Zhang Fusuo and the "Science and Technology Courtyard": Stepping out of the laboratory and taking root in the fields

Food is the cornerstone of a country. After the founding of New China, we used only 7% of the world's arable land to feed 22% of the world's population, creating a world miracle.

But for a long time, farmers in this vast land have been accustomed to relying on the weather for their livelihood. my country's agricultural science and technology has made continuous achievements, but it faces the problem of not being able to benefit the vast number of front-line farmers.

Bringing science and technology to the fields

"By 2008, we had published a lot of articles. But we had a question at the time. These articles were all in English, and my fellow villagers couldn't read them. What role would these articles play in the development of our agricultural production? So I asked if we could get them to the production line?"

Zhang Fusuo in the office

In 2009, Zhang Fusuo, then dean of the College of Resources and Environment at China Agricultural University, led agricultural students out of the laboratory and into the countryside to Quzhou County, Hebei Province. Living in a simple hut transformed from an abandoned old house, the teachers and students of the Agricultural University truly felt the grassroots farmers' desire for agricultural technology.
Shortly after arriving in the countryside, a classmate discovered that farmers would use their tongue to taste the fertilizer. After communicating with them, he realized that this was a way to determine whether the fertilizer was real or fake.

"He put a finger of fertilizer on it and put it on his tongue. He told me that if it burned his tongue, the fertilizer was real; if it had no taste at all, it was fake."

In college, students have learned many professional analysis methods, from colorimetry to atomic absorption. The laboratory can not only identify the authenticity, but also analyze the fertility. However, in the fields, these methods are useless, and farmers are still using their tongues to taste.

This situation shocked everyone, and also made Zhang Fusuo and all the teachers and students of the Agricultural University determined: they must stay, because the farmers need them.

The Science and Technology Institute is newly established, and fellow villagers are like family members

Living among the farmers, they were completely close to each other. One morning, someone saw a leaf being bitten by insects in the field, so he picked a leaf and woke Zhang Fusuo up from his bed to ask what happened. In the evening, the farmers would go to the yard to chat. The small yard of the agricultural university students and teachers gradually became the activity center of the village. They said to Zhang Fusuo: "You are engaged in science and technology, and you have brought science and technology to the farmers' homes. Can we call it the Science and Technology Yard?" So, this shabby yard got its own name.

Zhang Fusuo guides villagers in wheat production in Quzhou County

Thanks to the efforts of Zhang Fusuo and many teachers and students of the Agricultural University, the local wheat and corn yields in Quzhou increased by 28.2% and 41.5% respectively from 2009 to 2015, and farmers' income increased by more than 200 million yuan. Quzhou's successful experience has been promoted throughout the country, and science and technology courtyards have begun to take root in various places.

For Zhang Fusuo, the science and technology courtyard grew from barbarism and gradually became a living thing, which in turn began to dominate and push him and his classmates forward step by step.

It takes ten years to grow a tree, but a hundred years to cultivate a person.

"The science and technology academy is not only useful to farmers, but also to students. They can learn from farmers in the fields and from teachers in school. It is like having multiple teachers. The needs of farmers also inspire their enthusiasm."

The Science and Technology Courtyard not only popularizes technology at the front line, but also serves as a platform for cultivating morality and educating people. In Zhang Fusuo's view, education is more about the process of teachers practicing what they preach in the classroom. In the past, teaching was accustomed to "growing rice in the laboratory and writing papers on the computer." Going to the grassroots and the countryside is undoubtedly "going against the wind." Some people say that Zhang Fusuo has brought a group of "crazy people," but he himself does not mind this evaluation. Instead, he admits with a smile: "We are a group of 'crazy people'. Without 'crazy energy', nothing can be done!"

"Let young people have passion and ideals, and know why they are learning and what they will learn for."

Zhang Fusuo checks the fruit quality with students at a vineyard in Quzhou County

"Look at the sky, the land, the crops, the mountains, the water, and the people". With this practice, the Science and Technology Institute has taken deep roots in the earth, providing a steady stream of fresh nutrients for my country's agricultural science. And Zhang Fusuo will firmly move forward on this path of farming and educating people.

As the seasons change, and crops are harvested in autumn and stored in winter, the crops in the experimental fields of the science and technology courtyard thrive year after year. The young students trained by the science and technology courtyard have also become the pillars of rural revitalization. They apply the knowledge they have learned to the front line of agricultural production, deeply root themselves in the vast fields, cultivate a love for farmers, acquire the ability to develop agriculture, and contribute their own strength to the modernization of agricultural production and the development of the motherland.

Review expert: Zhang Kai, professor at Communication University of China

Producer: Zhan Zhao

Planning: Cai Lin, Lin Jiaxin, Jiao Ziyuan

Director: Yuan Dian (internship), Zhang Liuyan (internship)

Broadcaster: Liu Zimo

Produced by: Liu Zimo