China is a country rich in agricultural resources. In addition to the physical means of agricultural production (land, soil, water, air, plant communities, watersheds, etc.), agricultural resources also comprise human resources, whichappliedknowledgecanbeexpressed in terms of intellectual property (IP). Moreover, the protection of IP in rural areas involves not only the interests of the agricultural sector, including farmers, but also those of the state. At present, there are few special studies devoted to this topic; as a result, the protection of IP in the field of agriculture lacks corresponding legal and institutional support. Thus, the question of how to effectively protect IP in the field of agriculture is one of the key issues faced by Chinese society today.

The protection of agricultural genetic resources is crucial in the agricultural property protection system. With the increasing dependence of agriculture on genetic resources held in various countries, the maintenance of resources becomes a strategic resource that determines sustainable development in human evolution towards an ecological civilization – and, ultimately, human survival per se (Xu, Pittock, Daniell, 2021). China already possesses rich agricultural genetic resources, both pertaining to traditional and modern agriculture, as well as those involved in smart agriculture. Protecting the legitimate rights and interests of farmers involves not only an economic and political questions, but also raises legal issues. While the protection of agricultural genetic resources is generally accepted as forming one of the most important issues in the field of international property rights, such rights are typically exercised at the level of domestic legislation (Ou, Gong, 2021). China has specifically included the protection of agricultural genetic resources in its strategic focus on property rights, with special attention paid to the protection of farmers’ legitimate rights and interests.

The proposal of the CPC Central Committee on formulating the 14th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development and the Long-term Goals of 20351, adopted at the fifth plenary session of the 19th CPC Central Committee, clearly stated that

China enjoys many of the strengths and conditions needed to continue developing into the future. On the other hand, unbalanced and inadequate development remains an acute issue, reform in key sectors and links still poses a daunting task, and China’s innovation capacity remains below the level needed for high-quality development. The foundations of agriculture need to be further strengthened.

Following a period of concerted efforts to construct mechanisms for applying the rule of law in rural areas, the Chinese legal system has become more mature. In 2019, the Guidance on Strengthening and Improving Rural Governance also advances clear requirements for publicity and education concerning the rule of law in rural areas. According to the Guidance, the project aimed at improving the legal awareness of rural people should be implemented with a focus on cultivating a number of "leaders of the rule of law". The process of cultivating such "legal experts" should concentrate on the capacities of each individual to ensure the maximization of benefits and bring together all relevant forces to implement the rural revitalization strategy.

1. The protection of agricultural genetic resources should be realized through property rights. According to Article 2 of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), “genetic resources” means any material of actual or potential value from plants, animals, microorganisms or other sources containing genetic functional units. Accordingly, “agricultural genetic resources” refers to the above materials in the field of agriculture. Genetic resources comprise not only genetic materials themselves, but also the results of research using genetic resources, as well as traditional knowledge generated during the process of using such resources. For the legal protection of biological genetic resources, there are still academic disputes, which mainly focus on the protection of property rights, contract law, and intellectual property (Luo, 2021). Based on legal theory and judicial practice in China and abroad, it becomes rational to adopt the legal protection of property rights for agricultural genetic resources. The most important contributor to the value of agricultural genetic resources consists in the related genetic information. While it is very easy to obtain agricultural genetic resources, of which only a small amount of genetic material is necessary to obtain the corresponding genetic information, it remains more challenging to protect genetic information through property rights, creditor's rights, contracts, etc. Due to their inherent nature, therefore, agricultural genetic resources are best protected via the IP system. According to the traditional view, genetic resources are not intellectual achievements, but the common material property of human beings, so they cannot be regarded as the object of IP (Li, 2023). Conversely, genetic resources can also be referred to as comprising a source of knowledge, describing the essential characteristics of the object of IP. Based on the principle of the sovereignty of genetic resources, unilateral legislation has become an important trend in the management of genetic resources and IP legislation at regional and national levels. Inasmuch as they comprise the object of IP, genetic resources thus not only meet legal validity criteria, but also obtain a solid foundation in international law. Since they also satisfy urgent practical needs, this becomes provide an appropriate foundation on which to base national IP legislation.

Due to their constituting basic and strategic resources of the country, agricultural genetic resources have become a key link in China's international agricultural IP strategy. According to the principle of national sovereignty acknowledged in CBD, there are no strict restrictions on the protection of biological genetic resources at the level of national legislation. The possibility of applying IP pro-

tection to biological genetic resources is due tothelatterpossessingthekeycharacteristics of replicability and intangibility. A demand on the part of the provider or origin of genetic resources to participate in the sharing of benefits derived from the utilization of biological genetic resources by others is consistent with their IP content, which provides a realistic basis for the protection of associated IP rights. However, China's agricultural plant genetic resources require additional protections.

2. In the context of the rural revitalization strategy, support for agricultural genetic resources is indispensable. Intellectual property rights are related to the modernization of the national governance system in terms of its increased capacity, high-quality development, the well-being of the people, the overall situation with regard to opening up of the country, as well as issues of national security (Miao, 2024).

In the context of the rural revitalization strategy, in order to further promote agricultural modernization and rural development, including a comprehensive deepening of rural reforms, IP rights become indispensable. As such, scientific and technological innovation in the field of agriculture, along with the corresponding progress in terms of rural development, cannot be separated from the protection of agricultural genetic resources (Ma, Sun, & Wang, 2024). Since agricultural IP rights mainly consist of the results of agricultural research created by mental labor combined with other non-material information, these aspects should be included within the scope of agricultural property rights. Generally speaking, agricultural property rights mainly cover the following specific rights: new plant varieties, geographical indications of agricultural products, patents and trademarks, trade secrets, and traditional agricultural knowledge (Yu, Yin, 2023). Agricultural genetic resources pertain to a wider range of new plant variety rights, related patents, trademarks, and trade secrets.

