Behind the scenes of the upgrade of the "Science and Technology Courtyard": deciphering the agricultural investment curve of Pinduoduo

Reporter Li Li Dali reports from Shanghai

Agriculture is the foundation of Pinduoduo. Pinduoduo was the first to build an upward channel for agricultural products through the "farmland cloud spelling" model, and the innovative supply chain has become its moat that distinguishes it from other e-commerce platforms.

At present, the market value of Pinduoduo once surpassed Alibaba and became a hot topic in the capital market. New problems arise, how can the original business model continue to support Pinduoduo's high growth? The second Science and Technology Academy Competition, which has just ended in Dali, Yunnan Province, has unveiled the latest layout of Pinduoduo's "heavy agriculture". The reporter of "China Business Daily" combed the agricultural investment curve of Pinduoduo and found that the investment cycle of agriculture is long, and Pinduoduo is also a long-term investment in agriculture.

If the "Duoduo Agricultural Research Science and Technology Competition" hosted by Pinduoduo was a geek surfing of agricultural research science and technology, focusing on research frontier topics, then the science and technology academy competition for graduate students of colleges and universities across the country emphasizes going deep into the rural frontline, solving practical problems, and helping farmers increase their income. By becoming the person behind a series of agricultural research science and technology competitions, Pinduoduo is going deep into the upstream industrial chain of agriculture, and even becoming a part of it.

The "Science and Technology Courtyard" focuses on the first line

On the eve of the May Fourth Youth Day in 2023, General Secretary Xi Jinping replied to the students of the Science and Technology Academy of China Agricultural University, highly affirming the practice of the teachers and students of the Science and Technology Academy taking root in the front line of "solving people's livelihood and governing culture".

The Science and Technology Academy was pioneered by Zhang Fusuo, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and a professor at China Agricultural University, and his team in Quzhou County, Hebei Province in 2009. Over the past 15 years, the teachers and students of the Science and Technology Academy have been stationed in more than 1,000 villages across the country, and through the new model of agricultural technology demonstration and application of "zero distance, zero time difference, zero threshold, and zero cost", they have realized the "nanny-style" system service of agricultural production from planting to harvesting, helping the people to increase production and income.

The reporter noticed that unlike other agricultural research competitions, the second "Pinduoduo Cup" Science and Technology Academy Competition emphasized more on solving practical problems in the front line, and 46 teams from 22 colleges and universities across the country finally participated in the finals to come up with actual results to help farmers increase production and income.

Sun Wu, a graduate student majoring in agronomy and seed industry at Tarim University, and his classmates set off from Alar City, Xinjiang, all the way to Yunnan to participate in the on-site finals, in order to promote Xinjiang jujubes. "We grow the best quality dates in the harshest places, and local farmers generally don't have a high income, so there is a great need for such publicity. ”

"In Xinjiang, ordinary jujube is about 20 yuan per kilogram, and the selenium-rich jujube in the jujube science and technology courtyard is not only firm and sweet, but also nutritious, and can be sold for 5~10 yuan more per catty. Sun Wu told reporters that the mentor Wu Cuiyun instructed that doing something for farmers is the main purpose of the competition.

The Kunyu Jujube Science and Technology Academy of Tarim University, the wind and sand scene in the agriculture of the beautiful Xinjiang oasis impressed by the sand scene in the beautiful Xinjiang oasis agriculture, which impressed Professor Li Jianqiang of China Agricultural University, a member of the expert committee of the competition, "They represent the development of agriculture, forestry and fruit industry in Xinjiang, which occupies 1/7 of the country's territory. ”

The openness and transparency of the competition is also an important reason to attract many professional colleges and universities to participate, the finalists showed on the spot, the results were released on the spot, and the Guizhou Meitan Tea Science and Technology Institute of Southwest University finally won the second prize, and the results were actively promoted in the booth at the moment before the results were announced.

"The Science and Technology Institute has helped local tea farmers to use green and efficient special fertilizer, acidified soil improvement technology, and ecological composite intercropping technology to achieve weight loss, increase production, quality and income, and increase the average income of each tea farmer by 10,000 yuan. Dr. Huang Xingcheng of Southwest University introduced.

Behind the scenes of "upgrades".

In addition to emphasizing more on going deep into the front line to help farmers increase production and income, the reporter noticed that Pinduoduo is also becoming an "extension" part of the science and technology courtyard competition.

Chucheng Science and Technology Academy is one of the "popular" teams in this competition. 21 years ago, Chu Shijian, the former chairman of Yunnan Hongta Group Co., Ltd., contracted the sugarcane field at the eastern foot of the middle section of Ailao Mountain to plant oranges, and worked hard to create the "Chu Cheng" brand. However, piebald fruit and cracked fruit have always been the most serious problems that plague the quality of Chu oranges. Under the strict selection requirements, the yield rate of Chu Cheng was once only 54%, and the rest could only be disposed of or destroyed at a low price, and the direct economic loss in 2022 alone would be as high as 26 million yuan.

Chu Cheng Science and Technology Courtyard was established two years ago, in practice to solve the prevention and control of spotted fruit and cracked fruit, the yield rate has been significantly improved, in the past a tree produced 200 fruits, cracked fruit has twenty or thirty, after a science and technology courtyard "treatment", now down to two or three. The Science and Technology Academy has also built a quality and climate prediction model, which can predict fruit quality 45 days in advance, according to Human Rights Tielin.

According to the reporter's understanding, Chu Cheng has also cooperated with Pinduoduo to extend the new model of "production, education and research". Since 2019, Chu Cheng has opened a flagship store on Pinduoduo and sold to a wider region. In order to help Chu Cheng expand its sales channels, Pinduoduo has given strong support through tens of billions of subsidies and other means.

