Internet Plus Modern Agriculture Promotes Urban-Rural Integrated Development

On July 1, 2015, the State Council issued the Guiding Opinions on Actively Promoting the "Internet Plus" Action, making "Internet Plus" modern agriculture one of the 11 key actions, clearly proposing the overall goal of using the internet to improve the level of agricultural production, operation, management and services and to promote a marked increase in the level of agricultural modernization, and deploying 4 specific tasks: building a new agricultural production and operation system, developing precision production methods, raising the level of networked services, and improving the quality and safety traceability system for agricultural and sideline products. At the same time, in the "Internet Plus" e-commerce action, it proposed actively developing rural e-commerce. In addition, the other 9 key actions of "Internet Plus" - entrepreneurship and innovation, inclusive finance, services benefiting the people, efficient logistics, green ecology, artificial intelligence and others - as well as various safeguard and support measures are also closely related to modern agricultural development and rural economic development. Accelerating the implementation of the "Internet Plus" action provides an unprecedented historical opportunity for the transformation and upgrading and leapfrog development of China's agriculture and rural economy, and is also a revolutionary challenge of epoch-making significance. We must quickly unify our thinking and actions with the decisions and arrangements of the central authorities, further raise awareness, adopt solid and effective measures, and push "Internet Plus" modern agriculture to continuously achieve practical results.

Implementing "Internet Plus" modern agriculture is the historical responsibility entrusted to us by the times. Human society has progressed along with the information revolution. From hunting civilization to agricultural civilization and then to industrial civilization, it has undergone changes in information communication from bodily expression to language and then to writing. Developing to today, modern information technology represented by the internet is already everywhere, breeding infinite possibilities, displaying boundless splendor, and also giving China's transformation of traditional agriculture and construction of modern agriculture new wings and new momentum. Once, developed agriculture made the Chinese nation stand proudly in the east of the world, but it was also this superiority and comfort that made us miss the second industrial revolution. The humiliation of more than 170 years ago makes us remember the bitter consequences of falling behind. History keeps telling us that development is the absolute principle. Agriculture is the representative of traditional industry and the foundation of the national economy. Advancing "Internet Plus" modern agriculture is a major measure taken by the Party Central Committee and the State Council, an inevitable choice for conforming to the development trend of the information economy and shoring up the weak links in the "four modernizations," a strategic fulcrum for building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and realizing urban-rural integrated development, and will also lay a solid foundation for realizing the Chinese Dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. The focus of "Internet Plus" modern agriculture is agriculture, rural areas and farmers. To build a moderately prosperous society in all respects by 2020, the difficulty lies in agriculture, the weak link lies in rural areas, and the key lies in farmers. Only by accelerating leapfrog development and standing on the same starting line as the rest of the world's internet must we, with a historical sense of urgency that the opportunity must not be lost and time waits for no one, and with a historical sense of mission to shoulder responsibility and strive for success, intensify reform and innovation, adopt solid and powerful measures, ensure the smooth advancement of the "Internet Plus" modern agriculture action, strive to narrow the urban-rural digital divide, and build China into a world agricultural power as soon as possible.

Implementing "Internet Plus" modern agriculture is a major challenge and opportunity for the development of "agriculture, rural areas and farmers." Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Party Central Committee and the State Council have consistently made solving the issues of "agriculture, rural areas and farmers" the top priority of the whole Party and all work, continuously increased the intensity of policies to strengthen agriculture, benefit farmers and enrich rural areas, and the agricultural and rural economy has maintained a momentum of sustained improvement, becoming the "stabilizing anchor" for the stable and healthy development of the national economy. But at the same time, agriculture and the rural economy also face major historic challenges. The price "ceiling," the cost "floor," the subsidy "amber box," the ecological and resource "red light," and constantly increasing import pressure may persist for some time to come. At present, the urban-rural digital divide is still relatively large. Although the number of internet users in China has reached 668 million, of whom 594 million access the internet via mobile phones, more than 50,000 administrative villages in rural areas still lack broadband access, fewer than 30% of rural households own a computer, and more than 70% of farmers still do not use the internet. How to solve this? "Internet Plus" will bring us major opportunities. General Secretary Xi Jinping's important speech at the 2013 Central Rural Work Conference pointed out that information services should be regarded as one of the seven major policies benefiting farmers in support of national food security. Premier Li Keqiang placed informatization on a par with water conservancy and mechanization, and put forward clear requirements as an important means of promoting agricultural infrastructure construction. With the development of internet technology, modern information technology is also taking root and blossoming in the agricultural field.

