A summer breeze sweeps across the fields, where young corn plants are growing vigorously. Corn has now entered a critical window for pollination and growth. In Yaolinmaodu Town, Horqin Left Wing Middle Banner, Tongliao City, Inner Mongolia, agricultural efforts are tightly aligned with the farming season. Comprehensive, detailed field management is being implemented, leveraging technology to aid agriculture and using careful stewardship to secure stable yields. The goal is to safeguard the quality and production of 210,000 mu of corn, firmly maintaining the food security底线.
On the managed farmland of the Chetian Planting Cooperative in Yaolinmaodu Town, intelligent water and fertilizer integration drip irrigation equipment operates in an orderly manner. It precisely controls the fertilizer flow and scientifically mixes the nutrients, delivering fertilizer directly to the crop roots. By applying quick-acting fertilizers ahead of schedule, the cooperative accurately supplements the nutrients needed during the critical growth period of the corn. This effectively helps the roots grow deeper and the stalks become robust and sturdy, significantly enhancing the corn's resistance to lodging, pests, and diseases. This lays a solid foundation for later grain filling, plump kernels, and a high-yield harvest.
"All top-dressing was completed 7 to 10 days before corn pollination. This stage is the golden period for corn to absorb nitrogen fertilizer, which directly affects pollination quality and ear setting rate, effectively stabilizing yields and boosting income," said Bao Qingle, an agronomist at the Chetian Planting Cooperative. This year, the cooperative has innovatively adopted high-density corn planting techniques. By scientifically and rationally increasing the planting density, combined with a precise water and fertilizer integration management model, they maximize land utilization and break through the yield ceiling of traditional single-cropping.
Starting from late March, the cooperative initiated routine, standardized field management, relying entirely on mechanized operations to achieve early deployment, early management, and early quality improvement. "We are managing a total of over 44,000 mu of land this year through trusteeship and contracts. All of it is under unified fertilization, unified pest and disease control, and unified standardized field management," explained Chen Huercha, the head of the Chetian Planting Cooperative. This large-scale, unified management model has completely resolved the problems of uneven fertilization, untimely management, fertilizer waste, and delayed pest and disease control that individual farmers face. It makes field planting management more standardized, scientific, and efficient.
Since the beginning of summer, in response to the complex weather patterns of high temperatures, rain, and strong winds, Yaolinmaodu Town has implemented meticulous field management. Routine precision tasks such as inter-row weeding, chemical growth regulation, top-dressing to conserve soil moisture, field inspections, and green pest and disease control are carried out regularly. The growth of the corn is monitored comprehensively, and preparatory work for flood control, wind protection, lodging prevention, and pest and disease management is advanced to minimize the impact of extreme weather on crops. "Full mechanization, combined with standardized and meticulous management, not only makes the corn growth more uniform and robust but also significantly enhances the crop's stress resistance, firmly securing the foundation for stable, high-quality, and increased grain production this year," Chen Huercha added.
Based on the overall grain production strategy, Yaolinmaodu Town in Horqin Left Wing Middle Banner is closely focusing on the critical growth windows of crops. It continues to strengthen field management, agricultural technical guidance, and disaster prevention and mitigation, persistently promoting the scale, standardization, and scientific upgrading of agricultural planting. Wang Yongliang, the deputy mayor of Yaolinmaodu Town, stated, "This year, the town's corn planting area has reached 210,000 mu. Relying on a professional socialized service system, we are conducting comprehensive scientific field management, with a focus on disaster prevention and control in extreme weather, to ensure the stable growth of corn across the entire town, guaranteeing a bountiful harvest and full grain bins come autumn."