Abstract
Intelligent agriculture is a highly systematic and integrated project that includes modern information technologies such as big data, cloud computing, 5G, blockchain, the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence. The synergistic combination of multiple technologies determines the effectiveness of intelligent agriculture. Therefore, the implementation of individual technologies in particular regions cannot usually deliver all the potential advantages of intelligent agriculture. It is necessary to promote the integration of information technologies with a high degree of cooperation amongst different regions to achieve the overall development of the country. This article aims to detail the systematic framework of intelligent agriculture, clarify each structural part and, from the perspective of organizational function, elucidate each part's information technology function and the interactions between different technologies, and thus improve the structural system of intelligent agriculture. By also evaluating China's advantages (such as policy support, economies of scale and development stage) and challenges in developing intelligent agriculture, the article identifies the development priorities for the next development stage. Finally, it makes several policy suggestions, including improving vision, expanding investment, promoting integration and cultivating talent. This article is expected to contribute to the development of intelligent agriculture in China.
Introduction
With the continuous development of the economy and society, people now have higher requirements for quality of life, and demand is also growing for better quality and a larger quantity of agricultural products. From the supply perspective, there is a rising need to improve the quality and efficiency of agricultural production and promote agricultural modernization. Besides being confronted with a squeeze in both demand and supply, China's agricultural sector is also facing the challenge of rising costs of labour, agricultural equipment and services. As a result of the high cost of agricultural production and the declining number of agricultural workers, bulk agricultural products in China are generally more expensive than those in the international market and so lack global competitiveness. China's agricultural sector is consequently being squeezed in both international and domestic markets. Under the pressure from supply and demand as well as the domestic and international markets, traditional agriculture is increasingly unable to meet the current needs of agricultural development; hence, the modernization and upgrading of agriculture have become urgent tasks for China.
As a new model of agricultural development underpinned by the deep integration of modern information technology and agricultural production, intelligent agriculture provides an effective solution to the challenges facing the agricultural sector. Specifically, it promises to raise the efficiency of agricultural production, reduce transaction costs in the agricultural market, facilitate the integration of agriculture with the modern service industry and advanced manufacturing industry and boost farmers’ income, agricultural competitiveness and the vitality of the rural sector. At the end of 2020, the Fifth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China laid out the development path of ‘promoting digital industrialization and digitization of the industrial sectors’ and ‘advancing the modernization of agriculture and rural areas’. Subsequently, in the 14th Five-Year Plan launched in 2021, the party and the government set the goal of ‘building intelligent agriculture’ as a key priority for the next 5 years. However, it should be noted that China's intelligent agriculture started late and remains substantially behind that of Western countries. It is also lagging behind the development of intelligent industry and intelligent medical services in China. Therefore, it is important to draw on the experience of foreign countries, be clear about current problems, lay out the structure of the intelligent agriculture system, establish the immediate priorities and explore the path for breakthroughs to develop China's intelligent agriculture.
Construction of the intelligent agriculture system
Intelligent agriculture is a form of modern agriculture based on the deep integration of modern information technologies with agricultural production and operation. However, there is no unified standard on how and which information technologies should be integrated with agricultural production. As most Western countries choose the ‘5S technologies’ 1 as the intelligent system to be integrated with traditional agriculture, a consensus has emerged on the ‘5S + agriculture’ model. In fact, the application of 5S is not limited to agriculture. 5S is a relatively mature intelligent system comprising five subsystems or technology bundles, each containing several information technologies. The system is not an independent technology category. The current 5S system has been developed by adding new, mature technology bundles and will continue to be enriched and improved with the addition of new technology bundles. However, such an understanding of 5S has not received adequate attention amongst Chinese academics, and many scholars put 5S in the same category as big data, 5G, the Internet of Things (IoT) and other information technologies (see, e.g. Liu et al., 2018; Song, 2020; Zhao, 2020). This perception has somewhat hindered the construction of the information technology system underpinning intelligent agriculture in China. It must be stressed that intelligent agriculture is a system formed through the deep integration of a series of parallel information technologies with agricultural production and operations. Although every different technology plays a unique role as an intelligence tool, their isolated application has only a limited effect, and the development of intelligent agriculture hinges on the integration of different intelligent tools. Therefore, the development of intelligent agriculture in China depends on not merely the extensive application of new technologies but on building an accurate, efficient and well-coordinated information technology system based on the actual needs of agricultural production and operations.
