The life of Wheat

From sowing a seed to becoming a heavy wheat ear during the summer harvest, it has to go through the life process of germination, seedling emergence, tillering, wintering, greening, jointing, pregnancy, heading, flowering, grouting, maturity, and finally become the flour and bread that we come into contact with daily. Wheat is a food crop domesticated by human beings, and the wonderful journey of wheat is deeply marked by the sweat and wisdom of farmers.

First stop: Sowing

"Seed is gold, the land is silver" this proverb says that the grain to high yield, the seed is the first pass. At the end of the last century, there was a serious surplus of domestic ordinary wheat in China, while flour enterprises had to import a large number of high-quality wheat. Realizing the seed factors behind the difficulty in selling, China's seed innovation has stepped into the fast lane. Today, agricultural scientific research units, grassroots agricultural scientific research units, farmers and breeders of the three major breeding groups unremitting efforts, the domestic "super wheat" seed technology into the forefront of the world.

One set of data illustrates this change: in the more than 60 years since 1949, Henan, where wheat production accounts for a quarter of the country, has produced an average of 10 more seeds per ear of wheat, gained 10 mg per grain, planted 10 plants per mu of land, and each wheat has become 30 cm shorter, which also determines that the per unit yield has increased from a historical low of 30 kg to more than 390 kg. In this process, seeds play a fundamental role.

Second stop: fertilization

"A deep ploughing and an inch, a stubble of dung on top." In the days of farming, deep ploughing was hard work. However, now, with the popularization of agricultural machinery such as rotary tillers, the combination of deep tillage technology and deep fertilization technology is conducive to the deep roots of crops and durable fertility. The central government allocated funds to support local governments in accelerating soil testing and formulation, and to support farmers in precise fertilization.

At the same time, farmers are beginning to pay attention to green and sustainable concepts. More and more farmers fertilizing wheat fields, by increasing the fertilizer accelerator of biotechnology, to save fertilizer at the same time, can effectively balance the soil pH value, avoid the long-term application of fertilizer caused by soil compaction, fertility decline and other problems.

Third stop: Watering

Farmer's proverb: there is no harvest in the water, harvest more harvest less is fertilizer. We can see the fundamental role of water in wheat's wonderful growth journey. Nowadays farmers start watering heavily before winter and lightly in spring and summer. Water twice before winter, strive to ensure more tillering, and only water once in March, so that wheat belly bulging, commonly known as "rich in the womb".

In the past, the family drove a tractor, pulling the irrigation hose commonly known as the "little white dragon", rumbling pumping water, people noisy car scene again difficult to see. Now a sprinkler watering width covers more than ten meters, automatic irrigation makes "busy farming" become "idle farming".

Fourth stop: Apply medicine

"Three points of seed, seven points of management, very harvest insurance." Diseases and pests are the most likely to pose a direct threat to wheat filling and grain weight increase. The development of large-scale land management has driven the mechanization of agricultural production, and plant protection machines and self-propelled spray rod sprayers have entered the homes of ordinary people to replace a large number of manpower. Spring ploughing season to see the medicine, do not see farmers busy fields, empty wheat fields, only the machinery roar.

Fifth stop: Harvest

"Ninety percent mature, ten percent harvest, ten percent mature, ten percent lose." The timing of wheat harvest is very important. In the past, farmers used cattle to grind, raise, dry grain, hole grain, store grain, and the whole harvest lasted nearly 20 days. Now the hectic harvest scene is gone. Wheat fields have become slightly "cold", and some are just harvesters and grain carts shuttling back and forth. Big joint harvest a machine on the top of the year hundreds of labor, farmers when the "hands off the shopkeeper", wheat "particles to warehouse".

Stop six: Acquisition

"If you have food in your hand, your heart will not panic." Food security is a big problem. In order to protect the interests of farmers and prevent "low grain prices from hurting farmers", the state implements the minimum purchase price policy in the main wheat producing areas when the price of wheat is low.

Seventh stop: Grinding

After the wheat grains are selected and warmed with water, the bran, endosperm and malt can be separated and ground. The whole process is divided into coarse grinding, clear flour and fine grinding, one grain of full wheat to produce our common flour. Pasta is rich in nutrients, which can provide people with the necessary energy.