Grain Policy of a Great Country | From "eat enough" to "eat well", "the father of Nanjing" Wang Cailin pursues his dreams in the fragrance of rice and flowers
China Jiangsu Net, June 17 Nanjing News (Reporter Huacheng) It is a busy season again. Looking around, there is a scene of harvest and labor in the fields of Jiangsu.
"Horizontal rows, vertical rows, don't put the seedlings in the footprints..." A medium-sized dark-skinned man, wearing a straw hat and high-top rubber shoes, walked back and forth on the ridge of the demonstration base of the Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences. Raising his voice and waving his arms... Unexpectedly, the "Squad Leader" who commanded Ruoding was the famous Wang Cailin, a researcher at the Provincial Academy of Agricultural Sciences, who was called the "Father of Nanjing" in the industry.
"A person makes a mistake for a moment, and a person makes a mistake for a year", and the interview with the person who made the appointment began when the needle was caught on the ridge.
His growth story is legendary and inspirational, and he has a heart-warming feeling of serving the country. From Yuan Longping's "dream of enjoying the coolness under Hexia" to let the Chinese people eat their stomachs, to Wang Cailin's happy dream of letting Chinese people eat "the best rice", a group of scientific research workers, The spirit of agricultural dream chasers is touching and deeply impressed.
(one)
In 1959, Wang Cailin was born in an ordinary farm family on the Wangyu River in Xinwu District, Wuxi.
His arrival brought a lot of happiness to the family, but also accompanied by vague worries. The mother was malnourished during pregnancy, and the child was born skinny.
In the past three years of natural disasters, lack of food and clothing, even Jiangnan, known as the "land of fish and rice", can survive it safely.
Cailin's father came from a foreign country. It was common for his family to be ostracized and bullied by large indigenous families. In addition, his mother had bought a few acres of land sold by others at this juncture. Rich peasants", which made Wang Cailin's study path full of twists and turns and full of thorns.
From childhood to adulthood, Cailin's academic performance was far ahead, and he was called "little genius".
When he graduated from junior high school at the age of 14, his name was not on the list of recommended high school entrance examinations.
When he was about to graduate from high school, his father fell ill, and the strong laborer who used to be as strong as an ox could no longer do heavy work. After graduating from high school, 17-year-old Wang Cailin became a laborer earning full work points.
He silently took the farm tools and accepted the realistic arrangement.
At that time, the area around Taihu Lake in Wuxi was still planting double-cropping rice, sowing, raising seedlings, transplanting rice seedlings, and carrying burdens... The young shoulders carried the life of the whole family. Carrying a burden and trotting all the way, his heels were tied into briquettes by hard soil lumps.
In winter, when farming is slack, you can’t rest, and you have to go to the mud of the river.
Wang Cailin, with a short stature, was unable to do what he wanted. Once when he was carrying the burden of pig manure, a prankster in the village suddenly unloaded the burden of more than 100 kilograms on Wang Cailin's shoulders, almost crushing his waist. He endured it hard and suppressed it. With inner anger, grievance and sadness.
Three years of hard labor has strengthened his thin body and matured his mind.
When the college entrance examination system was restored in 1977, Cailin seemed to see the lighthouse of life.
He quietly reviewed it. His goal was to be a doctor and treat ordinary people who were disabled by minor illnesses like his father. He scored 357 in the test that year, but he did not wait for the expected admission letter.
Wang Cailin was not discouraged. In winter, he continued to "repair the earth" while preparing for exams on the river digging site. In the cold shed, in order not to disturb others' rest, he hid under the covers with a flashlight and read a book.
The head teacher of the high school weighed in mind this "most promising seedling" and made a special trip to the water conservancy construction site to find the leader of the team to ask for leave for him.
This time, he scored 391 points in the test, and everyone who knew him thought he would definitely pass the test, but nothing was heard from him.
Just when he was almost in despair, on November 9, 1978, Wang Cailin clearly remembered this day. He unexpectedly received an admission notice from Jiangsu Agricultural College (predecessor of Yangzhou University) for the specialized class in Suzhou area. An agricultural school, to go or not to go?
His father's words helped him make his final determination, "Son, let's go! There is still a long way to go, first become a person who eats national food!" Wang Cailin understood the weight and expectation of "national hukou" in his father's heart.
Looking back on his life in the past 20 years, Wang Cailin has endured hardships, suffered humiliation, sweated and shed tears, and returned to his hometown for three years of peasant life, which gave him a more direct experience and pain of the land, crops and countryside.
He has imagined his future countless times, and now that he has such a fulcrum, he must grasp it well.
Later, I learned that the two failures were stuck in the "political review". Thanks to the supplementary recording from the students who failed the list, Jiangsu Agricultural College gave him the opportunity to continue his studies.