Modern agricultural production and operations include not only the generation of agricultural products but also the creation of a whole agricultural industry chain with a high degree of integration between primary, secondary and tertiary industries, and the construction of a modern agricultural industrial system. It must meet the requirements for high efficiency and performance in technology promotion, agricultural production, agricultural product processing, commodity distribution and after-sales guarantees. This requires an efficient system for information collection, analysis, evaluation, categorization, transmission and storage, connecting multiple agricultural stakeholders such as farmers, rough processing businesses in production areas, deep processing businesses, the transportation sector, sales operators, after-sales service providers and the financial sector. No single information technology can accomplish such complex tasks, so a multipronged, interlinked operation system of intelligent tools needs to be constructed.
Big data technology: The core underlying layer
Big data is the core underlying layer for the collection, storage, calculation and application of data in agriculture and related fields. Especially in agriculture, as an industrial category in which the environment makes a big impact, big data has an especially prominent role. In the United Kingdom, for example, through the establishment of Agrimetrics (one of the Centres for Agricultural Innovation), big data and information technology are applied to agricultural production. This contributes to the formation of a precision agriculture system for sowing, fertilizing, irrigating and harvesting that increases the efficiency of agricultural development. Agricultural big data improves the efficiency of seed breeding and nurturing by integrating massive amounts of biological information; it also raises the efficiency of agricultural production by integrating information on water, soil, light, heat and climate resources in various agricultural regions. Big data also helps expand agriculture-related upstream and downstream industries. Specifically, big data on the agricultural environment, resources, production, market and management covers the entire agricultural industry chain, providing information on the whole process from breed selection, material supply and planting to processing and sales, storage and transportation, and after-sales feedback. It, therefore, serves as the basis for effective decision-making throughout the agricultural industry chain.
China's agricultural big data is presently growing exponentially, and the popularization of hardware for data collection and storage has produced visible results. However, without the development of matching technologies for data transmission, analysis, integration and application, it is difficult to leverage the powerful functions of agricultural big data. Currently, isolated data bundles are still an important upstream source of big data, yet the data collected has limited scale and unitary function. Without timely processing after acquisition, this data is not adequately exploited, and its usefulness is practically unknown. A large amount of storage space in big data centres is occupied by this ‘dark data’, which makes it difficult to send more valuable information downstream. The ‘scissors gap’ between data volume and data processing capacity is widening, necessitating the simultaneous development of other intelligent tools to narrow the gap.
Cloud computing technology: Guaranteed computing power
Cloud computing provides data analysis infrastructure for intelligent agriculture. It secures the computing power needed for integrating and calculating information for the whole industrial chain, and for ensuring measurable information and dynamic, transparent resources. Given the decentralized and heterogeneous nature of agricultural production, terminal-based computing is not up to the task of agricultural data analysis. Cloud computing, by contrast, offers the advantages of elastic service, distributed computing, computing power sharing and ubiquitous access. It can thus provide more convenient, inexpensive and high-quality data mining, information pushing and computing simulation services for intelligent agriculture. The cloud storage function enables massive volumes of agricultural service information to be stored and distributed at low cost. High-performance cloud computing enables efficient sharing of the capacity for collection, analysis, management and digital mining of agricultural information. Ubiquitous cloud services are compatible with diversified terminal access, diversifying the supply of agricultural information, increasing the expandability of intelligent terminals and enabling the application of agricultural data throughout the industrial chain. For example, Japan invested in a ‘cloud computing special zone’ in 2010, while the United States introduced big data, cloud computing and other high technologies into agricultural production by launching a special agricultural information monitoring and early warning system. All these efforts have secured farmers’ agricultural production and notably improved their unit output.
