Yangyuan County, an important agricultural area where corn, millet, and mung beans are major crops, illustrates how a traditional regional product can develop into a technology-enabled value chain. The local mung beans are distinguished by parrot-green seed coats, a distinctive flavor, and a cultivation history documented in county records for at least three centuries. By 2024, mung beans occupied more than 4,667 hectares, about 10% of the county’s arable land, while beans and processed products generated 22% of agricultural output value. County figures cited by the researchers said the brand benefited more than 50,000 farm households in 2024, with average annual income gains exceeding 1,000 yuan per household.

The researchers divided the brand’s development into three periods and examined how the leading form of innovation changed over time. From 1990 to 2002, county agencies collaborated with crop experts to improve varieties and train farmers in standardized cultivation. Cultivation expanded from 3,240 hectares in 1990 to 5,813 hectares in 1992 and 14,067 hectares in 1993. Greater production supported specialized work in polishing, grading, packaging, and logistics, and Yangyuan was officially designated the “Hometown of Mung Bean in Hebei” in 2002. At its historical peak, the crop accounted for 10% of China’s mung bean exports, including shipments to Japan and South Korea.

Growth was not automatic. The study reports that production became volatile after 2002 as seed purification and breeding programs weakened, varieties became mixed, and halo blight susceptibility reduced yields and quality. Combined with an aging farm population and migration of rural workers to cities, these pressures contributed to a cultivation-area decline of more than 60% from the earlier peak by 2008. A technology network led by the National Edible Bean Industry Technology System then supported work in breeding, cultivation, machinery, processing, and economics. New cultivars, specialized harvesting equipment, cleaner and polishing processes, and closer links among researchers, enterprises, cooperatives, and farmers helped stabilize supply and restore quality.

The researchers’ household calculations attributed most of the estimated income improvement in the 2003–2017 growth phase to production technologies and labor-saving machinery. A yield increase of 525 kilograms per hectare was assigned a benefit of 5,302.5 yuan per hectare. Mechanization was associated with cultivation cost savings of 1,687.5 yuan per hectare and harvesting savings of 1,950 yuan per hectare. Together, the study calculated 8,940 yuan per hectare in benefits from innovation. Specialized harvesting machinery also reduced reported bean breakage from 5% to 1.5%, while newer varieties raised yields by 25% to 30% under the conditions described by the authors.

Brand development and institutional organization supplemented those technical gains. Enterprises used contract farming, supplying seed, cultivation guidance, and disease-prevention services while purchasing beans directly from farmers. Cooperatives and socialized service organizations delivered mechanization, creating an arrangement described as “enterprise + research institution + farmers’ cooperative + farmers.” Some contracts guaranteed a purchase price 0.2 yuan per unit above the market rate, which the study estimated at an additional 210 yuan per hectare at an average yield of 1,050 kilograms per hectare. Adding the cooperation benefit to the technology-related gains produced the reported total increase of 9,150 yuan per hectare during the growth phase.

Since 2018, the study says, the industry has shifted toward digital marketing, diversified products, and deeper processing. Nihewan Company, a government-authorized operator of the brand, formed an e-commerce team in 2017 and used digital identity design, multimedia promotion, and an online “Mung Bean+” product system. The company’s sales revenue recorded a compound annual growth rate of 9.8% from 2017 to 2024, about four percentage points above average agricultural growth in the county. Technology transfer through the National Edible Legume Industry Technology System also enabled mass production of fermented mung bean protein beverages by April 2025, while the company introduced four raw-grain brands. These developments extended the product portfolio beyond the original crop.

The reported brand premium is substantial but varies by measure and market level. For farmgate analysis, the researchers compared the average price paid to surveyed farmers, 13.34 yuan per kilogram, with the annual average retail price of ordinary mung beans, 10.09 yuan per kilogram. That 32.08% relative gap implied an additional 3,427.76 yuan per hectare for Yangyuan growers. The study also cites local estimates placing the geographical-indication premium between 128% and 207%, but these should not be treated as interchangeable with the farmgate calculation. With a minimum market retail price of 23 yuan per kilogram, the authors estimated a possible 10,219.8-yuan-per-hectare gain from better price negotiation or direct consumer sales, although that figure represents unrealized potential rather than an observed income increase.

The case also links branding with more diverse livelihoods and qualitative measures of farmer wellbeing. In 2024, the study reported that, after assigning values to family labor and owned land, the economic return from mung bean cultivation was 3.14 times that of corn. Branding created work in warehousing, packaging, logistics, and quality inspection; warehouse managers employed by leading enterprises earned 4,000 yuan per month, figures the authors described as 45.12% and 203.20% above urban and rural per-capita income, respectively. Interviews also indicated greater confidence, pride, and perceived livelihood security among farmers producing recognized products or supplying stable corporate contracts. However, the questionnaire did not yield quantitative evidence for these wellbeing changes, the sample was 96% male, and the small exploratory design cannot show that branding or innovation alone caused the reported outcomes or that every smallholder shared equally in the gains.

Subject of Research: How farm-to-market technology innovation supported a Chinese mung bean geographical indication and affected grower income.

Article Title: Empowering geographical indications through technology: the rise of Yangyuan mung bean as a local pillar industry in China

Article References: Zhang, L., Yin, G., Jiang, C., Ma, J., Zhao, F., Zheng, L., Yang, X., Xu, D., & Zhang, H. (2026). Empowering geographical indications through technology: the rise of Yangyuan mung bean as a local pillar industry in China. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 10, Article 1714667. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2026.1714667

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.3389/fsufs.2026.1714667

Keywords: agricultural technology, geographical indications, Yangyuan mung bean, farmer income, crop breeding, agricultural machinery, value chains, rural development, China, food branding, Empowering, geographical