Rice branding cannot rely on selling alone; brand building must also be done well
Facing increasingly discerning consumers, only branded rice that is ecologically high-quality and tastes good is not hard to sell and can also fetch a good price, so that large-scale operators can achieve high yield and high efficiency. Therefore, all localities are consciously shifting from selling paddy to selling milled rice. This is a sign of the transformation and upgrading of the rice industry. From selling paddy to selling milled rice, though only one word differs, the significance is great. "How can branding be summed up by a single word, 'selling'? The market is there. Without varieties that are high-quality and taste good, no matter how good the packaging is or how well one peddles it, consumers will not buy it. If good varieties cannot achieve high yield through standardization, it will also be difficult for farmers in large-scale operations to increase income. Brand awareness must be reflected in every link of the industrial chain. Shanghai has been working hard all along," said Yin Ou, deputy director of the Shanghai Municipal Agricultural Commission.
Relying on distinctive varieties to create differentiation
Shanghai people love to eat good rice. Whether locally produced or imported, there is only better, never the best. Therefore, since 2001, Shanghai has implemented a three-year promotion plan for high-quality rice. In just three years, the proportion of high-quality varieties rose rapidly from less than 10% in 2000 to 87%. Since 2010, continuing to focus on the industrialized development of high-quality rice, the main planted varieties have basically achieved the goal of periodic replacement every 3-5 years. In the past three years, the proportion of rice quality reaching the Grade 3 standard for high-quality rice issued by the Ministry of Agriculture has remained above 90%.
"This still cannot meet the needs of Shanghai citizens. To fill the market vacuum in October and November, and to meet the demand for a soft and fragrant taste, we can only rely on distinctive varieties. Shanghai has successively bred high-quality early-maturing varieties represented by Nanjing 46, Songxiang 1018, Qingxiang Ruangeng, and others. In recent years, it has also bred three high-quality extra-early-maturing (National Day rice) rice varieties: 'Hunu Zaoxiangruan 1', 'Hunu Zaoxiangruan 2', and 'Hunu Zaoruangeng'," said Xia Longping, director of the Shanghai Seed Management General Station.
Locally produced fine rice led by "Songzaoxiang 1" filled the gap in Shanghai's market for National Day rice, while varieties such as "Hunu Zaoxiangruan 1", in addition to further meeting the requirement of early market availability, also satisfied Shanghai citizens' demand for fragrant and soft rice. With these high-quality, high-yield, early-maturing varieties, the early, middle, and late one-third each variety structure envisioned by Shanghai's rice industry has a foundation.
In addition to science and technology, the breeding of distinctive varieties requires even more persistence. The reporter learned from the Crop Breeding and Cultivation Research Institute of the Shanghai Academy of Agricultural Sciences that the institute began breeding research activities centered on "high quality" ten years ago. Starting in 2014, it conducted cultivation trials in Shanghai's suburbs of a series of new high-quality National Day rice varieties. Only after three National Day rice taste-testing events in 2015 were "Hunu Zaoxiangruan 1", "Hunu Zaoxiangruan 2", and "Hunu Zaoruangeng" determined. For these three new high-quality National Day rice varieties with excellent appearance quality, yield and other comprehensive traits, and excellent taste and mouthfeel, it can truly be described as grinding a sword for ten years.
After the successful breeding of distinctive varieties, consumers still need to learn about the new varieties. Since 2010, Shanghai has held local high-quality rice tasting and evaluation activities, and this year is already the sixth session. Not long ago, the reporter attended the event in person and deeply felt the enthusiasm of citizens for tasting and purchasing, and also experienced how difficult it is to build the "Shanghai Premium Rice" brand.
At this event, 18 rice cookers took turns serving citizens rice from 35 brands, involving 19 high-quality, high-yield rice varieties, 15 of which were bred in Shanghai. The event was jointly organized by the Agricultural Technology Center, the Seed Management General Station, and the Shanghai Rice Industry System Project Team, and 32 enterprises participated in the event.
Tasting and awarding are a case of the government setting up the stage and enterprises putting on the show. The purpose is to let more consumers learn about Shanghai's locally produced high-quality rice and to build brand marketing channels for large-scale operating entities. However, in promoting branded agricultural products, the first fear is unstable quality, and the second fear is inability to supply enough. How should Shanghai's locally produced high-quality rice withstand the test of large-scale and standardized production?
Endorsing high-quality rice brands with large-scale and standardized production
Shanghai's rice area remains at about 1.4 million mu, while Shanghai's market consumes grain measured in tens of thousands of tons every day. Therefore, focusing on the market vacuum period, Shanghai emphasizes extra-early and early-maturing varieties as well as differentiation in quality and taste. Its positioning is accurate and also compensates for the competitive disadvantage of a small industrial area. However, the problems of large-scale and standardized production of high-quality rice also exist.
Shanghai is the birthplace of family farms, and rice production is mostly carried out by family farms. In this respect, Shanghai already has the advantage of appropriately scaled operations. After the industrialization of scale comes a series of challenges. The most obvious is the urgent pursuit of high quality and high yield by appropriately scaled operating entities. They need even more to develop and grow by increasing added value, and choosing new distinctive varieties is the only way.
How to achieve standardization of high-quality varieties after scaling up is a key link in the branding of Shanghai's rice industry.
In order to form the competitiveness of Shanghai's locally produced high-quality rice, in recent years Shanghai has formulated multiple technical regulations for pollution-free high-quality rice production and local standards for pollution-free production. Gu Yulong, section chief of the Grain and Oil Section of the Shanghai Agricultural Technology Extension Service Center, told the reporter that Shanghai has already formulated cultivation technology model diagrams for 11 high-quality varieties. According to the model diagrams, the yield and quality of locally produced rice are guaranteed. The promotion and implementation of these regulations and standards and the application of model cultivation technology have undoubtedly endorsed the high-quality rice brand.
During interviews, the reporter learned that promoting high-yield rice technology is not easy, and demonstrating and promoting high-quality, high-yield varieties is even harder. It involves variety adaptability, improvements in agricultural machinery and agronomy, and the need to balance high yield with ecological quality. These are all real difficulties placed before agricultural technology extension personnel.
Shanghai has already clarified its approach and goals during the 13th Five-Year Plan period, namely focusing on full-process mechanized operations, relying on close cooperation between agricultural machinery and agronomy, and comprehensively promoting key technologies such as mechanized rice seedling raising and transplanting cultivation, mechanized hill direct-seeding cultivation, and mechanized drying of paddy. The comprehensive mechanization level of rice cultivation, planting, and harvesting reached 88.5%, 2.6 percentage points higher than at the end of the 12th Five-Year Plan.
Shanghai will mainly promote five key technologies. In addition to mechanized planting, supporting models of good seeds and good methods, balanced application of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium nutrients, and green prevention and control of diseases, pests, and weeds, it will first promote the "three-three system" crop rotation model. The "three-three system" crop rotation model is a grain farming system model first launched nationwide by Shanghai, focusing on combining land use with land nurturing and full-process mechanized rice and wheat production. In 2016, the proportions of "wheat-rice", "green manure-rice", and "winter plowing and land maintenance-rice" were 41:33:25.
"Shanghai's locally produced high-quality rice is a brand of the Shanghai metropolis. The Agricultural Technology Center has an obligation to hold rice tasting and evaluation activities, but more importantly, it must do a good job in standardized planting through agricultural technology extension services, and endorse the high yield, high quality, and good taste of Shanghai's early-maturing rice. Without this endorsement, the branding of high-quality rice is empty talk," said Zhu Jianhua, director of the Shanghai Agricultural Technology Extension Service Center.