After the wheat harvest, farmers hope to sell their grain contentedly

Recently, as the mechanized harvest campaigns in major wheat-producing areas were successively completed, the wheat harvest work has basically come to an end. As of June 19, 320 million mu of winter wheat had been harvested nationwide, exceeding 95% of the area due to be harvested. Now that the wheat has been brought in, how to sell it as "reassuring grain" and "grain that brings peace of mind" is the issue farmers care about most. Affected by factors such as high grain inventories and continuous rainy weather, what new situations and new characteristics have emerged in this year's summer grain purchase? What policies and measures have localities adopted to ensure that farmers who have worked hard for a season do not encounter "difficulty in selling grain"? Reporters conducted in-depth investigations in Henan, Jiangsu, Shandong, Hebei and other major wheat-producing provinces.

Overall output is guaranteed; weather has caused quality declines in some areas

On June 15, in Duzhuang Village, Wangu Town, Hua County, Henan Province, the drying yard of the Hua County Huanyong Farmers' Planting Cooperative was covered with golden wheat. Du Huanyong, chairman of the cooperative, had just recovered from the "snatching grain from the dragon's mouth" of the past few days. Rain fell during the wheat harvest from June 4 to 6. After the weather cleared on June 7, Du Huanyong organized all agricultural machinery into action and finished rush-harvesting all more than 2,000 mu of wheat in two days. "This year can be considered a narrow escape; per-mu yield can reach more than 1,100 jin, and some good plots exceed 1,300 jin per mu."

But for Zhang Wenming, a large grain grower in Pingling Village, Sizhai Township, Yanjin County, this rain caused him no small loss. Zhang Wenming planted more than 1,000 mu of wheat this year. "One-third was harvested before the rain, and the quality was still all right, so it could be bought back by enterprises. But the remaining wheat, because the unsound kernel rate and germination rate both exceeded standards, cannot be used as seed, and now I am trying to find a way out for these sprouted wheat grains."

For provinces less affected by rainfall, wheat output was basically flat with last year, and in some places the quality of the new wheat was better than last year. Most wheat in Shandong achieved "nine-tenths ripe, ten-tenths harvested," effectively avoiding mildew caused by wheat being unable to be dried in time because of rain. Interviews found that, except in a very few areas where disastrous weather led to poorer new wheat quality, the quality of new wheat in the vast majority of the province was guaranteed. This year, Hebei's wheat output and quality both performed well. According to calculations by agricultural departments, Hebei's summer-harvested wheat area this year was 34.485 million mu. Although the number of wheat ears per mu decreased by 9,000 compared with last year, the number of grains per ear reached 31.59, an increase of 0.5. Because heading was early, sunshine during grain filling was abundant, temperature was suitable, and the grain-filling speed was fast, the kernels were plump. The thousand-kernel weight is expected to be 37.42 grams, an increase of 0.22 grams, with per-unit yield flat with the previous year.

Affected by a super El Niño, since the start of the flood season this year, extreme disastrous weather has occurred frequently in China, especially in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and in Henan and other provinces, which encountered rare continuous rainy weather. Reporters learned that in Jiangsu, because last year's wheat sowing period was delayed, and because it encountered "late spring cold" twice after the beginning of spring, continuous rainy weather was encountered at key stages such as sowing, jointing and harvesting, and wheat quality in some areas was greatly affected. Wheat moisture and fusarium head blight rates were relatively high, unsound kernels were relatively numerous, and the proportion of substandard grain was relatively large. It could not enter grain depots and could not be sold at the market-support price of 1.18 yuan/jin. Many large grain growers and family farms suffered relatively large losses.

Market transactions are sluggish, and farmers generally are reluctant to sell

Shi Guojie, Party branch secretary of Liuzhuang Village, Ci County, Hebei Province, told reporters that this year's wheat harvest was good, with per-mu yields mostly 1,100-1,300 jin. Whether judged by total weight or quality, it counts as a bumper year. But the wheat price is not ideal, and the masses are unwilling to sell. "When the wheat had just been harvested a few days ago, the price was 1.13-1.14 yuan per jin, but now the peddlers coming to the village to buy grain are offering a purchase price of about 0.96 yuan per jin, far below the state protective price."

Dezhou, Shandong's largest grain-producing city, has finished harvesting its new wheat. At present, in the Dezhou wheat market, individual grain traders' on-site purchase prices are between 1.08 yuan and 1.13 yuan per jin, while flour enterprises' purchase prices are between 1.12 yuan and 1.17 yuan, both 0.06-0.08 yuan per jin lower than the same period last year.

