People's governments of all provincial municipalities, Jiyuan Demonstration Zone and Airport Port Area Management Committees, and departments of the Provincial People's Government:

The "Three-Year Action Plan for High-Quality Development of Central Plains Agricultural Valley (2025-2027)" is now issued to you, please organize and implement it carefully.

Henan Provincial People's Government

May 20, 2025

Three-year action plan for high-quality development of Zhongyuan Agricultural Valley

(2025-2027)

In order to further promote the high-quality development of the seed industry, build a national-level and international agricultural science and technology innovation highland, we will make every effort to create the Central Plains Agricultural Valley version 2.0, and formulate this action plan.

1. Overall requirements

Guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, thoroughly implement the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and the Second and Third Plenary Sessions of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, fully implement General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important expositions on Henan’s work, focus on the “four highs and four striving for the first place”, and aim to achieve self-reliance and self-reliance in seed industry science and technology, coordinate the development of the “one core and three zones”, strengthen the protection and utilization of germplasm resources, accelerate the promotion of technological innovation, industrial innovation, and mechanism innovation, increase the concentration of domestic and foreign innovation resources, strengthen the integrated development of "schools and colleges and valleys", and build a modern seed industry system based on the germplasm resource library, high-level innovation platform as the main body, high-level talents as the foundation, regional collaboration, deep integration of industry, academia and research, and integrated development of breeding and promotion.

By 2027, the development of modern seed industry in Zhongyuan Agricultural Valley will achieve outstanding results, seed industry resources will be more concentrated in the entire field, the innovation ecology of all factors will be more optimized, the scale of the entire chain will be even stronger, and the agricultural science "core" city will be initially built to gather first-class universities, scientific research institutions and enterprises.

——Become a national highland for biological breeding innovation. Based on the innovation system of the National Biobreeding Industry Innovation Center, we focus on building a full seed industry laboratory matrix. The germplasm innovation capabilities in wheat, corn, peanuts, sesame, poultry and other fields are leading in the country. We strive to create more than 10 national-level innovation platforms and establish more than 15 branches (R&D centers) outside the province.

——Form a highland for gathering innovative talents in seed industry. More than 3 academicians in the breeding industry have been introduced, more than 50 strategic scientists and leading talents have been introduced; more than 200 high-level "dual-energy" talents in the breeding industry have been introduced, and more than 1,000 graduate students have been trained.

——Create a highland for breeding and transformation of excellent varieties. Major breakthroughs have been made in the fields of breeding parent creation, molecular design breeding, artificial intelligence breeding, etc., and more than 200 excellent new varieties with independent intellectual property rights have been cultivated, with a conversion rate of more than 80%, and a transaction volume of more than 500 million yuan.

——Build a highland for the development of modern seed industry. Introduce more than 10 seed companies in the top 30 international and top 20 domestic seed industry, increase the cultivation of national seed industry formation enterprises in our province, and promote some of the strong areas of Henan Seed Industry Group to enter the top three in the country, and the total output value of the seed industry in the region reaches more than 15 billion yuan.

—— Establish a highland for agricultural opening-up and cooperation. Enhance the influence of the Zhongyuan Agriculture Valley International Seed Industry Conference, deeply integrate into the construction of the "Belt and Road", and rely on scientific research institutions and seed enterprises to plan to build more than 5 overseas R&D bases (centers) and international breeding innovation platforms.

2. Key tasks

(1) Support the development and growth of the National Biobreeding Industry Innovation Center. Focusing on the construction of the innovation ecosystem around the National Biobreeding Industry Innovation Center, integrating scientific and technological innovation resources, strengthening platform carriers, optimizing innovation systems, and creating an internationally competitive seed industry "aircraft carrier".

1. Improve the quality and efficiency of physical operation. Improve the operation and management level of the National Biobreeding Industry Innovation Center, establish an efficient operation mechanism with enterprises as the main body, capital as the link, and major tasks as the driving force, deep integration of technology and capital, and open sharing of platforms and results, so as to drive the biological breeding industry to basically achieve independent and controllable key core technologies.

2. Improve the carrier function of the science and technology innovation platform. Accelerate the construction of platform carriers such as genetic engineering R&D centers and livestock and poultry research centers, improve the overall layout of platform carriers, attract more major scientific and technological innovation platforms to settle in, and realize the open sharing and efficient application of scientific and technological innovation resources.

