Direct harvesting of corn kernels requires every link in the chain to be smoothed out
Modern agriculture is no longer simply about pursuing grain output; it must take into account the overall benefits of the entire industry. Farmers' incomes are no longer raised solely by “growing more grain.” The benefits of cost savings and efficiency gains at every link have led more and more farmers to start keeping a “profit ledger.”
When most leading practitioners in an industry seek long-term development, they start by changing users' traditional patterns of behavior. Changing ingrained patterns of behavior may be the hardest thing of all, but once behavior patterns change, the returns are also the greatest.
Against the backdrop of modern agricultural development, labor prices and the scale of land intensification are rising day by day, and mechanization of agriculture has become an urgent need. For corn, moving from harvesting ears to mechanized direct harvesting of kernels is an inevitable trend in industrial development. However, while promoting corn varieties suited to mechanical kernel harvesting, it is also necessary to open up the downstream outlets of the industry, so that farmers have somewhere to sell their grain and, after the corn kernels are harvested, they can promptly reach grain-using enterprises and grain depots. What is produced in the fields is no longer just grain, but also a product. Hot demand for the product and smooth sales channels can effectively drive the upstream, injecting vitality into mechanically harvested kernel corn varieties and even the entire corn industry, and driving variety promotion.
Direct harvesting of corn kernels, although it does not greatly shorten the growth period of corn, shortens the entire industrial chain of harvesting, drying, transportation and storage by nearly two months. The added benefits are self-evident, but whether every link in the industry can adapt to this enormous change in behavior patterns will become the key factor determining the success or failure of promoting mechanically harvested kernel corn varieties.
Unlike the Huang-Huai-Hai region, because Northeast China is at a high latitude and crops have a short growth period, only one crop can be planted each year, and there is no rush to harvest and rush to sow, so farmers' enthusiasm for mechanical kernel harvesting is not as "frenzied" as in the Huang-Huai-Hai region.
Likewise, whether the annual grain purchase funds of temporary storage grain and grain-using enterprises can arrive nearly 2 months earlier has also become an important factor restricting direct harvesting of corn kernels. At the same time, whether drying, transportation and storage equipment can meet demand is also something that cannot be ignored.