Currently, the hardware development of China's agricultural cloud computing is similar to that of agricultural big data. The exceptional computing power of static cloud computing centres gives customers in the agricultural industry chain the calculation results they need. Compared with purchasing data computing equipment, this form of renting computing power in cloud centres is more efficient and less expensive. However, as the number of users continues to rise, the computing burden faced by cloud centres is becoming heavier. The immediate solution is to expand the size and number of cloud centres to increase the capacity of cloud computing, while simultaneously using artificial intelligence (AI)-based algorithm innovation to boost computing power. As elaborated below, blockchain logic represents the future of cloud computing. By establishing a dynamic cloud computing model based on the computing power of intelligent agriculture terminals and high-speed information transmission technology, less computing power will be left idle and a dynamic balance between user demand and computing power will be achieved.
5G technology: Transmission channel
5G technology offers an important guarantee of high-speed connectivity in intelligent agriculture, and a major channel for cross-sector transmission of information within the agricultural industry and for integration with other information technologies of intelligent agriculture. In the intelligent agriculture system, 5G technology is an indispensable means of transmitting information and a centre connecting various sub-elements. Agricultural data is complex and diverse, and the intelligent devices used for data collection are more numerous, widely distributed and widely used than in other industries. Aker (2011) believes that information asymmetries can be an important barrier to agricultural technology adoption in developing countries. The current mode of terminal processing is too expensive. The transmission capability of 5G offers the large bandwidth, low latency and high speed needed to realize the terminal collection, central processing and terminal feedback of data, which will effectively boost the efficiency of agricultural data collection and processing. At the same time, through data uploading and downloading from big data centres and cloud computing centres, 5G technology enables the integration of the upstream and downstream data of the agricultural industry. Meanwhile, 5G's low-latency data transmission is effective in connecting agricultural information monitoring equipment with agricultural machinery and other facilities to form an ever-expanding ecological network of agricultural information.
Most countries have developed intelligent agriculture based on 4G. As China is amongst the first countries to explore and develop a 5G network, it holds clear advantages in areas such as signal upgrading and conversion and the construction of base stations. 5G technology will, therefore, be a decisive factor in China's leapfrog development of intelligent agriculture. The popularization of 5G technology in the countryside will reduce the terminal processing requirements for agricultural monitoring, surveillance, early warning, sensing and other equipment, as well as for agricultural machinery and facilities, thereby helping to lower the cost of intelligent agricultural devices and promote their use. 5G, together with big data and cloud computing centres, will pave the way for constructing an IoT network with increasing scale and coverage and push the development of intelligent agriculture to a higher level.
Blockchain technology: Authenticity guarantee
Blockchain provides an important guarantee of the authenticity of intelligent agriculture information, as well as an effective boost for the accurate transmission of such information amongst various elements and the effective operation of intelligent agricultural tools. Moreover, blockchain significantly reduces the cost of monitoring the quality and integrity of agricultural production. Through distributed data storage, blockchain technology protects agricultural information against tampering, even without the guarantee of third-party institutions. Blockchain can be combined with various intelligent tools to enhance the security of intelligent agriculture. Given the complexity and diversity of agricultural data, both storage and processing in big data and cloud computing centres are often inefficient. Blockchain organizes chronologically arranged data into a chain structure and reduces the redundancy of dark data in the centres through effective data integration. For AI-empowered agriculture terminals, blockchain records and discloses the information collected and the feedback, and establishes a complete record of data model to promote the upgrade and development of agricultural AI technology.
