How much is a grain of wheat?
On the north coast of the Black Sea, Odessa, the largest port in Ukraine, was unusually deserted.
The "European granary", which once exported more than 5 million tons of grains per month, almost stopped wheat exports.
In the first quarter of this year, global grain prices rose by nearly 20% year-on-year, of which wheat prices rose by 60%.
How much does a grain of wheat weigh?
The World Bank estimates that for every one percent increase in food prices, 10 million people around the world will be pushed into extreme poverty.
The World Food Program has warned that humanity may face the "biggest food crisis since World War II".
How fragrant is a grain of wheat?
Under the bright summer sun, the wheat in the floodplain area of the Yellow River in China is ripe.
Farmer Zhang Xiaoliang threw a new grain of wheat into his mouth, with a crisp sound, full and chewy.
The good harvest that has been "snatched" from hard work is particularly fragrant.
Wheat is the staple food for more than 1/3 of the world's population, and 40% of the population in China, or about 5.6 billion people, is the staple food.
Wheat is more than rations, it is a representation and symbol of agricultural civilization.
In history, wheat once drove the agricultural revolution in China, nurtured the prosperity and prosperity of the Central Plains dynasty, and fundamentally affected the political, economic and cultural success or failure of the Central Plains.
"A grain of grain can save a country, or it can trip a country." Academician Yuan Longping's words represent the Chinese people's understanding of the causal chain of food.
The south wind blows in May, and smells the fragrance of new wheat.
Right now, the national wheat harvest is coming to an end. In general, the national wheat production this year will increase compared to last year, and a bumper harvest is a foregone conclusion.
"China Grain" once again handed over a weighty answer sheet.
In the international food crisis, can China's rice bowl be stabilized?
Food shortages and soaring food prices are just a symptom, more of which is the past.
But it has never been seen that the boosting factors behind these appearances are still fermenting and intensifying:
Russia, the world's largest exporter of nitrogen fertilizers and the second largest producer of potash fertilizers and phosphate fertilizers, has restricted the export of chemical fertilizers in Russia, which has caused global fertilizer prices to rise and greatly pushed up the cost of growing grains; the global food industry chain and supply chain have been damaged, and more than 20 countries have Grain export restrictions were implemented; multinational grain merchants took the opportunity to speculate, pushing up grain futures prices for profit, forming a vicious circle of hunger panic and trade protection.
Among the voices of global food debate, some people have begun to focus on China.
Many people wonder, what is China doing in this global food crisis?
What will China do?
There is no lack of hope, no lack of worry, and even conflicting statements.
For example, some people believe that China is hoarding grain in the international market, exacerbating the rise in food prices, and the subtext is that China has insufficient grain; others believe that China should “open warehouses and release grain” to the world, but the premise is that China has too much grain.
No matter what the real intention behind these statements is, China is willing to interpret them with sincere goodwill as anxiety over the food crisis, and China is willing to do its best to shoulder the responsibility of a major country.
Externally, China has been making active efforts to ensure global food security.
Under the special circumstances of the epidemic, we have provided emergency food assistance to some countries; for a long time, we have dispatched a large number of agricultural experts and technicians to Asia, Africa and Latin America, and Pacific island countries.
When money is needed, China has donated 130 million U.S. dollars to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations’ South-South Cooperation Fund. .
However, we are also well aware that maintaining domestic food stability in China, with a population of 1.4 billion, is the greatest contribution to global food security; once China's food goes wrong and 1.4 billion mouths fill the world to buy food, it will bring a lot to the international food market. shock!
No matter for China or the world, there is nothing more important than stabilizing China's rice bowl.
With the bumper harvest of summer grains this season, the Chinese have once again demonstrated the actions and responsibilities of a responsible big country.
The output of summer grain accounts for more than 1/4 of the total annual grain output, which is the first battle of annual grain production.
The first battle is important every year, but this year is especially important and especially difficult.
From an economic point of view, the complex evolution of the international situation and the ups and downs of the epidemic have brought a considerable impact on the Chinese economy and increased downward pressure.
The price of food is the basis of hundreds of prices. If there is a problem with the food at this time, it is likely to lead to a rise in prices, which will bring more pressure to stabilize the economic market.
From a social point of view, people take food as their heaven, and food has never been just an ordinary commodity.
The severity and uncertainty of the current development environment are rising, and it is even more necessary to consolidate the certainty of food security.
