Yuan Longping, born in Beijing in 1930, now lives in Changsha of Hunan Province, an Academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering, and the founder of hybrid rice, known as the “father of hybrid rice”.
Academician Yuan took the lead to carry out rice heterosis application research in our country, published the famous paper Male Sterility in Rice in 1966, achieved the matching “three lines” of sterile lines, maintainer lines and restorer lines of hybrid rice in 1973, cultivated the world’s first hybrid rice variety “Nan You No.2”, obtained success in “two-line method” hybrid rice research under the charge of him in 1995, launched and led the research of “super hybrid rice” in 1999, and realized the research goal with yield per mu exceeding 1,000 kg in 2015.
“ Develop hybrid rice to benefit people of the world” is a lifelong pursuit dream of Academician Yuan. Since the hybrid rice of China went abroad for the first time in 1979, it has been studied and promoted in more than 80 countries and regions in the world, and it has made a significant contribution to food security of the world.
Founded in 1999 and listed in 2000, Yuan Longping High-tech Agriculture Co., Ltd. (“Longping High-tech”) is a high-tech modern seed group named after the academician Yuan Longping, the “Father of Hybrid Rice”, who serves as Honorary Chairman of the company, with its largest shareholder being CITIC Group. Since its foundation, Longping High-tech always insists on being led by strategy and driven by innovation. It is determined to strive for the dream of developing national seed industry under the mission of “Progress the seeds, Benefit the world”.
The company is the leading seed industry enterprise "integrating breeding, reproduction and promotion" in China. Its main business covers two major systems of seed operation and agricultural service. The hybrid rice seed business is leading globally, and the corn, pepper, cucumber, millet and edible sunflower seed business leads China. In 2018, the company gained revenue of 3.579 billion yuan and net profit of 791 million yuan attributable to shareholders of listed companies, and ranked among the top eight global seed enterprises.
Strong R&D strength is the core competitiveness to support the company's sustainable development. The company has established the domestic leading commercial breeding system and testing system and set up the international advanced biotechnology platform, with its R&D and innovation ability of main crop seeds ranking the leading level in China. The company has maintained a high level of scientific research input for many years in a row, with the R&D input accounting for about 10% of the operating income. In the past three years, it has invested nearly 1 billion yuan of R&D expenses, which greatly exceeds the level of the peers in China.
The company firmly promotes the internationalization strategy. In Southeast Asia and South Asia such as India and the Philippines, R&D of rice variety has entered the stage of concentrated output of results, and the breeds are highly competitive in local markets. In the South American market, corn varieties mainly focus on the high-end and medium- and high-end market, with strong competitiveness, and its market share ranks the top three in Brazil. In the future, overseas hybrid rice business and corn business are expected to become the company's new business and profit growth point.
The company fulfills its social responsibilities. Adhering to the "benefit" concept, the company insists on providing farmers with high-quality and high-yield seeds and comprehensive agricultural services, so as to drive rural revitalization by improving production and income. It established Longping high-tech public welfare foundation and carried out public welfare activities mainly aimed at the planting farmers. At the same time, it carries out foreign aid project cooperation, and by far, has trained nearly 10,000 professionals in agriculture for more than 100 countries and regions in Asia, Africa and Latin America. It has undertaken more than 10 foreign technical cooperation projects, making positive contributions to world agricultural development and food security.
The company is stepping up management reform and entering a new stage of development. In the future, the company will continue to keep in mind the initial intention and mission, deeply focus on the strategic direction of the company, accelerate the construction of a systematic management system and a transparent and open market mechanism, vigorously carry forward Longping culture, and strive to promote the company in the leapfrog of "an excellent seed industry company in the world".