Seeds are crucial to the 'greatness of the nation'. Not long ago, at the 16th China International Seed Industry Expo and the 21st National Seed Information Exchange and Product Trading Fair, a set of data was eye-catching - last year, the market size of China's crop seed industry exceeded 150 billion yuan for the first time, with research investment reaching 7.6 billion yuan, an increase of 20% compared to 2021, and an average research investment intensity of 6%. Since the implementation of the Seed Industry Revitalization Action, China has anchored the goal of high-level technological self-reliance and controllable seed sources in the seed industry, continuously strengthened the position of enterprise innovation subjects, guided resources, technology, talents, capital and other factors to gather in key advantageous enterprises, and gradually formed a perfect integrated breeding innovation model of industry, academia, research and application. Build a national seed industry enterprise formation and enhance the competitiveness of advantageous seed enterprises by 1101.2 kilograms! This autumn harvest, in the 100 acre demonstration plot of Longhui County, Hunan Province, the new hybrid rice variety "Ju Liangyou 8612" developed and promoted by Longping High tech achieved high yields on a large scale, becoming the first second-class high-quality rice variety in China's super rice production to exceed 1100 kilograms per mu since the trial production of super rice. In China's crop production, 80% of seeds are provided by enterprises. Enterprises are the main body of innovation. To achieve the transformation from a seed industry powerhouse to a seed industry powerhouse, it is necessary to strengthen seed industry enterprises and gradually form a national seed industry revitalization enterprise cluster composed of leading enterprises, characteristic enterprises, and specialized platform enterprises for coordinated development. "The relevant person in charge of the Seed Industry Management Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs introduced that since 2021, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs has selected 270 advantageous enterprises from more than 30000 seed industry enterprises, and built a national seed industry enterprise formation of" overcoming difficulties, filling gaps, and strengthening advantages ". From the current perspective, among the 69 crop formation enterprises, research and development investment accounted for more than one-third of the industry's total last year, and a group of leading enterprises have prominent advantages. From time-honored brands to the new generation, seed industry enterprises have continuously enhanced their independent innovation capabilities and core competitiveness. In the first half of this year, with the acquisition of Guotou Seed Industry Holdings, Fengle Seed Industry Company joined the "national team". Relying on the platform has effectively enhanced the integration and assembly capabilities of enterprises in various innovative elements, "said Dai Deng'an, the general manager of the company. The company will integrate advantageous innovation resources, continue to carry out key core technology research and development, and promote the transformation of achievements. The new forces are also accelerating their growth. As a high-tech enterprise under the age of 10, Henan Jifeng Seed Industry Group Co., Ltd. invested more than 7% of its revenue in research and development last year, which is higher than the industry average. Recently, it was also included in the list of provincial seed enterprises. Chairman Li Jijun introduced that the first phase of the modern seed engineering center under construction has been put into operation, with an annual processing and production capacity of 150000 tons of seeds such as corn and wheat. Since 2022, we have established a one-on-one contact service mechanism with national formation enterprises. Every year, through on-site research, online interviews and inquiries, we compile a list of demands from formation enterprises and study and solve them one by one The relevant person in charge of the Seed Industry Management Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs stated that they will further serve the high-quality development of seed industry enterprises and promote their sustainable and healthy development. Guided by marketization, the integrated mechanism of breeding, propagation, and promotion is accelerating the improvement of deep green leaves, compact flower heads, and fine and uniform buds... This year, the planting area of broccoli in China is about 1.5 million mu, and the area of self cultivated varieties is 560000 mu. The domestic substitution rate has increased from 5% before 2018 to over 35%. Behind this transformation is the joint research and development of West Blue Flower National Breeding. There are over 26 participating units in the research and development, including 9 scientific research institutions, 2 universities, and 15 enterprises, covering 13 provinces. Cross regional commercial cooperation between science and technology enterprises has accelerated the promotion process of high-quality seeds Gu Honghui, Deputy Director of the Vegetable Research Institute of Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, introduced that this mechanism effectively avoids duplicate