In addition to combining with other intelligent agriculture technologies, blockchain is an intelligent tool specially used in the agricultural field. On the one hand, blockchain can accurately publish and disclose the full cycle of crop growth and assure the quality of agricultural products by securing traceability. On the other hand, it can help address the challenges of agricultural production, including high dependence on the environment, difficulty in presenting evidence and poor resilience against risks to agricultural workers, which make agriculture-related financial services difficult to operate. By keeping authoritative records covering the entire agricultural production process, blockchain combined with agriculture-related insurance, finance and credit services encourages financial-sector participation in the agricultural production process and ensures the safety of agricultural production. In the future, agricultural blockchain technology combined with ‘digital twins’ 2 could notably increase the accuracy and predictability of agricultural information. Verdouw et al. (2021) have carried out relevant research, and their conclusions also support this result.
IoT technology: Connected network
The IoT is an information technology that enables the circulation of information amongst all intelligent devices and carriers. Within the intelligent agriculture system, IoT helps form a connected network by linking all intelligent tools that can be independently addressed. The many types of sensors, radio frequency identification devices and other ubiquitous information-sensing terminals needed for intelligent agriculture are connected to data or computing centres for the purpose of information aggregation and computing analysis, and central commands are sent to application terminals such as agricultural machinery and facilities for execution, thus forming a fully interconnected IoT network (Khanna and Kaur, 2019). The Japanese Government attaches great importance to agricultural IoT technology, which it is distributing overseas. It takes agricultural IoT as the main source of information and popularizes intelligent agriculture terminals, mostly in the form of agricultural robots.
With the development of protected agriculture in China, agricultural IoT that is effective in connecting intelligent terminals is playing an increasingly visible role. Meanwhile, with the application of intelligent facilities in both upstream and downstream agricultural processes, the network of agriculture-related IoT is growing in scale. By facilitating the collection of information on crop growth, IoT affects the input of agricultural materials such as fertilizers and pesticides in the upstream, while also providing necessary data on the quality of raw materials for deep processing of agricultural products in the downstream. Such effective connection of various links strengthens the vertical integration of the agricultural industry chain.
AI technology: An intelligent terminal
AI is the information source of intelligent agriculture and the intelligent terminal for command execution. It is also an important means to improve the capacity of other elements of intelligent agriculture. The neural network of AI, especially its deep learning capability, provides the necessary intelligence to serve as a terminal for intelligent agriculture. AI-based technologies for image processing and segmentation and feature extraction improve the efficiency and accuracy of agricultural information collection. For example, the use of AI-based convolutional neural networks is highly effective in identifying crop pests. In terms of command execution, AI is effective in analysing the performance of intelligent agricultural machinery and facilities and making adjustments based on real-time feedback. In addition, combining AI with other elements of intelligent agriculture improves those elements’ performance. AI also enhances the data processing ability of big data and cloud computing and optimizes the integration of IoT intelligent devices. In Germany, for example, the joint application of AI and agricultural IoT has proven effective in analysing subtle changes in the external environment for crop farming and making precise responses to boost production and income.
The above six elements, which are both independent and interconnected, together constitute China's intelligent agriculture system. As the top decision-making mechanism of intelligent agriculture, big data and cloud computing technologies are responsible for the collection, processing and storage of agriculture-related information and for making relevant decisions; 5G and blockchain technologies are the intermediate transmission channel of intelligent agriculture, ensuring the accurate and effective transmission of agricultural information both vertically and horizontally within the intelligent agriculture system; finally, IoT and AI technologies are the terminal nerve system of intelligent agriculture, playing a decisive role in the collection of agricultural information and the command execution process. Only with simultaneous progress in all six aspects can China meaningfully improve the development of intelligent agriculture.
China's advantages and challenges in intelligent agriculture development
China is a major agricultural country and has a huge population. Agricultural development is needed for both industrial growth and social stability. The Chinese Government set the goal of applying computer technologies to agriculture as early as the beginning of the period of reform and opening up. Having started late, China's Internet industry has grown at an amazing pace, providing a solid foundation for the development of intelligent agriculture.
China's advantages for developing intelligent agriculture
Although the development of intelligent agriculture started later in China than in developed countries, China has unique advantages in terms of policy support, economies of scale and development stage.
