Guidance from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs on Accelerating the Cultivation and Development of the Entire Agricultural Industry Chain

To the Departments (Bureaus, Commissions) of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (Agriculture and Animal Husbandry) of all provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the central government, and cities separately listed in plans; and to the Agricultural and Rural Affairs Bureau of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps:

　　The agricultural full industrial chain is an organic, integrated system where agricultural R&D, production, processing, storage and transportation, marketing, branding, experiential activities, consumption, and service sectors—and their respective stakeholders—are closely interconnected, efficiently linked, mutually supportive, and collaboratively developed. In recent years, China has accelerated the development of its agricultural full industrial chain; however, significant gaps and weak links still persist. To implement the spirit of the No. 1 Central Document of 2021 and the "Guiding Opinions of the State Council on Promoting Rural Industry Revitalization" (Guofa [2019] No. 12), and to expedite the cultivation and growth of the agricultural full industrial chain, the following recommendations are hereby put forward.

　　I. General Requirements

　　(1) Guiding Principles: Guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, we will fully implement the spirit of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and the Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth Plenary Sessions of the 19th Central Committee. We will deeply embrace the new development philosophy and remain firmly focused on the overarching goals of "ensuring supply, strengthening security, revitalizing industries, and fostering smooth circulation." By strengthening the mechanism that links interests across the value chain, we will drive efforts to extend, supplement, strengthen, and optimize industrial chains. This shift will move our focus from production-oriented approaches to comprehensive supply-chain management, from product-centric strategies to industry-wide development, and from managing individual stages to building robust, integrated systems. Ultimately, we aim to seamlessly connect production, processing, and marketing, blending agriculture with culture and tourism, unlocking the diverse potential of rural areas, expanding opportunities for value-added growth, and creating a group of innovative, fully integrated, environmentally sustainable, secure, and farmer-benefiting agricultural full-industry chains. These initiatives will provide critical support for comprehensively revitalizing rural areas and accelerating the modernization of agriculture and rural regions.

　　(II) Fundamental Principles.

　　——Adhere to integrated planning. Focus on advancing the sophistication of industrial foundations and modernizing industrial chains, driving the backward extension of primary industries, connecting the upstream and downstream segments of secondary industries, and steering tertiary industries toward high-end sectors. This approach aims to address critical gaps in the industrial chain, strengthen its competitive advantages, and foster comprehensive improvements across all stages, value-added growth along the entire chain, and seamless integration across the entire industry ecosystem.

　　——Uphold collaborative advancement. Foster division of labor and cooperation among multiple stakeholders, ensure robust input of diverse resources, coordinate interests across various levels, and provide complementary policy support, thereby creating a thriving industrial ecosystem characterized by government guidance, farmer participation, enterprise leadership, technology-driven innovation, and financial backing.

　　——Embrace innovation-driven development. Align the innovation chain with the industrial chain, and strategically allocate financial and resource networks to support the innovation process. Simultaneously, attract and nurture core, cutting-edge talent, establishing a robust "industry-academia-research-application" innovation framework that fosters breakthroughs in technology, products, business models, and management practices.

　　——Persist in linking and benefiting farmers. Tap into agriculture's multifaceted roles—such as ensuring food security, nurturing ecosystems, offering leisure experiences, and preserving cultural heritage—to enhance the sector's diverse values in production, daily life, and ecology, thereby driving the agricultural value chain toward the mid-to-high end. At the same time, refine mechanisms that align farmers' interests with those of the industry, enabling farmers to share more generously in the added value generated by the sector.