Implementing "Internet Plus" modern agriculture drives the accelerated development of "agriculture, rural areas and farmers." In accordance with the deployment requirements of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, the Ministry of Agriculture will study and formulate an implementation plan for the "Internet Plus" modern agriculture action. The general approach is to closely focus on the central task of accelerating the transformation of the agricultural development model and modern agricultural development, adhere to reform and innovation and market demand orientation, and vigorously promote the deep integration of a new generation of information technology such as mobile internet, cloud computing, big data and the Internet of Things with agriculture, rural areas and farmers, giving full play to the leading and driving role of informatization.

First, new agriculture. At present, the "Internet Plus" modern agriculture action must be planned and implemented from three dimensions: First, promote the superposition of the internet with the entire agricultural industry chain, value chain and supply chain, and "Internet Plus" all links of the agricultural industry chain such as production, operation, management and services, with emphasis on implementing demonstration projects for the application of the agricultural Internet of Things, vigorously promoting the development of agricultural e-commerce, strengthening the construction of agricultural e-government, and accelerating the extension of information services to villages and households, so as to achieve precision agricultural production, flat product circulation, efficient government management and convenient information services; Second, promote the data-based integration of resource factors, with emphasis on implementing the integration of the internet with farmers and enterprises, land and resources, capital and finance, market and information, technology and talent, and law and institutions, so as to achieve open sharing of resource and factor data, convenient and efficient production, rational use of resources and protection of the ecology; Third, strengthen the online transformation of traditional industries, with emphasis on implementing the "Internet Plus" action to transform and upgrade traditional industries such as crop farming, animal husbandry, fisheries, the feed industry, agricultural mechanization, state farms and agricultural product processing, so as to achieve rational resource allocation, improved production efficiency and a higher level of intelligence.

Second, new farmers. The essence of innovation-driven development is talent-driven development. To build modern agriculture and prosper the rural economy, the key is to cultivate a group of new farmers who have internet thinking, understand modern information technology and are able to market online, so as to enhance the information literacy and level of new professional farmers and fundamentally solve the problems of "who will farm the land" and "how to farm the land." Enhance farmers' sharing of the dividends of informatization, strengthen training and experience for farmers in internet, mobile terminals, e-commerce and so on, improve farmers' ability to master and apply information technology, solve the "last kilometer" problem, and realize the transformation and expansion of farmers from the industrial chain to the value chain. Build a platform for "mass entrepreneurship and innovation," encourage college student village officials, rural young leaders in getting rich, returning entrepreneurs and some self-employed households to become leaders in rural entrepreneurship, and devote themselves to agricultural production with internet thinking. At the same time, drive new professional farmers, family farm owners and cooperative members to broadly become market entities that possess internet thinking, master information technology and apply modern marketing concepts. Encourage urban residents to use the internet to participate in agricultural production, processing, circulation and marketing, and integrate the agricultural industry chain, value chain and supply chain.

Third, new rural areas. It is necessary to use internet thinking to build the modern rural economy, culture, society and village appearance, and promote the upgrading of rural life services and public services. Relying on informatization platforms, promote the institutionalization and standardization of villagers' self-governance in collective decisions on rural collective asset contracting, leasing, disposal and resource development, the disclosure of village affairs, government affairs and Party affairs, and the disclosure of rural collective financial information. With the help of internet platforms, strengthen care and services for left-behind children, left-behind women and left-behind elderly people in rural areas, open video communication channels with relatives working away from home and children studying in cities, and establish and improve public welfare services such as agricultural technical support, policy access and agricultural meteorology, convenience services such as medical registration, bill payment and cash withdrawal, as well as e-commerce for purchasing consumer goods and means of production and selling agricultural products. Use e-commerce to achieve online sales of safe, high-quality and distinctive agricultural products, cultivate brands, transform high-quality ecology into economic benefits, and protect the rural environment.