Policy and institutional support
China's primary advantage lies in policy and institutional support. Since 2011, the central government has annually issued guidelines for the development of intelligent agriculture in various fields, calling for use of Internet technologies in the agricultural industry as soon as possible. Promoting agricultural modernization with Internet technologies has been identified as a priority task in all the No. 1 documents published by the central government each year, and the policy and financial support in this regard have also been growing year by year.
More importantly, compared to the governments of Western countries, the Chinese Government has placed more emphasis on equal development opportunities. From a regional perspective, the coverage of Internet infrastructure in China is extensive. As of October 2020, the 4G network reached over 98% of administrative villages in China's mainland. Providing free cellphones and discounted data flow charges for people in poor areas provides the necessary Internet infrastructure for developing intelligent agriculture. From an industrial perspective, ‘Internet + ’ applications power the integration of and interconnection amongst primary, secondary and tertiary industries in rural areas, preventing information asymmetry between different industries and realizing the optimal allocation of resources in the whole agricultural industry chain. As one element of the ‘new four modernizations’, agricultural modernization is closely associated with industrialization, informatization and urbanization. The Internet has played an effective role in promoting the development of intelligent agriculture in China in the course of rural and agricultural development.
Economies of scale
China's economies of scale are another major advantage for growing intelligent agriculture. First, the development level of the Internet industry is related to its scale. Because China has the largest community of Internet users and the largest number of mobile intelligent devices in the world, it has undoubted advantages in the development of intelligent industries. Second, China has the world's largest arable land area and agricultural population, and agricultural development has always held an important position on the Chinese Government's agenda. Furthermore, China's agricultural production is geographically diverse, and its agricultural products are rich in variety, necessitating a model of agricultural development with much precision and sophistication. Third, China's per capita income has been rising in recent years. Since 2018, China has had the world's largest consumption capacity, and the Chinese people now have higher demands for high-quality agricultural products and are more willing to pay higher prices. This upgrade in consumption creates an impetus for the development of high-quality intelligent agriculture. Meanwhile, the ability of rural households to invest in the agricultural industry has notably increased. In recent years, under the guidance of national policies, a substantial amount of private capital has flowed into the agricultural sector and rural areas, providing the necessary investor community for developing intelligent agriculture.
Stage of development
A most obvious advantage of China's intelligent agriculture lies in the country's development stage. In the international market, major world economies have all turned inwards in recent years. The contraction of the international food trade has made self-sufficiency in agricultural products even more imperative. In the No. 1 document issued in 2021, the Chinese Government has made ensuring food security a top priority of agricultural development, demonstrating its determination to increase agricultural investment. Domestically, the recent expansion of lower-tier markets proves the growing consumption capacity of China's villages and townships and is creating diversified demands for agricultural products. In the area of rural development, China successfully concluded a campaign of targeted poverty alleviation in 2020, and digital technologies played a big part in the process. In 2019, statistics showed that the potential market scale of China's smart agriculture would increase from US$13.7 billion in 2015 to US$26.8 billion in 2020, with a compound annual growth rate of 14.3% (Askci Corporation, 2019). During the campaign, advances were made in the construction of Internet infrastructure in rural areas, providing important infrastructural conditions for developing intelligent agriculture.
All the above advantages give a solid foundation for the development of intelligent agriculture in China.
China's challenges in developing intelligent agriculture
Although China has been rapidly developing intelligent agriculture in recent years, it still lags behind developed countries by more than 10 years, mainly in the following five areas.