research and improves breeding efficiency. At the same time, joint testing of varieties has been carried out in different ecological zones across the country, accelerating the screening speed of good varieties and rapidly increasing the popularity of new varieties, connecting the "last mile" of good varieties from experimental fields to large fields. In Zhejiang, the main production area of broccoli, the proportion of independent varieties has reached 80%, and some varieties' seeds are in short supply. It can be said that in the past, we were stuck in variety, but now we need to further break through seed production technology and improve seed quality. Gu Honghui said that in the future, we need to further leverage the joint efforts of scientific research institutions, enterprises, and agricultural technology promotion departments to develop new varieties with wide adaptability, good disease resistance, and meeting the domestic and foreign market consumption needs, establish a high-quality seed production technology system and a national demonstration and promotion system. Integrate resources, connect upstream and downstream, and continuously solve the problem of separating scientific research and production. Looking at the whole country, with the accelerated construction of high-level seed industry innovation bases such as Hainan Nanfan Silicon Valley, Hunan Yuelu Mountain Innovation Center, and Henan Zhongyuan Agricultural Valley, the integrated breeding innovation model of industry university research application is gradually forming and improving. What is the direction of breeding innovation next? In the face of the basic solidification of variety types in different ecological regions, further enriching and optimizing variety types, improving variety production performance through breeding innovation, and leading the transformation of the entire industry chain through differentiated development are important development directions for the future, "said Xu Yong, director of the National Vegetable Engineering Technology Research Center. Optimize the innovation environment of the seed industry and allow more excellent varieties to flow into the market. Enter the processing workshop of Kangnong Seed Industry (Ningxia) Company in Jiabao Industrial Park, Qingtongxia City, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. The production line operates efficiently, and plump corn seeds are poured out from automated production equipment. After quantitative packaging, they will be gradually sent to the Huang Huai Hai region. Winter is the peak season for corn seed processing, with a daily processing volume of about 300 tons recently, "said Bai Xinglong, the company's general manager. The annual seed production area in Qingtongxia City remains stable at over 80000 acres, and the abundant solar thermal resources have attracted multiple seed production enterprises to settle in. The seed production base in Qingtongxia City is equipped with specialized agricultural machinery such as skinning and tasseling, as well as field fruit harvesting outlets. It has also established a three-level market inspection system for seed production bases at the city, town, and village levels, particularly cracking down on infringement and illegal activities such as stealing parents, and optimizing the innovation environment of the seed industry. Since the implementation of the variety registration system, there have been 31000 registered varieties nationwide, providing strong support for the development of characteristic industries. At the same time, unclear variety sources and non-standard testing still occur from time to time. Industry experts say that in response to the chronic problems of variety homogenization and "imitation seeds" in the seed industry, it is necessary to continue to do a good job in the "addition and subtraction" of seed market management. On the one hand, we will promote the full life cycle management of varieties, deepen the green channel for variety approval and the special rectification of consortium experiments, and expand the scope of cleaning up "imitation seeds". On the other hand, accelerate the implementation of variety ID card management and improve the quality standards of corn, soybean and other crop seeds. Not long ago, three mandatory national standards for seed quality were released and will be officially implemented on October 1st next year. From "good varieties" to "good seeds", a series of institutional constructions are continuously strengthening. Since last year, China has officially established a crop seed certification system and has successively issued the first batch of institutional documents such as seed certification catalogs, implementation rules, and technical specifications. This is of great significance for improving the quality of seeds and the quality management level of seed enterprises, guiding the construction of a better seed industry market order, and enhancing the international competitiveness of China's seed industry. "Zhang Ye, Secretary of the Party Committee of the National Agricultural Technology Extension Service Center, introduced that this year, a total of 11 crops and nearly 140 varieties have applied for certification, with a breeding and seed production area of about 220000 acres. The first batch of certified seeds will soon enter the market. (New Society)