How to write the article on increasing income from bountiful fields
This year's summer grain harvest was again bountiful. The main part of summer grain is wheat, and among the three major staple grains, wheat has the lowest comparative benefit. Zhao Guangcai, a member of the Wheat Expert Steering Group of the Ministry of Agriculture and a researcher at the Institute of Crop Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, once did the accounts: in recent years, the net income per mu of wheat has been more than 100 yuan, about 100 yuan lower than that of corn and nearly 200 yuan lower than that of rice. Especially against the background of rising agricultural production costs, the “floor,” while prices are pressed down by the “ceiling,” low comparative benefit has become a “hidden reef” for the stable increase of wheat production. With grain harvests bountiful year after year, how can benefits be increased? The vast number of agricultural workers and hundreds of millions of farmers poured in their efforts and shed their sweat, handing in a beautiful answer sheet during the fiery “three summer” season.
Less pesticide spraying, better results——“snatching grain from the mouths of pests,” carefully calculating the cost account
Affected by last year's warm winter weather, this year's wheat diseases and insect pests occurred early, over a large area, with a high base and rapid spread, and a strong trend of severe outbreak, posing a serious threat to another bountiful summer grain harvest. In particular, in mid-to-late April, there was excessive rain in the Jianghuai region during the wheat heading and flowering period, creating a high risk of Fusarium head blight and powdery mildew outbreaks. In previous years, in order to “snatch grain from the mouths of pests,” costs were often not considered, but this situation changed this year.
In the prevention and control of diseases and insect pests, labor costs account for the largest share, and for farmers, spraying one less time means spending less money. The team led by Zhou Mingguo of Nanjing Agricultural University developed a series of new agents such as NAU-1 for controlling wheat Fusarium head blight. The Jiangsu Institute of Agricultural Sciences in the Yangtze River Region used NAU-1 preparation to control wheat Fusarium head blight for the second year this year. “More than 7 mu of land used NAU-type preparations, and with an appropriate dose, one treatment was enough to achieve the effect.” Song Yimin, a researcher at the institute, explained that the so-called appropriate dose means an effective amount of 8-12 grams per mu, while the conventional drug carbendazim requires 50 grams each time and 2-3 sprayings to fully prevent it.
Even with the same prevention and control agents, from one household with one sprayer to centralized, contiguous unified prevention and control, the prevention and control effect and benefits also improved substantially. This year, Shandong Province's unified prevention and control area for wheat diseases and insect pests was more than 22 million mu, accounting for more than 40% of the total wheat disease and pest control area, and according to differences in wheat production scale and growth stages, different pesticide application machinery was used, with optimized configuration, forming a three-dimensional prevention and control pattern combining efficient ground application machinery with aircraft aerial operations. In the wheat “one spray, three preventions” effort, Qihe County in Shandong Province implemented the operation model of “manned aircraft for area coverage, drones for pinpointing, and air-assisted sprayers for edge sweeping.” Zhao Jincheng, a large grain grower in Houguai Village, Huadian Town, Qihe County, said: “The pesticides were all distributed uniformly according to the per-mu dosage, and with unified aircraft prevention and control, in most cases these pesticides were not even used up.”
In order to boost the enthusiasm of socialized plant protection service organizations, Tianchang City in Anhui Province made the area and effect of wheat Fusarium head blight control the main assessment indicators for the distribution of 11 million yuan in reward and subsidy funds for the city's matching of improved varieties and improved methods. “In addition to collecting service fees, as long as the cooperative presents the contract signed with the service recipient, after the control effect is checked and accepted, it can also receive a reward and subsidy fee of 10 yuan per mu.” said Weng Jilong, chairman of the Plant Protection Cooperative of Yimin Village, Tianchang City, Anhui Province.
Water less often, grow more high-quality wheat——structural adjustment makes farmers say “I want to grow it.” A bountiful grain harvest is based on area. According to Ministry of Agriculture scheduling, this year's summer grain area increased slightly while remaining stable, expected to reach 415 million mu, more than 1 million mu more than the previous year. Whether the wheat planting area can remain stable depends mainly on comparative benefits for farmers. Since 2007, the minimum purchase price of wheat has risen all the way from 0.72 yuan per jin to 1.18 yuan per jin in 2014. Market-supporting purchases have always been the policy bottom line for both higher grain output and higher efficiency, but with the scaling up and marketization of grain production, the pulling role of the market in improving wheat planting benefits has become increasingly prominent.
