China has many agricultural universities, so why do farmers still use traditional methods to farm the land?

China has so many agricultural universities, and agricultural science academies too, yet farmers still use traditional methods to farm the land. What is the purpose of establishing agricultural universities? This seems like one question, but it actually contains two doubts. The first: since there are so many agricultural universities and agricultural science academies, why have farmers' farming methods not changed? The second: given that, what is the meaning of establishing these agricultural universities and agricultural science academies?

In fact, the question itself seems incorrect. Is today's agriculture still the traditional agriculture of the past? Clearly not! The chemical fertilizers, agriculture, mechanized farming, and high-yield seeds used in today's agriculture are all very different from the traditional farming methods of the past.

For example, in traditional agriculture, machines and manual labor were used for weeding, but today herbicides can be used. For higher yields, organic fertilizer and chemical fertilizer can be applied in the fields, and when plants get sick, there are also pesticides! When it comes to seeds, the changes are even greater. Traditional agricultural production basically relied on saving one's own seeds, which had essentially nothing to do with commercial seeds, but today basically all seeds are commercialized, and the improvement in yields is quite significant. For example, with corn, a traditional self-pollinated seed yielding 500 jin per mu was already considered good, while today's per-unit yield can reach 1300 jin per mu.

And the achievements in agricultural biotechnology are even more remarkable. The well-known golden rice, although not yet promoted in our country, is very helpful for treating patients with night blindness. And the large-scale application of genetically modified insect-resistant cotton has saved a large amount of pesticides, not only increasing yields but also being more environmentally friendly.

Which of all these things is not the result of agriculture-related research? The achievements of universities and agricultural science academies may not necessarily be visible to you, but they are quietly changing our lives around you. Just because you cannot see something does not mean there has been no change.

The purpose of establishing agricultural universities and agricultural science academies is to apply theory to practice. Theory should not only exist in laboratories; it should also go out into the fields and play a real role. At present, there are 800 million farmers nationwide, yet there are only about one million people engaged in agriculture-related scientific research, which is clearly out of proportion, and many agricultural university graduates or agriculture-related personnel switch to other industries after graduation.

However, much of the current research that is too basic may not be applicable to agricultural production in the short term, but this does not prevent research from continuing. Agricultural universities or agricultural science academies certainly have their limitations, but it is precisely the unremitting efforts of agricultural universities and related research institutions that enable more scientific research achievements to be applied to agricultural production.

And everyone may have a somewhat narrow understanding of agricultural universities, because whether it is agricultural science academies or agricultural universities, their scope of research is very broad. Do not limit your thinking to just agricultural production. Agriculture is an industry related to people's livelihood, and for example, food safety is naturally part of it. The food science research in many agriculture and forestry colleges and universities today also makes our diet safer. In this sense, is this not also where the value of agricultural research lies? In the past, it took more than ten years from achievement to transformed application, but today it takes only one or two years. In this respect, it can also benefit more farmers.

Since the reform and opening up, our country's agricultural research and education have made considerable progress, but compared with developed countries in the world, there is still no small gap. In the future, perhaps agriculture-related institutions will not only need to train university students, but also need to do something in farmer skills training in order to change people's traditional impression that agricultural universities or agricultural science academies do nothing.

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