　　(III) Overall Objectives. By 2025, the agricultural whole-industry-chain standard system will be more comprehensive, significantly boosting the proportion of the agricultural whole-industry chain’s value in county-level GDP. Meanwhile, the modernization level of rural industrial and supply chains will see a marked improvement, laying the foundation for a robust modern agricultural industry system. Key agricultural products such as grains, cotton, oilseeds, sugar crops, meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy will have largely completed their full industrial chains, ensuring a secure and controllable domestic production and supply system. Additionally, the full industrial chains for fruits, vegetables, mushrooms, tea, aquatic products, and specialty agricultural commodities will continue to strengthen. We will cultivate a group of leading agricultural “chain master” enterprises each generating over 10 billion yuan in annual output, develop a number of exemplary counties with whole-industry-chain values exceeding 10 billion yuan, and foster several key provincial-level industrial chains boasting whole-industry-chain values surpassing 100 billion yuan.

　　2. Extend the industrial chain and build a complete, integrated agricultural value chain.

　　(Four) Focus on scaling up leading industries. Identify grain and critical agricultural products that exhibit high concentration and significant impact on national economic stability and people's livelihoods, as well as specialty agricultural products that meet diverse consumer needs. This will help foster more advanced industry structures, stronger competitive advantages, and distinctively prominent regional specialties. Pinpoint industries with high growth potential, strong interconnectivity, robust profitability, multi-layered characteristics, and diversified business models. Then, develop standardized raw-material bases, streamlined processing chains, networked service systems, and branded marketing channels. Finally, encourage leading enterprises to take the lead, while guiding farmer cooperatives, family farms, and individual farmers to join in. Additionally, attract participation from research institutions, financial organizations, internet platforms, and brand-creation agencies, ultimately forming a broad-based alliance of shared interests.

　　(5) Build standardized raw material bases. Centered on product-driven approaches and comprehensive quality control throughout the entire process, accelerate the development of a modern agricultural full-chain standardization system along with related standard complexes, thereby enhancing production practices aligned with these standards. Establish standardized raw material and production bases, adhering to the principles of "specialized planting, dedicated harvesting, exclusive storage, tailored processing, superior yield leading to premium purchases, optimal storage, advanced processing, and competitive pricing." Develop raw material bases that are standardized, large-scale, mechanized, and high-quality. Fully implement the edible agricultural product compliance certification system, and establish a series of modern agricultural full-chain standardized bases, including standardized orchards, vegetable farms, mushroom fields, tea plantations, and livestock & poultry breeding facilities that exemplify best practices in standardization. Additionally, create national-level demonstration sites for healthy and eco-friendly aquaculture, as well as national marine fisheries bases, to build "first workshops" and "raw material hubs" characterized by rigorous standardization. Enhance the digitalization of base infrastructure and equipment, strengthen the construction of field roads, irrigation systems, and pipeline networks, and equip these facilities with efficient machinery and smart production technologies. Effectively integrate cutting-edge innovations such as IoT, big data analytics, precision water-saving irrigation, soil-testing-based fertilization strategies, and biological pest control methods to optimize operations and boost productivity.

　　(6) Develop sophisticated, comprehensive processing. Expand primary agricultural processing by supporting new types of business entities in areas such as cleaning and sorting, drying and storage, sterilization and disinfection, pre-cooling for freshness preservation, ready-to-eat vegetable preparation, grading and portioning, and product packaging. Additionally, promote initial processing methods like drying, pickling, and cooking to minimize losses while boosting efficiency. Enhance the deep processing of agricultural products by encouraging large agricultural enterprises to develop nutritionally balanced, health-focused, and food-as-medicine products, as well as high-quality, cost-effective, and practical non-food processing solutions. This will help maximize the value-added potential of agricultural processing. Advance integrated utilization of processing by promoting the circular, full-value, and tiered use of by-products generated during manufacturing. Ultimately, this approach aims to turn waste into valuable resources and transform potential hazards into beneficial outcomes.