Only by improving quality can efficiency be increased. Among the three major staple grains, wheat is the only variety that has increased production for 11 consecutive years, so why are imports also considerable? It is understood that with changes in the domestic consumption structure, market demand for strong-gluten wheat used to make bread has increased, and the year-after-year increase in wheat imports has not only seized the domestic market but also suppressed wheat prices. Therefore, optimizing the variety structure and expanding the planting of strong-gluten wheat varieties with relatively large demand growth became the focus of this year's summer grain production in transforming the development model and adjusting the structure. How effective was it? According to Ministry of Agriculture statistics, this year the proportion of strong-gluten wheat area increased by 1 percentage point over the previous year, equivalent to an increase of 3.4 million mu in strong-gluten wheat supply.
“In the past, sowing could only be done after a complex set of procedures such as plowing, harrowing, and stubble clearing, but with a seeder, after plowing, sowing can be done directly.” Yu Tongqin, a large grain grower in Huang Village, Baidaokou Town, Hua County, Henan Province, planted 280 mu of land this year, and he praised the benefits brought by the new-style seeder.
Only by increasing production can efficiency be increased. According to reports from major summer grain-producing provinces, this year's wheat stands were sufficient and individual plants robust, and especially dryland wheat grew noticeably better than in previous years. Of Shanxi Province's more than 10 million mu of wheat, 60% is dryland, and whether dryland wheat increases production directly affects the province's summer grain output. This year, Shanxi Province promoted and implemented the wide-narrow row moisture-probing furrow sowing technique on 150,000 mu of dryland wheat fields and expanded irrigation fields in 9 counties (cities, districts) including Yuncheng, Linfen, and Jincheng. Zhang Hongliang, a technician at the Zezhou County Agricultural Committee, one of the implementation sites, said: “According to yield measurement, the moisture-probing furrow sowing experimental field can produce more than 900 jin of wheat per mu, while plastic film mulching yields more than 800 jin per mu.”
Benefits are visible, promotion is effortless——specialization lets technical models “land in the field”
To stabilize wheat production, advantageous regions must be highlighted. “Wheat output in the 5 provinces of Hebei, Shandong, Henan, Jiangsu, and Anhui accounts for 76% of the national total, which means that 3 out of every 4 steamed buns on people's dining tables come from these 5 provinces.” said Zeng Yande, director of the Planting Industry Department of the Ministry of Agriculture. To do a good job in wheat production, the focus is on the 5 provinces of the Huang-Huai-Hai region. Starting from last year's autumn sowing, the Ministry of Agriculture carried out high-yield and high-efficiency model research in the Huang-Huai-Hai wheat region to further raise the level of scale, standardization, and mechanization in wheat production.
From scattered planting by individual households to moderate-scale farming by large grain growers and cooperatives, the improvement in benefits is obvious. Sun Renzhong, chairman of the Renzhong Agricultural Machinery Cooperative in Xiliqiu Village, Wangjiajing Town, Shenzhou City, Hebei Province, said: “On the 4,000 mu of land we manage centrally, the work from harvesting wheat to planting corn can be completed in 3 days.” Why is the efficiency so high? The cooperative paired 2 combine harvesters, 8 tractors, 1 straw crusher, 1 subsoiler, 2 rotary tillers, and 2 seeders into complete sets. One set of machinery operates on 130 mu per day, and 12 sets of machinery can finish 4,000 mu of land in 3 days.
Innovation in organizational methods integrates fragmented resources, but whether benefits can truly improve still depends on whether services can keep up. Sheyang County in Jiangsu Province explored and practiced joint plowing and joint planting, gathering fragmented farmland together to achieve organized contiguous planting, accomplishing “increased area, lower agricultural costs, promoted straw return, added soil fertility, higher per-unit yield, and higher benefits.” “Fusarium head blight control hit the right time, used the right drug type, and used the full dosage, so it is steadily another bountiful year.” said Liu Jinghua, secretary of Xinnan Village, Siming Town, Sheyang County, one of the promotion sites. This year, Sheyang County sent two professional technicians to provide on-site service in the village, assisting in organizing local farmers to establish two unified prevention and control service teams, scientifically and efficiently completing the control of wheat Fusarium head blight.
Science and technology increasing efficiency is fundamental, but to make advanced technology “land in the field” and “not deviate from the standard,” standardized production and management are especially critical. “More than 3,000 mu of the farm has all been built into high-standard grain fields; it would be impossible not to have a bountiful harvest!” Qi Qiuyang, owner of Shengkang Family Farm in Xingzhuang Village, Tangzhuang Township, Sheqi County, Henan Province, is full of confidence in the bountiful harvest. “After the wheat matures, large combine harvesters are used, requiring an operation rate of more than 8 mu per hour, with a harvest loss rate of less than 3%.” The comprehensive county-level and city-level norms for socialized service standards formulated by Qihe County set quantitative standards for the entire management process before, during, and after production, from improved seed supply, plowing and fertilizing, unified prevention and control, to harvest and entrusted storage, and even financial insurance and farmer training, giving farmers' professional cooperative organizations and socialized service companies rules to follow in their services.