10 billion in the first half!Why is agricultural investment so "fire"

Text ｜ "China Science News" reporter Li Chen

"Our 'deep love' tomatoes have been recognized by consumers as soon as they go on the market." Recently, in an interview with the "China Science News", Lu Yaqing, CEO of Zhongnongmei Vegetable (Shenzhen) Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as China Nongmei Vegetable).

The company is an innovative enterprise with a scientific research force relying on the Shenzhen Institute of Agricultural Genome in the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences to develop delicious tomato new technologies and new varieties as its purpose.

In February of this year, IDG Capital announced the completion of financing of 7 million yuan in the Angels and Vegetable Angels of China.

This round of financing is less than a year before the company was established.

According to the data analysis of 35 buckets of agricultural industry service agencies, since the beginning of this year, investment in the agricultural sector is unprecedentedly hot.

As of the end of June, there were over 74 investment financing incidents (including venture capital, strategic investment, mergers and acquisitions, etc.) in the agricultural field, and the inflow funds exceeded 10 billion yuan.

The investment in the agricultural field has quietly arrived.

"Deep Love" Tomato Citron and Vegetables of Chinese Nuns and Vegetables with their own intellectual property rights confession

Agricultural investment will be innovative this year

Not long ago, Zhang Longyao, deputy dean of the School of Finance, Nanjing Agricultural University, attended a meeting in Shenzhen.

He found that because of the rise in labor costs, some investors are paying attention to agricultural drones; others are paying attention to the artificial meat industry because the world's demand for reducing carbon emissions is increasing ...

35 Fighting Analyst Hu Xiaofeng recently observed that investment institutions such as Gao Yan, Sequoia, Jingwei have been involved in the agricultural field.

She told the Journal of China that from the historical data, in the past ten years, the average investment scale in the agricultural field in the past ten years is about 10 billion yuan.

In the first half of this year, the scale of investment in the field reached the level of the past year. It is expected that the scale of agricultural investment this year will reach a new high.

"Investment in the agricultural field, from the government to financial institutions, to market -oriented investors such as VC/PE (venture capital/private equity investment), more and more attention is concerned. The main reason is that in the background of rural revitalization In the following, the demand and gap in agricultural and rural investment are very large. "Zhang Longyao told the China Science News.

However, before 2019, the main body of agricultural and rural investment, the government and farmers, the growth rate of investment in agriculture and rural areas has declined year by year.

Why "from cold to heat"

In the past, the investment in the agricultural field was tepid. Hu Xiaofeng believes that firstly, due to the low price of agricultural products, the return on investment in agricultural investment is relatively low, and the lack of explosive growth "genes"; second, due to the high risk of agricultural investment, it is affected by changes in weather and the risk of animal and plant diseases; Because of the low level of governance and management of agricultural projects, there are many family enterprises and local enterprises.

Today, the agricultural field is "hot". Zhang Longyao's analysis was first affected by the epidemic of new crown pneumonia. In some areas, financing demand was declining, and the agricultural field was exactly less affected by the epidemic.

"People take food as the sky. Moreover, in the face of the epidemic, people are more concerned about health, and the frequency of meals is reduced. The demand for high -quality food at home is increasing." Due to this special nature, the agricultural industry has caused capital focus on.

At the same time, "the government's supervision of the Internet industry has become stricter. Internet companies have developed rapidly in the past. After the supervision and improvement, capital investment of Internet companies will be more cautious. Some capital also leaves this field and seek new growth areas." Zhang Longyao Yao Yao Yao. " Say.

In the view of Lu Kaiyu, a researcher at the Institute of Agricultural Economics and Development of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, the optimization of the policy environment has given the capital's greater confidence in entering the agricultural field.

For example, the construction of high -standard farmland, warehousing cold chain logistics, and modern species industry are all support signals that the government clearly given, and it is also a key area for active encouragement of social capital investment.

In addition, the conditions for rural infrastructure in the central and western regions have been continuously improved, and the extension of modern railways and highway freight logistics makes agricultural product transportation more convenient, which is regarded as the basis for investors to obtain good investment returns.

Zhang Longyao and Hu Xiaofeng believe that cutting -edge technology has begun to play a role in the agricultural field, such as gene editing and artificial intelligence, which has brought greatly improved agricultural production efficiency.

"This is not only the endogenous driving force for the development of the agricultural industry, but also an important reason why capital pays attention to agriculture." Zhang Longyao said.

High -tech Capital Favorite Hot Spot

For the fields of social capital, Hu Xiaofeng analyzes it into three categories according to the technical field: biotechnology, such as gene editing, genetically modified; digital technology, such as SaaS (software as service); new materials and intelligent manufacturing categories, such as 3D printing Food, etc.

Divided by the upstream and downstream or segmented fields of the industrial chain, it is breeding, synthetic biology, new pesticide fertilizer, agricultural intelligent equipment, plant -based foods, cell cultivation of meat, etc.

"In the first half of this year, the projects with large financing include Aikongnong, Changjin Biology, Cellx, Ruifeng Biology, Qihe Shengke, etc." Hu Xiaofeng said.

