Science and technology backyards bridge research, rural vitalization in China

A growing network of science and technology backyards is emerging as a new force linking scientific research with a wide range of agricultural operators, supporting modern agricultural management and rural vitalization.

Students and researchers living and working in villages are not only helping individual farmers solve technical problems, but also providing integrated services to family farms, cooperatives and agricultural service companies.

At a recent conference in Quzhou county, Hebei province, China Agricultural University unveiled a three-year action plan to strengthen links between the nationwide science and technology backyard network and new agricultural business entities.

Covering 2026 to 2028, the plan aims to establish regular coordination mechanisms to provide targeted technical support and services to large-scale farming operators and surrounding households. By 2028, more than 100 STBs are expected to work with key grain and oil production entities monitored by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.

The STB program was first launched in Quzhou in 2009 by Zhang Fusuo, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and a professor at China Agricultural University. The initiative sends postgraduate students specializing in agriculture to rural areas, where they live alongside farmers and help solve practical production problems.

Over the years, the program has evolved into a platform integrating scientific innovation, social services and talent training.

Zhang Weifeng, head of the Quzhou experimental station of China Agricultural University, said traditional approaches to agricultural extension that promoted technologies household by household were often inefficient.

"Now the science and technology backyards first help new agricultural business entities adopt the technologies. When surrounding farmers see good results, they are more willing to follow," Zhang said.

Based on local experience, the Quzhou station has developed a service model combining scientific expertise, STB teams, modern agricultural business entities and ordinary farming households. The approach is designed to turn scientific research into practical solutions for green, high-yield farming while improving the efficiency of agricultural social services.

China has increasingly promoted new agricultural operators such as family farms, cooperatives and agricultural service providers as part of efforts to improve productivity and modernize the rural economy.

Major policy documents in recent years have repeatedly stressed the importance of building convenient and efficient agricultural social service systems to better connect small farmers with modern agriculture.

The outline of the country's 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) calls for developing appropriately scaled agricultural operations, improving the quality of new agricultural business entities and enhancing agricultural social services. This year's No 1 Central Document — China's annual key rural policy statement — also emphasizes strengthening the capabilities of family farms and farmer cooperatives.

Earlier this month, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs released a new action plan pledging stronger support for family farms and closer integration between smallholder farmers and modern agriculture.

The 16 STBs in Quzhou are now serving as testing grounds for technologies and business models tailored to different agricultural operators.

In 2023, Ye Songlin, a master's student at the Quzhou STB, and three classmates leased 67 hectares of farmland through loans and began providing agricultural services to nearby major grain producers.

Their business has since expanded into smart agriculture services, integrating agricultural machinery, farming inputs, agronomic expertise and digital information technologies to help agricultural operators improve scientific production and refined management.

"I used to guide farmers on how to operate. Now I literally work with them and help them improve yields," Ye said.

Apart from grain production, students from China Agricultural University are also exploring diversified rural business models.

Fu Shan, a graduate of the Quzhou STB, and her team developed locally produced high-gluten flour and launched a bread brand in Quzhou, creating new value-added agricultural chains. Other postgraduate students have worked with villagers to establish organic fertilizer plants, while some have developed cultural and creative products centered on the STB brand and traditional grains.

Zhang Weifeng said the backyards are not only building demonstration models, but also cultivating a new generation of agricultural service providers.

"While science and technology backyards are building demonstration models, they are also bringing together and training a group of people to work together," he said. "Once this group grows, they will be able to provide better services to other farmers as well."