Agriculture is the cornerstone of the entire civilization. In the development of agricultural production, breeding technology is the core, the most basic and the most important key technology.

It can be said that the more than 23 scientific research forces of Jiagu Laboratory are concentrated in the research of breeding technology in agriculture and animal husbandry. In exchange, there is an endless stream of new varieties of crops.

"This is Jiagu's 'salt pasture'?" In the experimental field, Mr. Yuan watched with great interest as the technicians were testing the salinity of the irrigation water.

Chen Jianzhang, the boss of Jiagu Laboratory, explained: "Yes, the salinity of the irrigation water in this experimental field has reached 6‰, which is equivalent to the salinity of leftover vegetable soup, which is most suitable for the growth of saline-alkali tolerant alfalfa varieties we have cultivated." ”

"Our group has been conducting research on saline-alkali tolerant crops for many years, and finally cultivated this saline-alkali tolerant alfalfa variety into a stable variety, which was just recognized by the state at the end of last year and can be promoted in large quantities across the country. ”

"In addition, we have completed the work of genetic mapping and sequencing of the genome......

When Old Man Yuan heard this, he couldn't help but look happy.

The whole genome sequence of a species is the basic basis and important clue for scientists to reveal the nature of life in that species. The gene sequencing of saline-alkali tolerant alfalfa varieties by Jiagu Laboratory has helped them study the functional traits of saline-alkali tolerance genes and improve the cultivation route of seawater rice.

Old Man Yuan communicated with Chen Jianzhang and Qi Zheng on the spot.

When it comes to breeding technology, we can't escape genetically modified technology.

Chen Jianzhang is not afraid to say bluntly: "We have also introduced transgenic technology in rice breeding, and we plan to 'knock out' the cadmium-containing or cadmium-absorbing genes in the parents, and when the parents are clean, the seeds will naturally be clean, and there will be no heavy metal rice......

For the current situation of heavy metal pollution in China, one direction is to apply super-enriched plants to "absorb gold", and the other direction is to study "heavy metal resistant crops".

Old Man Yuan was quite shocked when he heard this.

On the one hand, the study of cadmium removal in rice is also a research direction of his research. And it sounded like Jiagu Lab was clearly ahead of him. On the other hand, he didn't expect that Jiagu Laboratory was also so active in GMO technology - Jiagu's soybean oil is mainly "non-GMO", and it has invested heavily in the breeding of non-GMO soybean varieties, and he also knows it.

Qi Zheng smiled: "The market belongs to the market, from a scientific point of view, genetically modified is the direction of development, and it cannot be generalized." ”

This was said to Old Man Yuan's heart.

-- Don't look at the fact that hybrid rice does not use transgenic technology, and Mr. Yuan still has doubts about the popularization of transgenic rice, but he also admits that the transgenic technology of molecular breeding is an effective scientific measure to increase grain production and ensure food security.

Mr. Yuan made no secret of the fact that his team has also begun to use genetically modified technology to participate in breeding research.

The three people present, Old Man Yuan and Chen Jianzhang are all standing at the top of the field of breeding technology, and although Qi Zheng is not a researcher, the experience of the two lives has made his horizons more open, and he will naturally not avoid genetically modified organisms like ordinary people.

Hybridizations that sound safe and genetically modified that sound less safe are, in the final analysis, human breeding methods. There is nothing mysterious about this process, all the characteristics of living things are genetically determined, and both are processes that combine genes together.

However, hybridization technology is the fusion of a complete set of genetic material between two species that are closely related, and this process is natural, while transgenesis is the direct artificial addition of exogenous specific genes to the original genetic system of a species.

As far as Old Man Yuan's super hybrid rice is concerned, it has almost reached a bottleneck - the biggest limitation of hybridization is that this gene must be present before it can be combined.

Old Man Yuan said excitedly, waving his thin arm and saying: "One direction for crops to increase yield is to improve photosynthesis efficiency. But light and efficiency vary greatly from crop to crop, and the biological yield of cereals has its own 'ceiling'. For example, the photosynthetic efficiency of corn is 30%~50% higher than that of rice, so the plant of corn is very tall and the yield is much higher than that of rice. If the high photosynthetic efficiency gene of maize is transferred to rice, won't it be able to break the original 'ceiling' of rice?"

However, rice and corn are "incompatible", and traditional hybrid techniques are destined to fail to complete this work. In order to further breed high-yielding, high-quality and efficient varieties and achieve cross-species "marriage", it is necessary to rely on precise transgenic technology.

Therefore, in recent years, Mr. Yuan has also devoted himself to research in this area.

Qi Zheng and Chen Jianzhang looked at each other and smiled.

They couldn't help but think of Old Man Yuan's famous "Hexia Cool Dream": the rice grew as tall as sorghum, the ears were as long as brooms, and the grains were as big as peanuts......

Jiagu researches genetically modified technology as a reserve for the future, while Old Man Yuan researches genetically modified technology to "chase dreams" - all those who insist on chasing dreams deserve respect.

Everyone confirmed their eyes, the three views coincided, and the communication became smoother and smoother.