(two)
The 20-year-old Wang Cailin was assigned to the agronomy major in the agronomy class, and still had to work in the fields, covered in soil on sunny days and mud on rainy days.
This is easy for Wang Cailin, who is a farmer. He used to earn work points, but now he completes his studies with a stipend. There is a huge gap between the two.
Wang Cailin lives in the moment and cherishes the moment more.
(A group photo of the intern intern and the head teacher of the university, Guo Ernan, the first from the right in the back row is Wang Cailin, and the second from the right in the front row is Guo Ernan)
His head teacher, Guo Ernan, loves to engage in scientific research and likes Wang Cailin's hard-working quality, so he appointed him as the leader of the scientific research interest group and as his assistant.
From winter to spring, Mr. Guo's paper "Research on the Heritability of Main Agronomic Traits of Local Japonica Rice Varieties in Taihu Lake Area" was published in the journal "Jiangsu Agricultural Science".
It is a great encouragement that his name can be listed in the magazine. Smelling the magazine that exudes the fragrance of ink, Wang Cailin's heart is sweeter than honey, and he is more motivated.
In the following two years, he either cooperated or worked independently, and successively published four papers in authoritative journals such as "Journal of Crops". Wang Cailin, who was not astonishing in appearance, became the focus of the whole school.
With the restoration of the college entrance examination system, the social and economic situation is changing quietly.
Wang Cailin, who has been teaching for one year, ushered in the opportunity to take the postgraduate entrance examination. The joint enrollment brochure of Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences and Nanjing Agricultural University stated that those with undergraduate or equivalent academic ability can apply.
This seems to be tailor-made for Wang Cailin. He was successfully admitted to the Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, under the supervision of Tang Yugeng, an expert in hybrid japonica rice research and breeding, and stayed at the Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences after graduating with a master's degree.
In 1991, Mr. Wang Cailin sent him to the Faculty of Agriculture, Miyazaki University, Japan for the first time at his own expense.
Japan is a resource-poor island country, but has developed agriculture.
At one meal, his mentor proudly recommended him sashimi and rice, the former was hard to eat, the latter was impressive.
He found that Japanese rice not only tastes good, but also has beautiful packaging, many varieties and high prices.
At that time, China was still eating rations with food stamps.
After some investigation, Wang Cailin determined that with the improvement of Chinese living standards, high-quality rice will have broad prospects.
In the next 10 years, Wang Cailin was on the fast lane of life.
He went to Japan twice for doctoral studies and postdoctoral research. He cooperated with a Japanese tutor team to excavate the Weiting Caoxieshan site in Suzhou, and used bioarchaeological methods to prove that there is the oldest ancient rice field in the world. This achievement shocked Japan.
Graduated with doctoral degree in March 1996, and applied for postdoctoral research in the same year.
In March 1999, when the flowers bloomed, 40-year-old Wang Cailin returned to the motherland to display his talents and ambitions in the vast world.
(three)
Wang Cailin led the team to collect thousands of japonica rice varieties, including "Kandong 194", from which he discovered the key genes that control the taste quality of rice, and trudged toward his small goal of growing "the best rice".
Every summer is the best time to do scientific research. The laboratory is the paddy field. In order to record the complete real-time data of the rice from the seedling stage to the heading stage, the field will go down at the dawn of dawn, and after a hurried breakfast, I will stay in the field for another four or five years. Hours.
Every winter, like a migratory bird, he migrates with his team to the south of the "End of the World" to breed and breed.
Every year, among tens of thousands of unstable materials, the offspring that meet the needs of breeding goals are selected for "additional generation" planting. Only after the selection of eight generations of offspring is completed, it is possible to stabilize the genetic characteristics.
Day after day, year after year, Wang Cailin tanned even darker than a peasant. Once he returned from breeding in southern Hainan, the mother and daughter passed him by on the road, but they didn't recognize him.
After the high-quality varieties are cultivated, they should be tested in different regions of Jiangsu, and the varieties will be approved and then promoted on a large scale.
That is to say, it will take at least ten years for a good variety to come to the table from the experimental field.
Behind the delicious rice, the scientific research workers are willing to persevere in loneliness, regardless of success or failure, selfless dedication and craftsman spirit of excellence.
It is worth mentioning that when selecting excellent genes for rice, in addition to considering the delicious taste, it is also necessary to take into account the yield and planting time of rice.
Growing rice is like "falling in love". Farmers are willing to plant rice with high yields. People are willing to choose rice with high "look" and good taste.
Also consider local sunlight and climatic conditions.
This matchmaker-like matchmaking has no ready-made experience, and can only grope and move forward bit by bit.
This marathon "love" finally came to fruition in 2008.
Wang Cailin selected a high-quality variety "Nanjing 46" suitable for planting in the southern region of the Yangtze River. The name is actually not romantic at all. To explain it in one sentence: Nanjing Japonica, birth number 46.