Lack of macro planning
Despite the high importance attached to developing intelligent agriculture, a lack of macro planning has inhibited the efficiency of policy implementation. First, the investment of government funds is not sufficient to support the development of intelligent agriculture infrastructure (Jiang and Mei, 2018). Second, despite a gradual increase in the amount of financial subsidies, most have been channelled to agriculture-related business operations, while intelligent agricultural production has received a relatively small and inadequate proportion (Wen et al., 2016). Third, the industry–academia–research collaboration of agricultural science and technology is not sufficient, and synergy is lacking between scientific research projects and the development of the agricultural industry, leading to a disconnect between ‘research’ and ‘application’. Fourth, given the great amount of financial investment in intelligent agriculture infrastructure and the importance attached to it by the central government, local government departments have often set up specialized agencies and even assigned additional personnel to oversee implementation, leading to the problem of varying degrees of ‘involution’ in all localities. Fifth, as a result of the uneven development of intelligent devices, together with the lack of synchronization between the construction and utilization of big data and cloud computing centres and research into 5G base stations, blockchain algorithms and chips for AI equipment, China is experiencing a ‘short board effect’. Finally, the non-government sector is not actively involved, the share of private investment is relatively small, and the capital market is not participating sufficiently.
Low data integrity
The data integrity of intelligent agriculture has two dimensions: data collection and data consolidation. First, in terms of collection, data integrity is low. China's agricultural sector is complex and diverse, and the data required for developing intelligent agriculture falls into multiple categories and is difficult to collect. The data currently collected is not sufficiently adequate or wide-ranging, and an effective, authoritative data set is yet to be formed. Moreover, the data categories are not yet fully covered. Data collected on crop growth is limited and relatively isolated from other such data, making consolidation difficult. Second, the level of data consolidation is low. At the macro level, the consolidation of agricultural data using big data and cloud computing needs improvement. Different categories of data are not effectively connected, and the results of data mining are not fully presented. At the meso level, the data produced by big data and cloud computing centres and by various industries is independent of the data of local government organizations. Such fragmentation means that truly big data remains elusive. Finally, at the micro level, agricultural development needs to be better integrated with upstream and downstream industries in the use of information, and the information has not been consolidated into data sets required by users at different stages of the industrial chain.
Poor technologies
The development of intelligent agriculture relies on overall progress at the foundational, technological and application levels. China is presently catching up fast with developed countries in technologies and applications, but still lags behind at the foundational level, in terms of chips, optical fibre, high-performance sensors and other elements. Agricultural sensing equipment independently developed by China still has notable weaknesses in stability, sensitivity and data acquisition. The IoT's integration ability is inadequate, and the precision of terminal-based remote control systems and command execution systems remains poor. The ‘digital twin’ modelling of crops and livestock also lacks accuracy, and the effective decision-making rate is low. A large proportion of intelligent agricultural equipment is still at the level of data monitoring and display, and thus unable to make intelligent decisions.
Insufficient effective investment
Intelligent agriculture can develop only with the popularization of digital infrastructure in rural areas. However, the construction and use of core hardware infrastructures, such as big data and cloud computing centres, are mostly concentrated in a few selected cities, and rules on the use of storage and computing services are still absent, leading to low popularization of central computing power. 5G base stations are still at the stage of trial operation even in cities, and only a few base stations have been built in rural areas. The lack of an effective information transmission mechanism also hinders the popularization of central computing power. For high-end intelligent agricultural equipment and machinery, which are the main part of intelligent agriculture, China has low self-sufficiency and is overdependent on imports. Due to its low utilization rate, investment in research and development (R&D) has failed to exert a real pull effect on intelligent agriculture.
Low acceptance
At present, the ‘migration model’ (push and pull factors) of labour force between urban and rural areas persists, and the main body of agricultural practitioners are elderly people, women and children left behind in the countryside, with little knowledge of science and technology. Meanwhile, the high required investment and long return cycle for intelligent agriculture have pushed up investment costs and risks at the initial stage, going beyond the acceptable range for mainstream agricultural workers in China. The lack of information and knowledge accumulation of agricultural practitioners and their poor ability to apply information technologies also hinder the development of intelligent agriculture.
In analysing the prospects of China's intelligent agriculture, the country's unique advantages and the challenges it faces should both be considered. In developing intelligent agriculture, China needs to pursue a path based on its own conditions and suited to its own realities.
