Corn harvester modification brings farmers big business opportunities

Original title: Yang Younusi: From an ordinary farmer to a "king of agricultural machinery"

Yang Younusi processing agricultural machinery parts

From working in the fields to repairing agricultural machinery, modifying agricultural machinery, and then inventing agricultural machinery and producing agricultural machinery, relying on his own diligence and study, he transformed himself into the local "king of agricultural machinery," writing a legendary story of an ordinary farmer's transformation to wealth. He is **Yang Younusi, a farmer from Yingtamu Township, Yining County. The agricultural machinery manufacturing factory founded and named after him now has an annual profit of more than 500,000 yuan.

Before even getting close, one could see a row of agricultural machinery and tools placed by the roadside in front of Yang Younusi's gate. According to Yang Younusi, they were a corn thresher, a wheat straw crusher, and others.

Entering the yard, this writer could not help but be astonished by the scene: in a very simple workshop shed, parts for all kinds of agricultural machinery and tools were piled everywhere. At first glance it looked like a scrap iron recycling station, and it was hard to imagine that Yang Younusi's 6 national patents were born here.

Yang Younusi was originally a farmer from Mulati Village, Yingtamu Township. Speaking of his love for agricultural machinery, he brought out various patent certificates while opening up about it. It turned out that he had been interested in agricultural machinery for nearly 30 years. Starting at the age of 19, he began learning electric welding and repair for agricultural machinery. During busy farming seasons he worked as an agricultural machinery operator, and during slack seasons he repaired agricultural machinery and tools.

In the process of continuous study, the quick-witted Yang Younusi saw that the cattle and sheep fattening industry in farming areas was developing rapidly, but the hay cutting and crushing tools used by farmers and herders were still relatively backward, so he had the idea of developing a crusher. "I remember the first wheat straw crusher was made from a diesel barrel. Although simple, its efficiency was much improved. Later I bought an old combine harvester and used its parts to assemble a crusher with especially high efficiency. When the neighbors around saw it, they all lined up to crush wheat straw, stalks and so on at my place. At that time, processing cost only 10 yuan per hour," said Yang Younusi. After seeing the benefits, he decided to produce crushers. At that time, using the parts from that old combine harvester, he made 8 crushers.

The next year, Yang Younusi spent another 1,100 yuan to buy an old combine harvester and used its parts to make 12 crushers. At first, one crusher sold for 800 yuan. As market recognition increased, his crushers sold for as much as 3,000 yuan.

After that, Yang Younusi successively trial-produced a small feed crusher, a mounted hay cutter, a corn thresher, and others, and obtained 6 national utility model technology patents. His products gained recognition from a wide range of farmers.

As Yang Younusi's agricultural machinery repair and modification business grew larger and larger, he had the idea of opening his own agricultural machinery manufacturing factory. In 2005, he registered and established the Yang Younusi Agricultural Machinery Manufacturing Factory, and later registered the "Younusi" trademark.

Yili is a major corn-producing area. In recent years, as market demand for corn harvesting and threshing machinery continued to increase, Yang Younusi set out to develop a corn thresher. After mass production was put on the market, it was very popular.

In the past, many agricultural machinery owners bought corn harvesters that mostly harvested corn cobs. With the development of agricultural machinery technology, in the past two years corn harvesters that harvest corn kernels appeared, and the corn harvesters in the hands of many agricultural machinery owners faced "unemployment." Yang Younusi began thinking about how to modify corn harvesters that harvest corn cobs into machines that harvest corn kernels. After modifying and testing the machine again and again, in June last year he finally modified an agricultural machine that harvested corn cobs into a machine that could harvest both corn cobs and kernels.

Modifying one corn harvester costs 30,000 yuan in modification fees, and agricultural machinery owners from many counties and cities came to him by reputation to have their machines modified.

In 2011, the 5TY-70-24 corn thresher produced by Yang Younusi's agricultural machinery manufacturing factory was even exported to Egypt and Kazakhstan, creating more than 1 million yuan in profit. At present, more than 2,000 units of this model have been sold cumulatively, and at the same time the modified agricultural machinery he produces has also been included in the region's agricultural machinery promotion licensing certified product catalog.

Now, as the scale of production grows larger and larger, Yang Younusi's agricultural machinery manufacturing factory has also absorbed many local surplus laborers for employment, and the more than 100 apprentices he trained are also distributed across agricultural machinery repair enterprises in Yining County and even the whole prefecture, contributing strength to the local economic development. (Text/Photos by Wang Zhihua)