing requirements with local authorities.
• Build the collection link into your business plan. The policy treats collection and storage centers as supporting infrastructure for high-consumption projects, which can reduce feedstock risk.
• Document safety and environmental compliance. Storage and processing sites must meet protection and safety obligations, and burned plots are excluded from subsidies.

This summary is based on information published by the relevant Chinese government website and is general information, not legal or tax advice.

Foreign founders can contact ChinaMNC on WhatsApp / WeChat at +86 153 1898 8535 for help registering and operating a company in China.