Why Did Agronomy Students Suddenly Go Viral? Two Agronomy Life Samples

What comes to mind when you think of agronomy students? The best university canteen? Coffee as the soup of the day? Or “That machine over there is too loud, turn it down” or “I don’t know, but my strawberries are exquisite”?

Over the past year, agronomy students have unexpectedly gone viral online. Some discovered open-field cropping through the tomatoes and watermelons shared by agronomy students; others envy how close they are to the land and nature, “So long as you keep close to the earth, your heart grows wide.” But when it comes to employment, it is a different picture: “Agronomy is easy to get into but hard to get out of.” “If you don’t think about employment, this subject is still quite interesting.” These are also the candid voices of agronomy students.

Once again, it is national university entrance exam season and graduation season: What exactly are today’s agronomy students studying? What do they do? Where do they go after graduation? What kind of person is suited to studying agronomy? In this episode, we invite Li Yangyang, a Department of Plant Nutrition academic at the College of Resources and Environmental Science, China Agricultural University, and Xianzi, a second-year postgraduate student currently based at the Quzhou Science and Technology Courtyard, to chat about the imagination and reality of agronomy.

The two of them just happen to represent different life paths: one is an “agronomy native” who got into the agricultural university by chance, and the other is a cross-discipline exam candidate who went from grey collar to yellow collar and then to green collar. Braving the stench and heat while composting over 90 tonnes of organic fertiliser, they were “coaxing and sweet-talking” a village uncle into driving the water sprinkler lorry… It turns out agronomy students don’t just grow crops; soil, weather, microorganisms, robots and drones are all part of their research.

Welcome to this episode of the conversation. If you are currently making your university choices, or simply interested in agronomy, then come and see what life is like for those on the inside. If you are also an agronomy student who works with the land, feel free to drop into the comments and share your story ~

Special thanks for this episode: Thanks to Daxiao Dianbo Podcast Space (Maizidian) for their venue support.

Guests of This Episode

Li Yangyang | Associate Professor at China Agricultural University, occasionally an INTJ and occasionally an ENTJ. With a path from science to engineering and then to agronomy, they have an interdisciplinary research perspective that integrates multiple fields and a long-term focus on the green and low-carbon direction of agricultural resource and environmental systems.

Yang Ruoxianzi | 2024-intake postgraduate student at China Agricultural University, from Ili, Xinjiang, with a primary research focus on county-level crop-livestock cycling and the functional regulation of organic fertiliser

Host of This Episode

Li Ye | A business student who wanted to study medicine, agronomy and biology, and applied to the Central Academy of Drama but was, regrettably, not admitted

Timeline

03:01 A girl from a small town in Xinjiang banked all her luck to get into the agricultural university.

04:10 From a geography normal-school student to an agronomy teacher: the tasty canteen is part of the choices in life, too.

12:01 At the admissions event, parents and students are always asking different questions.

16:25 Are agronomy students actually mostly women? Eight girls, over a hundred tonnes of chicken manure: how did the eight composting fairies come about?

22:32 Plant breeding, plant protection, AI and smart agriculture—today’s agronomy students study far more than just growing crops.

26:10 “I absolutely munch the maize I grow myself down to the last grain.”

27:54 On composting and crop-livestock cycling: much of the time, agriculture is about learning from the land.

32:47 Heavy rain, muddy ground, racing the farm season: those real moments of growth beyond the thesis.

38:50 What is a Science and Technology Courtyard? Before writing the thesis on the land, first learn to drive a three-wheeler.

42:45 What should you study in your undergraduate degree to apply for a Science and Technology Courtyard postgraduate place? If you are switching into agronomy, do you need to study biochemistry?

44:25 Experiments, growing crops, heavy rain and village meetings: a day in the life of an agronomy postgraduate student.

51:05 I took a photo of the flooded maize: one pit could fit three of me lying down.

57:34 Is agronomy hard? Yes. But the skills you learn in the fields and on the farm will eventually lead you to a broader world.

65:17 Where do agronomy students go? On employment, pay, and a teacher’s advice to young people: life is actually quite forgiving of mistakes—live it to the full, and stay sincere and kind.

A group photo of Teacher Li and Xianzi (left: Li Yangyang, right: Xianzi, centre: Annan, Xianzi’s classmate)

From grey collar to yellow collar and then to green collar: what did Teacher Li get right? Why not have a go yourself!

“Please help me generate a portrait of an agronomy student”—this is the answer Doubao gave.

The three-wheeler is a “life-saving essential” in the courtyard, and it has already been passed down for eight generations.

A day in the courtyard is a long one—spreading fertiliser, preparing experimental equipment, training farmers, supervising international students’ composting… Every day is like opening a blind box, and you always find a hidden item.

Teacher Li and the students are studying fertiliser at the Quzhou experimental station, with loaded wheelbarrows behind them.

Of course, once the fertiliser is ready, it undergoes field application. The day-to-day farm work in the maize experimental field: everyone helps out with the two students’ experiment (top image: furrowing with a tool; bottom image: spreading fertiliser into the furrow).

The much-rumoured eight composting fairies, backed by their research projects—the future is right under their feet!

Life in the courtyard is full of fun.

Xianzi crouches in the washed-away maize field trial, reflecting on life.

Xianzi’s two accounts (WeChat Channels and Douyin): come and watch an agronomy student’s daily farming (chaos) life.

This episode was invited by Xiaoyuzhou’s Gaokao special project. Please search the site for 👉 A Guide to University Application Choices for Ordinary Kids 👈 to listen to more content from the special project.

Published by Foodthink