With greater efforts to promote grain-to-forage conversion, who will find opportunities to prosper?
Hello everyone, Xiaogu is here again to help you understand agriculture-related policies!
"Grain-to-forage conversion" is an agricultural planting reform guided by the state since 2015, aimed at alleviating the persistently high corn inventory. From 30 pilot counties in 2015 to this year's expansion to the entire "sickle bend" region and the main corn-producing areas of the Huang-Huai-Hai Plain across 17 provinces and regions, the state's determination and action in advancing "grain-to-forage conversion" are evident. Recently, the Ministry of Agriculture also issued the "Implementation Plan for Grain-to-Forage Conversion Work," providing guidance for further work on "grain-to-forage conversion." So today let's talk about what "grain-to-forage conversion" is, and what else can be planted if corn is no longer grown.
"Grain-to-forage conversion" means promoting forage cultivation in areas suitable for growing high-quality forage and reducing the planting area of ordinary grain corn. This year, promotion will still be carried out in 17 provinces including Hebei, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang, Anhui, Shandong, Henan, Guangxi, Guizhou, Yunnan, Shaanxi, Gansu, Qinghai, Ningxia, and **. If ordinary corn is no longer grown, what should be planted instead? The most frequently mentioned option is silage corn. Although both are called corn, silage corn is not at all the same as ordinary corn. Silage corn is not a single corn variety, but a general term for a type of corn used for silage fermentation to make feed. Ordinary corn is harvested for its kernels, while silage corn is harvested for its stalks. After harvest, silage corn needs to be fermented in a silage pit, and after fermentation is complete, it becomes excellent feed for cattle, sheep, and other livestock. So, does growing silage corn earn more money or does growing ordinary corn earn more? Taking 2015 as an example, whole-plant silage corn generated about 100 yuan more income per mu than corn kernels. At the same time, planting whole-plant silage corn also solves the problem of drying corn, saving this step, which not only reduces the input of manpower and materials, but also avoids mold problems caused by incomplete drying.
Silage corn is so good, but do not all rush to switch entirely to silage corn. In addition to silage corn, the state also strongly supports developing alfalfa, feed oats, silage corn, feed sorghum, feed millet, feed barley, and other high-quality forages according to local conditions. If so many kinds of forage are grown, who are they sold to? Of course, to cattle and sheep breeding enterprises. For breeding enterprises, these high-quality forages not only have low costs, but also produce good results in meat and milk production. Taking silage corn as an example, when large-scale dairy farms fully adopt whole-plant silage corn, the average daily milk yield of dairy cows increases by 3 kg, the average yield per adult cow reaches 8 tons, producing 1 ton of milk saves 300 yuan in feed costs, and quality indicators such as milk protein also improve significantly; when beef cattle are fed whole-plant silage feed, nearly 1,000 yuan in feed costs is saved for each animal sold.
For corn growers switching to forage, the biggest concern may be funding. A single machine suitable for forage harvesting costs tens of thousands or even millions, and growers basically cannot afford it; in addition, forage sealing, compression, and fermentation techniques are fairly specialized, and improper operation can cause fermentation failure. For this reason, the "Implementation Plan for Grain-to-Forage Conversion Work" specifically mentions that this year's central government subsidy funds are mainly used for the collection and storage of high-quality forage, and the support targets are large-scale herbivorous livestock farms and households or specialized silage collection and storage cooperatives and other new-type business entities. The names of subsidies vary from place to place. For example, in Shandong Province, the "grain-to-forage conversion" subsidy is called the Grain-to-Forage Conversion Subsidy for the Silage Dedicated Corn Demonstration Plot Construction Project and the Grain-to-Forage Conversion Subsidy for the Forage (Alfalfa) Demonstration Base Construction Project. This year, the central government's financial subsidy intensity has further increased, and support funds can reach 2 billion yuan. Breeding enterprises, whole-plant corn silage production and processing enterprises, forage professional cooperatives, and alfalfa production and processing enterprises in areas where "grain-to-forage conversion" is promoted can actively apply for local "grain-to-forage conversion" subsidies, and the chance of a successful application is very high.
Alright, that is all for this episode of Xiaogu Talks Policy. If there are any policies you would like to know about, you can leave us a message, and we will try our best to answer for you. See you next episode!