Genetically modified technology is just one part of agricultural technology.

Under the intentional guidance of Qi Zheng, the topic was further extended to "agricultural science and technology".

"Yuan Lao, as you know, in the competitive pattern of the global seed industry, China lacks international competitiveness in other fields except hybrid rice. More than 50% of China's pigs, broilers, and dairy cows, and more than 90% of high-end vegetable and flower varieties rely on imports. And among them, there is a key word involved - agricultural science and technology. ”

Old Man Yuan nodded inexplicably.

Qi Zheng said in a deep voice: "In the final analysis, it is because the overall level of agricultural science and technology in China is not high, and there are still many follow-up, imitation and even low-level repetitive research, similar to hybrid rice, Huanghuaihai comprehensive management and other major achievements have been rare for many years. ”

"Therefore, it is time to put agricultural science and technology in a more prominent position, break through institutional and institutional barriers, greatly increase investment in agricultural science and technology, and promote the leapfrog development ......of agricultural science and technology."

Old Man Yuan was taken aback.

The just-released "No. 1 document" focuses on farmland and water conservancy construction, while Qi Zheng revealed that Jiagu is ready to promote the national agricultural strategy to lock the next theme on "agricultural science and technology innovation" and seek the support of Mr. Yuan.

What shocked him was Jiagu's ambition to influence the country's agricultural strategy.

Qi Zheng did not hide this ambition either.

Technological breakthroughs in every field represent massive financial support. If you don't have money, what can you do if it's important?

Scientific research in agriculture is important, but isn't aerospace important? Isn't cancer important? Aren't chips important?

It's all important!

However, in Qi Zheng's view, agriculture supports the upper industry, and if emerging industries want to continue to take off, they must periodically feed back agriculture. At present, agricultural scientific research has become the biggest shortcoming of domestic agricultural upgrading.

Of course, there is also a very important point that the country has money.

In the past, no matter how high the tone of the "XX Plan" was, it could not hide the fact that the country was short of money, even if it was a national strategic scientific research plan, it could still only take a limited field as the research goal.

Today, it is possible and necessary for the state to increase investment in agricultural scientific research and make up for the "old debts."

Of course, Jiagu promotes the state to greatly increase investment in agricultural science and technology, not for funding, but mainly to avoid the waste of resources, and at the same time enhance Jiagu's influence in the industry.

-- China's agricultural research system lacks top-level design at the national level. The specific manifestation is that most of the scientific research forces are concentrated in scientific research institutes and universities, but each university and scientific research institute has its own policy and has not carried out organic coordination and support.

For example, Mr. Yuan is conducting research on cadmium removal in rice, and Jiagu Laboratory is also conducting research at the same time. Of course, it does not mean that there is no room for two units to study at the same time in the same field, and this is also unrealistic.

But there is an obvious lack of communication mechanism - if it weren't for coming to the door, Old Man Yuan wouldn't know the research progress of Jiagu Laboratory at all. Maybe Jiagu's research was successful, and he realized that, heh, his team's efforts for several years were in vain. This is undoubtedly a huge waste of resources.

This requires the state to plan from the top.

But the question is, does Jiagu have such an influence of "responding to all calls"?

Obviously, no! Even if Jiagu is already the boss of domestic agricultural enterprises.

Therefore, Jiagu needs to win over more "bigwigs" like Mr. Yuan, who have great influence in the agricultural field, and reach a consensus in order to officially launch relevant proposals and promote implementation - to be honest, even if Mr. Yuan does not come to the door, Qi Zheng will find an opportunity to visit him.

Old Man Yuan understood Jiagu's thoughts and was speechless for a while. He just came to Jiagu for breeding technology cooperation, who would tell him how to be involved in the top-level design of the national agricultural strategy?

After Qi Zheng introduced this plan, he did not urge, but continued to take Old Man Yuan to visit the research projects and achievements of Jiagu Laboratory with Chen Jianzhang casually.

This is not only for Mr. Yuan to sort out his thoughts, but also for a demonstration to some extent.

Thereupon......

——Old man Yuan saw that Jiagu has a full and stable scientific research funding support system!

Adequate and stable financial support is one of the highlights of Jiagu's agricultural research system. There is no need to write the declaration form endlessly, Jiagu Laboratory not only invests millions of basic R&D funds for each scientist position every year, but also solves all the worries of all scientific researchers, from children to the elderly, to ensure that scientific researchers can conduct scientific research with peace of mind.

Only when the funding and livelihood are stable, can researchers conduct research according to the needs of the industry.

In the past, the state paid little attention to scientific research, and there was often a shortage of scientific research funds, and there was a danger of brain drain and disbandment of the team.

However, after Jiagu recruited and integrated them into Jiagu's scientific research system, it had stable support, which not only kept the team, but also strengthened the industry - Jiagu was able to control the production and supply of high-quality malting barley in the country, which in the eyes of many is the key.

——He also saw that Jiagu is not in a hurry for quick success and quick profit in the scientific research project management system!

Compared with other industries, the cycle of agricultural scientific research is long and the results are slow, and the "short, flat and fast" scientific research management method is not in line with agricultural management.