　　(7) Build a systematic logistics network. Encourage leading enterprises, new types of business entities, and farmers to construct facilities such as ventilated storage warehouses, mechanical cold storage units, ultra-low-temperature storage and transportation systems, and controlled-atmosphere storage facilities, thereby enhancing the commercial processing and off-peak sales capabilities of agricultural products. Additionally, promote the development of agricultural product origin markets, key cold-chain logistics bases, regional logistics centers, direct-sales distribution centers, and e-commerce trading hubs to strengthen the capacity for gathering, distributing, and selling agricultural products at their places of origin. Innovatively develop and expand business models such as farmer-to-business direct supply, pre-made dishes, catering takeout, cold-chain delivery services, company-operated retail stores, supermarket counters, group meal services, online sales, and experiential marketing. Furthermore, explore and popularize innovative models like "raw material base + central kitchen + logistics distribution" and "central kitchen + dining outlets."

　　(8) Implement branded marketing strategies. Deeply advance the establishment of an agricultural brand catalog system, focusing on variety improvement, quality enhancement, brand development, and standardized production. This will help strengthen a group of high-quality, uniquely distinctive regional public brands that stand out for their excellence. Additionally, attract and nurture leading enterprises that possess strong intellectual property rights and robust brand recognition, encouraging collaboration between these companies and farmers to co-create corporate brands. Finally, cultivate a portfolio of locally-rooted "soil-based" and "rural" product brands. Innovate brand marketing approaches by leveraging platforms such as expos, trade fairs, and sales exhibitions, while also embracing digital tools like online videos and livestreaming e-commerce to effectively tell brand stories and boost brand value-added potential.

　　4. Strengthen support measures to drive a comprehensive提升 in the quality of the entire industry chain.

　　(10) Promote a green development model. Integrate and scale up green technology solutions that are widely adaptable and highly practical, fostering integrated farming systems such as crop-livestock cycles, seamless production-processing linkages, balanced grain-feed production, combined agriculture-pastoral practices, and coordinated grass-livestock management—ultimately achieving full-chain, eco-friendly agricultural development. Support the establishment of national pilot zones for green agricultural development, create green product clusters, and encourage agricultural processing enterprises to invest in clean, smart, and resource-efficient production lines. Additionally, drive the conversion of agricultural ecological value by enhancing rural leisure tourism, while nurturing innovative sectors like creative agriculture, agritourism, educational farms, wellness-focused agriculture, and experiential farming. Finally, encourage the development of comprehensive, green offshore fisheries operations that integrate production, processing, cold-chain logistics, marketing, branding, and sustainable resource management across the entire value chain.

　　(11) Promote digital transformation and upgrading. Establish a full-industry-chain big data center, develop comprehensive process management data and analytics service models, strengthen the market and industry damage monitoring and early warning system, and deliver services such as product production updates, market insights, and supply-demand balance information. Enhance training and capacity-building for rural e-commerce entities, encouraging agricultural production bases, agri-product processing firms, agricultural input distribution companies, and logistics enterprises to adopt e-commerce solutions. Implement the "Internet+" initiative to facilitate the outbound flow of agricultural products from villages to urban markets, fully leveraging the role of integrated brand-agricultural product platforms and farmer-focused information centers. Strengthen collaboration with major, well-known e-commerce platforms by setting up dedicated local specialty pavilions, while also fostering new business models like livestreaming sales and direct-to-consumer/direct-to-retail initiatives.

　　3. Enhance the supporting system to strengthen the stability and competitiveness of the entire industry chain.

　　(12) Integrating and Innovating the Innovation Chain. We will promote the close integration of industrial and innovation chains, establishing shared technology R&D platforms and fostering collaborative innovation ecosystems. Leveraging the National Agricultural Product Processing Research & Development Center and its affiliated sub-centers, we will encourage enterprises to take the lead in organizing joint research efforts aimed at overcoming key technological challenges—such as food pre-processing, separation and extraction, mixing and homogenization, filling, and packaging. Additionally, we’ll drive variety innovation by safeguarding and utilizing unique germplasm resources, developing high-yield, high-quality, and multi-resistant new crop varieties, and promoting superior cultivars that boast independent intellectual property rights. Furthermore, we’ll spearhead equipment innovation by building a network of agricultural product processing technology integration research hubs, nurturing specialized agricultural and food innovation parks across China, and advancing cutting-edge agricultural high-tech industries. Finally, we’ll support the development and application of eco-friendly, energy-efficient ocean-going fishing vessels and gear, as well as the creation of advanced, intelligent equipment and facilities tailored for the sector.

