Food security is a matter of national economy and people’s livelihood. Farmers are the main body of food production. To ensure food security, it is necessary to give full play to the enthusiasm and initiative of farmers. Xue Tuo, a major grain grower in Chang’an District, Xi’an, led the establishment of Changfeng Agricultural Machinery Professional Cooperative in 2008 to explore the transfer of land under trusteeship, introduce modern agricultural machinery and equipment, and grow grain in an intensive, large-scale and professional manner. Due to the outstanding achievements in grain growing, Xue Tuo has won many honorary titles such as “National Top Ten Farmers” and “National Grain Producer Model”, and the cooperative was named “National Farmer Cooperative Model Society”. Xue Tuo and Changfeng Agricultural Machinery Professional Cooperative have provided a vivid example for promoting the development of modern agriculture and ensuring food security. This newspaper will continue to follow and pay attention, and launch a story of a large grain grower in spring, summer, autumn and winter.
It started to rain, and Lao Xue gave himself and everyone a day off. This is his first holiday since the Spring Festival. Lao Xue couldn’t rest, so he planned his unmanned farm again. The prospect of smart agriculture is attractive, and it has become a hot topic in recent years. Lao Xue wanted to set up an unmanned farm for experiments. Due to the impact of the epidemic, progress has been a bit slow. He wants to work harder and try to build it this year.
Old Xue’s name is Xue Tuo, 64 years old this year, and lives in Zhongfengdian Village, Doumen Street, Chang’an District, Xi’an, in the Guanzhong Plain.
The Guanzhong Plain is fertile and wild for thousands of miles, and Houji “teachs the people to grow crops” here. For thousands of years, the villagers here have always adhered to a tradition – hanging plaques such as “Growing and Reading Heirlooms” on the gatehouse of the yard. Most of the materials are changed from traditional wood and blue bricks to current ceramic tiles. Lao Xue grew up in such an atmosphere.
In 2004, Lao Xue tried to manage the transferred land to grow food; in 2008, he led the establishment of Changfeng Agricultural Machinery Professional Cooperative, and served as the chairman.
Lao Xue has done many “crab-eating” things: buying plant protection drones, establishing plant protection bases, building drone runways, buying imported large tractors, and establishing drone colleges…
In Lao Xue’s mind, the most important thing is to grow food well.
UAVs become agricultural machines, farmers run UAV schools and repair UAV runways
Winter wheat is grown in Guanzhong area. Farmers plant in autumn, irrigate in winter, manage in spring and harvest in summer. In the early morning of May 4, Lao Xue brought his team to Shenhe Plateau to spray medicine for the wheat entrusted by the cooperative. Wheat has just entered the flowering and grain-filling period, which is the most important time for pest control.
Some people pull water, some people spray medicine… Everyone has a clear division of labor. After arranging the work, Lao Xue can actually do nothing, but he is still worried and can’t relax. He also gave himself a job: to ensure that every wheat plant can be sprayed with medicine.
Old Xue has been planting land for more than 40 years, and the doorway is clearly understood. From the distance of the sprayer’s rut, he could tell if the spray was in place. He kept walking back and forth in the field to observe, and from time to time he gestured and shouted to the farmer. Lao Xue took everyone to complete the spray prevention task of more than 1,000 acres of wheat in one day.
In the first few years of the cooperative’s establishment, one person could spray up to 50 acres of land in one day. The cooperative bought more than 200 medicine buckets alone. In 2010, the cooperatives managed and transferred 30,000 mu of land. Spring blowout prevention requires one or two hundred people to work for more than a month, from mid-late March to early May.
At the beginning of 2012, Lao Xue happened to read the news and learned that drones can spray medicine and work four or five hundred acres a day. He was deeply shocked: a drone can handle more than ten laborers. He was so excited that he fell in love with a plant protection drone costing more than 200,000 yuan.
In the spring of that year, drones opened everyone’s eyes, and they worked more than 500 acres a day. Many people came here specifically to see how the drone was spraying medicine. Everyone gave Lao Xue a thumbs up.
At the end of 2013, the cooperative built an agricultural plant protection base covering an area of 200 mu, and built a drone runway; later, it purchased more than 20 drones.
With the increasing application of drones, Xue felt that there were not enough drones and pilots in the busy agricultural season, so he wanted to engage in drone training. At the end of 2020, the cooperative’s drone training academy was established.
After the news was released, the registration call was blown up. Si Yaoguo, the head of the Thinking Agricultural Machinery and Farmers Professional Cooperative in Yuyang District, Yulin City, sent two batches of 8 people to study from Yulin to Xi’an.
The college has trained more than 100 people. There are pilots trained by academies in Xi’an, Baoji, Xianyang, Tongchuan, Weinan and Yulin. When needed, Lao Xue gave a “command” and summoned 30 or 40 pilots around to bring drones to “cooperate”.
Lao Xue said that in the past, the labor cost for one mu of land was 10 yuan, and the cost of 300,000 yuan for 30,000 mu of land used to be busy for more than a month. Now that there are drones and medicine sprayers, it will be over in more than ten days. The more than 20 agricultural machinery operators in the cooperative are also drone pilots, each with a monthly salary of more than 6,000 yuan, totaling more than 100,000 yuan per month.