3. Optimize the new efficient innovation system. Give full play to the leading role of the National Biobreeding Industry Innovation Center, incorporate all types of universities, scientific research institutions, innovation platforms, enterprises, etc. in the innovation system of Zhongyuan Agricultural Valley, and carry out extensive and in-depth cooperation in the field of seed industry research. Deeply integrate science and enterprise resources, explore the seed contract research and organizational breeding model with enterprises as the main body, and achieve superposition of advantages and win-win results for all parties.

(2) Promote the integrated development of "school and college valley". Give full play to the advantages of basic research and promotion and application of agricultural universities and scientific research institutions, strengthen the role of platform traction and space carrying, and deeply promote the coordinated development of various innovation entities such as Henan Agricultural University, Provincial Academy of Agricultural Sciences and Zhongyuan Agricultural Valley, and form an innovation pattern of co-construction, sharing and sharing.

1. Establish an integrated development mechanism for "school and school valley". Establish a mechanism for integrating scientific research and teaching, promote joint talent training, high-level laboratory construction, interoperability of teaching and research resources, and attracting and nurturing top talents, and improve the quality and efficiency of integrating science and education. Establish a leading mechanism for major platforms, improve the science and education linkage model with the National Biobreeding Industry Innovation Center as the core, form a resource allocation model that conforms to the laws of scientific and technological innovation, and promote the systematic, institutionalized and coordinated development of innovative forces, factor allocation, and talent teams. Establish a mechanism for mutual recognition and sharing of talents, establish a "School and College Valley" talent mutual recognition alliance to achieve full-chain and full-factor cooperation.

2. Improve physical space carrying capacity. Optimize the regional carrying function of the integration reform of "School and Academy Valley", actively undertake the key support platform of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, further expand the school and college surgical research base, build the China Modern Agriculture Joint Graduate School and Shennong Laboratory teaching and research base with high standards, and scientifically optimize the spatial layout of national innovation platforms and key common technology platforms to provide good space for scientific research and teaching.

3. Promote the deep integration of industry, academia and research. Effectively drive the innovation capabilities of universities and research institutions and the development needs of enterprises, and establish a joint meeting system for cooperation of "School and College Valley". Relying on the Zhongyuan Agricultural Valley Science and Technology Incubation Center and the Zhongyuan Agricultural Science and Technology Achievements Transformation and Trading Center, we will open up the chains of basic research, application development, achievement transformation and industrialization. By 2027, we will build a smart management service platform for integrated "School and College Valley", build one university science and technology park, one college student innovation and entrepreneurship incubation base, and cultivate five high-tech innovative enterprises.

(3) Strengthen the construction of the science and technology innovation platform system for the entire seed industry. Build a full seed industry science and technology innovation platform system with the National Biobreeding Industry Innovation Center as the core, the high-level seed industry innovation platform as the main body, the key common technology platform as the support, and the germplasm resource library as the basis, and actively create a national seed industry science and technology innovation center.

1. Build a high-level seed industry innovation platform. Deepen cooperation with Yazhouwan National Laboratory and support Shennong Seed Laboratory to become the core base of the national laboratory. Improve the national innovation platforms such as the national key laboratories for efficient production of wheat and corn, the national key laboratories for germplasm innovation and utilization of fruit and vegetable horticulture crops, and the national wheat engineering laboratory. Promote in-depth cooperation with the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and do a good job in carrying forward the cutting-edge cross-technology center, national key laboratories for livestock and poultry nutrition and feeding, vegetable and flower central R&D center and related large scientific installations. Relying on the China Modern Agriculture Joint Graduate School, three regional innovation centers are built around high standards in the fields of wheat, peanuts, livestock and poultry, and a number of provincial and ministerial key laboratories are built to form a laboratory matrix covering the entire seed industry.

2. Build a key common technology platform. Adhere to open cooperation, sharing and sharing, closely follow the common technical service needs in the breeding field, and build a first-class domestic high-throughput phenotypic identification platform, high-throughput molecular detection platform, gene editing platform, biosafety inspection and testing platform, biotechnology big model platform and seed industry big data platform around biological breeding gene detection, testing evaluation, data analysis, etc., to provide scientific researchers and teams with one-stop comprehensive solutions. By 2027, seven key common technology platforms for seed industry innovation will be built.

