Strengthen Scientific and Technological Innovation to Give Wings to the Transformation of Agricultural Development Models

To transform agricultural development models, science and technology are the key. At the end of 2014, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized at the Central Economic Work Conference that we must unswervingly accelerate the transformation of agricultural development models, and shift as quickly as possible to development that gives equal weight to quantity, quality and efficiency, focuses on improving competitiveness, focuses on agricultural technological innovation, and focuses on sustainable intensive development. On August 7, 2015, the General Office of the State Council issued the "Opinions on Accelerating the Transformation of Agricultural Development Models". This was the first important document at the national level to systematically deploy work on transforming agricultural development models, a concrete implementation of the spirit of the Central Economic Work Conference, the Central Rural Work Conference, and the Central Document No. 1, and it provided a clear path for China to accelerate the advancement of agricultural modernization at present and for a period to come. The "Opinions" systematically laid out seven key tasks centering on the key areas and weak links in transforming agricultural development models. And "strengthening agricultural scientific and technological innovation and raising the level of scientific and technological equipment and the quality of the workforce" is both a "key task" and a "key means". Among these, "raising the level of scientific and technological equipment and the quality of the workforce" is one of the two important levers for accelerating agricultural scientific and technological innovation. The five major areas mentioned in the "Opinions" - agricultural "independent innovation, reform of the seed industry system, mechanization of production, agricultural informatization, and cultivating new-type professional farmers" - are precisely the important areas currently constraining agricultural development. Resolving these issues will enable China's agricultural development to achieve a qualitative leap in its goals of adjusting structure and transforming models.

Strengthen independent innovation in agricultural science and technology. Agricultural scientific and technological innovation is a powerful driving force for promoting the transformation of traditional agriculture into modern agriculture. Although by 2014 China's grain output had achieved "eleven consecutive increases", China's agricultural development has mainly relied on the massive consumption of resources and the high-intensity use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers, and the scientific and technological content of agricultural products is generally low; at the same time, with the rapid development of China's industrialization and urbanization, people's demands for the quality of agricultural products have also continued to rise; coupled with the huge population base and the rigid demand for the quantity of agricultural products, it can be expected that relying on traditional methods for China's agriculture to increase output and efficiency will inevitably be difficult to sustain. At the same time, China's agricultural scientific and technological innovation has long faced a series of prominent contradictions and problems, for example: government investment in agricultural scientific research is severely low, and cannot cover the research and institutional operating expenses of agricultural researchers; the management mechanism for agricultural scientific research is imperfect, agricultural scientific research projects are managed by multiple authorities, topics are duplicated, and resources are wasted; the micro-level units of scientific research project management - research groups - are mostly "small teams" and "small workshops", scientific and technological research and development lacks a "collaborative innovation" platform, scientific research work is often done alone, making it difficult to give play to the collaborative effects of different disciplines, and unconducive to producing major scientific research results, etc. These problems all place newer, higher and more urgent demands on agricultural scientific and technological innovation.

To achieve major breakthroughs in independent innovation in agricultural science and technology in the new era, it is necessary, in accordance with the overall requirements of the state's implementation of the innovation-driven strategy and the deepening of scientific and technological system reform, to deeply advance the reform of the agricultural science and technology management system and improve innovation efficiency. On the one hand, it is necessary to explore the establishment of a macro-coordination and consultation system for agricultural science and technology management, strengthen the overall coordination of agricultural science and technology management, and avoid the repeated occurrence of the "nine dragons managing the water" phenomenon. On the other hand, efforts should be made to advance the construction of collaborative innovation alliances for agricultural science and technology, strengthen communication and coordination among science and technology management departments at the central level, and among different entities within central and local levels and within various departments, give play to the collaborative innovation role of different entities such as the government, universities, research institutes and enterprises in the agricultural scientific and technological innovation system, and focus on building a new pattern of agricultural scientific research work based on a division of labor and collaboration as a "single chessboard", avoiding the repeated occurrence of the phenomenon of scientific research work being done "alone". In addition, it is also necessary to strengthen investment in agricultural scientific research and accelerate the construction of capacity and conditions for agricultural scientific and technological innovation. For example, build a cloud platform for agricultural science and technology services, and rely on cloud computing and big data for system design and architecture, to create a comprehensive integrated service platform for the transformation and application of agricultural scientific and technological achievements.

