It's the right time to prepare for spring plowing - what are farmers still lacking?

After the Awakening of Insects, various parts of Shandong successively entered the stage of spring plowing production. As the saying goes, "At the first thunder of the Awakening of Insects, farming families have few idle days." Temperatures were on the high side last winter and this spring; how is the winter wheat growing now? The central "No. 1 Document" has continuously focused on agriculture, rural areas, and farmers; what hopes remain at the grassroots level? With these questions, reporters approached some new types of agricultural business entities.

"Rainfall has been a bit low during this period, but last autumn the average seeding rate per mu was about 17.5 kg, 2.5 kg more than in previous years. We also irrigated once for overwintering, so there is no major problem at present," said Feng Gaodong, deputy general manager of Deqiang Farm in Dezhou, Shandong. The enterprise currently has 10,170 mu of transferred farmland, more than 90 percent planted with wheat and other grain crops, and the current seedling condition is better than at the same time last year.

Reporters learned that Dezhou, as one of the pilot cities for nationwide high-yield grain creation under the whole-system approach, has relatively optimistic wheat growth this year. According to statistics from the Dezhou Agricultural Bureau, the local wheat planting area is about 7.965 million mu, with second-class and above wheat fields accounting for 94.6 percent. At the same time, farmland soil moisture is generally acceptable, and the overall occurrence of wheat pests and diseases this year is expected to be moderately light.

Grain production costs are rising, and it is hard to find new profit growth points in grain farming. Feng Gaodong told reporters that growing one mu of wheat requires 220 yuan of fertilizer and 180 yuan of mechanical operation fees; irrigating one mu once costs 35 yuan; and apart from "one spray, three preventions," pesticide costs still amount to 26 or 27 yuan per mu. "Now the planting cost of one mu of wheat is about 700 yuan, not including land rent."

Labor prices are an important factor pushing up costs. Wei Dedong of Deping Township, Linyi County, Dezhou, is a major national grain grower and seller. The family farm under his name operates nearly 3,000 mu of transferred farmland. He told reporters that since he became a major grain grower in 2008, temporary labor prices have doubled, rising to 100 yuan per day, and during busy farming seasons the daily wage of farm machinery operators has reached 300 yuan.

To cope with cost pressure, both Feng Gaodong and Wei Dedong chose to cultivate improved seeds for seed companies or research institutes, and used their scale advantages to seek discounts from agricultural input enterprises. But one kg of improved seed sells for less than four mao more, and a 40 kg bag of fertilizer is 15 yuan cheaper than market price, so the income-increasing effect is limited. Feng Gaodong said that now, with two seasons of grain per mu per year, after deducting 1,000 yuan in land transfer fees, net profit is about 230 yuan.

Demand for farm machinery, water conservancy, and other needs remains undiminished, while farmers still "thirst" for financing. This year's government work report proposed "increasing deep-loosened land by 200 million mu," and Shandong has also issued a task of 15 million mu of deep loosening and land preparation by agricultural machinery. Reporters learned that among the twenty or thirty sets of farm machinery owned by Wei Dedong, the only 110-horsepower tractor was awarded by the state four years ago, and because most machinery is not used efficiently, he no longer plans to continue investing in farm machinery.

"Deep loosening of cultivated land is intended to break up soil compaction and deepen the plow layer, and it has a clear effect on stabilizing and increasing crop yields," said Li Lingwei, head of the Dezhou Agricultural Technology Extension Station. He said low-horsepower tractors are difficult to use for the 25 cm deep-loosening operation required, and farm machinery power faces upgrading and replacement.

Water coming from the Yellow River is an important source of agricultural irrigation in areas along the Yellow River. Dezhou diverted a total of 2.1 billion cubic meters of Yellow River water last year, the highest in 20 years. However, "river water can be used but is not reliable," which has caused concern among Feng Gaodong and others. "If river water is insufficient, one motor-pumped well must be allocated for every 200 mu of land, and it would also be a deep well drilled through the bitter and salty water layer," Feng Gaodong said. In the past two years, the enterprise has already invested more than 10 million yuan in advance, and drilling more wells is already somewhat beyond its capacity.

Behind this inability to do more is the constrained financing environment for new types of agricultural business entities. Wei Dedong said that loans from rural credit cooperatives now mostly have terms of half a year or one year, and he hopes interest can be lower and repayment periods longer. Feng Gaodong said the enterprise currently has no plans to borrow, precisely because it fears that its already modest operating profit will be "eaten up" by interest.

New types of business entities are seeking future development directions and the positioning of industrial and commercial capital. Wei Dedong, who started with 300 mu of cultivated land, told reporters that establishing a family farm made him the first in his local area, and in developing to this point he still wants to blaze a path of sustainable development for surrounding major grain growers.

"I once considered getting into the breeding industry to achieve combined planting and breeding, but found that the breeding industry is not doing well." Wei Dedong believes that if industrial and commercial capital were allowed to go to the countryside, everyone could cooperate, with funds and technology complementing each other. Deqiang Farm is currently in contact with some e-commerce platforms, hoping to broaden its own sales channels through this.