Among all investment and financing, mergers and acquisitions, the three tracks of breeding, synthetic creatures, and digital agriculture are relatively hot.

From the perspective of the number of projects, types of education enterprises are the most popular, followed by synthetic creatures, and again digital agricultural projects. From the perspective of total financing, synthetic biological tracks are more prominent, the total financing amount exceeds 1.5 billion yuan, breeding track financing The amount exceeds 1 billion yuan.

Zhang Longyao pointed out that agricultural projects using advanced science and technology are more likely to attract investors. However, he believes that from the perspective of agriculture, some areas still need more attention from investors. For example, agricultural infrastructure (including warehousing cold chain logistics, rural roads, environmental governance, etc.), high -standard farmland construction and other projects, currently rely on investment in policy financial institutions.

"Because these projects have a long investment cycle, market -oriented capital is not very interested in its interest. In fact, projects in these fields need long -term financial support." Zhang Longyao said.

In addition, the seed industry that attaches great importance to the government is also the investment direction that needs to be strengthened. However, some capital has been trying to enter the seed industry.

Zhang Longyao believes that once a successful project breakthrough has occurred in the seed industry, it can form better commercial protection for seeds. "The future profitability of the future is very large."

"At present, agricultural projects are relatively lacking. Social capital can participate in the direction of agricultural investment, including modern species, modern agriculture, agricultural product processing and circulation industry, modern agricultural service industry, and branding of agricultural products. "

Hu Xiaofeng said that the current flow is mainly concentrated in the field of technological innovation -driven, which is more in line with the investment logic of investors who transferred from TMT and consumer fields. The investment logic of "new, early investment, and hard technology" is also applicable to agriculture.

Hu Xiaofeng emphasized that capital entering agriculture is definitely a great benefit to the industry, especially "empowerment investment", which can bring better investment management and help the project "from 1 to 10 to 100".

This has accelerated the development of agriculture to a certain extent and has a significant role in promoting the modernization and moderate large -scale operation of agriculture.

Give more tolerance and confidence in agriculture

What should capital be paid attention to when capital entering agriculture? Lu Kaiyu suggested that social capital can start from its own scale, positioning and risk appetite, and choose to participate in some large or development potential agricultural projects.

In the process of implementing the specific implementation, you can cooperate with local farmers' professional cooperatives because cooperatives have the advantages of closely related to local farmers.

"Social capital should excavate business opportunities in the integration of one, two, and tertiary industries, extend the agricultural product industry chain, and enhance the value chain. The value -added of the value chain means that the cake is enlarged, shared the value -added benefits, and the important opportunities for social capital." Lu Kaiyu said.

"I think the involvement of capital must be patient." Zhang Longyao said that the agricultural industry cycle is long and the development is relatively slow. Investors must be good at seizing opportunities.

"Secondly, we must pay attention to risk issues." Zhang Longyao pointed out that whether it is basic scientific research innovation or agricultural production projects, it will be affected by nature and climate, leading to the risk of the agricultural industry than the general industry.

Third, my country has a vast across place, and each place has different natural conditions, and it is difficult for agricultural enterprises to form and promote a unified business model.

"The lack of agricultural business talents is also a factor restricting agricultural industrial projects." Zhang Longyao suggested that capital enters the agricultural sector to conduct relevant aspects of projects.

Hu Xiaofeng also agreed. "Risk control is the first lesson of all investment, as is the investment in the agricultural field. To identify the potential risks of agricultural projects, at the same time, it has a long -term spirit. In the year, we must have a certain patience and confidence. "

She told the "China Science News" that in the agricultural field, the current shortcomings are mainly concentrated in these aspects: the application of biotechnology, such as gene editing tools, methods, the seeds of vegetables and fruits, the discovery and application of microorganisms and the discovery and application of microorganisms Use; digital technology still has many weaknesses in terms of application depth and industrial value. Many projects are led and paid by the government. The lack of commercial applications and awareness of competitiveness. The shortcomings; the application of cross -domain technology is relatively small. As a cross -disciplinary industry, the progress of the cross -sector will directly affect the depth and breadth of its technical application. Developed virgin land.

"Agriculture needs to make up for the shortcomings. For agricultural venture capital, this is also an obvious opportunity. In other words, who can solve the shortcomings of agricultural existence in the future, there will be a chance Establish a 100 billion -level company. When the shortcomings are really solved, they can get a generous return on investment. "Hu Xiaofeng said.

Zhang Longyao recommended ESG's investment philosophy to investors who are concerned about agriculture, namely environmental, social and corporate governance.

"When investing in investment projects, investors no longer just pursue the maximum profit, but require the project to have social influence. For the agricultural field, it can drive farmers to become rich and rural development."

In Zhang Longyao's view, due to the changes in the global investment environment, many countries and regions pay more and more attention to social responsibility investment.

Agricultural enterprises and projects with ESG rating are more likely to get international recognition. This will be a factor worthy of attention for investors.

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"China Science News" (2022-07-11 The 4th edition of the original title of science and technology innovation is "" Agricultural Investment "))

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Edit | Zhao Lu
typesetting | Guo Gang

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