On March 9, during the second "Minister's Channel" session at the Fourth Session of the 14th National People's Congress, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs Han Jun used a vivid analogy that resonated widely. He noted that many agricultural products are still sold in a rudimentary manner directly from fields, with some lacking post-harvest processing, which he described as "selling with disheveled hair." This not only affects product quality but also prevents high-quality goods from fetching good prices. Minister Han emphasized the need to "dress up" agricultural products by enhancing post-harvest processing, developing branded agriculture, and providing more high-quality, reputable branded products to the public. The goal is to transform agriculture into a modernized large-scale industry and increase farmers' incomes. The phrase "selling with disheveled hair" highlights shortcomings in post-harvest handling, while "selling from baskets" reflects challenges in traditional distribution. Minister Han's remarks pointed to a key issue in current agricultural development: while there are many high-quality products, they often fail to command premium prices. To modernize agriculture, improve efficiency, and boost farmer earnings, products must transition from selling raw materials to selling processed goods, brands, and value. Branding can turn agricultural products into "golden nuggets."
Consider these examples. Hainan pineapples: Once sold by weight amid scattered planting and inconsistent quality, they often faced low-price competition. In recent years, the region established the "Hainan Fresh Products" brand image, promoted public regional brands like "Chengmai Pineapple," and cultivated product brands such as "Sister Pang Pineapple." By introducing intelligent sorting lines for non-destructive sugar testing and precise grading, the "dressing up" effort yielded immediate results: high-quality pineapples, empowered by branding, now sell at much higher prices than ordinary ones. By 2024, Hainan's pineapple cultivation area had grown 55% compared to 2022, with output value doubling from 1.8 billion to 3.6 billion yuan, demonstrating the power of branding.
Guangxi's Pingle persimmon cakes: Previously sold as bulk goods and even counterfeited by external products, the county, a national trading hub for persimmon cakes, saw a turnaround in 2025 with the launch of the "Pingle Persimmon Cake" public regional brand. The establishment of traceability systems and promotion of intelligent production ended the "disheveled" sales approach. On the day of the brand launch, over 20 merchants signed purchase agreements worth 1.1 billion yuan. Through deep processing, more than 10 derivative products like frozen persimmons and persimmon pastries emerged, increasing added value by two to three times compared to traditional persimmon cakes. The annual output value of Pingle's persimmon industry chain exceeded 6 billion yuan.
Additionally, Gansu's "Ganwei" brand, through unified standards, deep processing, and brand premium, increased Lanzhou highland summer vegetable yield by 3,000 jin per mu and raised prices by 0.5 yuan per jin, boosting average annual farmer income by 18,000 yuan. After building a public regional brand, Guangxi's Rong'an kumquat saw a significant rise in full industry chain value, driving per capita income for 100,000 farmers to over 16,000 yuan, making it a "golden fruit" for mountain residents. These cases illustrate that through branding and deep processing, agricultural products can shed their "rustic" image and transform from commonplace goods into "golden nuggets."
How to develop brand agriculture? Policy support and multi-party collaboration are key. Since the "14th Five-Year Plan," central policy documents have repeatedly emphasized agricultural brand building and cultivating premium brands. In 2025, the "Comprehensive Rural Revitalization Plan (2024–2027)" and "Plan for Accelerating the Construction of an Agricultural Power (2024–2035)" were issued, outlining top-level pathways for agricultural brand development. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs has followed up consistently: in 2022, it launched the "Agricultural Brand Cultivation Plan (2022–2025)" to "set the stage" for premium brands; in 2023, it issued the "Implementation Plan for Supporting Former Poverty-Stricken Areas in Building Public Regional Brands," using branding as a key tool to consolidate poverty alleviation achievements; and in 2025, it collaborated with nine departments to release the "Plan for Promoting Agricultural Product Consumption," addressing consumption challenges by optimizing supply, innovating distribution, and activating markets. "Optimizing supply" primarily involves brand building to enhance product quality and diversity, meeting market demand.
Under policy guidance, several brands have emerged prominently. Currently, 320 public regional brands are included in the premium cultivation plan, with over 5,000 brands listed in provincial directories. High-quality brands like Wuchang rice, West Lake Longjing tea, and Yanchi tan sheep meat have gained national recognition. Infrastructure is also improving. The country has established 33 national agricultural product origin markets and designated 663 key markets to transition products from "non-standard" to "standardized." The cold chain logistics network continues to expand; for instance, Shaanxi alone built over 6,400 cold storage facilities, helping increase origin prices of "Shaanxi Agricultural Excellence" products by 2–4 yuan per kilogram.
