In the first half of 2026, per capita disposable income of rural residents in Heilongjiang Province rose 7.1% year-on-year, placing the province among the top five nationally in growth speed. Behind this encouraging upward curve, the wealth-boosting benefits of custom agriculture are becoming increasingly clear. From industrial efficiency to farmer earnings, how is this dividend being securely delivered into farmers' pockets? Our reporters visited several custom farming bases to decode the income growth formula.

A single ear of corn reveals a tailored income account. After the start of autumn, Shuang'an Village in Jiangjia Town, Zhaodong City, nestled in the heart of the Songnen Plain, radiates the joy of harvest. At the facility of Zhaodong Heigu Agricultural Technology Development Co., Ltd. (Heigu Agriculture), the sweet aroma of fresh corn fills the air, while outside, boxes of vacuum-sealed corn bearing the "Shigu" label are being loaded onto trucks, destined for large supermarkets in over a hundred cities nationwide. "Our daily production capacity for fresh corn reaches up to 80,000 to 100,000 ears. Through our 'custom agriculture plus farmer linkage' mechanism, we provide jobs near home for villagers from five surrounding administrative villages, lifting the average annual income of 86 households by 30,000 yuan each," said Hu Changjiang, head of Heigu Agriculture.

Walking into the company's standardized planting base, the dense, tall corn plants stand vigorous and full of life. "We operate a dual model of 'self-owned bases plus farmer cooperation,' adhering to ecological planting principles. We use manual weeding, biological pest control with trichogramma wasps, and replace chemical foliar fertilizers with fruit and vegetable enzyme alternatives, blending traditional farming wisdom with modern ecological technology," Hu explained. These stringent planting standards and full-chain quality controls have earned the "Shigu" brand sweet and waxy corn three certifications: green food, organic food, and famous, special, and new agricultural products. The company has built a fully transparent production system, using livestreaming from the fields and a dedicated traceability system. Consumers can scan a code to view real-time information on crop growth, field management, and quality inspection reports, achieving full traceability from field to table.

"In the past, the biggest fear was a good harvest met by falling prices; even a bumper crop felt uneasy. Now, most orders are locked in at the start of spring, so there's no more worry," said Wang Fujun, a farmer cooperating with Heigu Agriculture, speaking happily about the changes custom farming has brought. Another enterprise, Harbin Health Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Company, has also carved out an industry with corn. "We've developed a small-garden courtyard custom model, implementing a 'four unifications' approach—seeds, organic fertilizer, planting standards, and guaranteed buyback—so farmers can participate in planting with zero investment," explained Sun Lijuan, head of the enterprise. Since the project began in 2019, the number of partnering farmers has grown from an initial few dozen to several thousand. The small-garden model now benefits 6,641 households across 102 villages in 18 townships of Bayan County, cumulatively developing 20,949 small garden plots. The single initiative of planting corn in these small gardens has generated over 28 million yuan in cumulative income. The company has also set up private custom experience centers in Beijing, Chengdu, and other cities, launching a cloud adoption activity called "I Have a Small Garden in Heilongjiang," which invites urban tourists to experience rural life, boosting income for nearby farmers and invigorating rural cultural tourism.

A vegetable plot cultivates agricultural tourism enthusiasm. On a weekend afternoon, the custom vegetable gardens in Zhujia Village, Sujiatun Town, Huachuan County, are bustling with activity. Many families from the county seat wander among the vegetable beds with their children, loosening soil, picking vegetables, and enjoying the fun of farming. Some elderly residents who have moved to the city to live near their children also tend their adopted plots, reconnecting with their rural roots. Pan Xinyuan, deputy mayor of Sujiatun Town, noted: "All 44 custom vegetable plots in the town have been fully adopted. We offer three service options: self-cultivation, semi-managed, and fully managed. People not only get to eat fresh, organic vegetables but also experience the joy of integrating agriculture with tourism."

