Corn seed billed as high-yield yet yields drop: who should bear the blame?
The autumn harvest season is full of abundant fruit and is a joyful time for farmers, but Mr. Feng and other villagers of Beihuaidian Village, Beihuaidian Township, Ninghe District, cannot feel happy. This year they chose "Hengdan 456" corn seed produced by Hebei Yuansheng Agricultural Development Co., Ltd., and 1,040 mu of corn suffered severe yield reduction, with heavy losses. "In the two adjacent plots, we used other seed in the plot next to it, and the growth was good. This kind of inferior seed has caused us great harm." These farmers questioned whether the seed quality had problems, and repeatedly approached the manufacturer and the local seed management station. The manufacturer, however, said it was caused by climate and refused to take any responsibility. The people from the district seed management station went to the site to take a look, and also did not give a clear explanation.
On August 9, the reporter walked into Mr. Feng's cornfield in Beihuaidian Village. One cornfield was growing well, with plump kernels, but in another cornfield next to it, Mr. Feng casually broke open an ear of corn and said while breaking it: "Don't pick, break any one you like. Look, 80 to 90 percent are bald tips..." The reporter learned that Mr. Feng's family had contracted 2,300 mu of land and used nearly half of it to plant corn seed of the newly purchased variety. "In March this year, we bought corn seed at Jinshi Shennong Seed Company in Lutai Town. At that time, the sales staff strongly recommended 'Hengdan 456' corn seed, produced by Hebei Yuansheng Agricultural Development Co., Ltd. Its main selling points were strong disease resistance and high and stable yield." Mr. Feng thought that choosing a seed with high and stable yield would help guarantee the harvest, so he bought 59 bags of seed, totaling 45,000 yuan.
Mr. Feng said they chose 1,040 mu of land to plant the newly purchased corn seed, and planted the old variety of corn seed on the other land. "At the beginning, the new seed showed nothing unusual. A few days ago, I happened to break open an ear of corn and found that the corn had severe bald tips. I broke open others, and the situation was the same, so I realized there was a problem." Mr. Feng said that with these corn plants about to be harvested, because they had not grown plump, no one was now buying them, and almost all was ruined. Only by relying on connections could they be sold to others as livestock feed, and the losses were heavy.
Mr. Feng told the reporter that at the time they thought this was good seed with especially high yield, but now the yield did not rise and instead they lost money. They approached the sales company and the seed manufacturer. A technician came from the manufacturer, took a look, and said the seed had no problem; this seed was an American-line variety and was weak in constitution. Due to climate reasons and high planting density, improper pollination had been caused, leading to yield reduction. "Why is there no problem with the old variety of corn seed? If you knew it was not suitable, why did you still sell it?" Mr. Feng said he asked the technician this at the time, and the technician did not answer.
Mr. Feng and the others kept one bag of "Hengdan 456" corn seed. The reporter saw that the packaging of this corn seed claimed "large ear, thin cob, deep kernels, high yield" and other such wording. In addition, on the back of the bag, under characteristics and traits, it said: kernels yellow, seed-producing rate above 90%; yield performance: in the Tianjin municipal regional trial, yield increased by 19.4% compared with the control, and in the production trial, yield increased by 13.4% compared with the control. The average yield in field planting was 780 kg per mu, and the highest yield in high-water-and-fertilizer plots was more than 1,000 kg per mu. Suitable area: suitable for summer corn planting in the Tianjin area.
With such good advertising, "Hengdan 456" certainly should also have high yield, so why did problems appear? Mr. Feng said that when the technician sent by the manufacturer asked about their situation and heard that the seed had been sown around April 16 and around April 28, he said the sowing time was wrong, and that the correct sowing time should be "before April 10, or after May 1." "Before sowing, no one told us this, and no one gave us any related training or guidance. Besides, with just a few days' difference, what difference does it make? Where is the problem? In the end, the technician still did not explain why." The reporter carefully looked over the seed packaging and did not find any specific sowing time on it, nor any statement that it could only be sown at a particular time. The villagers said that in the two adjacent plots, it was likewise we who did the planting; the other corn seed had a normal harvest, while this plot had problems, so it was obvious that this seed had a problem. "In order to plant these fields, several of our families scraped together funds and invested more than 2 million yuan. The usual yield of corn is 500 kg per mu, but now it is only more than 200 kg. For 1,000 mu of land, we will lose five or six hundred thousand yuan. After all this hard work, not only did we not make money, but we lost our capital."
During the investigation, the reporter found that this year those who planted "Hengdan 456" corn seed and suffered yield reduction were by no means just Mr. Feng and a few others. Villagers such as Li so-and-so in Mr. Feng's village also chose this corn seed. In these farmers' fields, the reporter casually broke open several ears of corn, and they also had "bald tips" and "bald bottoms."
The reporter then found Jinshi Shennong Seed Company, which is the wholesaler of "Hengdan 456." Staff member Ms. Zhao said that the villagers of Beihuaidian Village bought the seed from retailers, and she did not know the specific situation. But she had been dealing in corn seed for more than 20 years, and this year had already sold tens of thousands of bags of "Hengdan 456" corn seed, yet had received complaint calls only from Beihuaidian Village. After she and the manufacturer sent people there, they found that the main causes were climate and planting, and there was no problem with seed quality. If the villagers suspected a seed quality problem, they could go to a professional department for appraisal, and if there really was a problem, the manufacturer promised to take responsibility. She said that because she would still be selling seed the next year, she also did not want this kind of problem to occur and affect business. Due to climate reasons, this situation appeared in many varieties this year, only some were milder and some more serious, and the farmers of Beihuaidian Village belonged to the more serious category.
The reporter and the villagers went to the Tianjin Ninghe District Seed Management Station. According to the inquiry, the station's duties include: organizing and implementing crop variety introduction, demonstration, breeding and promotion plans, and releasing information; issuing and managing crop seed production and operation licenses, and supervising crop seed production and operation activities and seed quality; training professional and technical personnel and management personnel for crop seeds; and investigating and handling illegal acts in crop seed production and operation according to law. According to the person in charge of the station, "Hengdan 456" is seed that complies with the Seed Law, and last year it was still a variety subsidized under the improved seed subsidy. After receiving complaints from Mr. Feng and others, the seed management station had sent people to the site to investigate, and initially believed that the appearance of phenomena such as bald corn tips was closely related to temperature, excessive planting density, rainy weather, and management, and the causes were complex. They found that this year not only planting "Hengdan 456" produced bald-tip phenomena; other seeds also had similar situations. If the villagers wanted to determine whether this corn seed had a quality problem, they could take responsibility for making contact and go to a professional department to reach a conclusion.
The person in charge of the seed management station said that every year the station conducts management training for large growers and operators. In response, Mr. Feng immediately said that in recent years the seed management station had not notified him or the other contractors to participate in relevant training, and they had all taken the initiative to seek out experts to learn and explore. The fields contracted by Mr. Feng and others reached more than 2,000 mu, so it was very obvious that in that district they belonged to large growers. But in response to Mr. Feng and the others, the person in charge of the seed station changed his tune and said: "Some work also cannot be all-encompassing... and one cannot forget that farmers planting land also rely on heaven for their food..."
The harmed villagers said that the reason they chose good corn seed was precisely because good seed carries the traits of disease resistance, lodging resistance, and high yield. Now whenever a problem arises, it is said to be due to climate reasons or planting density reasons, so why is there no problem with other varieties of seed? When selling, it was praised to the skies, but when a problem appeared, responsibility was shirked completely. With severe yield reduction in corn planting, poor quality, and such heavy losses, who will bear the responsibility?