The 2026 National Agricultural Products Production and Marketing Conference (Southern Region) was held in Guiyang, bringing together 16 provinces (regions and municipalities) from the southern region alongside numerous merchants from ASEAN and Belt and Road Initiative partner countries. Over 1,300 domestic and international exhibitors showcased their offerings, attracting more than 1,600 purchasers. Exhibitors unveiled premium products while buyers eagerly sought to secure deals, creating a vibrant picture of supply meeting demand head-on and reflecting the robust vitality of the agricultural consumer market. To seize this opportunity and turn this eager purchasing into a lasting norm, the key lies in persistent efforts on the supply side, leveraging high-quality supply to unlock market potential.

When it comes to deepening supply-side efforts, branding serves as the primary tool to break free from homogeneous competition. China boasts an extensive array of agricultural categories, yet for a long time, most primary products have lacked clear quality markers, leaving consumers unable to distinguish good from bad based on appearance alone. This often drives the industry into low-level, cutthroat competition centered on size, freshness, or price. The core value of branding lies in establishing a perceptible trust endorsement through standardized production, differentiated positioning, and quality commitments. Take kiwifruit as an example: ordinary fruits often compete solely on price and looks, whereas a product bearing the label of "Xiuwen Kiwifruit" allows consumers to further appreciate its growing environment, taste profile, and quality reputation. What they remember is a commodity with standards, a story, and trust. Once such brand recognition is established, consumer decisions shift from "comparing prices" to "buying by brand," naturally driving up repeat purchase rates and brand loyalty.

Beyond branding, creative empowerment acts as a critical lever to expand value horizons. By staying attuned to consumption trends and continuously innovating product formats and consumption scenarios, brand value can be fully unleashed. At the Guiyang exhibition zone, yogurt that captures the essence of Guizhou's wild flavors, pastries shaped like cultural tourism intellectual property icons, and specialty fruits developed through full industry chain integration all illustrate this point. These products transcend the traditional "local specialty" mold, serving as vivid examples of Guizhou's agricultural transition from primary goods toward branded, deep-processed offerings. Through creative empowerment, specialty agricultural products can extend their industry chains, boost added value, and create new consumption scenarios while catering to diverse demands. For purchasers, they are acquiring not just agricultural specialties but novel commodities that come with built-in appeal and profit potential, thereby raising the overall value of production-sales connections.

The confidence to ensure specialty agricultural products achieve lasting stability rests, ultimately, on meticulous cultivation of the supply side. Only by solidifying quality standards, enriching brand narratives, and innovating consumption scenarios can the core competitiveness of products be continuously strengthened. This enables more specialty agricultural products to stand firm in the market and travel further, genuinely realizing the goals of high-quality production, premium pricing, and increased farmer incomes, while injecting sustained internal momentum into rural industrial revitalization.