Implementing "Internet Plus" modern agriculture requires internet thinking to form a joint force and promote it together. In recent years, the Ministry of Agriculture has earnestly implemented the deployment requirements of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, effectively treated informatization as the commanding height of agricultural modernization, promoted the comprehensive and deep integration of informatization and agricultural modernization, implemented application demonstration projects and regional trial projects to promote and apply agricultural Internet of Things technology, with obvious effects in saving costs and increasing efficiency; important steps have been taken in e-commerce for agricultural products, agricultural means of production, rural tourism and leisure agriculture; the 12316 comprehensive information service for "agriculture, rural areas and farmers" and the pilot project of extending information services to villages and households have achieved remarkable results, and a market-oriented and sustainable development path has been preliminarily explored, accumulating valuable experience and laying a certain foundation for implementing the "Internet Plus" modern agriculture action. Next, in order to fully implement the "Internet Plus" modern agriculture action, while continuing to do the above work well, it is necessary to strengthen the internet concepts of "sharing, integration, transformation and leadership" and jointly advance work in 4 aspects.

First, innovate working mechanisms. Establish new working mechanisms with internet and big data thinking. Administrative, research, operational and educational sectors and others must effectively raise awareness, adhere to being problem-oriented, take solving problems as the goal, form big data, determine goals, factors, objects, methods and paths, use the internet as a platform, establish a new "crowdfunding" working model for relevant departments and units, with each fulfilling its duties and coordinating and cooperating, to jointly promote the deep integration of agriculture, rural areas and farmers with the internet.

Second, innovate service methods. In accordance with the requirements of "Internet Plus," innovate and promote new methods for the work of "agriculture, rural areas and farmers," accelerate the transformation of production, consumption, circulation and research methods, focus on all links of the industrial chain, value chain and supply chain, and form an interconnected, radiating and precise service network of industrial policy, technical information, production and sales data, financial services and socialized services, so as to achieve precise production guidance, diverse service choices and rich sales channels, and truly make agricultural production simpler, lower-cost and more efficient.

Third, clarify work priorities. Plan the key work of "Internet Plus" modern agriculture at present and for the next three years, and study and issue supporting policies. Relevant departments such as development and reform, agriculture, commerce and quality inspection need to jointly promote the integrated development of agricultural production before, during and after production, and realize the efficient and close connection of the industrial chain, value chain and supply chain. Central departments and local areas should refine the division of labor, clarify the focus, strengthen the cultivation of new farmers, and advance new rural construction. The industry and information technology departments and telecommunications operating enterprises should strengthen internet infrastructure construction, realize broadband access in every village, set up free or low-cost wireless networks in rural areas, and solve current problems such as high internet access costs and slow internet speeds in rural areas.

Fourth, plan systematic projects. Make overall plans for the systematic projects of "Internet Plus" modern agriculture. Agricultural departments at all levels should take the implementation of the "Internet Plus" action as an opportunity, identify the key points, focus points and breakthrough points of "Internet Plus" modern agriculture, refine the action plan, effectively promote the establishment of a number of major central or local engineering projects, strengthen infrastructure construction, build and improve the working system, demonstrate and promote mature methods and models, and explore and pilot new technologies and new methods.

Implementing the "Internet Plus" modern agriculture action is a major measure for realizing the "leapfrog development" of agriculture and farmers "overtaking on the curve." The task is arduous and the prospects are broad. The Ministry of Agriculture will seriously plan, carefully organize, solidly advance, and effectively implement it, drive the accelerated development of modern agriculture, and provide strong foundational support for effectively responding to downward economic pressure, building the "twin engines" of economic growth, realizing the development of the "synchronization of the four modernizations" and achieving the "Two Centenary Goals."