The National Engineering Research Center for Information Technology in Agriculture (NERCITA) was established in 2001 with the approval of the Ministry of Science and Technology of China. As a national research institution, it mainly engages in research and development of agricultural and rural informatization engineering technology. With the goal of serving the "agriculture, rural areas and farmers", aiming at basic and common technical issues in China's agricultural and rural information construction, the center carries out systematic engineering research and development to accelerates the application of information technology in various fields of agriculture and rural areas.

At present, according to the current needs of China's agricultural and rural social and economic development, and in accordance with the general policy of scientific and technological development of "technological innovation, leapfrog development, scientific and technological support, leading the future", National Engineering Research Center for Information Technology in Agriculture (NERCITA) focuses on five major directions, including  intelligent information processing technology, precision agriculture and intelligent equipment, biological environment control engineering and automation technology as well as fast detection techniques of agricultural product security and logistics.

With the support of government departments, experts and scholars, and Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences as our supporting institution, and through the joint efforts of all employees, the center has achieved fruitful results in the construction of information technology, product technology, application system and information service system, and has been popularized and applied in 30 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions across the country, as well as some technologies and products have gone abroad; At the same time, the center has continuously developed and improved in infrastructure, equipment conditions, software environment, operation mechanism, talent team and innovation capacity building. On behalf of the leaders and all the staff of NERCITA, I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to the leaders, experts, scholars and friends who have given strong support to the center.

At present, the construction of agricultural informatization is highly valued from governments at all levels, and with the continuous development of China's agriculture, agricultural information technology must be more widely used. Looking back, we are full of joy and pride; Looking ahead, there is much that remains to be done. We firmly believe that with the continued care and support of governments at all levels, experts and scholars and friends from all areas, National Engineering Research Center for Information Technology in Agriculture (NERCITA) will surely make greater contributions to China's agricultural informatization cause.