In terms of cultivating agricultural technical talent, the focus should be on carrying out the action of science and technology commissioners starting rural technology businesses, with the construction of entrepreneurial chains for science and technology commissioners as the core, building a nationwide interconnected entrepreneurial service platform for science and technology commissioners, and promoting scientific and technological factors in driving other production factors such as capital, talent, information and management to gather in rural areas.

Deepen the reform of the seed industry system. The seed industry is the "lifeline" of modern agricultural development. Seeds are an irreplaceable means of agricultural production and the most important carrier of agricultural scientific and technological progress. Innovation in seed technology drives development in various fields such as tillage and cultivation, plant protection, agricultural engineering, agricultural environmental protection, and agricultural product processing. Once a major breakthrough is achieved in variety breeding, it will bring about a substantial increase in comprehensive agricultural production capacity. To accelerate the building of modern agriculture and grasp the initiative in food security, we must attach great importance to the development of the seed industry. In recent years, the seed industry has received more attention and emphasis, and a large number of fine varieties have been bred and promoted, with a very obvious role in promoting increased agricultural output and increased farmer income. But it must be seen that China's seed industry development is in a period of transformation and upgrading, the overall level of breeding and promotion of fine varieties is still not high, the scientific research capabilities and market competitiveness of seed enterprises are relatively weak, and their supporting role for food security and modern agricultural development is relatively weak. Therefore, the "Opinions" specifically points out that it is necessary to comprehensively deepen the reform of the seed industry system, accelerate the improvement of the seed industry scientific and technological innovation system, and continuously consolidate the foundation of seed industry security.

The way out for agriculture lies in science and technology, and the core driving force for the development of the seed industry also lies in science and technology. To build a strong seed industry nation, it is necessary to deepen the reform of the seed industry scientific and technological system and establish a commercial breeding innovation system with enterprises as the main body. Through promoting rights confirmation and transactions, let seed industry scientific research resources and achievements "flow"; through strengthening cooperation and exchanges, let researchers "move"; through the benefit distribution mechanism for seed industry scientific research achievements, let researchers "grow rich" in accordance with the law, and stimulate researchers' innovation capacity; through improving the market-oriented mechanism and commercial breeding mechanism, truly make breeding efficiency "high"; through increasing investment in basic and public-interest research, strengthening the construction of seed industry-related disciplines, supporting research institutes and institutions of higher education to focus on basic research such as breeding theory, common technologies, mining of germplasm resources, and innovation of breeding materials, as well as public-interest research such as conventional crop breeding, strive to improve the basic public-interest service capacity and level of the seed industry, and consolidate the foundation of seed industry innovation.

Advance the mechanization of agricultural production. Agricultural mechanization, as a modern means of production, is the main hallmark of modern agriculture and a key factor in promoting the transformation of traditional agriculture into modern agriculture. The practice of modern agricultural development shows that each time China's agricultural development reaches a new level, each time a major transformation is achieved in the development model, and each time modern agricultural construction advances one step forward, agricultural mechanization has played a crucial role. And with the continuous development of moderate concentration of land transfer, large-scale planting and breeding, standardized production, intensive development, and industrialized operation, the deeper the transformation of agricultural development models, the higher the degree of dependence on agricultural mechanization. At present, although China's comprehensive mechanization level for crop cultivation and harvesting has exceeded 60%, among which the comprehensive mechanization rate for cultivation and harvesting of the three major grain crops all exceeds 75%, and wheat production has basically achieved full-process mechanization, compared with developed countries, China's level of agricultural mechanization is still relatively low, and there are still many problems such as large gaps in the level of agricultural mechanization between regions, irrational structure of agricultural machinery and equipment, obvious gaps in categories and varieties of agricultural machinery, and backward construction of supporting systems for agricultural machinery research and development. The main reasons lie in the obviously lagging scientific and technological innovation capacity of agricultural machinery and equipment, insufficient investment subsidies for agricultural machinery, an unsound public service system for agricultural machinery, and a lack of correct prediction and effective guidance for market demand for agricultural machinery, etc.

