How to advance the integrated development of the three rural industries? Innovation is key

In recent years, the integrated development of the primary, secondary and tertiary industries in China's rural areas has advanced rapidly, effectively driving the transformation of the agricultural development model and the building of a modern agricultural industrial system, and has also made important contributions to making agriculture strong, farmers prosperous and rural areas beautiful. The 2015 No. 1 Central Document first proposed the policy orientation of advancing the integrated development of the primary, secondary and tertiary industries in rural areas. Since then, relevant policy documents have been issued one after another, pushing the integrated development of the primary, secondary and tertiary industries in rural areas into a stage of acceleration, and guiding the sustained, rapid and healthy development of this integration has increasingly become a requirement of the times. To this end, advancing the innovative development of the integration of rural primary, secondary and tertiary industries must be taken as the primary task.

The integrated development of the three rural industries is an inheritance and innovation of agricultural industrialization

For a long time, agricultural industrialization has held an important position in China's modern agricultural development and agricultural policy system. As an innovation in the institutional mechanisms of China's agricultural operations, agricultural industrialization takes improving economic efficiency as its center, is led by leading enterprises and supported by industrial organization innovation, and features market-oriented industrial guidance, enterprise-based industrial operation and integrated industrial forms, reflecting the development requirements of modern agriculture.

The integrated development of the primary, secondary and tertiary industries in rural areas is characterized by the extension of industrial chains, the expansion of industrial scope and the transformation of industrial functions, and is driven by technological integration and institutional and mechanism innovation. Through the integration, penetration and cross-restructuring of agriculture with the secondary and tertiary industries in rural areas, it achieves cross-sector industrial integration, cross-sector flow of factors and cross-sector intensive allocation of resources, driving innovation in technology, business forms and business models. The integrated development of the primary, secondary and tertiary industries in rural areas shares the same lineage as agricultural industrialization, but compared with traditional agricultural industrialization it also has rich innovative content and innovative value.

Agricultural industrialization is the source and main content of the integrated development of the primary, secondary and tertiary industries in rural areas, and the integrated development of the primary, secondary and tertiary industries in rural areas is an upgraded and expanded version of agricultural industrialization. For example, the integrated development of the primary, secondary and tertiary industries in rural areas includes agricultural industrialization forms such as extending industrial chains and developing agricultural industrialization clusters. Forms of integration of the primary, secondary and tertiary industries in rural areas such as leisure agriculture and rural tourism advocate the combination of agricultural production, living and ecological functions, enriching the environmental protection, science and technology, education, culture and experience dimensions of agricultural and rural development, and have already gone beyond the boundaries of traditional agricultural industrialization. Forms of integrated development of the primary, secondary and tertiary industries in rural areas led by the service industry or driven by the platform economy have greatly expanded the connotation of agricultural industrialization.

Therefore, advancing the integrated development of the primary, secondary and tertiary industries in rural areas should be pursued even more through innovative approaches, and agricultural industrialization must be innovatively developed. In his explanation of the Central Committee's recommendations for the 13th Five-Year Plan, General Secretary Xi Jinping proposed "using new development concepts to guide development actions." This should also apply in the process of advancing the integrated development of the primary, secondary and tertiary industries in rural areas.

Several focal points for advancing the integration of the three rural industries with innovative thinking

Advance innovation and joint cooperation among operating entities. The operating entities participating in the integrated development of the primary, secondary and tertiary industries in rural areas include but are not limited to agricultural operating entities. In addition to ordinary farming households and new-type agricultural operating entities such as family farms, large specialized households, farmers' cooperatives and leading enterprises in agricultural industrialization, they also include some industrial and commercial capital and social capital investing in the secondary and tertiary industries in rural areas. Supply and marketing cooperatives, e-commerce enterprises, industry associations and industrial alliances can also become important operating entities in the integrated development of the primary, secondary and tertiary industries in rural areas. Therefore, advancing the integrated development of the primary, secondary and tertiary industries in rural areas requires "mobilizing all positive factors" and promoting the extensive participation of different types of operating entities. In the process of integrated development of the primary, secondary and tertiary industries in rural areas, industrial boundaries become more blurred, innovation in technology, business forms and business models becomes richer, and bottleneck constraints such as talent and infrastructure become more pronounced, making it even more necessary for different types of operating entities to divide work and cooperate, and even join forces to tackle difficulties and break through the "critical minimum effort" needed to achieve sustainable development.

Advance innovation in interest linkage mechanisms. Advancing the integrated development of the primary, secondary and tertiary industries in rural areas must be rooted in agriculture, rely on rural areas and benefit farmers. In recent years, China's economy has faced relatively great downward pressure, which is still continuously increasing; as a result, the problem of slowing growth in farmers' incomes has become increasingly prominent. With the advancement of "cutting overcapacity and reducing inventory" and the implementation of the cancellation of the temporary purchase and storage policies for soybeans and corn, the problem of localized, regional and group-based reductions in farmers' incomes in the short term can also easily surface. Against this background, advancing the integrated development of the primary, secondary and tertiary industries in rural areas must place even greater emphasis on driving increases in farmers' incomes. Therefore, compared with the past, advancing the integrated development of the primary, secondary and tertiary industries in rural areas at present should place the improvement of interest linkage mechanisms in a key position and strive to enhance the effect of driving increases in farmers' incomes.

However, improving the interest linkage mechanisms for the integrated development of the primary, secondary and tertiary industries in rural areas also involves the issue of "basing oneself on the present while focusing on the long term." Keeping a close eye on promoting current increases in farmers' incomes is certainly necessary, but it is also necessary to prevent this from harming the long-term effect of promoting increases in farmers' incomes and the sustainability of improving interest linkage mechanisms. Encouraging new-type operating entities to drive farmers to strengthen their capacity to participate in the integrated development of the primary, secondary and tertiary industries in rural areas should be placed in a prominent position in improving interest linkage mechanisms, thereby enhancing the sustainability of driving increases in farmers' incomes. Encouraging leading enterprises - core leading enterprises in industrial chains - to enhance their capacity to drive ordinary operating entities to participate in rural industrial integration, and thereby promoting the improvement of quality, efficiency and upgrading of rural industrial integration, is also an important part of improving the interest linkage mechanisms of the primary, secondary and tertiary industries in rural areas. This is conducive to indirectly driving increases in farmers' incomes. Many experts advocate establishing close interest linkage mechanisms between leading enterprises and farming households. However, the appropriate degree of "closeness" should also be adapted to local conditions. There is no model that is perfect everywhere.