China–Russia Symposium on Smart Agriculture and Rural Digital Transformation Held in Yangling

From January 15 to 17, 2026, the "Sino-Russian International Symposium on Smart Agriculture and Rural Digital Transformation and Development under the Wave of Artificial Intelligence" was successfully held in Yangling, Shaanxi. The conference was hosted by Northwest A & Forestry University of Science and Technology, and jointly organized by China Foreign Agricultural Economic Research Association, School of Economics and Management of Northwest A & Forestry University, and Department of Economics of Moscow State University.

The conference was held offline, with main forums and parallel forums. Experts and scholars from China, Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan and other countries focused on artificial intelligence-enabled agricultural production, comparison of digital agriculture and rural digital transformation, agricultural product trade and supply chain optimization, In-depth discussions were conducted on topics such as the modernization of rural governance and the construction of Sino-Russian agricultural science and technology cooperation mechanisms.

At the opening ceremony of the meeting, Professor Zhang Hongming, Vice President of Northwest A & F University, Professor Viktor Kovalev, Vice President of Ural State University of Economics, Russia, Researcher Hu Glacier, Secretary General of China Foreign Agricultural Economic Research Association, and Dean of School of Economics and Management of Northwest A & F University Professor Shi Baofeng delivered speeches respectively. Participants agreed that under the background of the accelerated evolution of artificial intelligence technology and the in-depth adjustment of the global agricultural system, strengthening the comparative research and cooperation in the field of agricultural science and technology and policy between China and Russia is of great practical significance for improving the level of agricultural modernization and enhancing the resilience of regional food and food systems.

In the main forum report, the participating experts generally believed that digital technology and artificial intelligence are becoming the key forces to promote the transformation of agricultural food systems. Professor Fan Shenggen of China Agricultural University pointed out that the global agricultural food system is facing multiple challenges of food security, sustainable development and structural transformation. The complementarity of resource endowment, technological path and institutional arrangement between China and Russia provides an important basis for deepening cooperation. Associate Professor Roman Romashkin of Moscow University systematically analyzed the application trend of artificial intelligence in agricultural scientific research and production from the perspective of data-driven and knowledge network, and believed that China has become one of the most influential partners in Russian agricultural AI research and cooperation.

Focusing on Sino-Russian agricultural trade and industrial chain cooperation, former associate researcher Ruiling of the Rural Economic Research Center of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs pointed out that with the support of digital technology and artificial intelligence, Sino-Russian agricultural trade is gradually changing from traditional commodity exchange to "trade-logistics-data-The new stage of coordinated development of" service "evolves, and the construction of cross-border logistics channels and institutional opening will become the key to improving the efficiency of cooperation. Professor Victor Kovalev further stressed that China and Russia have obvious complementary advantages in remote sensing monitoring, risk assessment and agricultural digital application. Through joint research and platform cooperation, it is expected to provide demonstration experience for agricultural modernization in countries along the "Belt and Road Initiative" route. Zhu Yuchun, a professor at Northwest A & F University, pointed out that the development goals of digital agriculture between China and Russia are the same but the paths are obviously different. In the future, we can better serve food security and sustainable agricultural development by promoting the transformation of digital agricultural cooperation from project-based to mechanism-based.

In the parallel forum, the participating experts formed a number of consensuses around China-Russia and "Belt and Road" agricultural cooperation: new qualitative productivity should be used as the guide to promote the upgrading of agricultural product trade structure and industrial chain coordination; artificial intelligence and digital infrastructure construction should be used to improve agricultural products Trade efficiency and quality credibility; relying on the practical basis of smart farms and digital farms, promote demonstration cooperation in the fields of precision agriculture and digital agriculture.

During the meeting, the participants agreed that this seminar closely follows the frontier topics of agricultural reform in the context of artificial intelligence, and systematically deepens the exchanges and mutual learning between China, Russia and countries along the "Belt and Road" in the field of smart agriculture and rural digital transformation. It has laid a solid foundation for the future expansion of practical cooperation in joint research, trade cooperation, talent training and policy dialogue. Experts at the meeting suggested that the next step should focus on strengthening scientific and technological coordination in the fields of agricultural artificial intelligence, digital agriculture and precision agriculture, improving the Sino-Russian agricultural policy and standard dialogue mechanism, and promoting the upgrading of agricultural product trade from "point transactions" to "stable supply throughout the year". And relying on Xinjiang, Heilongjiang, Shaanxi and other regions to promote demonstration applications, to provide replicable and extusable development experience for "Belt and Road" agricultural cooperation.