The small plots release substantial benefits, and the wealth-account of the custom vegetable gardens is equally impressive. The project has driven over 30 households in the village to participate in land transfer, field management, and vegetable sales, increasing their average annual income by around 4,000 yuan each. Through the "custom adoption plus offline exhibition and sales" model, local vegetable prices have risen by 20% to 30%, solving the previous problems of hard-to-sell produce and low-price gluts. In 2025, all 44 plots in the small gardens were adopted, hosting 26 study tours and generating revenue of 106,000 yuan. In Rendong Village, Dongfeng Town, Hailun City, stone-paved paths neatly divide the vegetable fields west of the village committee into 50-square-meter plots. "This field is about 8,600 square meters, and all plots had 'owners' before the spring planting," said Qu Weijun, the village party secretary. He added that this less-than-one-hectare plot has generated 86,000 yuan in revenue this year—roughly ten times what the same area would yield with field corn.

In 2026, building on the successful operation of the small gardens in Zhujia Village, Sujiatun Town aims to extend the industrial chain and broaden the scope of customization, forming an industrial pattern with three main sectors—"vegetable gardens, rare poultry, and agricultural products"—and a four-season matrix of "spring selection, summer fresh vegetables, autumn dried goods, and winter folk customs." Focusing on green and ecological positioning, the town is exploring the addition of two new core sectors: "I Have Rare Poultry in Sujiatun" and "I Have Fresh Eggs in Sujiatun." This involves selecting various breeds including chickens, ducks, geese, peacocks, ostriches, and lion-head geese, integrating the town's 16,235 poultry resources, and building a platform for group purchases of free-range eggs. "Villagers can earn stable rental income by transferring idle land, or gain wages by participating in base management, technical guidance, and product delivery. The road to wealth through custom agriculture is widening," Pan said.

A beef cattle industry chains a path to prosperity. Sunwu County, located in a natural pasture at 49 degrees north latitude, is among the world's best cattle-breeding zones. Inside the processing workshop of Heizunniu Animal Husbandry, a clean production line operates smoothly. Angus beef cattle, after low-temperature aging, are finely divided into 32 cuts, customized and packaged according to family gatherings, high-end dining, or supermarket gift box needs, and transported nationwide via cold chain logistics. "When customers place a custom order, they can specify the breed, weight, and grain-feeding days. When the meat is cut, they can request specific cuts and fat-to-lean ratios," explained the company's technical director. Each head of cattle comes with a dedicated traceability QR code, making the entire process—from breeding environment and feed ingredients to growth cycle—fully verifiable and traceable.

How does high-end customization benefit rural areas? The Heizunniu Group has implemented a "main body plus cooperative plus farmers" model, innovating a "foster cow, return calf" mechanism—the company provides purebred breeding cows and full technical support, and buys back calves at a guaranteed base price once they meet standards. This greatly reduces risks for individual farmers, directly and indirectly involving over 1,000 households in cattle breeding, with an average annual income increase of 20,000 yuan per household. Liu Chunsheng, a farmer in Hongqi Township, calculated his income: "Last year, I raised 50 Angus cattle on consignment. The company provided calves, feed, and technology uniformly, and settled payment based on weight gain at slaughter. I netted 150,000 yuan in a year. It's more cost-effective than raising them on my own—no risk and less hassle."

As the "Hometown of Chinese Angus Beef Cattle," Sunwu County has slaughtered 25,000 Angus cattle over the past three years, achieving sales output value of 625 million yuan and driving farmer income up by 150 million yuan. In 2026, two major projects with a total investment of 560 million yuan—high-end beef cattle breeding and Russian grain feed processing—have been launched locally. Upon completion, they will support an annual breeding stock of 6,000 heads and an annual slaughter of 10,000 heads, continuously solidifying the foundation of the high-end beef cattle custom industry.

Whether it's single-product customization of corn, the agri-tourism integration of small vegetable plots, or value-added high-end beef cattle, farmers have become beneficiaries of the "enterprise plus cooperative plus farmer" interest-linkage mechanism. Through order-based planting and breeding, they secure premium operational income, or through nearby employment, they gain stable wage income. A broad road where industry drives employment and employment boosts income is stretching ever wider across the black soil.