Over the past two years of epidemic prevention and control, we have gone through several megacities with tens of millions of people at home, and we have maintained social stability and stability. is enough.
When food is stable, people will be stable and the overall situation will be stable.
This year is the year of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. To prevent the epidemic, stabilize the economy, and develop security, and implement the requirements of the central government, the foundation lies in the stability of food.
Specific to the present, it is stabilizing the production of summer grains this season.
Today, the wind is blowing the wheat and the agricultural machinery is rumbling, finally ushering in the moment of a bumper harvest.
Instead of becoming the next "pressure point" for the rise in global wheat prices, China has become a powerful "stabilizer" in the international grain market.
China once again showed itself and the world a confidence in Chinese food.
How to recover the 15 days that have been delayed in the last battle?
Looking back on the past 7 months, the battle to defend the summer grain harvest was extremely difficult. 1/3.
15 days, what does this number mean?
In the interlocking wheat production, a single day delay can affect a season.
The 15-day late sowing directly led to the worst wheat seedling situation in the past 10 years this year, and the harvest is facing unprecedented challenges.
Late sowing of wheat will also increase the amount of seeds and fertilizers used. The increase in these two costs, coupled with the increase in the price of agricultural capital, is also a lot of money for large planters.
This year, some key agricultural seasons encountered the spread of the epidemic, and some places encountered difficulties in overall planning, which brought some blocking points for farmers to go to the field and farm machinery to cross-regional roads.
The goal is to only win and not lose, but at the start, you get a "bad hand".
Heaven does not help people to work hard, they can only fight against the odds!
Growing food depends on the area first.
Once the area is stabilized, the harvest can be discussed.
At the beginning of this year, the 2022 grain production target was approved by the State Council, and the agricultural and rural departments will be released to all regions to ensure that the grain area will only increase and not decrease.
Faced with the impact of the autumn flood, all localities made every effort to stabilize the sown area of winter wheat.
In Henan, the secretary of the county party committee and the head of the county act as the commander of the county-level "Three Summers". Those who delay the planting task during the farming period will be seriously held accountable; Hebei will subsidize 150 yuan per mu for "planting wheat after the beginning of winter", and the province's winter wheat Not only did the area not decrease, it also increased compared to the previous year.
Work hard, you can sow as much as you can.
In the end, the area of winter wheat in the country remained basically the same as last year, reaching more than 330 million mu, laying the foundation for a bumper harvest.
With the area, it is up to the enthusiasm of the farmers to grow the land well.
In the whole growing season of winter wheat this year, almost every key agricultural season has favorable policies, releasing positive signals.
In November last year, just after the wheat was sown, the central government issued a special fund of 1.4 billion yuan to the main producing areas.
In March this year, during the rejuvenation period, the central government allocated 1.6 billion yuan and 2 billion yuan to support wheat production, and distributed 20 billion yuan in subsidies to farmers who actually grow grains.
On the eve of the summer grain harvest in May, the central government once again issued a subsidy of 10 billion yuan to the actual grain farmers.
The support of real money and silver has eased the cost pressure of rising agricultural material prices and stabilized the enthusiasm of farmers to grow grain.
But wheat is not an industrial product.
The growth of wheat is governed by the rhythm of the farming season, and it also tests the accuracy of technology.
Looking back at this year's wheat production process, there is a tough battle that can be said to be the key to the battle for output.
This is the "promotion of weak and strong" in the management of wheat seedlings this year.
In the cold winter of December, the new wheat seedlings in previous years had already covered the ground with luscious greenness, but last winter, some wheat seedlings hadn't grown out yet and were covered in the soil, and some of them grew as thin as a needle, which was called "" Cover the soil with "a needle".
According to statistics, there are more than 1 million mu of "soil cover" in Hebei province alone.
Some "old-fashioned" who have been planting crops for many years are worried. They know that if there is no good way, they may fail to harvest in the later period.
How to do?
Do everything possible to save it!
But it's like a patient recovering, he can't make a big fish at once, he has to drink porridge in a small bowl to adjust his body.
Taking care of weak seedlings, it is not possible to irrigate and fertilize a lot, otherwise it will not only increase the cost, but also may have adverse effects.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs urgently organized experts to formulate a technical plan for wheat to grow weaker and stronger. As soon as wheat turned green, more than 100 government officials and 30 scientific and technological teams from the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences went deep into the fields of 11 major producing provinces across the country to guide wheat. Field management.
