How Shanxi Builds a Grand Agricultural Silicon Valley Framework

??? When agriculture breaks free from the primitive stage of "depending on the heavens for a living," the degree to which its multiple functions and values are developed determines its quality, efficiency and competitiveness.

Taigu is a major traditional agricultural county. Thanks to excellent site conditions and backed by abundant agricultural science and technology resources, its agricultural industry has long been in a leading position in the city, and farmers' incomes have been stable. In recent years, a series of "golden signs" have successively landed in Taigu: Shanxi Province's first batch of modern agriculture demonstration counties, the country's first batch of national-level modern agriculture demonstration zones, and the province's only pilot county for agricultural reform and construction under a national modern agriculture demonstration zone.

Demonstration lies in display after exploration, guidance after practice, and radiation after maturity.

After years of leading the city in agricultural output, processing volume and farmers' technical proficiency, Taigu now finds itself at the crossing point where modern agriculture moves from quantitative change to qualitative change. Building on the existing agricultural foundation, it promotes the transformation of advantage cultivation from innate resource conditions and simple technology grafting to the integration of resources, factors, policies, capital, technology and market demand driven by innovation; promotes the transformation of agricultural development from a simple one-way chain extension of planting, breeding and processing to three-dimensional growth featuring mutual penetration, factor aggregation and cross-recombination among the primary, secondary and tertiary industries; and promotes the transformation of Taigu's demonstrative significance from variety demonstrations and technology demonstrations within the industry to a "model showroom" for province-wide integrated display and exportable agricultural new technologies, new business forms and new business models... The "Agricultural Valley" has powerfully ignited the engine for Taigu to break out of its current bottleneck period of "from having to being excellent, from excellent to being strong."

On October 30, 2015, during an inspection tour in Taigu, Lou Yangsheng, Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee and Acting Governor, proposed "under market economy conditions, using the visible hand of the government and the invisible hand of the market to turn Taigu into an Agricultural Valley."

On November 11 this year, the 136th executive meeting of the provincial government approved the preliminary plan for building the Shanxi "Agricultural Valley," deciding to build the Shanxi "Agricultural Valley" within the entire territory of Taigu County.

Grounded in the whole province and oriented toward the whole country, under the design of the "Agricultural Valley," Taigu takes on the important task of a "test field," absorbing nutrients such as advantageous talent, cutting-edge technology and diversified capital that support modern agricultural development, so that the modern agricultural industrial system, production system and management system can grow rapidly in tandem.

Undoubtedly, this is a historic strategic opportunity for Taigu. Taigu has stepped onto a brand-new historic starting line.

Breakthrough Thinking Mode

"Taigu stands at a new historic starting point. Where is it new? It is new in new people doing new things, new in catching up and surpassing, new in decisive battles."

Regarding the understanding of fully advancing into the province's first echelon, Taigu has set its position as striving to be the front-runner.

And the "Agricultural Valley" is the front-runner's confidence and support.

Years of fine and excellent genes have not only built Taigu's agricultural brand but also, to some extent, formed a real shackle for some people, who are content with the existing situation and hesitate to move forward, losing their sensitivity to the market, their expectation for innovation and their enthusiasm for going further.

In view of this, the Taigu County Party Committee has made it clear that building an agricultural "Silicon Valley" is a requirement of the provincial party committee and the municipal party committee, the way out for Taigu's modern agriculture, and the expectation of the people.

Where should Taigu agriculture go? When looking around and finding all others weaker than oneself, the "Agricultural Valley" is the way out for Taigu agriculture to turn "blunt" into "sharp" and to rouse itself!

Vertically, Taigu's agriculture has always grasped the best level of the current period. Horizontally, however, as the era of big agriculture arrives, there are still gaps and deficiencies in breaking away from the traditional single-operation model. National, provincial and municipal favorable policies are numerous and dense, so how should one act precisely? With good resources in hand, what products should be made to match them and match the market? Traditional agriculture requires large investment and yields slow returns, so how can business model restructuring and reshuffling enhance the rate of return and competitiveness? How can a complete range of categories support unique products and outstanding brands that stand firm in the market? How can single-soldier farmers who understand technology and can operate move toward becoming excellent marketing teams that are experienced, visionary and capable of operation?

Agriculture is by no means only about origin resources and policy advantages. The expectations and explosive power that future agriculture carries also lie in technological innovation and market creation.

Taigu County's goals are very clear. In terms of agricultural business forms, expand agriculture's landscape and ecological functions, develop leisure and tourism agriculture, cultivate creative, wellness and manor agriculture, do well with traditional business forms and optimize emerging ones. In terms of the agricultural industry chain, work hard on agricultural product production, processing and trading, and accelerate the cultivation of a cluster of leading agricultural product processing enterprises. In terms of agricultural industry layout, following the idea of "townships having thousand-mu bases and villages having special products and characteristics," promote the quality improvement and expansion of the four leading industries, and accelerate the formation of a group of large-scale, high-efficiency regional characteristic blocks. In terms of agricultural mechanism innovation, accelerate innovation in science and technology, finance, resources and environment, promote the transformation of Shanxi Agricultural University's scientific research achievements into real productivity first in Taigu, focus on building the core zone centered on Shanxi Agricultural University's pilot test base and Jingu Modern Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Park, and within three years build it into a modern agricultural "Silicon Valley" that leads the whole city and radiates across the whole province.

Because of the "Agricultural Valley," Taigu's framework is expanding, integrating, reshuffling and recreating, heading toward unpredictable infinite space.

Territory-Wide Construction Framework

In the United States, without Stanford there would be no "Silicon Valley"; Stanford is the incubator of "Silicon Valley."

In Taigu, Shanxi Agricultural University will become the incubator of Shanxi's "Agricultural Valley." The "Agricultural Valley" will set up a platform to complete the true interaction and response between Taigu County and Shanxi Agricultural University, build a support and service system for this interaction across the entire county, and fully activate the factors of scientific research and practice.

To this end, Taigu County has unfolded a splendid blueprint for building a territory-wide construction framework of "one valley, one city, two cores and five zones."

The Shanxi Modern Agricultural Silicon Valley is planned and built in a territory-wide, all-factor and all-industry manner across Taigu, with a total area of 1,050 sq km, of which the one city, two cores and five zones occupy 200 sq km.

The one city is the Shanxi "Agricultural Valley" Science and Innovation City. With Shanxi Agricultural University as the core, it breaks down the university's "walls," attracts domestic and international research teams and "grassroots" institutions, explores the integrated development path of industry-university-research and park-university integration, and forms a development pattern of "valley-city integration" and a five-in-one structure of "government, industry, university, research and application."