3. Improve the protection and utilization system of germplasm resources. Promote the inclusion of the provincial crop germplasm resource protection and utilization center and the provincial livestock and poultry genetic resource gene bank into the national germplasm resource protection system. Expand the collection and preservation scope of germplasm resource database (garbages, fields) and create a regional protection center for the Huanghuaihai. Strengthen the construction of germplasm resource database, build a new national horticultural germplasm resource database, a national characteristic fruit tree germplasm resource database, a provincial aquatic germplasm resource database, and a microbial germplasm resource database of Henan University. Relying on the germplasm resource big data platform, we will strengthen the identification, analysis and application of germplasm resource, accurately dig up a batch of excellent trait genes such as high-yield, high-quality, and resistant to resilience, and provide efficient data information for breeding. By 2027, we will strive to collect, create and preserve more than 200,000 new germplasm resources, and achieve initial results in the identification, evaluation and classification of germplasm resources, and the construction of germplasm resource databases will reach the first-class level in the country.

4. Build a smart breeding platform. Accelerate the digital construction of national and provincial crop germplasm resource databases (garbs), livestock and poultry gene databases, establish phenotypic databases and genotype databases, and promote the interconnection and sharing of germplasm resource information. Promote the construction of national agricultural (breeding) artificial intelligence industry application (pilot) bases, support scientific research institutions and seed companies to jointly build smart breeding platforms, and accelerate the transformation from traditional breeding to smart breeding. Improve the Big Data Platform of Digital Intelligence Valley Seed Industry, explore the establishment of a variety ID card system, and implement seed traceability management.

5. Build a high-standard variety breeding base. Strengthen the optimization and transformation of breeding bases and infrastructure equipment, promote intelligent base management, real-time production monitoring, accurate early warning release, and informatization of quality traceability, and build 5,000 mu of public experimental bases, and the total area of ​​high-standard variety breeding bases reaches 100,000 mu. By 2027, 10 bases of crops, livestock, poultry, aquatic products and other innovation entities will be provided to universities, scientific research institutions, enterprises and other types of innovation entities that have entered Zhongyuan Agricultural Valley.

6. Build a collaborative innovation base in related fields. Focusing on the entire field of breeding and upstream and downstream links, collaborative innovation is carried out with industrial needs and technological iteration as the driving force. Lay out innovative facilities and platforms that are efficiently collaborative in production, education, research and application, and accelerate the collaborative research, verification and application of new technologies, new products and new equipment. By 2027, we will focus on building a number of collaborative innovation bases such as smart irrigation, smart agricultural machinery and equipment, green and efficient production, and food processing.

(4) Promote the systematic construction of scientific and technological innovation talents. Promote the integrated development of education, science and technology and talents, increase the efforts to attract and educate talents, build a high-level talent attraction and education carrier that connects the "school and college valley" and integrates science, education and industry, create a "big ecology" for talent development and a "micro-climate" for employers, and create a highland for innovative talents in the world first-class seed industry.

1. Build a carrier for attracting and cultivating high-level talents. Using the laboratory as a carrier, build a talent cultivation base for the China Modern Agriculture Joint Graduate School. Cooperate with the Zhongyuan Management Branch of the Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences to jointly build the Zhongyuan Agricultural Valley Graduate School. Support Northwest A&F University and Henan University of Science and Technology to establish a graduate school in Zhongyuan Agricultural Valley. Promote the operation of Shennong Seed College of Henan Agricultural University and lay out Henan's modern agricultural industry-education integration base in Zhongyuan Agricultural Valley. By 2027, more than 10 graduate schools, experimental bases and innovation centers will be built, more than 200 high-level "dual-energy" talents in the breeding industry will be attracted, and more than 1,000 graduate students will be trained.

2. Accurately introduce high-end talent teams in the seed industry. Focusing on the scarce talents in the modern seed industry, we will implement the precise talent attraction model of "leading talents innovation team innovation projects", focusing on introducing a group of strategic scientists, discipline leaders and PI (chief scientists) teams. Broaden the channels for attracting talents overseas and increase the introduction of experts from leading countries such as the United States, Germany, and the Netherlands in fruits, vegetables, livestock and poultry. By 2027, more than 3 academicians in the seed industry will be introduced, more than 10 high-level overseas talents, and more than 10 PI teams will be introduced.

