It is more expensive to eat corn than to feed it. In general, the price of grain corn is around 78 to $1 per pound, and the income from fresh maize can be as high as three times that of ordinary corn. In the previous booming “oriental selection live high-priced maize”, the new east had declared that the price of fresh corn sold at $6/root was close to $2/root when it was purchased from the ground。
Food for maize is more expensive, but it also requires more careful care. As expected by liu xiaolong, a acre of sticky corn could normally be sold up to $2,500, the cost of which would include the payment to farmers of $500 per acre of land rent per year and the cost of nearly $1,000 per acre of seeds, fertilizers, herbicides, labour, etc. Liu xiaolong, who had all grown sticky corn this year, had expected higher returns and had not expected to catch up with the drought。
According to normal conditions on the ground, maize was planted on the air and the harvest was in october. At this point in the past years, if the conditions of fatty water were sufficient, maize would grow almost as high as one person, beginning in early july, and gradually becoming full of corn sticks. But most of them are now just half a metre high。
“the rain didn't keep up with the rain, it didn't grow, and now it won't work, and even the pine trees are dying of drought in our mountains,” liu xiaolong told an interface journalist, “it's a drought that hasn't happened in a century.”
Of the 800 acres of maize contracted by liu xiaolong, only 100 acres this year have been watered, with some yield。
It's going to cost you a little. By the beginning of july, there was virtually no rain on the ground, and liu xiaolong used the 100 acres to maintain the frequency of watering them around three days ago, at a cost of approximately $1,000 a day for generators。
The real difficulty, however, is that it cannot be solved by spending more money: there are many hillsides in the besieged districts and water is scarce when rainfall does not occur; many land is not yet levelled, and the farming of the terraces lacks the basic conditions for irrigation; even on the ground, because of the small number of wells and the excessive withdrawal of the groundwater table, even when accompanied by pumps and pipes, it is difficult to obtain water。
Without the advantages of terrain, water sources and associated facilities, water cannot be watered。
“we have now paid $6. 7 million,” liu xiaolong told an interface journalist: “the money to rent the land must be paid because the seedlings are not growing and the farmers are unable to work, and no one can make any money.”
The drought had caused severe damage to the maize fields planted by dado liu xiaolong in hebei, but his experience was not uncommon。
From the surrounding districts, southwards, in the hinlong county of hyde, near beijing, despite repeated rain, fog and green intentions to climb back up the hill, the dried-up river sheaths once again formed thin water. But dead mountain trees and corn that were no longer growing as a result of excessive drought showed that rain was too late for agricultural land。
In the time when they were supposed to be, hinlong county corn was only 10 cm high due to drying and the recent rains were a little late. Photo: rich
No land is planted and it is difficult to sell plant protection products such as pesticides and fertilizers. Lee chikai, who lives in the drum counties, works on the marketing of plant protection products in the local industry, earlier released a video of a tremor called "the corn is dry at once", which aroused deep resonance among farmers in the affected areas and yielded more than 4,700 praises。
In the video, li qi captured a dried-up maize seedling on the ground, which was more of a rarely drawn weed. Because corn doesn't grow, and it doesn't mean weeding. “during the drought, some farmers were busy pouring water, while in areas where irrigation conditions were not available, farmers had no choice but to spare themselves”。
According to previous official announcements, a total of 90,512,600 acres of arable land is currently in hebei province, and 10,650,000 acres of crops had been affected by drought in july。
On 21 july, the office held a launch on the economic performance of rural agriculture in the first half of 2023. “in the preceding period, there was a sustained high temperature that had been rare for many years, especially in the north of the river, where drought was indeed more severe and, although it had recently eased, there was still a high-temperature round before the end of july, which could be repeated. At the same time, there may be a `dry and flood surge', at which pan wembo, director-general of crop management, ministry of agriculture and rural development, said。