　　(13) Optimize the supply chain. Encourage various agricultural entities to collaborate in establishing an agricultural supply chain system, fostering modern agriculture that integrates farming and animal husbandry with processing, production with sales, and domestic trade with international commerce. Promote large leading enterprises to adopt advanced management techniques such as lean supply chain practices, thereby enhancing the entire end-to-end supply chain—from product R&D and manufacturing to marketing services. Additionally, strengthen the development of green and smart agricultural product supply chains, encouraging the creation of collaborative platforms for procurement, warehousing, and distribution. This will help cultivate direct farmer-to-business models, direct supply-and-sales systems, membership-based approaches, and personalized customization options, ultimately driving stronger connections between farmers and businesses, aligning production with market demand, reshaping business processes, reducing transaction costs, and boosting both the quality and efficiency of agricultural supply.

　　(Fourteen) Elevate the value chain. Focusing on expanding opportunities for industrial value addition, develop specialized and diversified products to enhance the industry's overall added value. By aligning with end-market demands, we will integrate and coordinate the entire production process—from farmer cultivation and enterprise processing to customer marketing and final consumption—enabling upstream and downstream businesses to collaborate seamlessly through joint procurement, synchronized production, and streamlined logistics. This approach will foster specialized division of labor and cooperation among large, medium, and small enterprises, enabling them to respond swiftly to market needs, reduce production cycles, and accelerate time-to-market for new products.

　　(Fifteen) Ensure smooth financial flows. Establish a comprehensive project database covering the entire agricultural value chain, and strategically allocate fiscal funds earmarked for agriculture, local special-purpose bonds, and other funding sources. Leverage the role of social capital investment to significantly boost support for high-quality varieties, specialized agricultural inputs, and infrastructure development across the entire agricultural value chain. Encourage the development of insurance products tailored to the agricultural value chain, enhance the effectiveness of the agricultural credit guarantee system, and guide financial institutions in delivering tailored credit services aligned with industry-specific needs. Relying on the new information reporting system platform for agricultural business entities, utilize government data from the entire agricultural value chain to deliver targeted financial services, further advancing the "bank-tax collaboration" initiative. Additionally, support the expansion of supply-chain finance by encouraging leading agricultural enterprises to provide guarantees and credit enhancement services to smallholder farmers and innovative agricultural operators throughout the value chain.

　　4. Strengthen support measures to drive a comprehensive提升 in the quality of the entire industry chain.

　　(Sixteen) Identify the right entry points and build collaborative momentum. Provincial departments of agriculture and rural affairs should prioritize the cultivation and development of comprehensive agricultural value chains, formulating and implementing detailed implementation plans tailored to this goal. They must ensure meticulous organization, precise planning, and expert guidance. Pilot programs for an "chain leader" system will be launched across agricultural value chains, establishing robust mechanisms for coordinated advancement and clear division of responsibilities. These initiatives will involve mapping out comprehensive agricultural value chain networks, focusing on addressing key weaknesses and strengthening existing strengths. Based on this analysis, a prioritized list will be created—highlighting opportunities for foundational infrastructure upgrades, technological enhancements, and even transformative innovations—as well as strategies to extend and reinforce the supply chain. Additionally, specific technical roadmaps, application areas, and regional distribution plans will be developed for each segment of the industry. To support this effort, leading agricultural enterprises will be encouraged to take on the role of "chain leaders," coordinating closely with a wide range of stakeholders—including seed and seedling producers, farming bases, storage facilities, research institutions, processing and distribution firms, industry associations, service providers, e-commerce platforms, and financial institutions—to collaboratively build integrated, end-to-end agricultural value chains. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs will spearhead the selection of a group of nationally recognized agricultural value chains that are driven by cutting-edge technology, supported by strong production bases, propelled by dynamic enterprises, and bolstered by renowned brands. This initiative will culminate in the identification of key national agricultural value chains and exemplary county-level models across the country.

