On the morning of September 13^th, “The Second Sino-British Cooperate Big Data-Driven Agricultural Supplies” seminar was held by The Science & Technology Facilities Council(STFC),The STFC Food Network+(SFN) and Henan University, and was co-hosted by Business School of Henan University, Source and Environment of Henan Agricultural University and Xinqi Agricultural Science and technology Co., Ltd.. The seminar was held in the lecture hall in Business School of Henan University. Many people attended the meeting, including Prof. Ramakrishnan Ramanathan and Prof. Yanqing Duan (from UK Bedford University), Scholars of the Yellow River Prof. Wantao Yu (from Roehampton University), Tom Collingwood (the STFC Blockchain technology specialist), Prof. Xingyu Wang (Dean of Business School of Henan University), Prof. Youliang Ye (from Henan Agricultural University), Jicheng Zhang (general manager of XinQi Agricultural Science and technology Co., LTD.) and many experts and scholars from home and abroad, such as experts from Hunan Business School, Haerbin Business University, Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Henan Agricultural University, Henan Polytechnic University, Xinlianxin Fertilizer Co., LTD. in Henan Province. The meeting was hosted by Zhiqiang Li, who is vice dean of Business School of Henan University.

In the opening speech, Prof. Wang gave a warm welcome to all the guests. Then he gave a brief introduction of Business School and pointed out the arrangement of this meeting.

The meeting was divided into two phases: thematic report and group discussion. In the thematic reporting phase, Ramakrishnan Ramanathan Shared ‘Big Data, IoT and Blockchain in agri-food Supply Chains’, and Youliang Ye Shared a brief introduction of Henan academy of science and technology. Yanqing Duan Shared ‘The Applications of IoT, Big Data and AI in Agribusiness: Opportunities and Challenges’, Jicheng Zhang Shared a case study of ‘the agricultural industry chain, industry chain) to build a financial system - Henan Yongqiu garlic trading center’, Xingyu Wang Shared a study of ‘The problem of rural financial repression in China’, Tom Collingwood Shared ‘Blockchain and Distributed Ledgers:Enablers,not Solutions’, and Zhenlei Han shared ‘modern agricultural services based on agricultural big data’ and Jiehui Yang shared ‘from garlic industry practice in Qi country to teaching and research’. All the speech benefited the teachers and students here a lot. In the group discussion stage, the discussion group, led by Prof. Wantao Yu, Prof. Yanqing Duan and Ms Yang , had a heated discussion on the declaration of Sino-British agricultural cooperation projects. Finally, the closing ceremony was hosted by Chunlin Yuan. Zhiqiang Li delivered the closing speech. Li spoke highly of the organization and the effect of the seminar and thanked all the experts, scholars and entrepreneurs for their participation. He pointed out that the seminar not only promoted academic exchanges at home and abroad, but also helped to improve scientific research capacity.

On the next day, participants arrived at Qi country Agriculture Science Co., LTD., Henan Agricultural University and Linying technology courtyard for a visit. During the visit, the project leader explained about the development of garlic industry in Qi county and the construction of the trading center and supporting industrial park, which gave visitors a new understanding of the agricultural product supply chain. During the visit of Qi county and Linying College of Science and Technology, Henan Agricultural University, Prof. Ye and his excellent students gave a wonderful explanation, which enabled visitors to have a clear understanding of the college and the experimental demonstration base. In addition, the visitors also made a thorough study of the field crops to understand the growing conditions of the crops. Prof. Wantao Yu praised the trip, saying that it helped to create a new platform for UK-China cooperation and he expressed thanks to Professor Ye, general manager Jicheng Zhang, general manager Zhenlei Han and their teams. The visit focuses on the innovation and sustainable development of agricultural supply chain, connects enterprises with talents, promotes close connection between production, education and research and promotes the rapid transformation of innovation results.

The successful holding of this seminar not only strengthened the academic exchange and cooperation with foreign countries, but also contributed to the further improvement of the scientific research.