Multi-party cooperation enhances brand vitality. Over five years, the number of agricultural leading enterprises at county level and above reached 94,000, including 2,250 at national level, with over 80% focused on processing, serving as core pillars for brand development. Shanxi invested 258 million yuan over three years to build 25 brand-strengthening counties, with annual allocations of 500 million yuan in loan interest subsidies and 1.5 billion yuan in rewards for "special" and "excellent" agriculture to guide investment. Jiangsu secured 55 million yuan in provincial financial incentives over five years, with financial "living water" continuously nurturing growth. At the 2025 22nd China International Agricultural Trade Fair, branded products were highly sought after, achieving over 100 million yuan in on-site sales and 8,500意向合作 agreements, showcasing successful brand promotion.
How to implement brand agriculture? Targeted measures in three areas are essential. Minister Han's call to "dress up" agricultural products is practical and vivid: "dressing" addresses post-harvest chaos, while "makeup" enhances brand value. First, "post-harvest processing + infrastructure upgrades" ensure quality control. The root of "disheveled" sales lies in crude post-harvest handling. "Washing and combing" products involves details like cleaning, grading, pre-cooling, and packaging, giving each fruit standards and identity. Fujian's Pinghe pomelo introduced digital intelligent cleaning and sorting lines with optical sorting and efficient sterilization, shifting from bulk sales to individual sales, with premium pomelos selling for over twice the price of ordinary ones after grading. Jiangxi's Linchuan district promoted a "mobile cold storage + field warehouse" model, building four new field cold storage nodes in 2025 to reduce post-harvest pre-cooling time to under 30 minutes and decrease spoilage rates by 28%, effectively addressing the "first mile."
Second, "deep processing + benefit linkages" maximize value addition. Selling raw materials only yields meager profits. Focusing on "from grain to food" and "from farm to industry" keeps the industrial chain within counties and benefits farmers. Guangxi's Xincheng sticky corn transformed from local product to tribute gift, with ready-to-eat corn porridge and cooked corn sticks generating nearly 200 million yuan in online sales and increasing income for over 80,000 households. Shanxi's Shilou "Qīwān" turned local honey into jelly honey, convenient and visually appealing, securing 400,000 yuan in意向合作 contracts at a single exhibition. This shows that deeper processing multiplies value. Additionally, promoting contract purchasing and guaranteed dividends lets farmers lead and profit in the brand chain.
Third, "brand promotion + global expansion" helps products gain domestic and international recognition. Even good products need exposure. At the 2025 Greater Bay Area agricultural product对接 event, Jiangxi's products collectively entered the bay area and overseas markets, signing contracts exceeding 154 million yuan. Chongqing's Tongnan lemons leveraged the New Western Land-Sea Corridor to supply Southeast Asia and export to Central Asia, with exports surpassing 190 million yuan. From domestic exhibitions to international stages, and from live-streaming to cross-border e-commerce, Chinese agricultural products are reaching the world.
How to succeed in brand agriculture? Collaboration is crucial, uniting efforts like a clenched fist. Brand agriculture requires three key elements: public regional brands, enterprise brands, and product brands. Their relationship can be likened to a "parent brand providing support, with child brands leading the charge." Public regional brands act as parent brands, often prestigious labels created by government leadership to endorse area-wide products, addressing credibility questions like "who, where, and how good." Enterprise and product brands are child brands, operated by market entities directly facing consumers, solving market choice issues like "which to buy, whose to love, and value." In this framework, governments, industry associations, enterprises, and farmers each play roles: governments set the stage, associations establish rules, enterprises perform, and farmers root efforts.
Governments build the platform by clarifying brand strategies, investing key funds, and supporting standards, infrastructure, and cold storage with real resources. Quality must be monitored, traceability systems built, and counterfeits strictly punished. Governments should also help enterprises access platforms and channels, ensuring good products find markets. Industry associations regulate by setting group standards for grading and labeling, building consumer trust. Those harming brands should be excluded, with strict准入退出 mechanisms. Regular training and matchmaking activities help members collaborate in markets.
Enterprises are the main force, deepening processing and research to turn raw materials into quality products. They should tell compelling stories, highlighting farming culture and craftsmanship. Promoting through online and offline channels stabilizes domestic markets while exploring international ones. Most importantly, enterprises must involve farmers through contract purchasing and dividends, letting them benefit. Farmers uphold standards by planting and harvesting according to regulations, avoiding shortcuts. Joining cooperatives or leading enterprises helps them learn techniques and increase income. Regional brands are collective assets—farmers must protect them like treasures to avoid reputational damage.
The shift from "selling from baskets" to "brand agriculture" is challenging. Learning to "dress up" agricultural products by strengthening post-harvest processing, brand cultivation, and full-chain value addition will build agriculture into a modern large-scale industry, allowing more farmers to share in the benefits of branding.
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