Firmly establish and earnestly practice the concept of large-scale agriculture

Source: Economic Daily

General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that "it is necessary to establish a big agriculture concept and a big food concept, and build a diversified food supply system with simultaneous development of agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery." The concept of big agriculture has rich connotations and scientific thinking. It is of great significance to firmly establish and practice the concept of big agriculture to ensure national food security, promote the comprehensive revitalization of rural areas, and accelerate the construction of an agricultural power in the new era.

Understand the rich connotation of the concept of big agriculture

The concept of agriculture has a "big concept" and "big vision", which aims to break down various barriers in agricultural development and run the overall approach through all aspects of agricultural development.

Integrate and take into account the many elements and resources needed for agricultural development. The concept of agriculture emphasizes the optimization of the spatial distribution of agricultural resources and the rational allocation of agricultural factors. Through the development of moderately large-scale operations, we should change the decentralized agricultural management model of one household and solve the problem of scattered and fragmented agricultural resources. We will continue to broaden the boundaries of agricultural resources, ask for calories and protein from plants, animals and microorganisms, and develop and utilize a variety of resources.

Coordinate the development of agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and sideline fisheries. Small-scale agriculture generally focuses on a single area, considering crops, forestry, animal husbandry, fisheries, etc. separately. The concept of agriculture emphasizes going beyond a single field and accelerating the construction of a diversified food supply system that integrates grain, economy and feeding, combines agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery, and develops plants, animals and microorganisms.

Coordinate the development of agriculture and non-agricultural industries. The concept of big agriculture emphasizes the integration and common development between agriculture and non-agricultural industries. By promoting the extension and expansion of the agricultural industry chain, we will continuously improve the added value of agriculture. Through integrated development, we will give full play to the advantages of agriculture, provide sufficient raw materials and broad markets for other related industries, and realize the coordinated development and mutual empowerment of various industries.

Coordinate and take into account the different functions of agriculture. Agriculture is not only an important part of the national economy, but also has unique political, cultural, social, ecological and security functions. The concept of agriculture emphasizes the maximum coordination of multiple functions of agriculture and the realization of mutual coordination and mutual promotion of different functions.

Take into account long-term development and short-term interests. The concept of agriculture not only attaches importance to the current agricultural production situation, but also emphasizes the enhancement of development potential, requires to build green and circular ecological agriculture at the height of being responsible for future generations, takes a good ecological environment as the greatest advantage and valuable wealth of rural areas, strictly prevents and controls agricultural non-point source pollution, saves agricultural resources, and actively promotes agricultural pollution control.

Coordinate and take into account agricultural production in different regions. The mainland is a vast country, with very different natural conditions and different agricultural resource endowments. The concept of agriculture emphasizes the construction of a scientific, moderate and orderly agricultural spatial layout system and standardizes the spatial order of agricultural development. All localities are required to develop agriculture from the perspective of the overall situation and strategy, give full play to their comparative advantages, adapt measures to local conditions, plant when suitable, raise what is suitable for raising, and develop and expand industries with special characteristics.

Grasp the scientific thinking of the concept of big agriculture

In recent years, the complexity, severity and uncertainty of the external environment have risen, the problem of unbalanced and insufficient domestic development is still prominent, and there are still many problems and challenges facing agricultural and rural development. From the perspective of the external environment, the world is undergoing major changes unseen in a century, with frequent local conflicts and turbulence, and the security and stability of the global food supply chain are facing challenges. In addition, global warming has exacerbated the instability of the climate system, resulting in frequent extreme weather and climate events, and agriculture is sensitive to climate change, which adversely affects food security and sustainable agricultural development. Judging from the domestic situation, the mainland has a large number of people and a small amount of land. At present, the per capita cultivated land area on the mainland is only 1.36 mu, less than 40 percent of the world average. At the same time, family management, which is dominated by small farmers, is still the main form of agricultural management on the mainland. Smallholder farmers have a small and scattered production scale and a low degree of organization, which makes it difficult to effectively expand the whole industrial chain of processing, storage and transportation, sales, brand, experience, consumption, and service, and it is difficult to form a modern agricultural production system.

In the face of the complex international and domestic situation, we have made important strategic arrangements to establish the concept of big agriculture and big food, which provides a guide and points out the direction for coping with various risks and challenges and accelerating the construction of an agricultural power. The concept of big agriculture is a new concept of agricultural development, which contains scientific thinking.

The concept of big agriculture contains dialectical thinking. The relationship between workers and peasants and between urban and rural areas is a major issue that must be properly handled in the process of Chinese-style modernization. The concept of agriculture emphasizes the interconnection and mutual influence of agriculture and non-agricultural industries, aiming to build a large industrial pattern of integrated development, realize the integration of the upstream and downstream industrial chains of agriculture, and promote the formation of a new type of urban-rural relationship between industry and agriculture, urban and rural complementarity, coordinated development and common prosperity.

