On 20 September 2024, DCZ Managing Director Jürgen Ritter gave a keynote speech at the Entrepreneurs’ Dialogue on Digital Agriculture. The Dialogue was organized by the Foreign Economic Cooperation Center (FECC) as a key event during the 2nd World Expo on Digital Agriculture (WEDA) in Chengdu, Sichuan Province.
The Dialogue was opened by Zhang Qian, Chief Evaluation Officer at FECC and Li Weibin, Deputy Director General at the Chengdu Agricultural and Rural Bureau. In their opening speeches, German Deputy Consul General Julian Lasinger and Economic Consul of France Maria Girard highlighted the role of digitalization for the transformation towards sustainable, climate-friendly agriculture in Germany and France.
Wang Xiaobing from the Information Center of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MARA) of China emphasized the role of data as a new factor of production that will unleash new quality productive forces.
Peking University scholar Yi Hongmei put the focus on smallholders. In her report, she said that 96% of Chinese farmers have less than one hectare of land and lack the capital and education to partake in the digital transformation of agriculture.
DCZ Managing Director Jürgen Ritter presented digital technologies developed in Germany—from startup solutions for smaller farms to integrated systems and showcased DCZ’s Smart Agriculture website. The website provides insights into the challenges and opportunities of digital agriculture in Germany.
Wang Ruili, Associate Professor at Shenyang Agriculture University, concluded the keynote session with a talk about the research on digital agriculture undertaken at her university.
In the second half of the event, representatives from Chinese, French, and German companies presented digital solutions for agriculture. The reports showed how digital technologies can help farmers optimize inputs, reducing the use of pesticides and fertilizers and lowering greenhouse gas emissions.
