Internet + Agriculture: What can we learn from the United States, Japan and other countries?

Agricultural technical services are a key part of the core technology of my country's agricultural development. However, agronomists are not taken seriously and exist in various additional functional departments, failing to truly play a role in guiding agriculture. The agricultural technical services market lacks economic development, and agronomists cannot directly benefit from their technology. The training system is incomplete, and there is no relatively complete training system to support the growth of agronomists.

Compared with advanced agricultural development countries abroad, such as the United States and Israel, their advanced agricultural technology services have been reflected in the market and farmers themselves. This part will become the focus of my country's agricultural development.

Development history of China's agricultural production model:

1. Development Trends of China's Agriculture

By the end of 2014, land transfer showed an accelerating development trend. The transfer area of ​​family contracted cultivated land reached 380 million mu nationwide, with a transfer ratio of 28.8%. There were more than 2.87 million professional households with an operating area of ​​more than 50 mu and more than 870,000 family farms.

In 2014, China's primary industry accounted for 9.2% of GDP, and the secondary industry accounted for 42.6%, which continued to decline steadily. By the end of 2014, China's rural labor force was about 179 million, accounting for about 13% of the total population. In the next 5 to 10 years, the agricultural labor force will decline faster, and the agricultural service population will grow faster.

In the United States, the population engaged in agricultural production accounts for only 2% of the total population, but the population engaged in the production and supply of production materials such as fertilizers, pesticides, seeds, etc. related to agricultural production, the processing and sales of agricultural products, and the population providing services for agricultural production accounts for at least 10% of the total population.

Trends: Seed industry - technological development; animal husbandry and planting industry - large-scale, professional, and integrated industrial chain.

2. Analysis of the Current Situation of China’s Farmer Household Structure

About 179 million people in China are engaged in agricultural operations in rural areas. There are large differences in production and income levels, which leads to significant differences in business and consumption characteristics. There are also very different demands for low prices, sales on credit, technology, etc. among different groups of people, and the models and methods of approaching different farmers will also be different.

Overview of the current status of agricultural services for farmers of different sizes:

3. Current status and problems of agricultural technical services

As a service group that has direct contact with farmers and influences their business decisions, agricultural technical service personnel deserve in-depth study.

1. Insufficient number of agricultural technicians:

There are 1.4 million registered agronomists/agricultural technicians in my country and 619 million farmers nationwide. On average, every 500 farmers can enjoy technical guidance from one agronomist. In addition, there are about 3 million unregistered agricultural technicians and veterinarians. There is still a large gap in agricultural technical services and the market is seriously immature.

2. The distribution of agronomist system is incomplete:

•Agronomists in government agricultural departments (Ministry of Agriculture, Academy of Agricultural Sciences, etc.): They are civil servants with fixed salaries, have long physical distances to communicate with farmers, have insufficient motivation to provide services, and their levels of service vary widely.

• Agronomists in the agricultural input distributor group: Agricultural input retail distributors are mostly located at the county and township levels. In order to effectively conduct sales activities, retailers will simply learn the relevant attributes, applicable objects, and effectiveness of agricultural inputs in the early stage of sales. Large-scale agricultural input companies will have their own trained agronomists to conduct research and development of various new agricultural input products, thereby producing effective methods to combat various agricultural planting problems.

It can be seen from this that the current distribution of agronomists cannot be truly implemented in agricultural planting, which directly leads to the dilemma of agricultural growers having to rely on the weather for their livelihood.

3. Reasons why agricultural technology services are not market-oriented:

• Imperfect dissemination conditions: Farmers who have been planting for decades have rich experience and strong practical ability, and can effectively solve practical problems in planting. However, due to their own cultural limitations, it is difficult for them to transform their own experience into limited theoretical knowledge. The dissemination channels are severely restricted, and there is a risk of a gap in agricultural skills at any time.

• Imperfect interest mechanism: The current market does not have a complete system to support the marketization of agricultural technical services. Experienced farmers do not have a more direct interest drive to spread and support other farmers, resulting in limited knowledge circulation.

4. There is a large gap between theoretical technical knowledge and practical experience knowledge

The current market has not formed a relatively large-scale and rigorous training institution. There are currently problems such as chaotic training processes and insufficient teaching staff.

• Training is only for certification: Currently, most training institutions in the market provide 3 days of face-to-face training and 1 day of examination. After passing the examination, you can become an agronomist. There is a lack of actual practical ability and follow-up training services.

• Imperfect training system: At present, agricultural science academies and agricultural colleges have opened rural practice activities, which can exercise the practical ability of some students in the student groups. The agricultural government departments periodically hold various offline agricultural technology exchanges across the country to promote the development of local agricultural technology. However, due to the small audience of exchanges and practical activities, the follow-up is not continuous enough, and the agricultural pertinence in various places is slightly weak, resulting in a slow effect on improving the actual agricultural technology service level of farmers.

