A large-scale grain farmer shares his farming experience: there is an art to growing grain

In the early winter of Pingyu, the wheat seedlings were turning green. In a wheat field in Renliu Village Committee, Yangbu Town, Pingyu County, Xu Yongsheng, a family-planning household, was contacting an electrician to help him check the wiring, preparing to pump water to irrigate the field.

“Working the land keeps you busy all year round.” Xu Yongsheng said with a smile. Now 43 years old, Xu Yongsheng is a farmer from Henan Village in the town, and also a “science and technology demonstration household for getting rich with fewer children” in Pingyu County. Having worked the land his whole life, this dark-skinned, sturdy-looking middle-aged man speaks about growing grain with real expertise.

Two years ago, with the help of the county population and family planning commission, he transferred 486 mu of land in Renliu Village Committee of the town, involving more than 900 farming households. Xu Yongsheng said that land transfer not only let him taste the sweetness of success, but also greatly benefited the villagers.

At the edge of the field, Xu Yongsheng carefully calculated an economic account for this writer.

First, the income from this year's corn crop. This year he planted 486 mu of corn, with an average yield of 550 kg per mu, a purchase price of 2.2 yuan per kg, and a gross income of 1,210 yuan per mu. The total gross income from 486 mu of land was 588,000 yuan.

Now the expenses. Costs for compound fertilizer, seeds, sowing, pesticide application, watering, and manual harvesting came to 460 yuan per mu, and the land lease fee was 250 yuan per mu per season. Added together, the cost was 710 yuan per mu, and the total cost for 486 mu was 345,000 yuan.

After deducting expenses from gross income, the net income from this season's corn was about 240,000 yuan.

Then calculate wheat. The average yield was 500 kg per mu, the purchase price was 2.06 yuan per kg, and the gross income was 1,030 yuan per mu. Expenses were 700 yuan per mu. The net profit per mu was 330 yuan, so the net income from 486 mu of wheat was 160,000 yuan.

Calculated this way, Xu Yongsheng's annual grain-growing income was about 400,000 yuan.


For the farming households that transferred their land out, Xu Yongsheng also did the math for them. Transferring one mu of land brings a lease fee of 500 yuan per year, and with the implementation of benefit-to-farmers policies such as the comprehensive direct subsidy for grain and agricultural production materials and the improved seed subsidy, they can also get about 100 yuan per mu in subsidies. “Now farmers all go out to work, and can earn more than 100 yuan a day. By transferring the land out, they avoid the travel and toil back and forth during the busy farming season, and can still get about 600 yuan per mu per year. For something that saves trouble and effort while still earning money, ordinary people are quite willing.”

Xu Yongsheng is very optimistic about the prospects of land transfer. He said that mechanization has now been achieved, so farming several hundred mu of land is not very laborious. In addition, agricultural science and technology are now widely promoted, and the comprehensive benefits of agriculture are constantly rising, so the path of large-scale planting will certainly become broader and broader. (Ding Xiaofang, contributed by correspondent Zi Xianhong)