From growing grain to growing feed, why is the state making this adjustment?

Starting last year, the Ministry of Agriculture piloted "grain-to-feed" in 30 counties nationwide, with whole-plant silage corn as the focus, to advance the integration of forage and livestock. This year the pilot was further expanded to 100 counties. From growing grain to growing feed, why make this change? Will doing so affect food security? And what impact will it have on the adjustment of the agricultural structure?

　　Turning a simple granary into a "granary + milk tank + meat warehouse"

In recent years, new changes have appeared in China's grain situation. Along with consecutive years of bumper harvests, grain stockpiles and imports have also grown at the same time, and the grain production structure, especially for corn, faces adjustment.

Since 2004, China's grain sown area has increased by 199 million mu, of which corn increased by 195 million mu; corn output grew from 116 million tons to 225 million tons. Corn contributed to the increase in grain output, but also brought huge periodic inventory pressure.

On the one hand, corn supply exceeds demand and faces adjustment; on the other hand, China lacks high-quality feed and needs large imports every year.

According to statistics, more than 60% of China's corn consumption each year is used as feed, but the traditional feeding method processes corn kernels and stalks separately; whole-plant silage corn, by contrast, makes the corn kernels and stalks together into silage feed. Compared with whole-plant silage corn, the traditional feeding method provides considerably less total nutrients and production efficiency.

Judging from the regional layout of crop and livestock farming, at present a large part of the main production areas of herbivorous livestock coincides with China's main grain-producing areas such as corn, and also largely overlaps with China's "sickle bend" region where corn planting is being reduced. Developing whole-plant silage corn in these areas can effectively reduce the supply-demand gap for high-quality forage for cattle, sheep and other herbivorous livestock, and greatly lower production costs.

The Ministry of Agriculture carried out the "grain-to-feed" pilot, mainly guiding the planting of whole-plant silage corn, while also adapting to local conditions and promoting forage grass in areas suitable for growing high-quality forage, turning a simple granary into a "granary + milk tank + meat warehouse." In 2015 the "grain-to-feed" pilot planned to plant 1.5 million mu, but actually implemented 2.86 million mu, purchasing and storing 9.95 million tons of high-quality forage, nearly doubling the expected target.

"Through the close integration of planting, raising and processing, feed grain is converted on the spot, letting 'grain become meat' and 'grass become milk,' realizing value-added conversion through the animal's belly. This is an important measure in the agricultural sector to 'cut inventory, lower costs and shore up weaknesses,'" said Ma Youxiang, director of the Animal Husbandry Department of the Ministry of Agriculture.

On the issue of food security, experts say that food security in the broad sense must take livestock feed into account. Because people's dietary structure has undergone great adjustment, residents consume more meat, eggs and milk, which means greater demand for feed. Therefore, adjusting the dual structure of grain and cash crops into a triple structure of grain, cash crops and feed crops will not weaken the country's ability to guarantee food security.

It is understood that this year the scope of the "grain-to-feed" pilot will be expanded to the entire "sickle bend" region and 17 provinces and regions in the main corn-producing area of the Yellow-Huai-Hai plain, and the target task will increase to 6 million mu.

　　Earning more than 300 yuan extra per mu and avoiding straw burning

"Actually, with the ordinary corn planted before, a large part also went to feed processing plants after harvest, but compared with whole-plant silage corn, the effect was much worse and the efficiency was low too." Wang Jinzhou is a farmer from Lijun Village, Lijun Town, Yongning County, who has transferred 1,033 mu of land. He told reporters that ordinary corn still has to be threshed and dried before it can be sold. A large grain grower like him must find a large drying yard, and the whole process takes two months of back and forth.

"Whole-plant silage corn is much less trouble. At harvest, people from the dairy farm just drive a large harvester over, and after harvesting they haul it away to make silage feed. 1,000 mu of land is done in 5 days," Wang Jinzhou said.