Compared with advanced agricultural development countries abroad, such as the United States, Japan, and Israel, their advanced agricultural technical services have been reflected in the market and farmers themselves. Agricultural technical service personnel have also become the backbone of their countries' efforts to promote agricultural modernization. This part will also become the focus of my country's agricultural development.

4. Internet + Agricultural Management Ecosystem

(Note: This includes major Internet companies related to agricultural production and management, but does not include rural consumption upgrade companies.) Farmers' income levels are backward, with the national average per capita income of farmers being about RMB 10,000 per year. This is the source of problems such as backward agricultural production and food safety. The core of the Internetization of agricultural production and management is to help farmers make money, which can be achieved by reducing production costs, scientific planting, and optimizing sales channels.

Areas that still deserve attention: agricultural big data, agricultural supply chain finance, agricultural product branding, processing and preservation technology, etc.

5. Internet + Agricultural Technology Service Cases

In view of the many pain points of agricultural technology services, entrepreneurs have approached the problem of agricultural technology service informatization from different angles, and based on public information and the willingness of entrepreneurial teams, they have given examples to illustrate the progress of agricultural technology service Internetization. (There are many entrepreneurial teams in the field of agricultural technology services + Internet, including Guagua Agricultural Assistant, Yunzhongyang and other teams, and this article does not give examples one by one.)

1. Agricultural Doctor - Agricultural Mutual Aid Community

2. Laonongbang - agricultural technology service platform

3. Rich Farm——Agricultural Technology Service Platform

4. Nongguanjia - agricultural technology service community

VI. Classification of Agricultural Types in Countries

By referring to the agricultural characteristics of developed countries and their agricultural modernization development process, it will help to open up new ideas, sort out investment logic, and assist entrepreneurial teams in reducing their investment costs.

The development paths of modern agriculture in developed countries can be roughly divided into three categories:

1. Countries with large land areas and sparse populations: the United States, Canada, and Russia

Mechanization → Biotechnology → Management Change

2. Large population and small land, dominated by small-scale peasant economy: Japan and South Korea

Biotechnology → Mechanization

3. Developed industries but relatively insufficient land resources: France, Germany, and the United Kingdom

Mechanization and biotechnology go hand in hand

VII. Development process of modern agriculture in the United States and its implications

The development of the number and average size of farms in the United States:

According to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 1999, among the 2.1 million farms in the country, the vast majority of agricultural products are produced by 38,000 large farms, which are also the vast majority of buyers of agricultural inputs. Farmers across the United States spend $185 billion each year on purchasing land, agricultural machinery, fertilizers, pesticides, feed and other means of production.

1. Overview of the U.S. agricultural technology service market

There are about 10,000 agricultural technology service companies in the United States, with annual sales of $7 billion. The top 5 companies account for 70% of the market share. A typical local company consists of about 20 people and has an annual income of about $2 million. After 1950, some agricultural families in the United States joined together to purchase heavy equipment for time-sharing. In the late 1960s, more and more agricultural technology service companies in the United States were engaged in commercial agricultural production.

Companies engaged in agricultural technology services buy products (seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, irrigation equipment, etc.) from manufacturers/distributors, and provide technical services to farmers. Agricultural technology service companies not only sell seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides, but also provide pest and disease prediction, plant protection technology, pesticide and fertilizer application services and training. Agricultural technology service companies charge according to the cost of prevention and control per acre, and the profit is much higher than selling products. Agricultural technology service companies directly serve farmers.

Agricultural technology service process:

1) Plant protection experts/consultants provide farm customers with a full-season production plan at the beginning of the production season

2) Technical personnel implement a series of services according to the plans made by professionals: fertilization and pesticide application, machinery commissioning and maintenance, operation records, irrigation services, organic crop management, precision agriculture, soil, leaf and water sampling, field management, etc.

Agricultural technology service promotion channel construction:

• Federal Government Extension: Department of Agriculture;

• State Extension: State university agricultural colleges make decisions, supervise and evaluate extension projects, and there are more than 4,000 state extension experts nationwide;

• County-level extension: University extension stations organize and employ high-quality review teams to promote scientific knowledge to farmers. There are more than 12,000 county-level extension personnel nationwide, 25% of whom have PhDs, and the majority have master's degrees.

2. U.S. agricultural data and informatization

•Database: Large-scale and influential agricultural information databases such as the United States International Agricultural Database (AGRI COLA), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Database (NOAA), and the United States Geological Survey Database (USGS) have played a good role in promoting agricultural development.

•Information system: Use GPS, farmland remote sensing monitoring system RS, farmland geographic information system GIS, agricultural expert system, intelligent agricultural machinery system, environmental monitoring system, system integration, network management system, training system, etc. to achieve fine adaptive watering, fertilization and pesticide application for crops. The informatization of American agriculture is 81.6% higher than that of its industry.

