State Farms Accelerate the Building of an Agricultural Product Quality Traceability System to Safeguard Safety from Field to Table

The quality and safety of agricultural products bear on the health and lives of the people, on long-term economic development, and on social harmony and stability. As the backbone and representative of the state-owned agricultural economy, and as the national team safeguarding national food security and the effective supply of important agricultural products, the state farm system has always treated safeguarding the quality and safety of agricultural products as an important task of modern agriculture construction and pursued it unremittingly.

In 2002, within the Green Food Action Plan, the state farm system was the first to propose establishing a quality and safety traceability system for agricultural products. After more than five years of pilot exploration, a working model and development path for an agricultural product quality traceability system suited to the state farm agricultural production management system gradually took shape, and in 2008 the building of an agricultural product quality traceability system was officially launched among state farm enterprises nationwide. As of now, the number of traceable enterprises has reached 342, spread across 28 reclamation areas; the traceable scale of crop products has reached 6.68 million mu, that of livestock and poultry products 74.57 million head (birds), and that of aquatic products 600,000 mu, covering major agricultural products such as grains, vegetables, fruits, tea, livestock and poultry meat, poultry eggs, aquatic products and milk, as well as processed agricultural products such as wine. In 2014, the total output of traceable agricultural products reached 2.3056 million tons. At the same time, the state farm system also demonstrated and drove 81 local agricultural enterprises and farmers' professional cooperatives to establish traceability systems, fully demonstrating the state farm system's exemplary and driving role for modern agriculture.

The state farm system has always treated safeguarding the quality and safety of agricultural products as the core task of building the traceability system. In accordance with the traceability concept of records in production, supervision in safety, testing in quality and labeling on products, it integrates resources from state-owned farms, competent departments and agricultural product quality inspection institutions, organically combines key quality and safety elements such as agricultural production, quality management, product testing and product certification, researches and formulates a series of industry standards for agricultural product quality traceability, and develops and builds an integrated traceability system covering enterprise production record collection, online supervision by management departments, spot-check supervision by professional institutions, and consumer inquiry and information, forming an agricultural product quality and safety safeguard system supported by the internet.

This approach of the state farm system, which emphasizes solid work, courage to take on responsibility and willingness to be accountable, has been recognized by all sectors of society and has achieved both economic and social benefits.

From the perspective of quality and safety, under the operating system based on household contracting by workers and overall coordination of large farms over small farms, the traceability system has raised the quality and safety awareness of frontline production workers, strengthened the implementation of responsibilities, and markedly improved the quality and safety level of traceable agricultural products.

From the market perspective, state farm traceable agricultural products have clear places of origin, responsibilities fully implemented, complete production records, and reliable quality and safety, and are deeply trusted by consumer groups at all levels, bringing about the gratifying situation of both production and sales thriving. The traceable Beijing duck produced by Beijing Jinxing Duck Industry, as the sole raw material supplier for Quanjude, was designated as a designated supplier during the Olympic Games and the APEC meeting. The Aisen brand chilled fresh meat of Shanghai Bright Food Group and the Koshihikari brand rice of Liaoning Wusi Farm were selected as licensed dealers at large events such as the World Expo and the National Games. Jiangsu Suken Rice Industry Group launched the building of a rice traceability system in 2008, and after years of effort, the traceable area increased from 50,000 mu at the initial stage to more than 600,000 mu, achieving full coverage of the rice industry quality traceability system across the entire reclamation area.

With the development of agricultural product e-commerce, state farm traceable agricultural products have also performed excellently in the e-commerce field. The Hotan jade jujubes produced by Xinjiang Hotan Kunlun Mountain Jujube Industry Co., Ltd. use one code per bag; quality products combined with traceable management quickly gained market recognition, with online sales exceeding 100 million yuan, making them a leader among similar products. Traceable products such as Qinmin pickled cabbage from the Heilongjiang reclamation area, rice from Liaoning Wusi Farm, spicy sausages from Nanning Yongmu Food Co., Ltd. of Guangxi State Farms Yongxin Animal Husbandry Group, beef strips from Xinjiang Xiangbala Food Co., Ltd., and goji berries from Nanliang Farm of Ningxia State Farms have steadily increased their online visibility, and online order volumes have continuously reached new levels.

High-quality, safe and traceable agricultural products are a concentrated reflection of the achievements of the state farm system in building a new type of modern agriculture with Chinese characteristics. The "Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Further Promoting the Reform and Development of State Farms" clearly requires that the state farm system, as a demonstration zone for agricultural modernization, establish an agricultural product quality and safety traceability system from field to table.