How Agricultural Distance Education Is Boosting the Development of Modern Agriculture

The social structure of rural China is undergoing profound changes unprecedented in history. With the rapid development of the social economy and the breakthrough progress of urban-rural integration, the world's largest-scale transfer of rural labor has taken shape. Of the more than 800 million rural population, over 260 million farmers have already moved to cities for employment. Elderly farming, women's farming and primary-school-educated farming have become phenomena of focus. If farmers are not cultivated into high-quality, highly skilled professional farmers, who will till the vast fields will become a worldwide problem.

To solve the difficult problem of “who will farm and how to farm” China's 1.8 billion mu of cultivated land in the future, we must firmly grasp the backbone group of farming farmers and accelerate the cultivation of a large number of new-type professional farmers. Only by continuously cultivating new-type professional farmers can we solidify the foundation for the development of modern agriculture. In 2014, the Ministry of Agriculture launched the New-Type Professional Farmer Cultivation Project, making full use of distance education methods and relying on the advantages of agricultural radio and television schools at all levels across the country - complete organization, sound system, wide coverage, close to the grassroots and rich experience - to accelerate the exploration of cultivation methods and systems suited to different regions and different levels of economic development. Centering on the “three-category coordinated” cultivation goal of production-and-operation-oriented, professional-skill-oriented and social-service-oriented farmers, it actively builds a “three-in-one” new-type professional farmer cultivation system integrating education and training, certification management and policy support. Hundreds of millions of new-type professional farmers will enter the agricultural distance education platform. China's agricultural distance education has formed a brand-new development pattern, launching a powerful new engine for the development of modern agriculture.

Agricultural distance education is the basic means of cultivating new-type professional farmers

At present, China still has more than 640 million rural resident population. Adding the more than 260 million migrant workers, over 80% of the rural labor force has an education level below junior middle school. Because farmers' scientific and technological literacy is low and their capacity to absorb and apply science and technology is weak, the effective transformation of agricultural scientific and technological achievements and the rapid promotion of new agricultural production technologies are constrained, affecting farmers' income growth and prosperity. China's rural educational resources are relatively scarce. In addition, rural areas are vast and farmers live scattered, so rural workers generally have very limited access to campus education and training. Therefore, using distance teaching breaks the limits of time and space. It is convenient and fast, with large capacity, low cost and wide coverage. It resolves the contradiction between farmers' production and learning, alleviates the severe shortage of rural educational resources, and allows farmers to study on the spot and nearby without leaving their villages or posts, directly serving agricultural production. It conforms to the environmental characteristics of rural China and farmers' learning demands.

To accelerate the development of modern agriculture in a large agricultural country like China, it is necessary to cultivate hundreds of millions of new-type professional farmers covering the pre-production, in-production and post-production stages of agriculture, including production-and-operation-oriented, professional-skill-oriented and social-service-oriented farmers. It is also necessary to strengthen the cultivation of agricultural successors and the regular training of new-type professional farmers. The task is extremely heavy and must be pursued over the long term, establishing a new-type professional farmer education and training system that meets the needs of multi-level, multi-form, wide-coverage, regular and institutionalized education and training. Faced with the current situation of a huge number, wide distribution and diverse needs, using modern information technology to carry out rural distance education and deliver high-quality education and training resources and market information quickly and efficiently to the vast rural areas is an effective means of solving the problem of cultivating new-type professional farmers with greater, faster, better and more economical results. Therefore, accelerating the development of modern distance education and the application of information and communication technology is an important measure for fully utilizing high-quality educational resources, narrowing the urban-rural education gap and thereby achieving urbanization and agricultural modernization.

China's agricultural distance education in the era of big data

With the arrival of the era of big data, agricultural distance education is likewise facing another great transformation since the age of printing. New educational models that organically combine online education, gamified learning, virtual communities and real classrooms are constantly emerging, dissolving the traditional concepts of cultivation time and space and realizing learning and interaction beyond time and space. Faced with the rapid development of new educational technologies, how China's agricultural distance education moves toward the future and promotes the integrated development of traditional educational technologies and emerging educational technologies - after years of practice, the Central Agricultural Radio and Television School has actively embraced the changes brought by new educational technologies, explored effective farmer education and training methods suited to China's national and social conditions and to rural farmers, and opened a path of agricultural distance education development with Chinese characteristics.

Since the 1980s, agricultural distance education has sprouted like bamboo shoots and flourished in China along with the pace of China's reform and opening up and scientific and technological progress. Represented by the Central Agricultural Radio and Television School, agricultural distance education has developed from the single means of radio in its early days to the current comprehensive use of radio, television, satellite networks, the Internet and other means, and is gradually entering a new period of remote interaction, accompaniment and intelligence. In terms of radio education means, the Central Agricultural Radio and Television School has set up 2 frequencies and 3 programs on China National Radio, with annual broadcast time reaching more than 500 hours, and has driven provincial radio stations to set up farmer education and training programs. In more than 10,000 village-level “loudspeaker” broadcasting stations across the country, practical technology programs are broadcast according to time and need. In terms of television education means, 550 hours are broadcast annually on China Central Television, and 365 hours of teaching programs are broadcast annually on the dedicated channel for modern distance education for rural Party members. In terms of online education means, industry websites such as the China Rural Distance Education Network, the China New-Type Professional Farmer Network and Nongguang Online have been established, along with a satellite network with nearly 600 remote receiving stations. Online education and on-demand and download services for teaching resources are carried out through the Internet, teaching resources are pushed through the satellite network, and an “Online Grand Lecture Hall” has been opened.