8. Development process of modern agriculture in Japan and its implications

Japan's agricultural modernization began after World War II. Currently, Japan's agricultural mechanization, informatization, and seed improvement levels are among the best in the world. The degree of standardization, industrialization, and organization is very high. The quality safety and traceability system of agricultural products is complete and sound. Farmers' income, rural infrastructure, and public services are not much different from those in cities.

Objective conditions for the development of agriculture in Japan: Japan has a land area of ​​378,000 square kilometers (1/25 of my country), a population of about 127 million (1/11 of my country), many mountains, a small population, and small-scale operations by individual households. As the degree of agricultural mechanization increases and farmers have more time to engage in non-agricultural activities, the number of part-time farmers in Japan has increased since 1970:

In the early post-war period, Japan completed the disintegration of the landlord system and the creation of self-cultivating farmers. Small-scale production was the main form of production in rural Japan. Unlike agricultural modernization in Europe and the United States, Japan chose the "one change and three transformations" path of first improving land and crop varieties and then realizing agricultural mechanization, namely "land improvement - chemicalization - improved varieties - mechanization."

1. One change, three changes

1) Land improvement: the beginning of Japan’s unique agricultural modernization

•Purpose of improvement: To improve soil fertility, land utilization rate and increase cultivated land area.

• Three stages of improvement: 1949 for paddy field improvement → 1960 for dryland improvement → mid-1960 for grassland improvement

2) Chemical

The use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides plays an important role in improving productivity. Excessive chemicalization during Japan's agricultural modernization process once caused huge pollution hazards.

3) Improved varieties

•Rice: We always attach great importance to variety improvement, especially rice, and our rice variety improvement is world-class (different varieties in different dimensions: in climate dimension, there are extremely cold, cold, warm, warm, etc.; in disaster dimension, there are wind resistance, moisture resistance, drought resistance, disaster resistance, fertilization, disease resistance, etc.; in season dimension, there are early maturity, mid-maturing, late maturing, etc.).

•Fruits: After 1960, vegetable cultivation was mainly based on facility-based production methods, and research was conducted on fruit quality and variety diversification, making Japan's fruit industry a world leader.

4) Mechanization

Features: strong applicability (applicability, miniaturization, lightness, serialization, high efficiency), complete variety.

2. Three types of agricultural cooperative economic organizations in Japan:

• Farmers' Associations: After the promulgation of the Agricultural Cooperatives Law in 1947, agricultural cooperatives began to appear. Agricultural cooperatives have the largest network and the most complete functions in Japan. More than 99% of farmers in Japan are members of agricultural cooperatives. The business scope of agricultural cooperatives is three-fold: joint sales, purchase of agricultural materials and some living materials, and joint credit insurance. From the central government to prefectures, cities, towns, and villages, private agricultural cooperatives that are independent of each other in operation but interconnected have been established. Agricultural cooperatives have agricultural instructors to guide production and management, while farmers focus on production. In 2009, there were 741 agricultural cooperatives in Japan, with a total of 14,457 agricultural instructors (including 10,881 agricultural technical instructors, accounting for 75.3% of the total number; 1,551 farmer production and management instructors, accounting for 10.7%; and 314 agricultural machinery service instructors, accounting for 2.2%). 96.8% of agricultural cooperatives have agricultural training instructors, and 19.4% of agricultural cooperatives have more than 31 agricultural training instructors.

•Agricultural production cooperative organization: a cooperative organization composed of two or more farmers that share large equipment, such as collective cultivation organizations, joint utilization organizations, animal husbandry production organizations, etc.

• Regional agricultural group: Based on the village, it organizes all farmers in the region and uniformly adjusts, guides and manages production.

3. Japanese Specialty Agricultural Information System

•DRESS system: DRESS, a real-time management system of the telecommunications and telephone companies, links the public telephone backend to large databases, the Internet, weather forecast systems, greenhouse unmanned management systems, efficient agricultural production management systems and personal computer users, providing information on agricultural technology, literature summaries, market information, pest and disease conditions, rain protection, weather forecasts, etc. Each county has set up a DRESS sub-center to exchange information at any time.

•GLS system: Farmers can search for agricultural technology information online according to crop varieties and regional characteristics. The cultivated land area managed by the farmland geographic information system GLS in Japan has exceeded 20%.

In the process of agricultural modernization, the promotion of agricultural technical services is indispensable, and a good combination with the Internet is the key to improving service efficiency and quality. The information-based and tool-based management characteristics of the Internet have brought a broad space for entrepreneurship, but over-reliance on the Internet and deviation from the essence of the agricultural service industry may also bring more gullies. The cold winter is also the time to return to rational venture capital.

Text/Yang Lei (founder of Laonongbang, WeChat rockyang21, subscription account laonongbangDY), Iris (Internet investment, WeChat 835661681), Alina (Huaze Capital, WeChat 542335249)