The key to the success of a new variety is creating value for the industry chain

Following “Zhengdan 958” and “Xianyu 335”, two major varieties that performed outstandingly in China's main corn markets, a series of new varieties with good performance have successively appeared on the Chinese market, but a new variety does not necessarily translate effectively into productivity, nor does it necessarily translate into corporate profitability. Whether a variety can gain market recognition hinges on whether it can adapt to the needs of industrial development and meet the needs of farmers and the market.

Generally speaking, for a new variety to be successfully launched and secure a foothold in the market, five aspects of work must be done well.

Variety positioning. If a product with distinctive features and localized advantages is poorly positioned, its features and advantages will be difficult to demonstrate. Agricultural production is characterized by obvious regionality, broad spatial openness and strong uncertainty in product performance. If its advantageous regions cannot be determined through extensive product testing, the product's potential and advantages cannot be brought out; if its limitations and weaknesses are not fully understood, preventive measures cannot be taken in advance, causing unnecessary losses to farmers. Good positioning allows a variety to maximize its own advantages, avoid its own weaknesses, and create greater value for users.

Product quality. Good varieties need reliable quality as a guarantee. This requires enterprises to more fully recognize the importance of quality and to comprehensively control every link that may affect product quality during production. Correct planning and decision-making, sound management system development, necessary investment in hardware and software, and solid team execution are all guarantees of product quality. Providing the market with an adequate supply of consistently high-quality products is both responsible to distributors and farmers and responsible to the enterprise itself.

Marketing approach. The core of marketing is creating value for customers. This value can be increased yield, progress in production efficiency and economic returns, or improvements in user experience such as after-sales service. Deeply developing and enhancing user value on the basis of product characteristics is the key to product success. A marketing approach is an overall, strategic concept, not merely the piling up and use of marketing tactics. In addition, marketing must avoid being false, grandiose and empty, because integrity is the foundation on which an enterprise stands, and deceptive marketing will ultimately plunge the enterprise into an irrecoverable situation.

Variety right protection. Without effective variety protection measures and means, carefully bred and launched varieties will quickly flood the market, and not only will the enterprise fail to obtain the benefits it deserves, but piracy, counterfeit versions, and seed-passing-off practices will also leave users without a sense of security and cause them to abandon the variety early. The protection of variety rights requires action by administrative departments, coordination by industry associations, the establishment of regional cooperation networks and the enterprise's own efforts, and more importantly, enabling all participants in the industry chain to benefit from cracking down on counterfeits, so that farmers can experience the service and value obtained from purchasing genuine seeds.

Forward-thinking. With land transfer, changes in population structure and shifts in consumption concepts, the development model of Chinese agriculture has shifted from the pursuit of yield to efficiency improvement and the pursuit of returns. Therefore, enterprises should use the characteristics and advantages of varieties, combine them with the development of agricultural industrialization, the requirements of full mechanization of agricultural production and downstream users' demand for product safety and quality, and propose comprehensive solutions, rather than blindly following in others' footsteps. The liberation of thinking is the key to the future vitality of varieties and enterprises in the market.

In short, the success of a variety in the market depends on many factors. The variety's own performance is the foundation, while creating value for all participants and users in the industry chain is the most core element of success.