System breaks down barriers, helps agricultural science attract talent
??? Dai Hongyi, vice president of Qingdao Agricultural University, has held another identity in recent years - a scientist in the apple system's processing variety breeding post, one of the 50 national modern agricultural industry technology systems. He has thus risen to the ranks of national team experts. "The pattern is bigger, the vision is bigger." When he goes out to give lectures, he is more respected, and he also feels more responsibility and confidence.
Before the system existed, as a local expert, becoming a member of the national team was very difficult.
Zhang Guofan, chief scientist of the shellfish system, is a researcher at the Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. "The system design is very good. It brings in a large portion of the scientific and technological personnel engaged in agriculture across China, allowing us researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences to also participate in projects of the Ministry of Agriculture. In the past, this was almost an insurmountable barrier."
This is exactly how the system works. In personnel appointment, it breaks down barriers between departments and industries, and between central and local levels, and openly selects and appoints experts nationwide with high academic standards, who understand industry and possess technical skills, have rich practical experience, have outstanding work achievements, and are recognized by both academia and industry. It gathers wisdom from all sides, mobilizes the enthusiasm of all supporting institutions, and jointly serves the industry.
"The seven or eight years since entering the system have been the happiest time in decades of work. The system has fully mobilized the enthusiasm of the vast number of scientific and technological personnel and greatly brought their creativity into play. One's dignity is respected, and one does not have to trim one's sails to the wind or work in fragmentary bits for funding." Dai Hongyi told a reporter from China Science Daily.
Stable support for agriculture is very important
At the Qingdao apple rootstock base, rows of rootstocks look unremarkable to a layperson, with uneven heights and different shapes, but they are actually quite impressive. "There are more than 30 kinds in total, some from Japan, the United States, Russia and other countries, and some from multiple provinces in China," Dai Hongyi introduced.
Being selected into the system also depended on his existing work accumulation. After returning from a visiting scholar program in the United Kingdom in 1991, Dai Hongyi began consciously building his own breeding research and development base. At first, he worked precariously on farmers' land, trembling with fear, afraid that one year the farmers would take it back. After entering the system, he began to have his own stable base.
Dai Hongyi said that doing research requires a fixed base. Varieties need continuous innovation, because not all varieties can be widely promoted. At the same time, every variety must have its advantages, and future work must be carried out on this basis. If varieties are too uniform, it is very dangerous, especially when encountering special diseases, which may be devastating to certain varieties. If 10 new varieties are bred and two of them can resist a certain disease, they have value for existence, and before that disease appears, perhaps their value is not known.
Today, varieties bred by Dai Hongyi's team can be seen in many places across the country. In Dai Hongyi's view, the most successful aspects of the agricultural science and technology system at present are the national modern agricultural industry technology system and the improved seed project implemented in Shandong Province, especially because both have continuous and stable funding support.
Archives, materials and source materials all need to be accumulated. Breeding requires a certain accumulation of genes, pyramid-style. Top-level vegetable varieties often concentrate the advantages of all vegetables below them and are formed by screening hundreds or thousands of varieties. Dai Hongyi said: "Some scientific research now demands results in two years. This is asking too much." Dai Hongyi commented that using scientific and technological personnel's energy on doing research with peace of mind, and that science and technology system reform can mobilize enthusiasm and stabilize the team, is success. Many people are willing to devote themselves to science, and the conscience of scientists should be trusted. The soil data accumulation at Rothamsted Research in the United Kingdom has continued for more than 130 years. Breeding one apple seed usually takes 12 to 15 years, or even 18 years. For wheat and peanuts among grain crops, breeding also takes 12 to 15 years.
The weak position and public-interest orientation of agriculture determine that agricultural research needs long-term stable support.
The "system" overcomes the shortcomings of the "863" Program
Zhang Xingyuan, an expert in the disease prevention and control post of the flounder and sole system, created China's first live vaccine for marine aquaculture animals, and also the world's first live vaccine of Edwardsiella tarda against ascites disease in turbot (commonly known as duo bao yu), filling a technical gap in China and having great significance for reducing and even avoiding the use of antibiotics and ensuring product quality and safety.
Within the natural science system, there is a large amount of funding to support disease research and marine product vaccine research, but most have not moved toward industrialization. Zhang Xingyuan believes this is caused by systemic problems.
From the late 1990s to the present, Zhang Xingyuan has worked on vaccines for nearly 20 years. For a fairly long period before, he was an expert of the "863" Program, and making vaccines was very difficult. Vaccines start from the earliest basic research and involve many steps, but many scientists often stop after proving that laboratory research is effective.
Follow-up work still requires large investment and coordination across multiple systems to continue. "Why has my work continued? Because there is the system. There is a group of good brothers at the experimental station, and everyone does this together," Zhang Yuanxing said.
"Different types of research each have their own characteristics. '863' emphasized breakthroughs in individual technologies and single-instance technologies. This 5 years solves one issue, the next 5 years solves other issues. There was also application demonstration, but it only needed to prove that success could be promoted." In Zhang Yuanxing's view, the system is down-to-earth, more vital and advantageous, oriented toward an industry, and can raise the overall level of an industry.
Yu Shanlin, chief scientist of the peanut system, also believes that the system has become a system, which is different from other special scientific research projects. "From the field to the table, every link has scientific and technological personnel checking it."
Take various machines as an example. How to set machine parameters simply cannot be done by mechanical experts alone; they do not understand it. It is precisely this system that allows agricultural machinery and agronomy to integrate and get mechanical matters done well. "We made a coating machine for precise fertilization and pesticide application, achieving three reductions: seeds, chemical fertilizers and pesticides are all reduced. Harvesting also relies on a kind of machinery, which both reduces some viral contamination and achieves increased yield. These are all benefits of the system."
In production, they also formed a field consultation system for diseases and insect pests. Whatever diseases or insect pests appear in production areas across the country, information is collected, and after a certain time everyone is notified to participate in consultation to solve them. Problems in the entire production process are all known.
Yu Shanlin believes that the benefit of the system also lies in the fact that one plan can be carried out at 25 peanut experimental stations nationwide, data can be collected immediately, and trends can be judged very clearly.