The recent meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee emphasized the need to steadfastly advance work related to agriculture, rural areas, and farmers. It called for consolidating poverty alleviation achievements, establishing robust mechanisms for the construction and maintenance of high-standard farmland, and stabilizing the production and prices of agricultural products such as live hogs to ensure steady income growth for farmers.

With the autumn harvest approaching, the financial sector faces the challenge of effectively addressing bottlenecks in serving agriculture, enhancing service quality and efficiency, and unlocking the full potential of financial support for grain production. Industry experts weigh in on how to drive high-quality development of agriculture-related finance.

Policy-backed forces bolster food security

Ensuring a stable and secure supply of grain and key agricultural products remains the primary focus of financial support for agriculture. The nation's granary depends on medium- and long-term policy-driven financial empowerment. In 2026, the national summer grain output exceeded 300 billion jin for the first time, a milestone underpinned by sustained policy financial investment in arable land protection and seed industry revitalization.

During the first half of this year, the China Development Bank (CDB) disbursed agricultural loans totaling 25.9 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 111%, channeling funds into high-standard farmland, modern facility agriculture, and new quality productive forces in agriculture. Seeds are the "chip" of agriculture; only by holding onto Chinese seeds can the country secure its own food supply. This year, CDB has supported the seed industry revitalization initiative through integrated investment and lending, fostering breakthroughs in core seed technologies, digital and intelligent breeding, and the development of key laboratories and national breeding bases. This bolsters the entire seed industry chain and the industrialization of biological breeding, reinforcing the foundation for "Chinese grain using Chinese seeds."

"In the past, a rice breeding expert had to plant thousands of rice plants in the field and wait for them to head, flower, and set grain before identifying promising varieties. Today, with the 'seed chips' obtained through breeding experiments, the unknown becomes known—before a new seed is even sown, we can predict whether it will lodge, resist blast disease, or produce fragrant rice," explains Su Yongjie, director of the office at the Zhongshan Laboratory for Biological Breeding. The CDB Jiangsu Branch has provided the laboratory with medium- and long-term loans and policy tools to secure funding for research infrastructure, enabling a model where "enterprises pose questions and laboratories deliver answers," connecting basic research, technological breakthroughs, and commercialization, and helping more independently bred varieties take root.

A CDB official from the Rural Revitalization Department stated that the next step is to align with the "15th Five-Year Plan for Accelerating Agricultural and Rural Modernization," continuously expanding medium- and long-term financing for agricultural infrastructure to enhance comprehensive agricultural production capacity.

According to Wen Bin, chief economist at China Minsheng Bank, financial institutions must actively support the goal of "securing the autumn harvest and the full year's grain output." With the critical period for autumn grain yield formation underway, policy finance needs to consolidate the foundation laid by the summer harvest to help meet annual production targets. The Agricultural Development Bank of China (ADBC), as a policy bank serving agriculture, is actively mobilizing credit funds to guarantee grain procurement. Addressing the "short-term, frequent, and urgent" financing needs of grain purchasers during peak seasons, ADBC has reserved dedicated credit lines to ensure the summer grain is fully collected and stored.

At the Yellow River Delta grain wholesale market in Binzhou, Shandong Province, the roar of conveyor machinery fills the air as golden wheat cascades into storage like a waterfall. Farmers' trucks barely leave the weighing station before a phone "ding" confirms payment for their grain has arrived. This "instant settlement" service stems from the 4 billion yuan in dedicated summer grain procurement funds that ADBC had prepared in advance. To facilitate smooth summer procurement, the ADBC Binzhou Branch leverages a credit guarantee fund to enhance creditworthiness for purchasing enterprises, lowering financing barriers. Meanwhile, it ensures round-the-clock operation of online banking and enterprise-bank direct connection systems, allowing farmers to sell with confidence and enterprises to purchase with peace of mind.

To support this year's summer grain procurement, the ADBC Jiangsu Branch has implemented early policy deployment and proactive service outreach, initiating joint research across provincial, municipal, and county levels. It has conducted field surveys to assess procurement plans, storage capacity, and funding needs, establishing categorized dynamic demand ledgers. The branch also guarantees full funding for policy-based reserves and ensures that agricultural-supportive financial policies reach grain enterprises and farmers precisely.

Differentiated services for comprehensive coverage

Improving financial services for agriculture, rural areas, and farmers requires a well-tiered, orderly competitive rural financial service system with differentiated service offerings. Policy finance and commercial finance, as well as large and small banks, must each adjust their development plans for agricultural production support, complementing each other while allocating financial resources to jointly create a new landscape for financial services in agricultural production.

Large state-owned banks play a pivotal role in serving agriculture. In 2026, the Agricultural Bank of China (ABC) continues to prioritize its core business by increasing resource allocation to the grain sector. It has strengthened financial supply in key grain areas, implementing fee reductions and interest concessions across grain procurement credit support, post-harvest service center construction, and grain payment settlement. The bank has formulated special service plans for the grain industry, boosting credit support for grain circulation entities, and offering tailored services for key grain-related enterprises through a "one project, one team, one plan" approach, with fast-track credit approval channels. Comprehensive financial services, including account opening, treasury management, and payment settlement, are provided, along with enhanced support for grain brokers. By the end of June, ABC's grain-related loan balance reached 577 billion yuan, up 28.2% from the start of the year.