Future priorities of intelligent agriculture development in China
In response to the above problems, the Chinese Government laid out the following goal in the 14th Five-Year Plan proposed at the end of 2020: Implementing the project of high-standard farmland construction, strengthening the support for agricultural science and technology and equipment, developing improved seed varieties, strengthening the system of animal epidemic prevention and crop pest control, and promoting intelligent agriculture.
Taking into account the features of China's intelligent agriculture system (Section 2) and the country's advantages and challenges in building the system (Section 3), the next stage of developing intelligent agriculture should focus on the following aspects.
Developing capabilities in the collection, analysis and application of big data
Intelligent agriculture is a modernized process of collecting, organizing and applying agricultural data. Agricultural data is the core element for the long-term development of intelligent agriculture. On the hardware side, it is important to strengthen the construction of 5G base stations, intelligent devices and other intelligent agriculture infrastructure in rural areas and to improve the rules for the use of central computing power as soon as possible, thereby enabling expanded coverage of information collection and feedback. On the software side, it is necessary to strengthen the central computing power of big data and cloud computing and the coordinated application of 5G, blockchain and AI technologies in the agricultural field. Alongside expanding the collection of information, it is also important to strengthen data analysis and consolidation. Capabilities for mining, sorting, analysing, utilizing, consolidating and sharing information such as text, images and videos should also be improved to ensure the timeliness and accuracy of big data in the analysis and decision-making processes of agricultural production.
Enriching the algorithm models of crop data
Algorithm enhancement is the inner logic enabling the advance of big data, cloud computing, blockchain, IoT and AI technologies. Through technical methods such as computer deep learning and knowledge genealogy, the intelligence level of various elements of intelligent agriculture is improved. It is also important to improve the data processing and classification capabilities of big data and cloud computing centres, improve the accuracy and timeliness of ‘digital twin’ modelling, boost the security and universality of blockchain distributed storage, and enhance AI precision in information collection and command execution. These developments will support the collection of key data covering all links of the agricultural industry chain.
Promoting research into remote sensing terminal equipment
Terminal equipment is the interface between intelligent agricultural data and reality, playing the role of importing and exporting information. For importing information, the R&D of novel core components, including chips, new materials and high-sensitivity sensors, needs to be strengthened to ensure precision monitoring of agricultural production. To support exporting information and enhance the accuracy of command execution, more work is needed to promote the R&D of intelligent agricultural machinery and equipment, such as robots, drones, unmanned tillage and harvesting equipment, digital processing systems and environmental regulation equipment.
Creating an agricultural science and technology service platform
China should build a one-stop platform of science and technology services to support the development of intelligent agriculture. Through online information portals accessible via PC and mobile devices (such as websites and apps), and by promoting and demonstrating through offline channels, intelligent agriculture practitioners can be seamlessly connected with those working in agriculture and related industries. The proposed agricultural science and technology service platform should combine the functions of education and knowledge popularization, policy release, information promotion, technology promotion, the promotion of the latest R&D results for intelligent tools and crops, and the transformation of R&D achievements. The service platform should not only provide an outlet for promoting and releasing information on intelligent agriculture but also serve as an information portal connecting practitioners and customers in various links of the agricultural industry chain.
Recommendations
Intelligent agriculture represents a significant upgrade to information perception and intelligent management of the whole process of agricultural production. In view of the challenges and potential development paths identified above, this article makes the following recommendations.
Strengthen overall planning
Although starting late in the development of intelligent agriculture, China has demonstrated a notable latecomer's advantage. The unique strength of China's system is key, and the government should continue leveraging the role of policies in setting direction, draw on international experience and make ambitious, forward-looking plans with a global perspective for developing intelligent agriculture. First, institutional innovation for intelligent agriculture should be promoted. The development of Internet technologies is shaped by rules, so, before embarking on the path of ‘wild’ growth, regulation should be strengthened with forward-looking legislation to ensure the orderly development of Internet technologies that can better serve the agricultural industry. Second, the government should introduce guiding policies. Given the huge initial investment that infrastructure requires, engaging in intelligent agriculture is a big risk for individual rural households. China's system offers the advantage of the state adopting macro control policies for industrial development through overall planning and giving necessary support to key sectors and regions so as to encourage private-sector participation and contribute to the early-stage development of intelligent agriculture. Finally, where appropriate, targeted policies should be introduced to improve coordination amongst various factors in the intelligent agriculture system. This will help synergize the resources and strengths of various factors to promote the efficient development of intelligent agriculture.
