Winter Wheat Welcomes Spring Rain, Bumper Harvests Anticipated in Many Areas
Recently, many areas in northern China have received widespread spring rain, and the domestic winter wheat crop is growing remarkably well. The rainfall has largely alleviated the adverse effects of earlier drought weather on winter wheat growth, and market observers expect China to usher in another bumper wheat year.
Since April, most parts of the country, especially winter wheat-producing areas, have seen continuous rainy weather, which has greatly improved soil moisture in the wheat fields and laid the foundation for winter wheat to smoothly head and flower, helping to raise winter wheat yields per unit area.
“At present, winter wheat in most areas of Henan has entered the late booting stage and early heading stage. At this growth stage, winter wheat has a very high water demand and requires good soil moisture in the wheat fields.” Liu Xianzhen, a wheat expert at the Xinxiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Henan, told the Futures Daily reporter that although the rainy weather has lowered temperatures somewhat across the region, the low-temperature weather brought by the rain lasted only a very short time, so the winter wheat will not suffer freeze damage. The ample rainfall has solved the problem of high water demand during the current winter wheat growth period and also reduced farmers' input costs.
⟦NL> The reporter recently found during on-site surveys in Henan, Hubei, Hunan and other places that, compared with previous years, the current winter wheat has more tillers, larger populations and stronger individual seedlings. Thanks to good water and fertilizer conditions, the winter wheat is growing uniformly. Among them, winter wheat in southern areas such as Hubei and Hunan has basically finished heading, while winter wheat in most areas of Henan is ending the booting stage and entering the heading stage. The growth of winter wheat in all areas has reached the best level for the same period in recent years.
Compared with the winter wheat growth in Henan and other places, winter wheat in Shandong and Hebei is still in the booting stage, and soil moisture in the wheat fields is crucial for winter wheat growth. Xi Jingtao, general manager of Hebei Hengshui Heping State Grain Reserve Co., Ltd., said that before the rainfall, winter wheat in some areas of Hebei suffered relatively severe drought, and some wheat fields even showed dead seedlings. The recent continuous rainfall has alleviated the drought in various areas, so farmers no longer need to irrigate the wheat fields. More importantly, the continuous rainfall has also revived some winter wheat that was facing dead seedlings.
It is understood that some areas of Shandong recently also experienced snowfall. Will this cause freeze damage to winter wheat? According to Wang Yingzhong, business director of the Jining No. 1 Grain Depot in Shandong, the snowy weather did not last long. Only some areas north of Jinan saw light snow, and because temperatures were relatively high, many places did not accumulate snow. Overall, the winter wheat did not suffer freeze damage.
Judging from data released by agricultural departments across the country, the domestic winter wheat planting area increased this year. In addition, the recent continuous rainy weather is relatively favorable for raising winter wheat yields per unit area. The market expects that this year's domestic winter wheat yield per unit area and total output will reach new highs in recent years, and the main focus of the market later will be the weather conditions during the winter wheat harvest period.
However, in Liu Xianzhen's view, because last winter's temperatures were relatively high and this spring's precipitation has been relatively heavy, there is a relatively high possibility of major pests and diseases occurring in winter wheat at the heading stage, such as wheat scab and aphids showing a trend of severe recurrence. He suggested that wheat farmers strengthen prevention and control of winter wheat pests and diseases.