Farmers weather adversity to reap record grain harvests

Planting for next year

In late October, bustling construction of wells, dredging of waterways and deep plowing of land were in progress in Bandi town of Dingtao district in Heze, Shandong.

"These wells are equipped with pumps. The water pumped from the wells will be transported to farmers' fields through underground pipelines, which will substantially enhance irrigation efficiency," said Pan Luhua, a publicity officer in the town.

In the fields adjacent to the wells, Li Guangli is plowing 6.7 hectares of his farmland in preparation for replanting wheat. Li plans to plant over 33 hectares of wheat and corn in total. Each year, after harvesting his corn in early October, he grows wheat on the same farmland. This year, he noticed some wheat seedlings were growing slowly, so he decided to replant the crop.

"Just after I planted the wheat, there was heavy rain in mid-October which caused the soil to clump, hindering the wheat's growth. So, I am deeply plowing the land to replant, ensuring a bountiful harvest of wheat next year," said Li.

"After the corn harvest, the town government arranged for tractors to deeply plow our land, laying the groundwork for sowing the wheat," he said.

Dingtao district provided free deep plowing for over 2,666 hectares of farmland after the corn harvest in October to create a favorable soil environment for planting winter wheat.

Li said advances in technology have also boosted harvests.

With support from a local government agricultural subsidy, Li bought a new machine equipped with a Beidou navigation system to help plant wheat this year.

Qi Xin contributed to this story.