Magnesium is an essential element for plant growth，but it has been neglected for a long time in the agricultural production of China and other countries.In September 2016，the International Magnesium Institute was jointly established by German K+S Group and Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University to conduct the fundamental research on plant magnesium nutrition.In 2017，the National Magnesium Network was founded to work intensively throughout the country，including the fertilizer application survey，soil sampling，field experiments and popularization demonstration of magnesium fertilizers on improving yield and quality of crops to farmers.1)The results of the national survey showed that the amounts of the applied nitrogen ，phosphorus and potassium fertilizers for crops，especially for fruit trees and vegetables，were too high.In contrast，most farmers did not apply magnesium fertilizer in production.For a few farmers who applied Mg fertilizer，the average input of magnesium fertilizer were less than 10% of the application of phosphorus fertilizer.2)The average soil exchangeable magnesium concentration in China was 160.5 mg·kg-1，and the average concentration in the South and the North of China was 94.3 and 393.0 mg·kg-1，respectively.In China，45.3% of the soil was seriously deficient in magnesium(<60 mg·kg-1)，18.3% of the soil was magnesium deficiency (60～120 mg·kg-1)，16.4% of the soil was sufficient in magnesium(120～240 mg·kg-1)，12.9% of the soil was in the high level(240～480 mg·kg-1)，and the proportions of the soil with rich(480～720 mg·kg-1)and extremely rich(>720 mg·kg-1)in magnesium concentration were only 4.0% and 3.0%，respectively.3).Optimizing the input of nitrogen，phosphorus and potassium fertilizers did not reduce production，but increased.On the basis of optimizing the input of nitrogen，phosphorus and potassium，magnesium fertilizer could increase the crop yield further，by 7.8%(n=110)on average，and also improve the quality.The effect of magnesium application was not only obvious in the southern magnesium deficient areas，but also in the northern areas where the soil exchangeable magnesium concentration was relatively high.In conclusion，more than 63% of the soil is deficient or seriously deficient in magnesium(<120 mg·kg-1)in China，but the application of magnesium fertilizer is generally ignored in production. The application of magnesium fertilizer can increase the yield of fruits，vegetables and other economic crops more effectively than cereal crops.It also improved the external and internal quality of different economic crops.Therefore，it is necessary and urgent to increase the application of magnesium fertilizer in agricultural production in China.