How should digital agriculture evolve? What are its international experiences and inspirations?

In the world, digital agricultural technology, represented by five core modules such as agricultural Internet of Things, agricultural big data, precision agriculture, smart agriculture and artificial intelligence, has been widely used in the agricultural field and has developed rapidly. It can be expected that digital agriculture will mean a major transformation of agricultural production systems, rural economies, communities, and natural resource management.

1. Technical characteristics and development dilemma of digital agriculture

The effect mechanism of digital agriculture on the transformation of modern agricultural system comes from its technical characteristics, which mainly includes three aspects: technology dependence, data centrality and capability matching. At the same time, the technical characteristics of digital agriculture determine a series of dilemmas that its development may face.

Technical characteristics of digital agriculture

1. Technology dependence

To advance digital agriculture, data, platforms and connectivity are indispensable. The implementation of digital agriculture depends on infrastructure such as electricity supply, mobile network coverage and Internet connectivity. On this basis, the application of digital agriculture relies on the development of digital technologies, such as geographic information systems (GIS), global Navigation satellite systems (GNSS), remote sensing (RS), satellite images, ground sensors, mobile computing and processing technology and communication technology. Digital technologies combine programs to map farming, seeding, fertilization, herbicide and pesticide use, irrigation, harvesting and other agricultural practices.

2. Data centrality

The key element in digital agriculture is data, which is brought together by geospatial technologies, on-site production information, weather and climate, and market dynamics. Among them, geospatial data is usually the information related to precision agriculture in a specific site, such as soil characteristics and yield information in a specific location. Metadata on management practices and techniques, including sowing depth, seed location, species, mechanical diagnosis, time and movement, tillage, sowing, searching, spraying dates and input use; Environmental data over which decision makers have no control, including rainfall, evaporation, and cumulative heat units.

3. It causes unemployment

In a large number of application scenarios in digital agriculture, based on big data, machines can make autonomous decisions without human intervention. So digitalisation of agriculture will undoubtedly create new jobs, but it will not suit the many farm workers who are already marginalised, especially in areas with high unemployment, and the need for labour-saving technologies has been debated. Unless farmers adapt their skills and specialise in new types of work, the advent of robotics and artificial intelligence will result in Labour displacement.

Second, the development of digital agriculture in China

China attaches great importance to the transformation and development of digital agriculture, and tries to build a future picture of China's modern agriculture from multiple perspectives such as policy orientation, public investment, market guidance, and main incentives.

China's policies on the development of digital agriculture

China has been planning the implementation of digital agriculture since 2015, and has formulated a series of policy documents aimed at promoting the transformation and development of digital agriculture, so as to promote the coordinated development of digital countryside and digital agriculture. Its core path is from the vigorous promotion of infrastructure, to the promotion and application of digital technology, and then to the establishment of big data systems and platforms to achieve the deep integration of digital technology and agricultural production. Local governments have actively responded to the central policies, issued action plans for local digital agriculture rural development, and innovated the realization mechanism and realization path of digital agriculture according to local conditions.

Iii. International experience in the development of digital agriculture

We will strengthen infrastructure development

Innovation in infrastructure and business models can help reduce "last mile" costs, as the spread of mobile Internet access may bring the marginal cost of using apps (apps) for farmers close to zero. Therefore, two efforts are worth trying: First, to bridge the gap in network coverage, to continuously build and update the infrastructure. The experience of EU countries shows that greater freedom in the field of telecommunications can help achieve broad connectivity. Efficient spectrum management can reduce construction costs and lead to better ICT services for end users. The type of licensing framework used by governments and the efficiency of spectrum allocation are important to encourage private sector investment in mobile networks in remote areas. Second, enhance the accessibility of digital agriculture technology and reduce the cost of use.

Incentivize low-cost and inclusive technological innovation

Sustainable food production, led by digital agriculture, benefits society as a whole and is particularly important for vulnerable groups with inadequate capacities. On the one hand, the poorest farmers cannot afford to pay for Internet access, equipment or data, so the Foundation is committed to providing mobile broadband as a public good to the poorest households in Africa, and through open data, all players can benefit and reduce the risk of monopoly. On the other hand, limited by capacity and access, many farmers have limited access to localized information and services, but technological innovations in apps are expected to change this.

Iv. Enlightenment for the transformation and development of China's digital agriculture

The international experience in the development of digital agriculture can provide the following policy implications for the transformation and development of China's digital agriculture:

First, we will vigorously promote rural infrastructure development. Improve the government-guided, market-led, and social participation of the coordinated promotion mechanism, through the "new infrastructure" to promote the rural Internet, 5G network and other public infrastructure construction, through public-private partnership to promote the construction of agricultural digital platforms, and guide agricultural business entities to access the platform and adopt digital application scenarios. In addition, in the collection, utilization and development of agricultural data, fully consider the complexity of data caused by industrial characteristics, improve data storage and use efficiency, and build a sound basic digital resource system.

Second, promote inclusive digital agriculture transformation through agricultural organization. Compared with developed countries in Europe and the United States, China has significant differences in economic development stage, agricultural land and labor factor endowment. Agriculture is still an important source of labor jobs. Although the scale of agricultural land management has been expanded through agricultural land transfer and service trusteeship, it still cannot be compared with large farms in Europe and the United States. While actively expanding non-agricultural employment channels, it is necessary to emphasize the importance of inclusive development goals, and the agricultural sector can further integrate smallholder farmers into the agricultural digital transformation process through organizational innovation. Organized smallholder farmers will have the dual advantage of increasing their negotiating power with digital technology service organizations or agricultural data platforms, while reclaiming the benefits of digital transformation through organizational sharing mechanisms.

Third, encourage innovative research and development of "card neck" technology, and promote the construction of digital ecology of the whole industrial chain. Focusing on digital agriculture "jam neck" technology, vigorously promoting independent innovation, collaborative research, and further reducing the cost of digital agricultural equipment and hardware will help digital technology suppliers provide more effective transformation solutions for agricultural production and operation entities. China's agricultural sales side has widely used digital technologies (such as live streaming, e-commerce, etc.) to expand agricultural product sales channels. However, it should be noted that the production end is still the core of the agricultural value chain, and the application of digital technologies such as precision, intelligence and traceability can help improve the quality of agricultural products.

Fourth, establish a training system for digital agricultural management subjects. Under the guidance of the policy of the state to encourage migrant workers, college and secondary school graduates, veterans, and scientific and technological personnel to return to the countryside to start their own businesses, the new agricultural management body is the core, and the construction of a digital agricultural talent training system that is inclusive to small farmers is strengthened. Through the agricultural technology extension system, commercial enterprise training services and college researchers teaching and other flexible forms of online or offline, combined with the adoption of digital agricultural technology targeted financial support, digital agriculture personnel training work.