Mortgage 7 suites, collect 3 million yuan, and buy back the “high-priced” tractor
In May, the weather in Xi’an is getting hotter day by day. At noon, the temperature in the wheat fields was approaching 30°C, and the sun made people’s eyes hurt. Old Xue’s dark face continued to seep dense sweat beads, and the sweat beads gradually gathered and flowed down his cheeks, dripping into the soil, and became the “fertilizer” for nourishing the wheat.
Suddenly looking from a distance, Lao Xue’s figure is like a stone pillar fixed in a wheat field.
Old Xue carried medicine buckets, drove livestock, and pulled carts… He knew the hardships of farm work. Therefore, he has a persistent pursuit of various new types of agricultural machinery. In 2016, Lao Xue thought about buying a tractor again.
In June of that year, Lao Xue kept running on the road, taking hard-seat trains and sleeping in small hotels, from Xi’an City to Weinan City, then to Xianyang City, and then to Luoyang City, Henan Province…
The more he looked, the more appetite Lao Xue grew. Originally, he planned to spend 200,000 to 300,000 yuan to buy a tractor with a power of 150 horsepower; in the end, he spent 3 million yuan to buy three imported large tractors with a power of 210 horsepower, as well as supporting farm tools.
Lao Xue asked his son Xue Qiang to discuss: “What do you think?”
“3 million yuan, where does the money come from?” Xue Qiang asked his father.
“Find a way to make it together. The machine is very good. After finishing the work of the cooperative, you can still go out to work. In a few years, you will be able to pay back.” Lao Xue said.
Lao Xue’s wife and daughter, as well as other members of the cooperative, were all taken aback, but no one could hold back Lao Xue.
The money is not enough, there is still 2 million yuan. Old Xue’s daughter, brother-in-law, a cooperative planner, and an agricultural materials dealer handed over seven real estate certificates to Lao Xue for mortgage.
On the day of the notarization, more than 30 people from the husband and wife of the real estate, as well as the relevant staff of the cooperative, attended the scene.
In September of that year, three tractors drove into the cooperative compound. “My dad buys agricultural machinery and requires ten years not to fall behind.” Xue Qiang said.
One new tractor can top the original three. Old Xue, Xue Qiang, and the agricultural machinery operators of the cooperative worked hard. It took 11 months for the cooperative to pay off the loan and return the title deed to the homeowner.
From the second half of 2016 to the second half of 2019, in three years, the cooperative has occupied more than 60,000 mu and earned more than 2 million yuan. The cost of the tractor also came back.
In recent years, the cooperative has purchased more than 150 sets (sets) of large and medium-sized agricultural machinery, with a total value of more than 12 million yuan; it has also established 4 professional service teams for agricultural machinery, agricultural technology, plant protection and hydropower, and hired 6 professors from Northwest A&F University as technical consultants .
“Modern farming is the only way out.” Lao Xue said.
Collecting rack cars, tractors, drones… Lao Xue wants to build an agricultural machinery museum
After the beginning of spring, the wheat and seedlings on Shenheyuan are green, and the horizon is endless. Whenever the breeze blows, the ups and downs of the blue water are spectacular, and this place has become a place for Internet celebrities to check in. Many people want to visit Lao Xue’s cooperative.
In the warehouse of the cooperative, there are a lot of old agricultural machinery and tools that are not needed – rack carts, spray buckets, tractors, sprayers, seeders… Lao Xue has never been willing to throw them away. “I want to build an agricultural machinery museum,” he said.
Every time I see these “old guys”, Lao Xue recalls the hard years before – in June, under the scorching sun, he took a sickle to cut wheat and grind fields; Corn is watered and fertilized; in winter, braving the severe cold, taking advantage of the rain and snow to fertilize wheat…
The first plant protection drone bought by the cooperative has not been used for many years, but Lao Xue has kept it. Every once in a while, he has to wipe again. “This is an epoch-making agricultural machine, and it will be the treasure of the Agricultural Machinery Museum in the future.” Lao Xue said.
Since the spring ploughing, the agricultural machinery of the cooperative has been damaged and needs to be replenished. Lao Xue is ready to buy a new batch after he has been busy for a while.
“My son and I have to read the Central No. 1 document every year. The government subsidizes more than 400,000 yuan for the three large-scale tractors of the cooperative.” Lao Xue said, “Now farmers have direct subsidies for grain, subsidies for improved seeds, Insurance subsidies… With such a good policy, I am more motivated to grow grain.”
“Affected by the international situation and the epidemic, each catty of wheat has risen by 30 to 40 cents recently. People need to eat, but no food is enough!” Lao Xue said, “We are farmers, and it is our duty to grow good grain, and it is also our contribution to the country. .”
At present, the cooperative has 30,000 mu of land transferred under its trusteeship, ranking among the top in the province. Due to his outstanding achievements in grain growing, Lao Xue has won many honorary titles such as “National Top Ten Farmers” and “National Grain Producer Model”.
After the wheat entered the flowering and grain filling period, Lao Xue had to estimate the yield every time he went to the wheat field. Going from one end to the other, after walking for a while, he plucked an ear of wheat and carefully counted the number of grains.
After counting, Lao Xue had to pinch it, even peeled the wheat grains out, put them in his mouth and chewed to see if they were full.
Watching the wheat that had been watered with hard work and sweat grow vigorously, Lao Xue smiled: “Looks like it’s a bumper harvest this year!”
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