Let farmers grow wheat to save cost and increase efficiency

Among the three major food crops in China, wheat is the crop with the largest consumption of rations, the largest trade volume and the highest growth rate of per unit yield. In order to stabilize grain income, improve quality and increase efficiency, in 2016, we will continue to focus on wheat high yield, cost-saving and efficiency, water control, drug reduction and weight loss. " When it comes to his New year's resolutions, Guo Tiancai, a professor at Henan Agricultural University and deputy head of the wheat expert guidance group of the Ministry of Agriculture, is still thinking about wheat.

As the first season of grain production in the whole year, wheat production plays an important role in "abundant summer grain and abundant grain throughout the year". The Huang-Huai-Hai region is the dominant wheat producing area in China, the sown area and output of wheat account for about 60% and more than 70% of the country's total, and the amount of commercial wheat accounts for more than 80% of the country's total output. The development of wheat production in this area is of great significance to ensure food security.

The temperature dropped relatively early last year, and there was a large-scale cooling and snowfall in the main wheat producing areas on November 23, causing the wheat to enter the overwintering period ahead of schedule. Henan, for example, began to overwintering one month earlier than in previous years. In addition, winter wheat was sown late, the accumulated temperature was not enough, and the proportion of weak seedlings was relatively high. Guo Tiancai said: "one of our important tasks at the beginning of spring in 2016 is to guide farmers to manage and promote early harvest and strive for a good harvest of summer grain."

In 2015, although the output of many large grain growers increased, the benefit was not good because of the decline in grain prices and other reasons. Guo Tiancai said: "at present, the comparative benefit of growing wheat is relatively low. in order to protect farmers' enthusiasm for growing grain, in 2016, we will focus on saving costs and increasing efficiency of new business entities such as large grain growers, family farms, cooperatives and so on."

Saving cost and increasing efficiency are inseparable from the increase of per unit yield. "simplified and integrated technologies suitable for mechanized operations should be developed to improve the efficiency of farmers in planting wheat." Guo Tiancai said: it is necessary to better meet the requirements of large-scale and mechanized operations in terms of crop stubble allocation, ripening period arrangement, planting pattern, and field management.

At present, the shortage of water resources in the north of Huang-Huai and North China has become one of the biggest limiting factors for the development of wheat production. Guo Tiancai said that over the past 10 years, the effective irrigated area of farmland in the Huang-Huai region has reached 62.8 percent, 6.1 percent higher than the national average, but there are still more than 80 million mu of dryland wheat "dependent on heaven for food." Therefore, the integration of water-saving technology models of varieties, agronomy and facilities to improve the utilization efficiency of water resources is an important goal to achieve the sustainable development of wheat in this area.

In addition, the growth period of winter wheat in Huang-Huai-Hai region is long, which spans the four seasons of autumn, winter, spring and summer, so disaster prevention and reduction is also very important. Guo Tiancai said that the cultivation of wheat in this region should create high-standard permanent grain fields, constantly improve soil fertility, expand the area of irrigated high and stable yield fields, and enhance the ability to resist and reduce disasters and comprehensive production capacity. In cultivation, according to the requirements of "pre-disaster prevention, disaster prevention and control, post-disaster remedy", strengthen the monitoring and early warning of natural disasters, diseases, pests and weeds, and innovate emergency cultivation and post-disaster remedial management measures.