⟦NL> Agricultural machinery research and development has notable complexity, regionality, seasonality and long cycles, and requires the government to make long-term investments in basic theory and key common technology research, and to do a good job in the top-level design of agricultural mechanization scientific and technological innovation, achieving overall planning. It is necessary both to attach importance to full-process mechanization of major grain crop production and to strengthen the construction of demonstration zones for full-process mechanization of production of bulk cash crops such as grain, cotton, oil and sugar, so as to use points to drive broader areas, and realize a coordinated advancement pattern that covers major grain crops, horticultural crops and cash crops, covers all links before, during and after production, and takes into account mechanization in both plain areas and hilly areas. At the same time, carry out subsidies for deep loosening and land preparation operations by agricultural machinery, appropriately expand subsidy pilot projects, clearly define subsidy project areas and subsidy areas, and formulate subsidy standards according to local conditions.

Accelerate the development of agricultural informatization. In the era of the knowledge economy, information, as a new factor of productivity, plays an increasingly prominent role in the rural economic field. Information on new technologies, pests and diseases, and market demand has become an important factor for farmers to adapt to and grasp the market, and farmers' demand for information will also grow day by day. At present, although the country has initially formed a three-level information service system at the city, county, and township (town) levels, the construction of agricultural informatization still lags considerably behind the actual needs of building a new socialist countryside and developing modern agriculture. There are still many problems such as slow information transmission speed, backward service methods, and poor circulation channels. The main reasons lie in weak agricultural informatization infrastructure, an unsound service system, a lack of effective integration and development of information resources, disconnect between information content and real needs, weak targeting, and the difficulty for farmers to bear relatively high operation and maintenance costs, etc.

Carry out the "Internet Plus" modern agriculture action, with the focus on relying on internet enterprises to build a batch of comprehensive rural information resource and service platforms, better applying internet technology extensively in agricultural production and circulation, continuously connecting the related links before, during and after agricultural production, and fostering many new business forms. At the same time, by strengthening the application in the agricultural field of technologies such as information collection, precision operations, management information, rural remote digitization and visualization, and disaster warning, improve the information service system for agricultural production and market supervision, establish traceability systems for all links of key agricultural products such as planting and breeding, processing, storage and transportation, and sales, raise the level of large-scale, precision and facility-based agriculture, and solve problems such as information asymmetry between agricultural production and the market and low agricultural production efficiency. In this regard, it is necessary to accelerate the construction of national rural informatization demonstration provinces, vigorously implement the project of bringing information to villages and households, establish a unified software and hardware platform, integrate information resources of agriculture and the rural market, build a large database of agricultural product market information, and accelerate the development and utilization of rural information resources; at the same time, it is necessary to study and formulate supporting policies related to agricultural informatization, actively promote the construction of informatization institutions, and improve the agricultural information release system; and gradually establish a capable and efficient agricultural informatization team combining professional technology and analytical application, strengthen comprehensive agricultural information service capacity, and advance the application of agricultural big data.