At present, the Central Agricultural Radio and Television School offers 24 secondary vocational education majors, and agricultural radio and television schools at all levels offer nearly 100 majors with local characteristics. Each year, more than 100 kinds of printed textbooks and more than 600 hours of audio and video teaching materials are developed, together with supporting online courseware and computer courses, forming an agricultural teaching resource library with complete varieties, diverse forms and considerable quantity. It not only basically meets the needs of the national agricultural radio and television school system in carrying out agricultural distance education, but also provides rich teaching resources for agricultural vocational education and agricultural technology extension, and its capacity to serve the development of modern agriculture is constantly strengthening.

Building a cloud platform for cultivating new-type professional farmers

According to statistics, China's Internet users have exceeded 600 million, and mobile Internet users have exceeded 464 million. In the future, digital schools, digital teachers, online classrooms, distance learning, online education, cloud education, cloud computing, micro-technology, big data and other virtualized, flattened interactive learning platforms, as well as gamified learning, teaching according to aptitude, flipped classrooms and remote video teaching, will become new pathways for learning. China's agricultural distance education will closely follow the pace of modern educational technology development, explore the establishment of a smart farmer cloud platform, apply modern information technologies such as big data, intelligent terminals, mobile interconnection and cloud computing, build an “air classroom” at the national and provincial levels, and improve functions such as the development of education and training resources for new-type professional farmers, resource and information management services, and online learning management. At the municipal and county levels, the focus will be on building “fixed classrooms” and “mobile classrooms”, improving functions such as classroom teaching, online learning and delivering education to villages. In agricultural parks, farmer cooperatives, agricultural enterprises, family farms and other links of the industrial chain, “field classrooms” will be established to improve internship and practical training functions. Through the integrated construction and comprehensive functioning of the four classrooms, agricultural distance education means will be innovated, the organic integration of distance means and traditional education methods will be promoted, more convenient and effective learning conditions will be provided for the vast number of farmers, and a new-type professional farmer education and training system that meets the needs of multi-level, multi-form, wide-coverage, regular and institutionalized education and training will be built.

Build a public basic platform so that new-type professional farmers have a stage for development. First, a new-type professional farmer education and training platform. Establish and improve a new-type professional farmer education and training system with the national agricultural radio and television schools as the main body and with agricultural vocational colleges, agricultural research and extension institutions, farmer cooperatives, agriculture-related enterprises and other social resources as supplements - a “one main body, multiple elements” system. Accelerate the construction of a “1+N+X” new-type professional farmer cultivation network, in which 1 farmers' science and technology education and training center at the county level coordinates overall, several (N) education and training institutions with agricultural radio and television schools as the main body complement and share responsibilities, and a number (X) of on-site teaching bases (field schools) distributed along the agricultural industrial chain extend coverage. Establish a stable long-term mechanism for “delivering education to villages”, innovate the “combination of agriculture and learning” cultivation model, and enhance the capacity to cultivate new-type professional farmers. Second, a credit recognition platform for new-type professional farmer education and training. Establish a national credit bank for new-type professional farmer education and training, promote the connection between vocational training and vocational education, advance the mutual recognition and articulation of learning outcomes, and enhance the service capacity to support lifelong learning for new-type professional farmers. Third, a smart platform for full-process services for new-type professional farmers. Strengthen the integrated construction of air classrooms, fixed classrooms, mobile classrooms and field classrooms with agricultural radio and television schools as the main body, comprehensively integrate the smart farmer cloud platform, carry out education and training, certification management and follow-up services, and enhance the informatization service level for new-type professional farmers. Fourth, a platform for international exchange and cooperation in cultivating new-type professional farmers. Carry out international comparative research on new-type professional farmer cultivation, introduce new-type professional farmer cultivation models and high-quality teaching resources, establish bilateral and multilateral exchange and cooperation mechanisms for new-type professional farmer cultivation, and enhance the capacity for the development of the new-type professional farmer cultivation cause. Fifth, a platform for promoting the development of new-type professional farmers. Run the China New-Type Professional Farmer website well, build the China New-Type Professional Farmer WeChat platform, hold the New-Type Professional Farmer Development Conference, promote interactive exchange, dialogue and cooperation and joint operation, and enhance new-type professional farmers' capacity for self-development.

China's agricultural modernization requires bringing up hundreds of millions of professional farmers. Using agricultural distance education means to build a cloud platform for cultivating new-type professional farmers will launch a powerful new engine for the development of modern agriculture.