　　(17) Build platforms to aggregate key resources. Establish agricultural product processing park platforms, strengthening services such as scientific research and development, financing guarantees, and inspection and testing. Enhance infrastructure like warehousing and logistics, energy and heat supply, and waste management systems. Strive to set up one agricultural product processing park in each major agricultural, pastoral, and fishery county (city), while simultaneously developing a batch of world-class, internationally leading China International Agricultural Product Processing Industrial Parks. Additionally, create information exchange platforms to attract raw material suppliers, processors, buyers, investors, and marketers, offering them comprehensive market services. Set up enterprise-research collaboration platforms to identify critical technological bottlenecks, organizing joint research efforts under the "Challenge-Based Funding" model. Actively solicit outstanding innovation achievements from research institutions and enterprises, establishing streamlined mechanisms for technology transfer and commercialization. Encourage scientists and researchers to invest in agricultural businesses using their technological innovations as equity contributions, and establish robust dual-appointment systems that foster closer ties between universities/research institutes and agricultural enterprises. Finally, develop land resource coordination platforms, aligning with the guidelines outlined in the "Notice from the Ministry of Natural Resources, the National Development and Reform Commission, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs on Ensuring and Regulating Land Use for the Integrated Development of Rural Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Industries." This will involve strategically planning industrial layouts to allocate land effectively, consolidating existing parks for optimized supply, supporting land-use adjustments through linked initiatives, unlocking potential from existing land reserves, and ensuring adequate facility-based agricultural land—thus addressing land needs across the entire agricultural value chain.

　　(18) Build robust platforms to provide solid support. Seamlessly integrate existing agricultural industry integration projects and the construction of cold-chain facilities for agricultural product storage and preservation into the broader agricultural value chain. Develop model villages showcasing "one village, one specialty product," and establish a series of strong agricultural towns, modern agricultural industrial parks, and competitive, regionally distinctive industrial clusters. Additionally, set up entrepreneurship parks and incubation/training bases in rural areas to encourage returnees and newcomers to start businesses. Support "chain leader" entrepreneurs as mentors, guiding those returning to their hometowns or moving back to rural areas to pursue entrepreneurial innovation across the entire agricultural value chain. Innovate project operation and management models by strengthening administrative guidance, policy support, and tailored development strategies. Finally, create a streamlined information system connecting people, land, capital, and resources, fostering a development model for the agricultural value chain characterized by "leading enterprises driving growth, supporting firms boosting momentum, cluster-based collaboration, and service departments providing critical support."

　　(19) Innovate mechanisms to inject vitality. Establish collaborative innovation frameworks by bringing together leading enterprises, seed companies, grain procurement and storage firms, large-scale farmers, family farms, smallholder farmers, and socialized service organizations to form agricultural industrialization consortia, which will then sign "multi-tiered order agreements." Explore innovative models such as two-way equity participation, dividend distribution based on shareholding, and secondary profit-sharing schemes. Additionally, encourage smallholder farmers to contribute land, labor, capital, equipment, and other resources into farmer cooperatives and leading enterprises. Strengthen the mechanism for integrating key production factors, ensuring smooth flow of resources and assets within the consortium while fostering tight links among stakeholders and guaranteeing the most favorable terms for both services and product sales. Where feasible, promote a shift toward more tangible, consolidated organizational structures.

　　Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs

　　May 26, 2021

Attachment:

• Agricultural Products Development 2.ofd