According to this naming method, Wang Cailin and his team have successively developed and cultivated varieties such as "Nanjing 5055", "Nanjing 9108" and "Nanjing 5718", with an average yield of 600-700 kg per mu. The high yield is unified, and the main indicators are all up to the national second-class high-quality rice standard, and it has been rated as "the best rice" in Jiangsu Province for many times.
These varieties are suitable for planting in the south of the Yangtze River, central Jiangsu and even the whole province of Jiangsu, and also radiate to Shanghai, Zhejiang, Anhui, Shandong, Henan and other regions.
Wang Cailin's fame gradually increased, and the title of "Father of Nanjing" spread like wildfire, so much so that there was a saying in the industry that "if you want to eat good rice, find Wang Cailin", Wang Cailin's career ushered in a highlight moment, in 2016, in At the China-Japan Japonica Rice Variety Tasting Conference held in Japan, "Nanjing 46" defeated many Japanese varieties and won the "Best Award".
At the 2nd National Quality Rice Variety Tasting Conference in 2019, "Nanjing 46" and "Nanjing 9108" both won gold medals. Among them, "Nanjing 46" ranked first in the japonica rice group, becoming the country's "Best" "Nanjing 9108" has become one of the largest japonica rice varieties in the country.
"As long as a person concentrates on one thing, he will always be able to achieve a little in the end." His father's mantra was confirmed by Wang Cailin.
Wang Cailin is determined to grow "the best rice", which is now placed in Chinese bowls and held in Chinese hands.
(Four)
"Father of Nanjing" Wang Cailin opened his mind, and the concentric circles in his heart became bigger and bigger.
If we can develop varieties suitable for planting southern japonica in saline-alkali land, how much high-quality rice should we harvest?
my country's land is vast and vast, with at least more than 35 million mu of coastal tidal flats and 1.5 billion mu of inland saline-alkali land.
Wang Cailin served as the chief expert of the "13th Five-Year" National Science and Technology Support Program - "Salt-tolerant Rice New Variety Breeding and Supporting Cultivation Technology Research" project.
In 2017, the agricultural department of Xinjiang Kezhou "married" with the Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and there are nearly 10,000 mu of rice fields in Kezhou.
Wang Cailin, the then director of the Grain Crops Research Institute of the Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, led his team to select 15 varieties of rice from more than 100 excellent rice varieties across the country and plant them in the saline-alkali land of Akto County, Kezhou.
Wang Cailin's team overcame difficulties and determined 4 salt-tolerant varieties for expansion. The average yield of rice per mu has reached 500 kg, and the quality of rice is very good, which is exclaimed as a "miracle" by the industry.
"Nanjing 9108", "Yandao No. 12", "Yanjing 765" and other new salt-tolerant varieties have now been demonstrated in the coastal saline-alkali land of Jiangsu and Liaoning, and the yield per mu is still exceeding.
Wang Cailin said that the special water environment formed by rice cultivation is conducive to the continuous improvement of saline-alkali soil.
If salt-tolerant rice can be planted in a large area, the vast saline-alkali land will become a vibrant "green south of the Yangtze River", which will greatly increase my country's grain output and improve the ecological environment.
In his childhood, he dreamed of "one family cook with a hundred fragrances, and one acre of rice is fragrant for ten miles", and the oath to grow "the best rice" when he was a student. In his decades of scientific research practice, in the knockout system of "race against time" Next, step by step.
As an agricultural researcher, Wang Cailin is undoubtedly lucky. He has caught up with a good era. He has received rich returns from the land, and has been highly recognized by the academic community and the general public. The people gave him the "father of Nanjing". The name is well deserved.
Time flies, Wang Cailin has reached retirement age without realizing it.
He didn't retreat at all, he was still in the wind and rain, running around and working hard, migrating from north to south like a migratory bird, caring more for rice.
On the autumnal equinox of 2021, Wang Cailin first served as the "Jiangsu Promotion Ambassador for the Chinese Farmers Harvest Festival", and spoke for the creation and promotion of the Sumi Sumi brand, which is mainly based on the Nanjing series.
In the same year, Jiangsu Provincial Grain Group, Provincial Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Suken Rice Industry, Coastal Agricultural Development and other joint ventures established Jiangsu Shuiyun Sumi Industrial Research Institute, which built a new platform for the team led by Wang Cailin, and served as a major platform for local governments. Cultivate special varieties for Shuiyun Sumi, provide standardized technical services for the entire industry chain, serve large planters, rice processing enterprises, and local governments.
He readily accepted the order, got on his horse, did what he liked, and did what was beneficial to the peasants, he was willing.
He set himself a small goal - to work until the age of 80, and then talk about it.