Internet Expected to Help China's Agriculture Leapfrog Ahead
The recently released Proposal for the “13th Five-Year Plan” devotes considerable space to elaborating on agricultural modernization, proposing to advance agricultural informatization during the “13th Five-Year Plan” period. Reporters learned through interviews that internet applications have penetrated into every link of agricultural production, circulation and services, and the booming “Internet Plus Agriculture” is expected to rewrite the new landscape of China's modern agriculture in the future.
From Production to Circulation: The Internet “Covers It All” Across the Entire Agricultural Industry Chain
At the 852 Farm in the Heilongjiang Reclamation Area, a Claas 770 combine harvester is moving through a corn field under the guidance of satellite navigation, spitting out crushed corn stalks behind it while the corn kernels are stored in the machine's cabin——this is the harvest scene reporters witnessed on the black soil not long ago.
⟦NL> It integrates the world's most advanced harvesting machinery technology; crop moisture, yield and harvest area can be updated in real time on the display screen; the operating area per hour exceeds 40 mu; and on the large computer screen at the dispatch center several kilometers away, the real-time operation trajectory is clear at a glance——from “bending low with a small sickle” to “large farm machinery and the Internet of Things,” in many places, informatized and digitalized agricultural production forms centered on large farm machinery, satellite remote sensing and Internet of Things technology, which timely monitor and grasp crop growth conditions at each stage, are becoming more and more common. The “Internet” is gradually replacing the traditional farming model of “face to the yellow earth, back to the sky” with modern production where “only machinery is seen, no people.”
The above is just a microcosm of the Internet's penetration into agricultural production. Reporters learned through recent interviews in various places that internet technology has begun to penetrate comprehensively into fields such as agricultural services, agricultural product circulation, sales and food quality supervision.
The Yehe Xiangling Walnut Professional Cooperative in Licheng District, Jinan City, Shandong Province recently opened an online store on Taobao, selling four to five thousand kilograms of walnuts per day. “Online, producers and consumers meet and connect directly, completely overturning the traditional production and sales process. Online sales not only solve the problem of difficult sales of agricultural products, but also drive more than 400 member farming households to increase income by more than 2,000 yuan per mu.” said Guo Chaoyuan, Party branch secretary of Yehe Village.
“Not afraid of high prices, just afraid of poor quality.” Consumers' concerns about the quality of agricultural products have been somewhat alleviated by the establishment of product traceability systems using the Internet as a carrier. Reporters learned through recent research in Guizhou, Guangxi, Yunnan, Shandong and other places that with the popularization of mobile Internet, the Internet of Things, smart terminals and handheld traceability devices, as well as the application of big data, cloud computing and other technologies in the agricultural field, the production and management level of agricultural products has been promoted to a certain extent, thereby improving the quality and safety level of agricultural products.
From Catalysis to Disruption: The Internet May Help China's Agriculture Shorten Its Modernization Process
Analysts believe that the Internet's transformation of traditional agriculture has a catalytic and even disruptive effect, and the changes it brings to China's agriculture will gradually manifest during the “13th Five-Year Plan” and for some time to come.
Li Daoliang, a professor at the College of Information and Electrical Engineering at China Agricultural University, believes that the application of Internet of Things technology is conducive to achieving efficient allocation of production factors and playing a role in saving costs and increasing efficiency, and may become the future development direction of China's agriculture. “‘Internet Plus’ will play a catalytic role in agricultural development, giving wings to agricultural modernization.” Li Daoliang said.
The Internet's penetration into agricultural production is enabling traditional agriculture, which has lasted for thousands of years, to undergo a “magnificent transformation” toward precision agriculture and smart agriculture. “Staff can direct the deep plowing speed and depth of farm machinery in real time from the monitoring room, issue alarms at any time for non-compliant operations, and achieve uniform, even and robust seedlings through remote control, greatly enhancing land utilization rate, land output rate and labor productivity. This is a thorough transformation of agricultural production methods.” said Chi Lijun, general manager of Heilongjiang Qixing Farm.
This transformative effect is also reflected in the field of agricultural product circulation. “The emergence of rural e-commerce helps establish a consumption-oriented production and sales system, transforming the traditional model of production determining consumption into consumption determining production, achieving production based on sales. This is a thorough overturning of the agricultural production-sales relationship that has lasted for thousands of years.” said Wang Xiaobing, deputy director of the Market and Information Department of the Ministry of Agriculture, who believes that this re-engineering of the process is conducive to connecting production and sales, balancing supply and demand, and breaking the historical curse of drastic price fluctuations in agricultural products.
“Internet technology is the adhesive of agricultural modernization, and will greatly accelerate the process of realizing China's agricultural modernization.” Li Daoliang explained that developed agricultural countries typically first achieved agricultural mechanization and modernization, and finally completed agricultural informatization, whereas China's agricultural mechanization, modernization and informatization are expected to “advance simultaneously with three-fold superimposition.” “The ‘13th Five-Year Plan Proposal’ proposes advancing agricultural informatization. Driven by the Internet, big data and cloud computing, the agricultural modernization that developed countries took a hundred years to complete, China will likely achieve in the next 20 years. This is a transformation of the world's agricultural development patterns.” Li Daoliang said.
From Funding to Technology: Two Major Bottlenecks of Internet Agriculture Remain to Be Resolved
However, reporters also learned during interviews that many experts and rural grassroots cadres said that “Internet Plus” in the agricultural production field is still more of a “bonsai” concept. To promote and apply it on a large scale and turn Internet Plus Agriculture into a landscape, it is still necessary to overcome the two major obstacles of funding and technology.
After several years of active exploration, the Internet of Things construction at Heilongjiang Qixing Farm has achieved notable results, but there is still a gap compared with building modern agriculture. General Manager Chi Lijun told reporters that large capital investment, lack of talent, and high costs for infrastructure, system operation and information services are constraining the further development of Internet of Things agriculture. Large-scale grain grower Zhang Jinghui said that agricultural Internet of Things is “nice to look at but not practical to use,” and the high cost keeps ordinary growers out.
Lagging technology also constrains the development of Internet agriculture. “Sensors are a key part of Internet of Things technology, but China's sensor technology research and development is small in scale and high in cost, and has not formed an industry, which constrains the promotion and application of Internet of Things technology. In addition, domestic production technology for large farm machinery equipment is far below international levels, and the overall lag in smart manufacturing and other areas constrains the prospects for agricultural informatization development.” Li Daoliang said.
Reporters learned that although “Internet Plus Agriculture” has obvious effects in transforming the traditional agricultural product circulation process, it is not a “cure-all.” Many experts believe that problems such as blind development as everyone rushes in, backward rural internet infrastructure, backward rural logistics systems especially cold-chain logistics, and farmers' lack of relevant skills training have already constrained the further development of “Internet Plus Agriculture.”
Experts point out that the Internet's penetration into agriculture is still at a shallow application level and lacks innovation. The state should increase support in fiscal and tax, financial and technological aspects, so that the Internet can truly play the role of catalyst and booster for modern agriculture.