Overcoming socioeconomic barriers to reduce agricultural ammonia emission in China

China is the world's largest country on ammonia (NH₃) emission, which results in sever air pollution there. China's updated Clean Air Act has started to pay attention to NH₃ reduction, but it is believed that solutions are mainly constrained by implementation of suitable technologies. Here we argued that socioeconomic barriers are the key to hinder the reduction of agricultural NH₃ emission for better air quality in China. We found that small farm size is the key driving force for high NH₃ emission from croplands, while little manure storage and recycle facilities and the mismatch of livestock and cropland on spatial distribution are the reasons for high NH₃ emission from livestock. Overcoming these socioeconomic barriers could at least reduce half of the agricultural NH₃ emission while maintaining food production in China. It not only can benefit air quality but also reduce potentials of eutrophication, groundwater contamination, soil acidification, biodiversity loss, and greenhouse gas emission.