More than 900 kilometers away from the Chucheng Science and Technology Courtyard, the Danling Orange Science and Technology Courtyard focuses on the green and low-carbon development model of the late-maturing citrus industry chain, optimizes the planting conditions of oranges such as "Ehime No. 38", improves the quality and fruit-bearing rate of oranges, and enhances the added value of orange products. These science and technology oranges are also the commodities that Pinduoduo focuses on covering agriculture-related support resources. Through live broadcast promotion, the platform gives key support to store policies and traffic, and "Ehime No. 38" ranks among the top three orange sales on the platform almost every season, becoming a sales hit.

"Pinduoduo, as the driving force behind the Agricultural Research Science and Technology Competition, seems to be tortuous, but it can actually cut into the industrial chain from the front end of the agricultural industry chain. Help advanced technology to go to the countryside, transform scientific research achievements, and realize the production and marketing docking of high-quality agricultural products. People close to Pinduoduo believe.

It is worth noting that the science and technology courtyard model started from the initial help of one family and upgraded to the current version 3.0, and the Gusheng Village Science and Technology Courtyard located in Wanqiao Town, Dali City is the first model.

In 2021, Academician Zhang Fusuo took the lead in conducting an in-depth investigation on agricultural non-point source pollution in the Erhai Lake Basin.

According to Yang Xinru, a student of Gusheng Village Science and Technology Academy, the development of the Science and Technology Academy has gone through three stages, and version 1.0 is to help smallholder farmers one-on-one. Version 2.0 began to cooperate with the industry. Version 3.0 serves rural revitalization through the scientific and technological innovation and talent empowerment of the Science and Technology Academy.

Why should the science and technology courtyard be more connected with enterprises, Lin Wanlong, vice president of China Agricultural University, told reporters that enterprises can help science and technology courtyards solve practical problems in the development process, "to see science and technology courtyards as a model for serving the modernization of agriculture and rural areas." The future science and technology courtyard should not only be aimed at small farmers and the update of traditional production technology, but also docked with modern industries and modern enterprises. ”

Behind Heavy Warehouse Agriculture

The rural market used to be an e-commerce platform, from Alibaba to JD.com, which was once an active battlefield, but why has it become a moat for the latecomer Pinduoduo.

The reporter combed and found that Pinduoduo's agricultural layout is also based on the layout of the first two in the rural market, and the curve enters. With the help of the infrastructure previously laid out by e-commerce in rural areas, Pinduoduo continued to expand the upward movement of agricultural products and the explosive increase brought by the group model, helping Pinduoduo to open up a new supply chain of "farmland cloud fighting".

Pinduoduo, which has completed rapid growth and listing, began to deliberately amplify its advantages in the upward movement of agricultural products in 2021, positioning agriculture as its core strategy.

"It is not realistic for Pinduoduo to maintain long-term rapid growth at its current scale. Since 2021, we have been adjusting some of our development strategies, paying more attention to agriculture and core technologies, and pursuing long-term high-quality development. Chen Lei, chairman and CEO of Pinduoduo, explained the strategic adjustment.

"However, it is not easy for Pinduoduo to implement agriculture as a core strategy. A capital market person told reporters that the investment method of Pinduoduo into agriculture can only be curve entry and long-term investment, and sponsoring the agricultural research competition is one of the ways.

Pinduoduo was the first to launch the "Duoduo Agricultural Research Science and Technology Competition", and the industry began to think that it was a ticket and a more serious gimmick. A contestant who has participated in the competition for two consecutive years told reporters that this change is getting closer and closer to actual production, and it is not so "virtual". More emphasis is placed on the control of the environment by the facility, how to emphasize the increase in output, and then affect the change of production costs, no matter how strong the artificial intelligence technology is, in the final analysis, it is still people.

The reporter combed and found that Pinduoduo's sponsorship of the Science and Technology Academy Competition is the second year. The competition is more like a medium, through the competition to go deep into the production area, deepen cooperation with front-line scientific research workers, promote the transformation of scientific research achievements, and the platform can connect with the production and marketing of high-quality agricultural products in the first time. Behind a series of actions, Pinduoduo's layout in the agricultural field has been further extended, from production and marketing docking to participating in the research and development and promotion of cutting-edge production technology, and more deeply involved in the upstream industrial chain of agriculture.

"This is a noteworthy signal. Observers close to the capital market told reporters that this shows that Pinduoduo's investment in agriculture has entered a long-term stage, and it is trying to create a commercial closed loop of "R&D and innovation - advanced production - efficient circulation" in agriculture.

Such long-term investment is also reflected in the composition of Pinduoduo's board of directors, and the market observers pointed out that Pinduoduo's previous appointment of Professor Ivonne Rietjens, a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences (KNAW) and a member of the French Academy of Agricultural Sciences, as an independent director is intended to participate in the forefront of agricultural science and technology research and build influence in the agricultural technology circle. Such actions are rare in e-commerce companies, but they reflect their long-term and determination in heavy agriculture.

In the view of the above-mentioned market observers, through the form of grouping and tens of billions of subsidies, Pinduoduo has become an advantageous channel for agricultural products to rise. Now try to create a closed business loop from the upstream of the supply chain, although it is tortuous, once it is formed, it will become its unique moat. However, investing in agriculture is destined to be a long-term and systematic project, and it is difficult to achieve results in the short term, so Pinduoduo needs more investment and patience.

(Editor: Wu Qing Proofreader: Liu Jun)