Vigorously cultivate new-type professional farmers. At present, China is in a critical period of transition from traditional agriculture to modern agriculture. A large amount of advanced agricultural science and technology, efficient agricultural facilities and equipment, and the concept of moderately scaled operation are gradually being introduced into all fields of agricultural production, and this urgently requires highly qualified professional farmers to integrate closely with them. But as things stand now, problems in China's rural labor force are prominent, such as shrinking quantity, structural imbalance, low quality, and a lack of successors. A large number of young rural laborers have moved to cities for employment. Among the rural labor force, those with primary school and junior high school education account for more than 70%. More than 60% of the total number of migrant workers are the new generation of migrant workers, who are unwilling to return home to farm. The aging and part-time farming of farmers are becoming increasingly serious, and the question of "who will farm the land" has become a key bottleneck constraining the development of modern agriculture. To realize the fundamental transformation from traditional agriculture to modern agriculture, it is urgent to cultivate a new generation of highly qualified farmers who have both professional knowledge and relatively high labor skills, understand market operation and management, love agriculture, and are willing to take agriculture as a profession.

To cultivate new-type professional farmers, the focus should be on establishing a "three-in-one" cultivation system for new-type professional farmers consisting of education and training, standardized management and policy support. It is necessary, according to the employment characteristics and ability quality of different types of new-type professional farmers, to scientifically formulate suitable education and training plans and organize their implementation, and this cannot be replaced by general popularization training or simple "one matter, one training". In addition, education and training need to keep pace with the times and cannot be done once and for all. It is necessary to establish a regular training system so that new-type professional farmers can adapt to adjustments in agricultural industry policy, advances in agricultural science and technology, and changes in the agricultural product market, and improve the level of agricultural production and operation. At the same time, it is necessary to formulate corresponding support policies to attract graduates of agricultural colleges, especially secondary and higher agricultural vocational colleges, to return to the countryside to farm and start businesses; actively develop various forms of continuing education, and broadly carry out vocational education and training for groups such as junior and senior high school graduates who have not continued their studies, people with disabilities, and the unemployed; increase support for vocational education in rural and poor areas, build a batch of secondary vocational schools in poor areas with concentrated populations and industrial development needs, and support vocational colleges in the eastern region through award and subsidy policies to expand the scale of enrollment oriented to the central and western regions, etc. Of course, training new-type professional farmers is not entirely a government action. It requires coordinating various types of education and training resources, and it is necessary to accelerate the construction and improvement of a new-type professional farmer education and training system with specialized farmer education and training institutions such as agricultural radio and television schools and farmer science and technology education and training centers as the main body, and with extensive participation by secondary and higher agricultural vocational colleges, agricultural technology extension service institutions, agricultural research institutes, agricultural universities, agricultural enterprises and farmer cooperatives, so as to meet the multi-level, multi-form, wide-coverage, regular and institutionalized education and training needs of new-type professional farmers.

To match the above five key areas of agricultural innovation, it is also necessary to build four major technical systems supporting the development of modern agriculture:

First, build a high-yield and high-efficiency production technology system. At the level of national strategy, it is necessary to increase the allocation of national agricultural scientific research forces and adjust the main direction of attack, and, according to the characteristics and uses of different agricultural products, study and formulate reasonable high-yield and high-efficiency goals. Among these, the focus is on cultivating new products that are high-yield, high-quality, stress-resistant and famous, special and excellent, vigorously strengthening post-production research such as storage, preservation, packaging, storage and transportation, and value-added deep processing, and improving the production and management technologies of the planting and breeding industries to raise the quality and market competitiveness of agricultural products. At the same time, it is necessary to take the ten-thousand-mu demonstration plots for high-yield creation of grain and major crops as units, take major crops such as wheat, rice, corn, potato and rapeseed as the focus, organically combine tackling key technical bottlenecks with the promotion of mature technologies, make key breakthroughs in bottleneck factors constraining the improvement of production levels, improve and upgrade integrated technology models, and accelerate the formation of new production capacity. And do a good job in guidance and training, and ensure the implementation of technology.