3. Increase efforts to cultivate multi-level talents. Establish a mechanism for independent talent training and cultivate a group of innovative science and technology leaders in seed industry. In-depth cooperation with domestic leading seed industry enterprises, universities and research institutions, implement young scientist projects, and discover and cultivate reserve talents for strategic scientists. Establish a science, education, industry integration alliance, implement a "order-based" training plan, and strengthen the reserve force for seed industry scientific research. By 2027, more than 15 leading talents at or above the provincial level and more than 200 young talents will be cultivated, and 5 people will be selected for the "Shennong Talents" program.

4. Create a good ecology for gathering talents and retention. Formulate diversified compensation and equity incentive systems, and give scientific researchers (teams) greater right to decide on technical routes, right to fund control, right to resource scheduling, and right to income distribution. Establish a "green" channel for the professional title evaluation and appointment of overseas returnees and outstanding young talents, and support and guarantee the introduced top talents and leading talents.

(V) Promote the research and development of key core technologies. Strengthen the organization of scientific research activities and the allocation of scientific research resources, strengthen scientific research and research on the "bottleneck" problems of core technologies, improve independent innovation capabilities in key areas, and improve the contribution rate of good seeds and the international competitiveness of the seed industry.

1. Strengthen the conciseness of first-class projects. Establish an innovation consortium of universities, research institutions and leading enterprises to form a scientific research synergy. Focus on the fields of seed industry innovation research, agricultural biosecurity, agricultural green development, agricultural machinery and equipment, implement mechanisms such as "posting the list and taking charge", "horse racing system", and "military order system" to condense first-class projects and support a number of major innovative projects. By 2027, we will undertake more than 5 major national scientific research projects and strive to create national scientific and technological awards.

2. Promote collaborative innovation and research. Focusing on major national strategic tasks, we will carry out joint research on key core technologies to achieve major breakthroughs in biological breeding applications such as gene editing, high-throughput phenotype identification, molecular design, and artificial intelligence. Actively seize the new trends and new tracks of seed industry such as genetically modified and biosynthesis, and cultivate a number of major new varieties with significant advantages, such as resistant to gibberellosis, ultra-high yield soybeans, and high-temperature resistance, suitable for machine harvesting corn, peanuts, and cotton. By 2027, 10 benchmark and leading joint research projects will be completed, and more than 200 new varieties will be launched, including more than 60 new varieties in the short-term fields such as fruits and vegetables, edible fungi, and Chinese medicinal materials.

(VI) Promote the innovative development of the entire seed industry chain. Strengthen the dominant position of enterprises, continue to consolidate the coordinated advantages of industry, academia, research and application, continuously strengthen the development carrier of base and parks, promote the cluster development of seed industry, and form a full-process traceable market management system and a full industrial chain that connects upstream and downstream.

1. Promote the transformation of major scientific and technological achievements. Build and strengthen the Central Plains Agricultural Science and Technology Achievements Transformation and Trading Center, establish a "research and development, transformation" achievement first-class mechanism, rapid industrialization mechanism and excellent brand release mechanism to improve the efficiency of scientific and technological achievements transformation. Continue to improve the operation mechanism of seed industry science and technology incubators and scientific and technological achievements transformation bases, and promote the construction of new varieties and new technologies promotion service systems. By 2027, the variety conversion rate will reach more than 80%, and the transaction volume will exceed 500 million yuan.

2. Build a seed enterprise cluster. Relying on the Zhongyuan Agricultural Valley Science and Technology Innovation Center, Science and Technology Incubation Center, Seed Processing Industrial Park, etc., we will implement the recruitment plan for leading seed enterprises and local enterprise cultivation projects. By 2027, more than 10 integrated seed industry enterprises with core competitiveness will be introduced and cultivated, 2 listed companies and more than 5 "hidden champion" companies will be cultivated, and more than 5 "hidden champion" companies will be promoted to Henan Seed Group's strengths such as wheat and corn in the top three in the country.

3. Cultivate modern seed industry demonstration bases. In accordance with the standards of the world's first-class breeding seed production base, vertical large models such as efficient planting, large-scale breeding and full-growth services will be developed and scenario-based applications will be carried out. By 2027, more than 5 breeding bases for wheat, peanuts, soybeans, rice and other good varieties will be built, and more than 20 science and technology innovation experimental bases and new variety display bases will be built. Continue to implement the "center base" model, and build more than 15 breeding and seed production bases such as seeds, seedlings, breeding livestock (poultry), etc. inside and outside the province.