Rural commercial banks play an irreplaceable role in financial support for agriculture. These banks, guided by their "supporting agriculture and small businesses" positioning, must stay rooted at the grassroots level and actively innovate to provide financial services for grain production. Under the guidance of the Pan'an Financial Regulatory Sub-bureau, the Pan'an Rural Commercial Bank, under the Zhejiang United Rural Commercial Bank, has launched a special subsidized loan product, "Grain Farmer Loan," to support grain production entities. Leveraging a convenient model of "one-time approval, on-demand borrowing," the product facilitates farmer financing. Similarly, the Pujiang Rural Commercial Bank, under the same umbrella, has optimized its credit service model by streamlining procedures, compressing approval steps, and improving loan efficiency, providing convenient and efficient financial services to large-scale grain farming entities.

"To implement the Political Bureau meeting's directives, finance must build a multi-dimensional, coordinated support system. This means developing adaptive credit products based on the actual needs of agricultural operators, implementing loan extensions and renewals, and providing medium- and long-term credit services for high-standard farmland construction and maintenance," says Dong Ximiao, chief economist at Zhaolian.

According to reports from the Agricultural Bank of China, the Haining Branch in Jiaxing has successfully issued the province's first single-model "High-Standard Farmland Project Loan," specifically designated for the renovation and upgrade of 1,025 mu of high-standard farmland. The loan has promoted intensive land use. Through unified surveying and leveling, scattered plots have been consolidated into standardized fields; the former open-channel irrigation network has been upgraded to a buried low-pressure pipeline system with intelligent valve control. These measures save precious water resources, reduce canal occupation of arable land, and enhance land use efficiency.

"Financial services for rural revitalization are not simply about sending credit funds to the countryside. Policy financial institutions, commercial financial institutions, and local corporate financial institutions must each leverage their strengths, divide labor, and complement one another, precisely aligning financial resources with agricultural industry cycles and policy rhythms to provide solid financial support for a bountiful grain harvest," remarks Xie Linghong, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences' Institute of Agricultural Economics and Development.

From "blood transfusion" to activating "hematopoiesis"

"To implement the Political Bureau meeting's spirit, the core for finance lies in transforming policy objectives into market-oriented, sustainable financial service models—shifting from mere 'blood transfusion' to activating 'hematopoiesis.' Financial services must not be limited to emergency lending during spring plowing or other seasonal nodes; instead, through industrial chain finance, farmers, cooperatives, and enterprises should be bound together in shared interests, so that credit resources truly translate into endogenous momentum for farmers' sustained income growth," says Tian Lihui, dean of the Financial Development Research Institute at Nankai University.

The Agricultural Bank of China has increased support for rural industries and other areas, boosting rural economic development and farmers' incomes. The bank has enhanced credit service coverage by classifying and managing leading agricultural industrialization enterprises and agricultural technology leaders. It monitors the cross-border financial needs of leading agricultural enterprises to support agriculture "going global." Innovative regional products such as "Ganwei Loan" and "Coffee Loan" have been developed to support local specialty industries. The "one project, one plan" model has been promoted for batch services to advantage industry clusters and new agricultural business entities. By the end of June, the bank's rural industry loan balance had grown 18.1% from the start of the year.

The Jiangshan Rural Commercial Bank in Zhejiang has focused on agricultural industry characteristics and innovated financial services. Jiang Liyong, head of Zhejiang Junyuan Biotechnology Co., Ltd., explains that the company specializes in edible mushroom cultivation and sales. In recent years, the company planned to invest 120 million yuan in a factory-based edible mushroom project with an annual output of 20,000 tons, but faced funding bottlenecks due to long agricultural investment cycles and insufficient collateral. After research, Jiangshan Rural Commercial Bank found that the project offers both economic and social benefits; as a flagship project of the Jiangshan Edible Mushroom Industrial Park, it is expected to drive employment for over 100 local farmers upon completion. The bank consequently introduced a "credit first, collateral later" financing model, providing 40 million yuan in credit support to the enterprise.

Financial institutions are closely tracking agricultural seasons to ensure credit supply for seeds, fertilizers, and agricultural machinery, weaving a comprehensive funding safety net. Additionally, through inclusive financial service stations, village-based financial officers, and mobile service vehicles, financial services are extended to the grassroots, bridging the "last mile" of financial access. Liu Tao, head of the Inclusive Finance Department at the Taizhou Commercial Bank Lishui Branch, says the bank, grounded in local rural development realities, continues to push agricultural financial services down to the grassroots, extending service fronts to villages and towns. More than 20 inclusive financial service stations have been established. Tailored credit products have been developed around local ecological resource advantages and specialty agricultural development needs, precisely matching the funding requirements of local ecological specialty industry operators. Through station layout and adapted financial products, the bank helps alleviate financing difficulties for farmers and agricultural business entities.