Second, build a production technology system that is ecologically safe and circular and conserving. In accordance with the development requirements of resource conservation, environmental friendliness and diversification of agricultural functions, strengthen integrated innovation in key technologies for water recycling in agricultural systems, key energy-saving technologies for agricultural cultivation, agricultural material recycling technologies, multi-level conversion technologies for agricultural resources, resource utilization technologies for waste, direct return-to-field technologies for renewable resources, ecological control technologies for agricultural harmful organisms, and reduction and control technologies for greenhouse gases and pollutants, so as to improve the development level of China's circular agriculture. In this regard, the government should also issue corresponding consumption, investment and guidance policies, encourage agriculture-related enterprises and scientific research institutions and universities to increase investment in research and development of ecologically safe and circular and conserving technological innovation, support leading enterprises with "agriculture" in their names to build standardized agricultural product production bases, and establish their own brands. At the same time, it is necessary to strengthen government supervision, formulate and implement legal systems concerning the quality and safety of agricultural products and environmental protection, establish a safety-oriented agricultural evaluation system, strengthen law enforcement and publicity for agricultural environmental protection, actively carry out circular agriculture technology training, and improve farmers' production skills and environmental protection awareness.

Third, build an agricultural product circulation technology system based on information technology. To establish an agricultural product circulation system based on internet information technology, the key is to build the "six major support" systems: the e-commerce system, the credit system, the personnel staffing system, the logistics support system, the information system, and the infrastructure system. Among these, the e-commerce system mainly refers to establishing an online transaction realization system based on e-commerce, so as to realize online transactions and online payments for agricultural trade products, realize online promotion, transactions and payments for specialty tourism and specialty agritainment, and realize comprehensive service activities related to specialty economies and investment attraction, etc. The rural e-commerce credit system should adhere to low cost, a low threshold, timeliness and simple identification. The personnel staffing system includes all personnel related to rural e-commerce activities, such as information officers, website technical personnel, sales personnel, and agricultural extension personnel. The focus of the logistics support system is to cultivate a low-cost logistics distribution team and form a comprehensive and balanced rural logistics path with wide coverage, strong circulation capacity, high quality and short time. The information system mainly must ensure the safety, reliability, timeliness and effectiveness of information collection, processing, storage and transmission. The infrastructure system mainly refers to equipping the basic hardware facilities for the operation of the rural e-commerce system and building the hardware foundation platform for the entire system.

Fourth, build a modern equipment technology system characterized by mechanization. The state should build a full-process mechanized production technology system for major crops, improve support policies for research and development of agricultural mechanization technology and equipment suited to China's national conditions, and vigorously develop key technologies and core technologies with independent intellectual property rights. It may explore the establishment of major special projects for agricultural mechanization scientific and technological innovation, support agricultural machinery enterprises in gradually taking on the important task of major agricultural machinery product innovation, guide scientific research institutes to provide source innovation for agricultural machinery enterprises, promote the joint construction of engineering laboratories and cooperative research and development by industry, universities and research institutes, and gradually break free from the situation in which high-end products and core components are controlled by others. The focus is on researching, developing, promoting and applying supporting mechanized technologies and equipment around major crops, and vigorously developing light and simplified agricultural machinery that can be assembled, adjusted and adapted to the production requirements of multiple crops; and, for different specialty and advantageous crops, in accordance with the requirements of standardization, specialization, large-scale operation and industrialization, research and develop a batch of advanced, applicable and efficient agricultural machinery to realize full-process mechanized operations from planting to harvesting. At the same time, it is necessary to actively develop technical equipment for ecologically protective agricultural production mechanization, new processes and supporting equipment for clean large-scale livestock and poultry production, resource conversion and utilization technologies, technical equipment for agricultural product quality and safety assurance, technologies and instrumentation for rapid detection and analysis of agricultural product quality, and technologies and equipment for processing, preservation, cold storage and cold-chain transportation of bulk agricultural products, etc.; and assemble and match advanced agricultural machinery and agronomic technologies to form efficient and flexible integrated technology models, strengthen the construction of demonstration zones for agricultural machinery-agronomy integration, and promote the integrated application of engineering, biological, information and environmental technologies.