A relevant responsible person from the Dezhou Municipal Grain Bureau said that although the opening purchase price is lower than last year, the later trend is still generally optimistic. First, Anhui, Hubei, Jiangsu and Henan have already launched the wheat market-support purchase plan. Grain farmers are well aware of the state's minimum purchase policy for wheat; a price below the protective price means a relatively high possibility of a market-support plan. Apart from migrant workers who sell wheat to make it easier to go out for work, most wheat after harvest is stored by farmers themselves or stored on their behalf so they can hold grain and wait to sell. Second, during this year's wheat harvest there was relatively more rain in the south, and wheat quality was affected to varying degrees, while Shandong was less affected. Shandong's wheat quality is clearly better than last year's, and enthusiasm for cross-provincial purchasing in Jiangsu, Anhui and Henan is relatively high. Third, before the new wheat harvest, the market price of old wheat had remained at a relatively high level. Before the new wheat harvest, flour enterprises' purchase price for old wheat once reached as high as 1.28 yuan/jin, which psychologically supported a bullish mentality to a certain extent.

It is not only some farmers who are troubled by the decline in wheat prices and quality; some grain brokers are also having a hard time. Hou Zhengguang of Xihejing Village, Baidaokou Town, Hua County, Anyang City, besides planting 400 mu of wheat, also does grain purchasing business. "It's hard to handle this year. I've now stockpiled more than 1,000 tons of wheat and can't move it out; it's all stuck in my own hands," Hou Zhengguang said. At the beginning of purchasing, it was 1.18 yuan/jin, and now it has dropped to 1.1 yuan/jin. He estimates that the grain he currently holds has already lost money, at least several hundred thousand yuan.

"The market is unstable now, so I've temporarily stopped purchasing. I'll wait and see the price after the market-support plan starts before deciding whether to continue purchasing."

According to statistics, as of June 20, Henan Province had purchased a total of 2.39 billion kg of wheat, a decrease of 1.37 billion kg from the same period last year. Among this: 801 million kg were purchased at the minimum purchase price, a decrease of 1.179 billion kg from the same period last year; 1.59 billion kg were purchased at market price, a decrease of 190 million kg from the same period last year, with an average purchase price of 2.22 yuan/kg, a decrease of 0.14 yuan/kg from the same period last year.

Data provided by the Jiangsu Provincial Grain Bureau show that as of June 21, the province had cumulatively put 2.533 billion kg of wheat into storage, of which local state-owned enterprises purchased 1.659 billion kg and minimum-price purchases totaled 740 million kg.

Multiple measures seek a way out to reduce farmers' losses

Facing conditions this year such as sluggish market purchasing and sales, prominent warehouse capacity conflicts, and some decline in wheat quality, relevant departments and units in various provinces have innovated service concepts, opened up sales channels, and done a good job in grain purchasing.

Jiangsu's grain departments, adhering to the principle of "reducing losses for grain-growing farmers, ensuring state-owned enterprises do not lose money, and benefiting processing enterprises," made every effort to handle the purchase and sale of "substandard wheat." Chen Jie, director of the Jiangsu Provincial Grain Bureau, put forward three opinions: First, purchase and sell immediately. Coordinate feed and industrial grain enterprises inside and outside the province, adopt an immediate purchase-and-sale method, and directly connect with grain-growing farmers, especially large growers, to purchase substandard wheat for processing and production. Second, purchase and store on behalf of others. For processing and conversion enterprises lacking funds and warehouse capacity, state-owned grain enterprises shall organize purchases by purchasing and safekeeping on their behalf. Third, bottom-line purchasing. With counties (cities, districts) as units, formulate purchase and sales plans for substandard wheat, and designate state-owned grain purchasing and sales enterprises to purchase in a standardized and orderly manner and store and sell by grade and by warehouse.

Jiangsu cities are also actively carrying out actions. Yangzhou has planned nearly 600,000 tons of warehouse capacity, including renting 250,000 tons of idle social warehouse capacity and striving for a cross-provincial warehouse transfer plan of 54,000 tons. At the same time, for grain that does not meet the quality standards for minimum-price purchase, state-owned grain purchasing and sales enterprises are actively seeking sales channels. Grain bureaus in Gaoyou, Jiangdu and other counties (cities, districts) have now reached purchase agreements for 140,000 tons with multiple grain-using enterprises in Guangdong, Yixing and elsewhere.