The strength of agricultural and rural departments at all levels has also been pressed to the front line of production, guiding agricultural technicians and the vast number of farmers to work hard on the word "quasi".
For example, in the past, wheat was often watered after sowing, but now it depends on whether it is a first-, second-, or third-class seedling.
Another example is fertilization, how big is a piece of land?
How does wheat look like?
What is the production target?
According to these elements, the wheat growth chart and the fertilization prescription chart are drawn, and then the fertilizer is specially formulated according to these two charts, and the "customized" fertilization is achieved, which is not a lot and no waste at all.
All kinds of technologies are gathered in a wheat field, and agricultural technicians "soak" in the field to guide, no wonder some farmers sighed that "not a good harvest".
Grab the time with God and recover the output.
A "bad card" had the last laugh. This year, the country not only achieved a bumper harvest, but also increased production.
After resisting pressure again and again, where does the resilience of China's food come from?
Grain abundance is a natural law, and there will inevitably be big and small years.
If you look at natural factors such as climate, geography, biology, etc., this is definitely true.
So, how to explain that my country's grain has resisted the pressure time and time again?
Especially this year's summer food counterattack?
Perhaps, the aforementioned wheat "promoting the weak and turning strong" campaign can best answer this question.
It is the human factor that gives Chinese food a strong impetus, a huge room for manoeuvre, and an indomitable tenacity.
Of course, this kind of resilience is not against nature or against the law, but it follows the trend on the basis of respecting the law and applying the law. Riding the momentum in coupling.
For example, the terrible scene of "locusts covering the world" was recorded as early as in "Records of the Grand Historian".
In the spring of 1950, when people were preparing to harvest the first season of grain sown in New China, the stripe rust disease known as "wheat cancer" was rampant, causing a reduction of 12 billion catties of wheat across the country, and "one for every three steamed buns".
However, in just a few decades, many of the "natural disasters" that were once sorely changed seem to have disappeared.
But this is not a process of natural demise. If you zoom in to the biological world and see how humans accurately snipe diseases and insects from a microscopic perspective, it will be as exciting as a blockbuster war movie.
Take wheat stripe rust as an example. Contrary to what many people imagine, the war between humans and germs is not in the main wheat producing areas of the Central Plains, but in western China at 37 degrees to 38 degrees north latitude.
The wheat area there is not large, why has it become the main battlefield of the decisive battle?
It turned out that the cunning germs overwintered there, and after the beginning of spring, they spread to the main producing areas of Huanghuaihai with the help of high air currents.
Once this "line of life and death" is crossed, the difficulty of prevention and control will be greatly increased.
So sticking to the line will cut the stripe rust pandemic across the country at minimal cost.
This is the power of technology.
In addition, there are molecular breeding, unmanned agricultural machinery, Internet of Things... Science and technology are appearing in the field of food production in an amazing manner, providing a strong impetus for the resilience and pressure resistance of "Chinese food".
Moderate scale operation is an effective organizational method for "China Grain" to be resilient and resistant to pressure.
Because of moderation, we have explored ways to solve property rights problems with "separation of powers" and solve production and operation problems with socialized services.
Because of the scale, farmers are more profitable to grow grain, and they have more confidence in resisting natural and market risks.
Large grain farmers, cooperatives, and socialized service organizations, these new business entities plant hundreds of thousands or even tens of thousands of acres of land. It seems like a rough job, but in fact, it is often more meticulous.
"You don't need to follow Aquilegia for farming, you don't use a shovel for watering, you don't spray pesticides into the fields, you don't need to dry the fields, and you don't need to be busy selling grain." Some farmers summed up the benefits of socialized trusteeship services in this way.
In recent years, especially during the critical period of food production, when farmers are stranded in cities and quarantined at home due to the epidemic, this organization method has played the role of a food "emergency escort".
The support of the policy has laid a solid foundation for "China Grain" to be resilient and resistant to pressure.
In recent years, from the subsidy for corn and soybean producers, the minimum purchase price policy for rice and wheat, to the full cost insurance of the three major staple grains and the full coverage of planting income insurance, the grain production subsidies have continued to increase and have been continuously optimized. play an important role in sustainable development.