Increase investment in infrastructure
Infrastructure investment is a necessary condition for the early-stage development of intelligent agriculture. To address the low efficiency of financial investment in intelligent agriculture, government departments should ensure that funding support serves its original purpose by going directly to infrastructure. First, the government should prioritize quickly improving the rules on using central computing power (i.e. big data and cloud computing) to secure efficiency and use that basis to create a government-led environment for developing intelligent agriculture by setting up 5G base stations and non-proprietary intelligent terminals in rural areas. This will serve to attract the participation of practitioners in intelligent agriculture and agriculture-related intelligent industries. Second, in the process of intelligent infrastructure investment, local governments should mobilize the participation of private actors through outsourcing parts of construction projects and forming public–private partnership projects. Besides boosting the enthusiasm of enterprises to engage in promoting intelligent agriculture, such approaches would also help reduce the fiscal expenditure of projects. Finally, local governments should regularly conduct vertical and horizontal assessments of various types of intelligent agriculture infrastructure in their administrative regions to identify weak links in regional development and make timely improvements, thus promoting upgrades in local intelligent agriculture.
Build an innovation alliance
The development of intelligent agriculture needs to be driven by different technologies, such as big data, cloud computing, 5G, blockchain, IoT and AI. Given the current distribution of scientific research resources in China, it is difficult for any single research institute to independently undertake the task of developing intelligent agriculture. Therefore, it is necessary to build an innovation alliance that brings together research institutes, business organizations and other innovation agencies to jointly promote the development of intelligent agriculture in China. First, local governments should lead in constructing this alliance and create a synergy for innovation based on collaboration between industries, academia and research communities. Second, scientific research institutions should expand participation in innovation by making important intelligent algorithms open source and giving access to their R&D equipment, while small and micro innovation institutions should be encouraged to participate in cutting-edge R&D programmes. Finally, local governments should introduce cooperative scientific research projects to facilitate the participation of innovation actors.
Cultivate participating entities
Intelligent agriculture is a long-term project with a long cycle of infrastructure construction and capital return, as well as numerous participants and influencing factors. Therefore, in developing intelligent agriculture, the government should pay attention to the cultivation and development of participating entities. First, the government should focus on user education and encouraging the participation of farmers by arranging visits to demonstration fields and other activities. Second, a model of purchasing equipment on credit and repaying loans with profits could be trialled to increase the participation of ordinary rural households in intelligent agriculture. Finally, preferential fiscal, taxation and financial policies should be better coordinated to attract farmers’ participation and cultivate all participants in intelligent agriculture.
Conclusion and outlook
Intelligent agriculture is a long-term project that conforms to the law of socioeconomic development and produces economies of scale. It is an emerging industrial system that encompasses big data, cloud computing, 5G, blockchain, IoT and AI technologies in the field of agriculture. Although China started late in developing intelligent agriculture, it is catching up fast and is expected to join the ranks of world leaders in about 5 years.
This article has analysed the industrial system of intelligent agriculture, explored the path of intelligent agriculture development in China, summarized China's advantages and challenges in developing intelligent agriculture, and sought to map out future development. The article has also provided relevant policy recommendations. However, it did not discuss in depth the interrelationships between various elements of the industrial system of intelligent agriculture. Future research should focus on the construction of a quantitative evaluation system and an overall evaluation system of those elements.
Footnotes
Declaration of conflicting interests
The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article: This research was supported by a 2019 Higher Education Teaching Reform Project of Shanxi Province, titled ‘MOOCs: Innovative Research on Informatization Teaching Method of Ideological and Political Theory Courses in Shanxi Province’ (Project no.: 2019JGSZ0010).