Nantong City has carried out grain drying services to prevent grain from becoming damp and deteriorating. The eight grain drying centers of state-owned grain purchasing enterprises have adopted methods such as appointment-based delivery, continuous drying, and handling urgent grain first, and have already helped grain-growing economic organizations dry more than 10,000 tons of wheat. Various entities are actively carrying out market-based purchases. As of June 15, more than 8,300 tons of substandard wheat had actually been purchased, at a purchase price of about 70 yuan per 50 kg.

Grain departments at all levels in Hebei Province actively prepared for summer grain purchasing. In view of the basic judgment that warehouse capacity has become the main contradiction in this year's wheat purchasing, they investigated summer grain production conditions and analyzed and predicted the purchasing situation. The survey showed that before new wheat came onto the market, the available empty warehouse capacity in the province's wheat-producing areas was 15.6 billion jin, which in total could meet purchasing needs.

In response to this year's heavy rainfall, which led to relatively high wheat moisture and relatively large unsound kernels, Sinograin Henan Branch did the following: First, it printed promotional pages such as "A Letter to Farmer Friends" and "How to Harvest and Store Wheat in Rainy Weather" and distributed them to grain brokers through township governments. Second, for farmers' planting cooperatives and large grain growers in need, it provided technical guidance, door-to-door purchasing, and appointment-based inspection, explained harvesting, cleaning and temporary storage methods, and taught knowledge such as ventilation and moisture reduction, mildew prevention, and emergency handling of heating in grain piles. At the same time, it guided them to store grain of different quality standards separately to ensure good grain gets a good price. Third, for grain whose quality indicators other than moisture are all qualified, direct warehouses could provide free drying sites, and at the same time set up one-stop service halls in direct warehouses, equipped with tea, heatstroke prevention and cooling medicine, mung bean soup, first-aid medicine, and so on. For those waiting a relatively long time, free lunch was provided, letting farmers sell "grain that brings peace of mind."

In addition, for wheat whose quality does not meet the state's market-support purchase standards, existing purchasing and sales networks of direct warehouses were fully used, and active efforts were made to contact flour processing enterprises, feed processing enterprises, alcohol plants and others within and outside the province to find a way out for unqualified grain in farmers' hands. The Shenqiu Direct Warehouse also opened its port wharf to the outside and contacted deep-processing enterprises and traders to purchase wheat with excessive unsound kernels at the direct warehouse wharf. The Pingdingshan Direct Warehouse guided large growers and others to purchase color sorters to carry out color sorting treatment on grain with slightly excessive unsound kernels, which after preliminary inspection and qualification by the direct warehouse was then sent to the direct warehouse for sale.

At the same time, direct warehouses set up extended purchasing points at entrusted purchase and storage sites within their jurisdiction. This year, the prepared empty warehouse capacity as a whole can meet farmers' grain-selling needs, but there may be some regional imbalance. In response to this problem, direct warehouses took the initiative to set up extended purchasing points to solve local farmers' grain-selling needs and effectively solve local farmers' problem of "difficulty in selling grain."

Sinograin's direct warehouses in various cities in Henan also gave farmers a special reminder: the state has standards for purchasing grain. Farmer friends and grain brokers are requested to dry and clean the grain as much as possible to meet the prescribed quality standards and strive to sell at a good price. Do not seek convenience in a way that affects grain-selling income. Do not deliver unqualified grain, lest you queue up and still cannot deliver it. The state's grain purchasing policy lasts 4 months. It is hoped that farmer friends and grain brokers will stay calm when selling grain. If there is something urgent, you can call the nearest purchasing point in advance to make an appointment, so as to avoid long queues and wasting time.

The branches of the Agricultural Development Bank of China acted quickly and made overall arrangements for both policy-based purchases and market-based purchases. Relevant responsible persons of the Agricultural Development Bank Hebei Branch led teams to Shijiazhuang, Xingtai, Handan, Baoding and other major wheat-producing cities and counties, going deep into grain-growing farmers, brokers, purchasing and sales enterprises, and grain-using enterprises to conduct surveys and understand production and purchasing conditions. Based on the survey situation, they carefully made predictions of purchasing funding needs for both the situations in which the minimum purchase price plan is launched and not launched. According to purchasing needs, they actively applied for loan scale and raised credit funds to ensure the supply of summer-harvest credit funds.

At the same time, Hebei Branch required departments at all levels to cooperate closely and provide high-quality settlement services. For customers with bank-enterprise direct connection, during the peak summer grain purchasing season from June 1 to August 31, the comprehensive business system operating hours were changed to 5 days x 12 hours (that is, Monday to Friday, 8:00 to 20:00), increasing service time to meet customers' settlement needs and ensure that grain-selling farmers "get money as soon as the grain leaves their hands."