Agricultural crowdfunding still doesn't fit local conditions, some projects remain unclaimed
Domestic platforms such as Dajiazhong and Changxian Crowdfunding already exist, all of which let users pre-purchase agricultural products directly from farms.
Agricultural crowdfunding still doesn't fit local conditions; some projects remain un“claimed”.
■ Our reporter's trainee Liu Qi
In people's previous impression, reward-based crowdfunding was always associated with creative tech products, artsy artistic performances and the like. Now crowdfunding has spawned a plain new idea——agricultural crowdfunding.
Will agricultural crowdfunding bring disruptive innovation to the agricultural circulation chain? Li Yumin, partner of Zhongchou.com and general manager of agriculture, believes that agricultural crowdfunding uses the internet and social networks to innovate the original agricultural production process, letting consumers participate in farming experiences, trace agricultural ecology, pool orders in advance, drive agriculture with orders, and promote the development of China's order agriculture through the internet, crowdfunding and big data. “The biggest advantage of agriculture participating in crowdfunding is that it can obtain supporting services for the entire process from idea to market development”.
Domestic platforms such as Dajiazhong and Changxian Crowdfunding already exist, yet this new thing, agricultural crowdfunding, seems not to be recognized by investors. Among the 18 projects launched on the Dajiazhong platform, only 1 was successfully crowdfunded; among the four projects on Changxian Crowdfunding, one project was successfully crowdfunded, and a shiitake mushroom project with a target of 5000 yuan still had 8 days before the end of crowdfunding, but no one supported it.
Crowdfunding shortens the agricultural product circulation chain
In the current market circulation of agricultural products, agricultural products need to go through multiple links from farmers to consumers. Agricultural products are first sold by farmers to wholesalers in the wholesale market at the place of origin, then transported by transporters to wholesalers in the wholesale market at the place of sale, and then reach consumers through retailers, supermarkets, farmers' markets and so on. Because the entire circulation chain requires multiple handlings, there is a difference between the cost for farmers to produce agricultural products and the actual purchase price for consumers, with a markup ratio of about 600%. Therefore, in Li Yumin's view, the opportunity for agricultural crowdfunding lies in removing some intermediate links and delivering the highest-quality agricultural products directly from the place of origin to consumers.
At present, there are already dedicated agricultural crowdfunding platforms in China, such as “Dajiazhong” and “Changxian Crowdfunding”, all of which are platforms for users to pre-purchase agricultural products directly from farms.
In addition to agricultural crowdfunding platforms, the crowdfunding platform “Zhongchou.com” has recently also begun to enter the field of agricultural crowdfunding. Zhongchou.com's agricultural crowdfunding is divided into two sections: online and offline. The online section includes “Zhongtianbao”, private adoption and seasonal first releases, while the offline section is agricultural finance and so on. The second type of model is private adoption. The third is the agricultural crowdfunding model, where crowdfunding rescues endangered farming civilization; the fourth type of business model is crowdfunding to help realize the cooperation between the internet and cross-border new farmers; the fifth thing to do is crowdfunding to develop three-dimensional agriculture, returning a touch of green to the city”.
Traditional agricultural companies seek innovation
Opening agricultural crowdfunding platforms such as Dajiazhong and Changxian Crowdfunding, one can see that all current agricultural crowdfunding projects are initiated by individuals, and the agricultural products include watermelons, cherries, walnuts, rice and so on, as well as agriculture-related projects. However, the reporter found that among the 18 projects launched on the Dajiazhong platform, 9 projects had ended crowdfunding, but only 1 project was successfully crowdfunded (that is, completed its fundraising target). As for the four projects on Changxian Crowdfunding, only one project was successfully crowdfunded, and the other three projects are still crowdfunding, among which a shiitake mushroom project with a target of 5000 yuan still had 8 days before the end of crowdfunding, but no one supported it.
In response, an industry insider told the reporter, “The crowdfunding model itself has only just started in China, and everyone's awareness of it is still relatively low. In addition, agricultural crowdfunding was only launched recently, so it is understandable that there are few investors.”
It is worth mentioning that, in addition to individuals initiating agricultural projects, traditional agricultural companies have recently also begun to actively seek innovation. Huiyuan Group, San'an Kangshi and Tuotuo Commune reached a strategic cooperation agreement with Zhongchou.com on July 30. Regarding the cooperation between traditional agriculture and crowdfunding platforms, Li Wei, chairman of San'an Kangshi, said frankly, “I myself think this is a new point of hope for people in agriculture. It is equivalent to giving those of us in traditional industries, traditional channels, or the most traditional agricultural industry operations a very good opportunity, using a very modern, very fashionable and very effective means to truly bring to fruition the meaningful things we want to do for society and for the public, such as food health and safety”.