Two-way seed information traceability enters the big data era
How can you tell whether seeds are good or bad? Don't look at the advertising, look at the yield?
In the big data era, farmers can simply move their hand, click a mouse or open their mobile phone, and go online to check all kinds of information about the seeds they have bought, including the variety details, packaging information, seed production base, processing site and so on. In the past, when farmers chose seeds, they mostly judged the quality and authenticity of the seeds based on the experience of small-scale trial planting in previous years, the yields they saw in demonstration fields, and the publicity and promises of dealers. With the Ministry of Agriculture launching the national seed traceability pilot query platform, farmers no longer need to buy seeds with anxiety, and no longer need to spend a year verifying whether seeds are genuine and good or bad.
At present, 12 varieties from 11 seed companies across the country have already been listed on the national seed traceability pilot query platform.
Let farmers buy with confidence and plant with peace of mind
On the one hand, it lets ordinary people buy seeds with confidence and quickly and conveniently understand where the seeds come from and where they go; on the other hand, it also provides a platform for companies to carry out targeted after-sales service and technical guidance.
In recent years, with the continuous advancement of breeding research and development, the number of seed varieties has grown larger and larger. Although the number of seed companies has decreased somewhat, there are still more than 5,000; the number of varieties operated by each seed company varies, and a single variety may also be operated by multiple seed companies; in addition, each seed company has a huge number of dealers. For a combination of these reasons, irregular business practices such as promoting seeds before approval and counterfeit or mislabeled seed packets currently exist in seed sales, increasing the difficulty of market supervision and the risk for farmers when using seeds. Carrying out full-process traceability management in the seed industry has become one of the effective ways to solve these problems.
“This year, ‘Zhunliangyou 199’ was used as a pilot variety for traceability testing in Changsha County, Hunan Province.” Li Buxun, general manager of the rice division of Yuan Longping High-Tech Agriculture Co., Ltd., told reporters, “The launch of the national seed traceability pilot query platform, on the one hand, lets ordinary people buy seeds with confidence and quickly and conveniently understand where the seeds come from and where they go; on the other hand, it also provides a platform for companies to carry out targeted after-sales service and technical guidance.”
The construction of the platform has opened an important page in China's full-process seed traceability. Farmers can enter the relevant product traceability code on a computer or smartphone to identify whether seeds are genuine. At the same time, by collecting farmers' feedback and evaluations of the seeds they have bought, seed companies can more rationally formulate seed production plans, adjust breeding directions, safeguard intellectual property rights, and also spread planting techniques more quickly and conveniently.
“Although the query platform currently involves only 12 varieties, in the future it will still need to cover more varieties.” Xie Yan, director of the market supervision division of the Seed Administration Bureau of the Ministry of Agriculture, told reporters, “In order to better protect the rights and interests of farmers and companies and maintain market order, the more traceable varieties there are, the better.”
Two-way traceability of seed information
At present, farmers can already trace seeds, but companies tracing where seeds go, tracing who bought the seeds, has not yet been achieved. Information on seed buyers is hard to grasp, and dealers will not share such information with seed companies.
Farmers tracing a whole series of links in seed production, processing, packaging and sales is only one part of full-process traceability management in the seed industry. Two-way traceability between seed companies and farmers is the goal of full-process traceability in the seed industry.
Two-way traceability first ensures that what farmers buy is genuine branded seed, and that seed information can be checked somewhere. Once counterfeiting, mislabeling or quality problems occur, seed companies can, based on farmers' feedback, immediately begin rights protection and anti-counterfeiting work, or trace the seed production link to solve quality problems.
⟧ “In addition to extending full-process traceability to more varieties and regions, what attracts companies even more is traceability of seed buyers.” Yu Cai, marketing director of Beidahuang Kenfeng Seed Co., Ltd., said, “At present, farmers can already trace seeds, but companies tracing where seeds go, tracing who bought the seeds, has not yet been achieved. Information on seed buyers is hard to grasp, and dealers will not share such information with seed companies.”
Sales information can be regarded as a core secret of seed companies. If it is said that only companies that master good varieties can gain a foothold in the seed industry, then companies that master sales information and grasp the pulse of the market can go further in the industry. Through the collection of data, establishing a full-process traceability system for the seed industry can not only optimize seed market order and safeguard the lawful rights and interests of farmers and companies, but also effectively exchange market information, avoid unnecessary waste of resources, and contribute to promoting excellent varieties and stabilizing market prices.
“At present, achieving two-way traceability is still very difficult for companies.” Wu Xiaoling, deputy inspector of the Seed Administration Bureau of the Ministry of Agriculture, told reporters, “The cost of informatization for companies is very high, and there are also some technical barriers. In addition, dealers will also feel some resistance.”
The platform tests the waters for seed industry e-commerce
E-commerce channels can effectively solve the difficulty of collecting seed buyer information for two-way traceability, and farmers' cost of buying seeds can be reduced by one third to one half.
People buying daily necessities have already entered the e-commerce era, and seeds, as a special agricultural input commodity, will also land on e-commerce platforms. “E-commerce channels can effectively solve the difficulty of collecting seed buyer information for two-way traceability.” Wu Xiaoling said, “In other words, building a seed traceability query platform is also testing the waters for seed industry e-commerce.”
Many seed companies are using a model of appointing dealers at various levels by region for consignment sales. Today, the online and offline direct sales model of seed companies can effectively reduce the “skimming” of agents at all levels and leave room for giving profits to farmers and increasing profits for companies. The transformation of marketing methods has created space for full-process traceability in the seed industry, and has also created opportunities for the collection and exchange of information between agricultural companies.
“Price is the main advantage of mislabeled seeds.” Wu Xiaoling said, “With the establishment of the traceability platform and the formation of seed industry e-commerce, the sales cost of legitimate seeds will gradually decrease. Which farmer would still buy mislabeled seeds?” Companies invest huge amounts of funds in breeding research and development, and in order to ensure quality they also need to invest a lot of funds in the seed production link, while the model of traceability accompanied by e-commerce can effectively reduce the cost of intermediate links. “Farmers' cost of buying seeds can be reduced by about one third to one half.” Wu Xiaoling told reporters, “The profits of companies will also increase greatly. More importantly, seed management departments can maintain market order and supervise the market environment through more advanced means, and the difficulty of anti-counterfeiting work is also reduced a lot.”