The rice bowls are served together, and the responsibilities are shouldered together. The party and the government have the same responsibility for food security. The "rice bag" governor should be responsible, and the secretary should also be responsible, so as to fully mobilize the forces of all sectors of society.
Unremitting efforts will eventually yield results.
The Chinese use their day-to-day efforts to tell the world that there is a kind of resilience called "Chinese grain", a kind of self-confidence called "Chinese grain", and a strength called "Chinese grain".
Food security, what are the winning factors of the Chinese-style road?
Looking back at the history of summer grain production since the 21st century, there have been abundances and apologies in different regions, growth and decline of different crops, and even a slight decline in some years due to extreme weather and other reasons, but from the overall trend chart, we can see that the output of summer grains has reached a step. One step is steadily rising, and it has increased by more than 50% since the beginning of the century.
Steady footsteps have stepped out of the Chinese-style food development path. What are the winning factors for this path?
In fact, compared with other countries, the material conditions of China's grain production have no advantages.
In terms of resources, we only have 9% of the world's arable land, and many corners of the land have to be developed; in terms of technology, some countries that have already started large-scale machinery production are more efficient than us.
But there is one thing that few countries can do like us, and this has become the most fundamental feature of the Chinese-style road, that is, China's "death struggle" for food security and its obsession with focusing on agriculture and grain.
What China wants is "zero risk", what counts is "big debt", and it is taking the road of "building a strong fortress and fighting a dead war".
The so-called "stay" is reflected in the goal.
There may also be a "smart way" in food production. For example, if the cost of disaster prevention is too high, it will be abandoned, and if the price is not enough, it will not be planted.
The essence of "Smart Road" is that money is more important than grain, and grain is only regarded as a simple cash crop and common material.
The economic account cannot be counted, but it also depends on the internal and external environment, and there is also a big consideration.
Although money and food are sometimes the same thing, the more turbulent they are, the less they are the same.
In recent years, the tendency to politicize and weaponize food issues in the world has begun to rise again. Food security is a bottom-line issue for China, and it is the foundation of the country and the people. Therefore, our goal is to “stay”. Heavy food, no concept change, not a small account for a while.
The so-called "hard" is reflected in the way.
Don't seek fast, but seek to be steady and steady, take a step and take a step; do not use tricks, no matter how difficult it is, you must follow the road, do not take shortcuts, stay away from wrong paths; do not give up, treat every acre of land and every plant with a "penny-wise" Seedling.
At this point, this season's wheat is the best proof.
Even in the face of the "worst seedling relationship in the past 10 years", he still goes all out, recovering a little is a little, and an extra pound is a pound.
A good harvest is the best reward for this method.
In terms of scale, over the years, we have not sought speed or tricks, let alone the larger the scale, the better. We have always been based on the national conditions of my country's large number of small farmers, giving small farmers sufficient time to choose, sufficient space for grass-roots innovation, and system testing. With sufficient historical patience, we finally found the Chinese answer to the organic connection between small farmers and modern agriculture.
The Chinese-style food development path of "building a strong fortress and fighting a dull war" seems to be slow and clumsy, but it is steady and far-reaching. wisdom.
Of course, the regular system cannot wait for changes, and there cannot be no solution along the way.
Dialectical thinking is also the essence of Chinese civilization.
Strategically, we need to "stay" and "hard", but tactically, we have never lacked the wisdom of coordinating changes.
We coordinate the grain production in different regions and divide the country into 13 major grain producing areas based on different climatic and geographical conditions. Winter wheat is grown in the North China Plain, spring wheat is grown in the Northeast Plain, and rice is grown in the south of the Huaihe River in the Qinling Mountains.
Coordinate the domestic and international markets, continue to build a diversified import pattern, and realize the rational use of resources.
Coordinate the potential production capacity and the actual production output. In case of an emergency that affects the yield per unit, it will be compensated by the area, and space will be reserved for moving around.
It is these very intelligent ways of adapting that ensure that we are able to act like hands and hands when dealing with a variety of problems and challenges.
China's wheat "China Grain", this season's bumper harvest is also the prelude to a new season of labor.
People in this hot land are following the Chinese-style high-quality development path of grain, in the rhythm of spring growth, summer growth, autumn harvest, and winter storage, hard work, continuous struggle, and use one bumper harvest after another to show the "Chinese grain". Resilience shows the confidence of "Chinese food".
Author: Zhong Nongping