Although IP rights are playing an increasingly important role in encouraging innovation, building brands, standardizing market order, and expanding opening-up in the field of rural revitalization, there are still many issues and shortcomings. These can be summarized as follows: (1) the insufficient creation of high-quality IP rights in key and core technologies in the agricultural field; (2) the need to improve transfer and transformation of agricultural genetic resources; (3) the need to further strengthen the role of the IP system in promoting high-quality rural economic and social development (Xie, 2023). At present, as well as lacking specialized research on the protection of agricultural genetic resources, lacks corresponding management procedures, China's legal system requires further development, resulting in the inadequate protection of property rights in rural areas. Thus, how to make an effective use of the property system to protect agricultural genetic resources becomes one of the key issues facing Chinese society today.

3. Protection of agricultural genetic resources provides an institutional guarantee for scientific and technological innovation in agriculture. Although creators are stimulated to invest more time, manpower and capital costs to do research and development by the creation of innovative results, when the intellectual results of the creator cannot be effectively protected, there will be insufficient motivation and enthusiasm for innovation, thus curtailing investment. Since rural areas often lack clear protection of IP rights, the perceived benefits of intellectual achievements in agriculture may be lower than those in urban areas. Therefore, strengthening the protection of agricultural genetic resources for large-, small-, mediumand micro enterprises and farmers can provide institutional guarantees for agricultural scientific and technological innovation. This can boost the enthusiasm and confidence of agricultural workers to further promote the development of agricultural scientific and technological innovation.

4. IPprotection is an importantmeasuretosolve the issues of agriculture, rural areas and farmers. Strengthening the protection agricultural genetic resources, which requires the support of advanced enterprises and talented people who understand about the protection of IP rights, is an important measure for solving issues affecting rural areas. From a rural development perspective, the protection of agricultural genetic resources cannot be separated from the steady operation of agriculture, since affecting the growth and development of new professional farmers. Strengthening the protection of agricultural genetic resourcescannotonlyimprovetheeconomicbenefits of large-, medium-, smalland micro enterprises in rural areas, helping to increase farmers' incomes, but can also improve the competitiveness of agricultural production

In an era characterized by the rapid development of the information industry and online technologies, the notion of “digital agriculture” has attracted wide attention. According to Wen Tiejun, digital agriculture should pay attention not only to the needs of end consumers, but also to the interests of producers, collating information about climate factors parameters and developing the standardization of agricultural products. Along with more traditional IP rights, it is also necessary to protect new business innovation achievements when promoting the increased awareness of property rights protection and innovation on the part of farmers.

Rural “legal awareness” refers to those who have good legal literacy and certain legal knowledge among local villagers, are willing to actively participate in the practice of the rule of law, and can play a leading role in demonstrating its benefits. The Guiding Opinions on Strengthening and Improving Rural Governance (2019) state the necessity of cultivating “legal awareness” in rural areas by focusing on the cultivation of a group of “legal leaders”. In November 2021, the Ministry of Justice, together with the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the National Rural Revitalization Administration, and the National Office of Law Popularization, issued the ‘Norms for the Training of Rural People’ (Trial Implementation), which clearly stipulates the selection, training, use, management, assessment, and other related work aimed at increasing people’s “legal awareness”. Here the focus is placed on cultivating "legal awareness" among village cadres, mediators, Party members, experts, and other villagers who are enthusiastic about public welfare undertakings. In the process of cultivating “legal awareness”, it is necessary to consider different factors such as age, gender, education, and social position.

If people living in rural areas want to narrow the economic gap between themselves and the urban population, the introduction of large, small and medium-sized enterprises and professional and technical personnel in the system of property protection of agricultural genetic resources will be essential. For instance, in addition to the inherent geographical advantages conferred by its capital city status, the rapid development of Beijing is inseparablefrom the opportunities brought by IP protection. Thus, the cultivation of “legal awareness” in rural areas is of great significance in terms of promoting the protection of agricultural genetic resources.

Various forms of incentive and assessment mechanisms should be adopted. For instance, the two committees of rural legal services may organize regular “Who is a qualified legalexpert?” activities, aswellasassessingand rewarding legal experts according to the laws and regulations involved in the village cases. This can not only stimulate the learning motivation of local legal experts, but also play an effective supervision role.

In order to promote the development and revitalization of rural areas, it is necessary not only discuss the theoretical protection of agricultural genetic resources, but also to set out a roadmap for protecting agricultural genetic resource IP that is adapted to the practical agricultural conditions in rural areas. The economic benefits obtained by rural areas should be shared between large-, medium-, smalland micro enterprises, including individual farmers and their families. Cultivating legal awareness thus plays an indispensable role in the revitalization of rural areas and promoting rural rule of law. In the process of cultivating legal awareness, combined with IP protection of agricultural genetic resources, a system of great significance in the rural revitalization strategy, focusing on providing training for legal experts, and ensuring that they can lead the improvement of IP protection in rural areas. The increased competency of rural legal cadres to employ the rule of law as a means of resolving contradictions, maintaining stability, and promoting efficient working, will also play a positive role in helping rural revitalization by ensuring the IP protection of agricultural genetic resources.

1 Outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development and Long-Range Objectives Through the Year 2035 of the People’s Republic Of China. Available at: https://en.ndrc.gov.cn/policies/202203/P020220315511326748336.pdf