From October 12 to 14, 2025, Beijing hosted the Global Agri-Food Innovation Conference, bringing together over 780 experts and researchers from around the world. This high-level platform has become a global hub for pushing the boundaries of innovation in the agri-food sector. Amid this scientific momentum, China Agricultural University unveiled its groundbreaking AI model: Shennong 3.0, poised to revolutionize the future of smart agriculture.
From Myth to Algorithm: Why “Shennong”?
The model is named after Shennong, a legendary figure in Chinese folklore credited with discovering agriculture and medicinal herbs. In popular imagination, Shennong represents ancestral agricultural wisdom and a deep understanding of nature. Choosing this name was no mere tribute—it reflects the model’s core philosophy: merging deep agricultural knowledge with modern AI capabilities.
Since the launch of Shennong 1.0, the team focused on building a robust agricultural knowledge base capable of answering complex queries and offering precise recommendations. The 2.0 version expanded into multimodal functions and broader applications across the agricultural chain. Now, Shennong 3.0 redefines the architecture entirely, making it lighter, faster, and more efficient—without compromising performance.
According to lead researcher Wang Yaojun from China Agricultural University, the model “not only significantly reduces computational requirements but also improves performance by 5% compared to the original version”—a rare technical feat in specialized AI models.
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A Knowledge Architecture Like No Other
Since its inception in 2023, Shennong 3.0 has been trained on one of the most comprehensive agricultural datasets ever assembled, including:
Over 10 million agricultural knowledge graphs, covering everything from soil properties to pest behavior.
Around 50 million modern agricultural production records, enabling real-time prediction and recommendation.
More than 20,000 peer-reviewed agricultural studies, ensuring the model is grounded in scientific rigor.
This depth of data gives Shennong 3.0 exceptional analytical power, allowing it to support field-level decision-making, crop forecasting, and resource optimization with remarkable precision.
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More Than a Model: A Full Ecosystem of AI Agents
Recognizing that modern agriculture demands more than analysis, the team also launched a dedicated AI Agent Platform. This ecosystem is designed to be lightweight, deployable, and collaborative—covering the entire agricultural value chain from seed to harvest.
The platform includes:
36 specialized agents.
Organized into 6 core categories, including smart breeding, intelligent planting, precision farming, irrigation management, pest monitoring, and soil analysis.
Each agent operates as an independent tool, interacting with field data and offering real-time recommendations. Wang emphasized that this platform “is a natural extension of the model, translating its theoretical capabilities into practical tools deployable across diverse environments.”
Conclusion: Agriculture Enters the Post-Knowledge Era
Shennong 3.0 is not just an AI model—it’s a strategic leap in how we approach agriculture. It blends ancestral wisdom with advanced computation, turning data into decisions and decisions into tangible results in the field.
In a world facing climate challenges, food security pressures, and shrinking resources, the need for adaptive, intelligent tools is more urgent than ever. Shennong 3.0 sets a new benchmark for what smart agriculture can be: sustainable, precise, and collaborative.
And while China launched this model from the heart of Beijing, its impact is bound to resonate globally—wherever innovation meets the soil.
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