4. Promote the agglomeration and development of related industries. Focusing on efficient development of resources in the seed industry, accelerate industrial development, build a standardized seed, seedling and breeding livestock trading market in the province, focus on building a modern grain industry science and technology innovation center, and cultivate and expand industrial clusters such as seed processing, food processing, agricultural intelligent equipment, biomedicine, and productive services. Focus on building characteristic industrial parks such as Zhongyuan Agricultural Valley modern seed industry, international fruit and vegetable processing trade, and cold chain logistics comprehensive services, and vigorously build new advantages in the agglomeration and development of modern agricultural industries of hundreds of billions. By 2027, more than 4 industrial clusters with annual operating income exceeding 10 billion yuan and one cluster with annual operating income exceeding 10 billion yuan will be cultivated.

(7) Improve the ecological services for scientific and technological innovation. Focus on the goal of building an international first-class agricultural science "core" city, further improve the level of infrastructure and public services, and promote the deep integration of the functions of Zhongyuan Agricultural Valley "science and technology research and development, industrial upgrading, urban supporting facilities, financial services, and opening up to the outside world".

1. Optimize investment and financing services. Increase capital investment, make good use of fiscal funds, strengthen support for original technology research and development funds, and explore new models of scientific and technological innovation financial reform service. Amplify the leverage role of Zhongyuan Agricultural Valley special funds, strengthen Zhongyuan Agricultural Valley investment funds and industrial guidance funds, and attract more social capital such as angel investment, venture capital, and venture capital to invest in the field of seed technology innovation.

2. Improve the level of foreign cooperation and exchanges. Continue to host the Zhongyuan Agriculture Valley International Seed Industry Conference, plan to hold an international high-end forum on biological breeding, and enhance the influence of Zhongyuan Agriculture Valley in the international seed industry. Focus on the cutting-edge fields of modern agriculture, strengthen cooperation with international scientific research institutes and seed enterprises, improve the internationalization of scientific research, carry out country-specific cooperation with developed agricultural countries such as the Netherlands, Israel, Denmark, the United Kingdom, and Germany, as well as countries along the "Belt and Road", and jointly build a country-specific cooperation innovation park and base for agricultural science and technology.

3. Accelerate the construction of an international agricultural science "core" city. In accordance with the requirements of industrial-city integration, complete functions, convenient transportation, livable ecologically and efficient governance, strengthen the supply of resources such as talent housing, education, and medical care. Comprehensively optimize the construction of new infrastructure, improve the level of convenient public services and refined management of urban governance, and strive to build an international and smart new city.

3. Guarantee measures

Adhere to and strengthen the Party’s overall leadership over the construction and development of Central Plains Agricultural Valley, optimize the organizational structure of the Central Plains Agricultural Valley Management Committee, improve the administrative management system and scientific research organization system, give full play to the dual-wheel drive role of the Central Plains Agricultural Valley Management Committee and the National Biobreeding Industry Innovation Center, coordinate high-level innovation platforms, solve major issues in development, and empower the exploration path, create experience, and increase momentum for the full construction of the Central Plains Agricultural Valley version 2.0. Strengthen policy support. Continue to strengthen communication and docking with relevant national ministries and commissions, actively seek support policies such as finance, land, talents, and innovation, and introduce support policies in terms of talent introduction and cultivation, scientific research platform resource sharing, enterprise scientific and technological research and development, scientific and technological innovation and achievement transformation. Increase the publicity and implementation of the "Henan Province Central Plains Agricultural Valley Development Regulations" and improve the seed industry intellectual property protection mechanism. Give full play to the role of Zhongyuan Nonggu Procuratorial Service Center, strengthen comprehensive performance of duties, and focus on performing intellectual property procuratorial duties. Focusing on the three-year action goals and key tasks, we will improve the evaluation system, strengthen the application of incentive measures and results, and promote the high-quality development of Central Plains Agricultural Valley.

Attachment: 1. Three-year Action Plan for High-Quality Development of Zhongyuan Agricultural Valley (2025-2027) Task List

2. List of key construction projects for the three-year action plan for high-quality development of Zhongyuan Agriculture Valley (2025-2027)