The dairy farm also finds it very worthwhile. Chen Wei, head of the Chunying Dairy Cooperative in Litong District, Wuzhong City, Ningxia, who signed a contract with Wang Jinzhou, said: "Eating more high-quality silage feed can improve the digestibility of dairy cows and lead to higher milk production. Our cows used to produce about 25 kg of milk a day, and now they produce 33 kg a day, an increase of 30% in per-cow output."

Luo Xiaoyu, director of the Animal Husbandry Bureau of the Ningxia Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Department, listed in detail the benefits of "grain-to-feed": compared with the original harvesting of grain corn, whole-plant silage corn involves fewer work steps and lowers harvesting costs. Growers' income generally increased by two to three hundred yuan per mu; farmers also benefited, with higher milk production from dairy cows and obvious weight gain in beef cattle and mutton sheep. "According to our incomplete statistics, beef cattle gained more than 300 grams per day, mutton sheep gained 50 grams per day, and meat quality also improved greatly."

Besides economic benefits, the ecological benefits of whole-plant silage corn are also very obvious. With whole-plant corn silage, there is not only no need to consider the secondary collection and storage of straw, but also the environmental problems caused by straw burning are avoided.

According to Ministry of Agriculture statistics on last year's pilot areas, in the pilot areas whole-plant silage corn averaged 3.5 tons per mu, with an average purchase price of 410 yuan per ton, generating 1,435 yuan per mu, 335 yuan more than growing grain corn, transforming the way corn is used and also reducing pressure on corn purchase and storage; large-scale dairy farms fully adopted whole-plant silage corn, daily average milk production per cow increased by 3 kg, average output per adult cow reached 8 tons, saving 300 yuan in feed costs per ton of milk produced, and quality indicators such as milk protein also improved markedly; feeding beef cattle whole-plant silage feed saved nearly 1,000 yuan in feed costs per head sold.

　　Respecting farmers' wishes and improving scientific and technological support and service capacity

In interviews, many experts said that China faces a rare opportunity in advancing "grain-to-feed." The National Planting Structure Adjustment Plan proposes that by 2020 the area of forage will develop to 95 million mu, of which silage corn area should reach 25 million mu. However, turning a simple granary into a "granary + milk tank + meat warehouse" still leaves many difficulties to be solved.

"The harvesting of whole-plant silage corn places very high demands on agricultural machinery and equipment. Because the kernels and stalks are harvested together, it often requires a 'rubbing' function for the kernels. Such large agricultural machinery generally costs around 1 million yuan, which ordinary farmers simply cannot afford, and it must be solved through professional socialized service organizations," Luo Xiaoyu said.

In addition, silage feed also has certain technical requirements. "After whole-plant corn is harvested, it still needs fermentation treatment. This technology also has a threshold; improper operation will cause fermentation to fail and create waste." Luo Xiaoyu suggested that in promoting "grain-to-feed," technical guidance must be strengthened, service models innovated, and scientific and technological support capacity enhanced.

At the level of subsidy funds, local areas call for further increasing subsidy intensity and improving subsidy methods. At present, the national finance gives each pilot county an average annual subsidy of 10 million yuan, with an implementation period of 3 years. On subsidy standards, the purchase and storage subsidy standards of Ningxia's grain-to-feed pilot districts and counties differ greatly. "This is because the farming scale in each of our counties is different, so in some places one ton of forage is subsidized 22 yuan, and in others 50 yuan, which will cause people to misunderstand the policy somewhat," Luo Xiaoyu said.

In promoting "grain-to-feed," the most critical thing is still farmers' acceptance. Grassroots animal husbandry officials say that "grain-to-feed" must respect farmers' wishes, and the government can only guide. In some places implementation is difficult, partly because farmers, influenced by their planting concepts, are unwilling to adjust land out to grow grass, and partly because growing grain comes with subsidies and income, while the benefits of growing grass cannot be immediately demonstrated.

Ma Youxiang believes that to mobilize farmers' enthusiasm for developing "grain-to-feed," we must start with improving the production and utilization efficiency of forage, build bases and create models, further stabilize the returns of "grain-to-feed," and let farmers get real benefits. At the same time, further cultivate and develop forage production service organizations, support a number of large commercial forage planting, processing, sales and logistics enterprises, and promote industrial development.