The concept of big agriculture contains systems thinking. The concept of large-scale agriculture requires that agriculture be viewed from the perspective of the whole and the overall situation, that agriculture be regarded as a system, and that agriculture be comprehensively understood from the interconnection and interaction between systems and elements, elements and elements, and systems and the environment. The concept of agriculture emphasizes the coordinated development of the entire agricultural industry chain, including not only agricultural production departments such as planting, animal husbandry, fishery, and forestry, but also all aspects of agricultural product processing, circulation, sales, and service. It is required to change the original agricultural development situation in which each has its own responsibility and ensures the coordinated development of all categories and links. The concept of agriculture attaches great importance to exploring the multiple functions of agriculture, emphasizing that agriculture not only has economic benefits, but also ecological, cultural and social benefits, and requires continuous expansion of multiple functions of agriculture, so as to promote the solid and stable function of food security, accelerate the transformation of ecological conservation function, high-end expansion of leisure experience function, and tangible extension of cultural inheritance function.

The concept of big agriculture contains strategic thinking. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "A strong country must first strengthen agriculture, and a strong agriculture can make the country strong." Without a strong agricultural country, there will be no modern power as a whole; without agricultural and rural modernization, socialist modernization will be incomplete. "The concept of agriculture requires that agricultural development be examined from the perspective of promoting Chinese-style modernization. It is necessary to expand food sources, enrich food varieties, and create a three-dimensional and comprehensive modern agricultural large-scale production system to ensure national food security. It is necessary to accelerate the green and low-carbon transformation of agriculture, promote the formation of an ecological pattern conducive to sustainable development, and match agricultural development with the carrying capacity of environmental resources and coordinate with the ecology of production and life, so as to achieve a win-win situation of ecological and economic benefits. It is necessary to build a modern agricultural management system, continuously increase farmers' income, create a beautiful and livable rural environment, and promote the realization of common prosperity for all people.

Earnestly practice the concept of big agriculture

At present, a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation is advancing in depth, with the rapid development of technologies such as the Internet, big data, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence, and traditional agriculture is accelerating its transformation to digital and intelligent. We must seize the opportunity, practice the concept of agriculture, accelerate the modernization of agriculture and rural areas, and help build a strong agricultural country.

First, it is necessary to continuously expand the boundaries of agricultural production and establish a large-scale modern agricultural production system. Compared with the world's agricultural powers, the mainland's agricultural labor productivity is still relatively low, and its agricultural science and technology research and development capabilities are relatively weak. It is necessary to speed up the in-depth application of advanced equipment and agricultural production technology, raise the level of improved agricultural varieties, mechanization, science and technology, informatization, and standardization, and change the mode of input of agricultural factors. Actively promote the construction of facility agriculture, broaden the boundaries of agricultural development, and ask for food from facility agriculture. Improve the level of informatization and intelligence of agricultural production, and actively promote the construction of smart agriculture. It is necessary to improve the utilization rate of agricultural resources, the rate of land output, and the productivity of labor, enhance the comprehensive production capacity of agriculture and the ability to resist risks, and fundamentally change the situation of "relying on the sky for food" in agricultural development.

Second, it is necessary to actively extend and expand the agricultural industrial chain and establish a modern agricultural industrial system. The mainland's agricultural industrial chain and value chain are still at the low end, and it is necessary to accelerate the upgrading of modernization, build the whole industrial chain, and expand the space for agricultural value-added and efficiency. Accelerate the extension of agriculture from planting and breeding to secondary and tertiary industries such as processing and circulation of agricultural products, carry out intensive processing of agricultural products, guide warehousing and logistics, and facility leasing to extend to rural areas, so as to realize the integrated development of agricultural production, processing and circulation. Promote the deep integration of 5G, Beidou satellite navigation, Internet of Things, cloud computing, big data, artificial intelligence, blockchain and other technologies with agricultural production and operation, improve the digital level of agricultural production, processing, circulation, sales and other links, and strive to cultivate new technologies, new formats and new models of digital agriculture.

Third, accelerate the cultivation of agricultural science and technology innovation talents, and provide talent support for the development of agriculture. People are the most active and decisive factor in productivity. At present, the building of the contingent of agricultural personnel on the mainland is still relatively weak, and it is necessary to pay attention to cultivating agricultural personnel who meet the requirements of the concept of agriculture, especially agricultural scientific and technological personnel and management service personnel. On the one hand, we should do a good job in building a contingent of qualified personnel in agriculture-related colleges and universities and cultivating high-quality farmers, so as to form an army of knowledge-based, skilled, and innovative workers. On the other hand, we should innovate the system and mechanism of rural talent work, continuously optimize the rural talent environment, effectively improve the attractiveness of rural areas to all kinds of talents, and encourage more talents to exert their abilities, talents and talents in the vast world of rural areas.

(Authors: Li Jun and Xin Xian are both researchers at the National Academy of Agriculture and Rural Development, China Agricultural University, Source: Economic Daily)