Besides He, there are 13 academics and 411 PhD agriculture students participating in 117 farms in Pinggu district, Beijing, since the local government initiated a program called PhD farms in April last year, aiming to attract experts in agriculture.

They have brought more than 1,000 varieties of high-quality seeds, including buckwheat, aerobic rice, vegetables, fruit and mushrooms, to Pinggu.

"We want to run the final lap in turning new technology into reality in farms," Wang Zhenyu, deputy director of Pinggu's agriculture and rural affairs bureau, says.