The British delegation visits the Xiejing'an Transfar Agricultural Innovation Village in Xiaoshan district. [Photo/Tide News]

Nearly 20 British academicians and experts, including Pete Smith of University of Aberdeen and a fellow of the Royal Society, visited Xiejing'an Transfar Agricultural Innovation Village in Hangzhou's Xiaoshan district on March 9 to explore local practices in sustainable agriculture.

The visit was part of the fifth China-UK policy dialogue jointly organized by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Royal Society. Participants examined how cooperation among the government, enterprises, villages and farmers is helping advance modern agriculture and rural vitalization.

At the village's plant science center, experts toured greenhouses testing more than 40 tomato varieties under different climate conditions, as well as breeding labs developing high-yield, climate-resilient crops using molecular breeding and gene-editing technologies.

The site also features automated seed-sowing facilities capable of planting up to 120,000 seeds per hour and an AI-powered agricultural innovation center showcasing robots for fruit picking, field inspection and seedling transplantation.

Designed as a lab-to-field research platform and jointly built by the Xiaoshan government and Transfar Group, the project hosts more than 20 research institutes and agri-tech companies.

Experts said the model — integrating scientific research with local farming to boost farmers' income growth — offers insights for global agricultural innovation and sustainable development.

A researcher introduces a crop to a British expert. [Photo/Tide News]