Mitigation
The world meteorological organization announced on 4 july that el niño conditions had first been established in the tropical pacific for seven years. Several experts pointed out that if the ultra-el niño events did occur, the impact on global temperatures would normally be felt within a year of development, i. E. More extreme storm floods or high temperatures could occur in the summer of 2024. Farmers need a response in the face of possible more arid weather。
For droughts that have already taken place, many maize farmers have chosen to grow sunflowers and wheat. This, however, applies only to land that was not used for herbicides in the previous period, and in the more north, due to shorter crop cycles, there is insufficient time to replant。
Adapting crops to climate change is also a response.” in view of the structure of cultivation, the suitable areas of food crops will gradually change as a result of climate change and can also be addressed by optimizing the structure of food cultivation。
For drought-affected farmers, maize-growing insurance can mitigate some of the losses. Compensation for maize insurance is based on detailed criteria based on geography, loss, etc., and the ceiling for small farmers and large farmers is almost $400 and $850 per acre, respectively. Liu xiaolong also bought insurance for the cultivation of maize, but it is still in the planting period and is not aware of the final version。
Lee chikke, who was involved in plant protection sales, said that to mitigate the effects of drought on crops, preparations were needed before the onset of drought. In the face of drought in general, it can be mitigated by planting drought-resistant varieties of crops。
In order to understand the characteristics of different varieties of maize, li chi cai planted around 100 maize varieties in his own test fields. According to his observations, drought-resistant maize varieties are more adaptable under the same conditions, such as the rip 909 by the corn institute of the shanxi agricultural academy of sciences, which also maintains high and stable yields in relative drought conditions。
However, he also said that it was not easy to choose the ideal drought-resistant maize varieties. First, many seeds sold via the internet are at risk of forgery, and secondly, homogeneity is very high, and good varieties require many years of market testing, which is difficult to distinguish from those of agricultural origin and even harder for farmers。
Moreover, the choice of breeding and field management alone makes it difficult to withstand drought at a natural disaster level. “just like a re-involved species, hit by an earthquake, a storm or something, and in the face of a real drought, it's water,” lee said。
In response to questions from the interface news, the executive director of the landing sea industry also said: “it is not realistic to grow corn without water and grow to solve drought”
Irrigation is therefore a particularly important solution in times of drought。
The institute of agricultural irrigation of the chinese academy of agricultural sciences and the national system of technology for the corn industry, liu wudong researcher, told the interface journalists that the best way to alleviate the drought was to find water。
Specifically, in the face of complex terrains such as mountains, hills and hills, which lack water resources to irrigate, the completion of irrigation during critical periods requires the construction of irrigation works at high altitudes, such as water storage cellars, and the early collection and storage of rainwater; in addition, in the case of shallow wells, maintenance must be done in advance, deeper on the original basis or by re-drilling。
According to the hebei daily newspaper, more than 20 million acres of drought-fed land have been in hebei since june to “retard” dry agricultural land. Data show that since june, water supply in hebei province has been nearly 400 million cubic metres in medium-sized and large irrigation areas, leading to more than 100 million cubic metres of yellow water, providing irrigation water sources in areas such as hyenas, plaque, water accountancy, and quilzhou。
“there is a growing risk to agriculture from the current high levels of extreme weather and rising global temperatures, which can be addressed once and for all by the implementation of high standards of agricultural land construction and the establishment of well-developed irrigation and drainage facilities, which can increase the resilience of agricultural land by irrigation and drainage,” yongdong said: “but without these facilities, it is critical that drought and floods cannot be dealt with.”