However, China's agricultural scientific research is managed in the form of projects, with a cycle of 3 to 5 years, and failure is hardly allowed, which makes many scientific research institutes eager for quick success and quick profit, and the innovation is low, and most of the research is tinkering.

Many of Jiagu's projects are based on genetic mining for breeding innovation, and they have enough patience – although the R&D progress of Jiagu's projects is already fast. For example, Mr. Yuan's rice breeding project takes at least 8 to 10 years, and Jiagu has almost halved the process. This made him have higher expectations for "high-energy growth factors".

- He also saw that the scientific research system with a fairly high conversion rate of Jiagu results!

Although there are many domestic agricultural research institutes, the number of "scientific and technological achievements" produced every year is numerous, but the conversion rate of achievements is very low, at present, the scientific and technological transformation rate of China's agriculture is only about 30%, and about 70% of the scientific and technological achievements stay in the papers.

Whether Jiagu Laboratory can form economies of scale is the key consideration for the development, introduction and promotion of technology. For example, Chen Jianzhang, as the chief scientist, needs to think about what the problems of the industry are and what the trend of the industry is. Whether it solves a real problem and brings economies of scale, or whether it has a substitution advantage over other resources such as labor.

This has allowed the Jiagu laboratory to maintain an impressive conversion rate of 100% to date.

Old Man Yuan fell into deep thought.

......

As he said, Qi Zheng opened up most of the resources of the Jiagu Laboratory for Old Man Yuan.

After a round of visits, Old Man Yuan probably understood Jiagu's faint sense of urgency.

Throughout all agricultural powers, a developed level of agricultural science and technology is the standard.

For example, in the United States, in addition to the geographical environment and international trade, the United States has invested much more in pure agricultural science and technology, and many of the latest agricultural technologies can be quickly applied in the United States, which is the real terrible and powerful thing about American agriculture!

And all of this is inseparable from the huge investment in agricultural research in the United States.

China is vigorously catching up, but the government's investment is inferior to that of the United States, and the investment of private enterprises in this area is even weaker.

For example, several of the world's top 500 agricultural companies are basically American--Monsanto, the world's largest seed company, a leader in genetically modified technology, CNH, an agricultural machinery company, and high-tech agricultural companies such as DuPont, Wyeth, and Bayer.

Back in China, apart from Jiagu, there are few agricultural companies that can get their hands on it -- the center of the national grain is not on agricultural planting, and the large agricultural sector in the domestic A-share market has long been occupied by food companies such as liquor, which has to be said to be an irony.

Although in the field of agricultural science and technology, the contribution rate of scientific and technological progress to China's agriculture has risen from 20 percent at the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China to 42 percent now, some of the advantages can only represent the advantages in a certain subdivision.

-- Agriculture is a large industry, with thousands of subdivisions, and if we want to catch up with the United States in an all-round way, we can only rely on increasing investment, or more specifically, relying on increasing national investment.

Today's agriculture may seem traditional, but it concentrates the most cutting-edge innovations such as the Internet, biotechnology, and robotics, and it is almost impossible for companies to survive without high R&D budgets, numerous products, or large market shares. Research into new technologies in complex areas, such as crop genetics, requires large scale and expensive facilities that small companies cannot afford......

Although Jiagu is big, it can't conquer the world after all. For example, Jiagu's high-quality strong gluten wheat varieties should be introduced from the Henan Academy of Agricultural Sciences.

"I think I will support Jiagu's plan to promote the country's substantial increase in investment in agricultural scientific research!" After careful consideration, Mr. Yuan gave a positive answer.

It was not unexpected by Qi Zheng and Chen Jianzhang.

In fact, if you think about it, if Jiagu promotes the national agricultural strategy to focus on "agricultural science and technology innovation", there is a high probability that it will receive a lot of support.

First of all, although Jiagu is not a one-time response, it also has considerable appeal and influence; secondly, Jiagu has sufficient scientific research funds, and the desire for funds is not high, so it is naturally more reasonable; secondly, Jiagu's mature system for the transformation and promotion of scientific research achievements not only benefits itself, but also the foreign cooperation is still effective, so it is conceivable that scientific research institutions will be more moved......

And what can Kaya get out of it?

Very simply, if it is promoted by Jiagu, at least it can affect the direction of some agricultural scientific research investment - it is an investment to carry out scientific research on rice and soybeans, and it is also an investment to carry out scientific research on wheat and corn......

However, the investment in scientific research in different fields has helped Jiagu's business in very different ways. The breakthrough of the key common core technology in the field of pigs will directly benefit Jiagu agriculture and animal husbandry, but if it is a breakthrough in the field of white-feathered broilers, it has nothing to do with Jiagu.

Of course, it is better to break through in an all-round way. But there has to be a last, right?

Mr. Yuan may not have thought about it so deeply, but Qi Zheng generously provided "high-energy growth factors" and generously opened up the research results of Jiagu; moreover, he also agreed with the suggestion that "we should make up for the shortcomings of domestic agricultural scientific research".

After all, the only thing that illuminates the world is the sun in the sky and the science on earth!

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