Liu Tianhua's Farming Way: From Tractor to Agricultural Aircraft
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??? Sannong Zhitongche Comprehensive Report: From not knowing how to farm, to farming well and profitably, see how new-type farmer Liu Tianhua went from tractor to agricultural aircraft in his farming way.
Liu Tianhua: From Tractor to Agricultural Aircraft, the Farming Way
According to a report by China National Radio's "Sannong China," these days Liu Tianhua, a farmer from Zhoukou, Henan, has become quite the "celebrity." Since founding the "Tianhua Planting Professional Cooperative" in Weiji Town, Shangshui County in 2009, over the past 6 years Liu Tianhua has not only never left the land, but has dug gold from the soil and grown golden treasures. He even, as a farmer representative, shared a stage with the Premier to discuss farming issues. So, how did Liu Tianhua walk step by step along the path of grain farming? How far is he from his agricultural dream?
6 years ago, 38-year-old Liu Tianhua, full of passion, founded an agricultural cooperative, leading more than 600 farmers to prosperity.
Liu Tianhua: No one who farms stays pale. Especially in hot weather at 38 degrees Celsius in the fields. Even if you want to be pale, you can't, haha.
In Zhoukou, Liu Tianhua has two plots of high-standard fertile farmland, dedicated to the research, development and promotion of high-quality seeds. The reason he farms these two plots is that Liu Tianhua learned from a loss.
Liu Tianhua: The year the cooperative was founded, others were growing high-quality wheat, so I did too. I didn't understand it. The first tractor wasn't up to it, very shallow. That year it was relatively cold, and they froze to death.
Liu Tianhua said that at the time, when he was at his most difficult, it was the county agricultural bureau that gave him a hand.
Liu Tianhua: They said the variety wasn't suitable, and I asked what to do. From 2010 they introduced the Zhoumai series to me, to build up scale. Later I promised, if I'm going to do it, I'll do it; if not, I won't. I must make it big and strong.
Liu Tianhua went door to door, promising the villagers that seeds, fertilizer and pesticides would all be free, as long as they gave him the land to farm, and he guaranteed the villagers would not earn less than their current income.
Liu Tianhua: The common people don't believe their ears, they believe what they see. Once I've gained real benefits, I'll listen to you. That year I took a gamble. I said if you don't believe me, I won't take your money. If this wheat can't reach average yield, I won't take the money.
That year, the grain Liu Tianhua grew reached a yield of 1100 jin per mu, 300 to 400 jin more than before. The bumper harvest gave Liu Tianhua enough confidence, and a feasible grain chain began to form in his mind.
Liu Tianhua: You can't just sell the grain randomly once it's harvested, with no profit. Move toward ordering, that is, I sign an agreement with your company. After I harvest the wheat, I sell it for 15% more than others. Output goes up, and income increases too. Say 1000 jin per mu, that's 150 yuan. Second, cut costs. How? Reach an agreement with a fertilizer company. We buy fertilizer uniformly, guaranteeing quality, and the price is definitely cheaper. Use large machinery for farming, and the price comes down. Agricultural machinery cross-regional operations, we connect through the cooperative network. Wheat is done in three days. Now cross-regional operations are encouraged. First step to Hubei, Hubei is twenty days ahead of us. After harvesting in Hubei, on to Nanyang. This way you can earn more.
As the land scale expanded, Liu Tianhua kept adding agricultural machinery and equipment. In his memory, harvesting wheat took half a month; now it's done in four days.
Liu Tianhua: Promoting new agricultural machinery technology is the most crucial. Agricultural machinery depends on efficiency. When efficiency is high, costs come down. In the 1990s what did we rely on for farming? Small tractors, small plows and harrows. Around 2000 it was medium-scale. Now it's large-scale mechanization. I was the first in Zhoukou to install a dryer. After installing the dryer, in the past corn was picked by hand, cut by hand, and one mu could even take a whole day. Now with new technology, a corn harvester passes through and harvests the kernels, with straw returning to the field behind it. First, it protects the soil; second, it ensures safety; third, the corn is brought back and goes straight into the dryer. Harvest by day, dry by night, from 28 down to 15. There's no mold or spoilage. The grain you dry and sell to feed mills, you get 3 to 4 fen more per jin. That's where the profit comes from. It's a win-win.
In 2012, Liu Tianhua saw an agricultural aircraft for the first time. He thought this thing was pretty good, saving time and effort, with good prevention and control results. All at once, he was tempted.
Liu Tianhua: Since 2012 I've been wanting to buy an aircraft. Now the scale is large, manual labor can't keep up, spraying pesticide is too hard. The family members are all elderly. If you hire people to spray, it costs 8 yuan per mu, and the prevention and control isn't good either. Spraying by aircraft, first, is highly efficient and low-cost. One aircraft of mine sprays 800 mu a day. With people, for 800 mu of land, if you spray ten mu a day, how much would it cost? With this aircraft, it's less than one yuan per mu. And the prevention and control is better, because with this kind you often have to watch and learn.
Driven by mechanized production, the scale of Liu Tianhua's cooperative has also been continuously expanding. At present, Liu Tianhua's cooperative has built a granary of 2000 sq m, a drying yard of 1500 sq m, manages 6800 mu of land under trusteeship, has 4200 mu of land transferred, and farmers store 7000 tons of grain per year. No matter where he goes, Liu Tianhua can't go three sentences without mentioning grain.
Liu Tianhua: In the future, perhaps we'll also eat instant noodles we made ourselves. Currently the cooperative is moving toward deep processing of grain. For example, right now we have our own green convenience food - dried sesame leaves.
On the morning of January 27, as the only grassroots farmer representative in the country, Liu Tianhua was invited into Zhongnanhai, invited to attend a symposium of representatives from the science, education, culture and health sectors and grassroots masses chaired by Premier Li Keqiang of the State Council, to offer suggestions and opinions on the draft government work report, and to discuss the topic of grain farming face to face with Premier Li Keqiang. Liu Tianhua said that at the time his heart was both warm and nervous.
Liu Tianhua: I'm a farmer. What does a farmer feel? This time I was speaking on behalf of 800 million farmers. You could say it hit the nail on the head.
Liu Tianhua clearly remembers that during his 10-minute speech, the Premier laughed 3 times.
Liu Tianhua: What was the first laugh? When the Premier came before me to shake hands. The second was in the middle of the small report. I pledged to the Premier that I would work hard in the future, grow more grain and harvest more grain. The Premier laughed heartily on hearing it. The third laugh was when the folks were looking forward to going back to take a look. The Premier laughed.
From not knowing how to farm, to farming well and profitably. Liu Tianhua's experience is also influencing his son. His son, currently studying in the Modern Agricultural Engineering Department of Henan Vocational College of Agriculture, inspired by his father, decided to become a new-type farmer.