Prof. Song Xiyun, president of QAU, attended the ceremony and delivered a speech. He pointed out that seed breeding has been QAU’s preponderant discipline for a long time. In the last decade, QAU has selected more than 70 new varieties of plants and animals, of which 52 ones has passed national or provincial examinations and approvals; 6 items have been granted the New Variety Rights; and 9 new varieties of grain and oil-bearing crops have been transferred. The total sown area of the above varieties has amounted to more than 80 million Mu(a Chinese unit of land area ), about 5.33 million hectares. Meanwhile, more than 10 seed machinery and equipments, which were researched independently by QAU and produced through industrial production, have fulfilled the blank of domestic seed machinery and equipment, contributing to the development of modern seed industry.

Han Shouxin, Deputy Secretary-General of Qingdao Municipal Government, said on the ceremony that modern seed industry is the national strategic and fundamental core industry. It is an important part of the implementation of national innovation strategy, and a carrier of agricultural science and technology development. The cooperation between Qingdao Municipal Agricultural Commssion and QAU aim at integrating the resources of administration, scientific research, education and personnel, co-establishing a platform of innovation and development for Qingdao modern seed industry, and realizing resource sharing and the in-depth integrated development of agriculture production, scientific research and education, all of which will propel the construction of Qingdao modern seed industry to be first-class in Northern China, advanced across the whole natioin and world famous.