According to the chinese government's network, high-standard agricultural land is arable land that is flat, concentrated, well-equipped, farmed, fertile, ecologically sound and resilient, suitable for modern methods of agricultural production and operation, with high productivity and steady production, and defined as a permanent basic agricultural land。
At present, 1,546 million acres of permanent basic agricultural land have been earmarked and, according to the chinese government's network, by the end of 2022, 1 billion acres of high-standard agricultural land had been built nationwide. The director of the central agricultural office and minister of agriculture and rural affairs, tang in-jian, reported in february of this year at the press conference of the new nation that 1,546 million acres of permanent basic agricultural land were to be fully built with high standards。
How to get thirsty
The impact of irrigation on the dry season is considerable, and smallholder farmers often lack the strength and motivation to cooperate with country-led and large-contracting growers. However, the process of “retardation” of agricultural land will also benefit small farmers。
He is a farmer in hinlong county in chengdeh city, where young people work in nearby factories or county towns, and, in his words, “the old and the sick”. The shige family receives eight acres of land according to population, which is relatively large in the village。
All of these eight acres were used to grow corn, and trees were planted on nearby mountains. All agricultural work was done almost by him alone, so that the harvest would take about a day or so in the fall. During this period, weeding is occasional, water is obtained from natural rainfall, and when maize is harvested, it is bought。
Under normal circumstances, after cutting off costs, an acre of corn land would earn approximately $1,000, all added to, but not less than, $78,000 a year, “no money on land”。
It would therefore seem to be “deficit” if too much energy and cost were invested in the fields. In previous years, he had chosen to go out to work and come back when he was busy. As for the field, it was more dependent on “release” and, in the face of this year's situation, small farmers like him were more inclined to “leave management”。
Small-scale farmers lack the incentive to manage their land carefully, but access and high-standard agricultural land is of critical importance to large growers who benefit from scalable land。
“when more than 300 acres of land remain to be levelled on my side of the country, our hill slopes will become a horizontal field that will save water and labour, so that we can sow and harvest,” said dado liu xiaolong, a journalist: “when the land is levelled and the water company in charge is put in place, we can do the rest ourselves. The evaporation and waste of moisture is also reduced by the laying of membranes and the direct entry of irrigation water into the membranes following the provision of electricity.”
“standard farm construction requires state-led funding, local matching, and farmers and cooperatives are often willing to invest in water-saving irrigation.” according to the analysis of liu wingdong researcher at china's agricultural institute's irrigation institute, “the infrastructure of farmland not only provides security of production, but also facilitates field management and reduced human-cost inputs, such as the spontaneous use by farmers close to our new countryside of integrated water dripping and fattening facilities, especially as the rural labour force is reduced
The decline in the young labour force is currently a global agricultural problem. As land flows, scattered smallholder farming will be more likely to be replaced by large-scale contractors and corporate farming, and scaleing and intensive production will yield greater benefits for the land. In addition, large households such as liu xiaolong “re-employed” farmers to perform their agricultural work, and good cropping earnings will benefit large and small farmers。
Although maize is currently growing and the market supply is dominated by the market for maize grains and their substitutes, and the impact of the drought on maize production is not yet clear, liu dang, a maize analyst at the shanghai steel union agricultural enterprise, responded to the interface news interview, stating that a reduction in maize production could have some impact on the consumer side. This will have a certain impact on feed consumption, particularly on demand for poultry。
At the same time, extreme weather conditions are frequent and the hazards to maize cultivation are not limited to droughts, and floods should also be of concern. According to liu tong's analysis, the impact of el niño on our country has been felt mainly in two ways: the so-called “dry-dry-north” and the other, which can lead to warm winters and even warm winters. The yangtze central and lower river areas are prone to heavy rainfall and the risk of flooding increases significantly, while the yellow river and north china regions experience low rainfall and drought. The northern hemisphere is now gradually entering a period of weather speculation and the impact of weather on price volatility has increased。
In 2023, the agricultural “document i” made five references to maize, which has become an important agricultural policy for our country. At the same time, this year's “document i” has elevated food security to a high level of state policy。
In the recent past, the northern plains of china have seen successive rains, and farmers have been waiting for the rain that is on their minds. The drought in the hebei corn is a test of how to iron the volatility of the food-growing industry in the immediate aftermath of extreme weather events。
Liu xiaolong, yi maoxie
