Internet Plus Pushes Agriculture Upmarket, Squeezes Out Middlemen
The Ministry of Agriculture recently announced that, according to preliminary estimates, China's online agricultural product transactions exceeded 100 billion yuan last year, accounting for 3% of agricultural product sales. According to ministry officials, this is not just agricultural e-commerce; "Internet Plus modern agriculture" has also achieved initial results in agricultural IoT, agricultural information services and other areas.
Recently, the General Office of the State Council issued the "Opinions on Accelerating the Transformation of Agricultural Development Modes," which explicitly proposed carrying out the "Internet Plus modern agriculture" initiative. With the deep integration of the internet and agriculture, e-commerce, internet finance, big data... these terms are gradually making their way into the countryside.
Squeezing Out Middlemen
In Mengcheng County, Anhui Province, villager Zhang Zilan filled out the registration form and became a member of "Cloud Farm." "Buying a bottle of herbicide online is several yuan cheaper." Zhang Zilan's reason for joining "Cloud Farm" was simple, but the value of "Cloud Farm" goes far beyond that.
Zhang Zilan's choice to shop online was carefully calculated: a bag of fertilizer used to cost 110 yuan, but now it only costs 88 yuan. Over a year, on three to four hundred mu of farmland, the savings on fertilizer alone add up to a considerable amount.
Tian Feng, Executive President and Chief Communications Officer of "Cloud Farm," told this newspaper that "Cloud Farm" already has more than 3,500 agricultural input products from over 400 enterprises on sale online, serving nearly one million users. Farmers can directly purchase products from legitimate manufacturers on the platform at prices 15%-45% lower than traditional channels.
After the internet stepped in, the middle links in buying and selling were squeezed out. Two months ago, Inner Mongolian farmer Wang Guicheng began selling flaxseed oil on Alibaba's agricultural product sales platform, communicating directly with buyers, which brought him substantial profits. According to statistics, by the end of last year, the platform's number of buyers had reached 750,000, a year-on-year increase of 98%.
Besides getting a good price, the selling process has also become much easier. Zhang Fenghua, a farmer in Juye County, Shandong Province, returned to his hometown and contracted 300 mu of land. He said: "When the peaches ripen, with one click online, they go directly to Cloud Farm's 'Harvest Hub' for sale. It's convenient and worry-free."
Bi Huifang, President of the New Farmers Association, told this newspaper that shortening the distance from agricultural inputs to farmers, and from farmland to dining table, is a major characteristic of modern agriculture.
Attracting Massive Resources
Wang Mei quit her job at a large company and founded Meizi Taoyuan, launching an O2O agricultural product business; Liao Jun was originally a securities manager, then contracted about 100 mu of land and started an "organic farm"... The internet is like a "magnet" installed on farmland, continuously attracting large amounts of talent, capital and other resources.
Di Xuan, a villager in Jiaxiang County, Shandong Province, once lamented that getting a loan in rural areas was not easy. Later, he used "Cloud Farm Treasure" to obtain a low-interest loan from a bank. It is reported that "Cloud Farm Treasure" has cumulatively provided 50 million yuan in low-interest loans to farmers, generating economic benefits of over 100 million yuan.
Song Hongyuan, Director of the Rural Economy Research Center of the Ministry of Agriculture, told this newspaper: "The internet plays a connecting role. Urban capital and talent need an outlet, rural areas have enormous demand, and the internet connects the two, producing an economic model with great prospects."
Besides bringing resources to agriculture, the internet also deeply explores the potential of agriculture itself. Jixi County in Anhui Province has a large amount of idle land. Last year, the "Land Together" team partnered with Alibaba to implement the "Land Together" project here, creating China's first internet "private farm." Consumers can subscribe to a plot of land online and choose which crops to plant. The produce from the land is periodically mailed to consumers. Industry insiders are very optimistic about this model.
Farmland Transforms into Laboratory
Professor Jiang Linshu of Beijing University of Agriculture opens the cattle farm monitoring App every morning when he wakes up to check whether the 270 cows are "happy." This software can statistically analyze the recent physiological indicator trends of the cattle, then adjust ventilation, water supply, and increase or decrease feed. This is the scene at China's first IoT experimental cattle farm.
With the deepening of "Internet Plus agriculture," farmland is increasingly resembling a laboratory. "As a platform, the internet not only spawns many new technologies but also accumulates a lot of data, which is conducive to precision production and can also analyze the trends of market and price changes. From the perspective of the development of agricultural informatization, this is a trend," said Song Hongyuan.
Of course, regarding the application of big data in agriculture, Bi Huifang has her own thoughts: "For frontline agricultural producers, the real application of big data is still in the exploratory stage. This is because big data requires professional enterprises to collect and analyze it over a long period and on a large scale before more farmers can enjoy the dividends of the internet."
In Song Hongyuan's view, "Internet Plus agriculture" may change the entire format of agriculture, producing revolutionary transformations, and agricultural production, marketing and services will all develop more scientifically.