Right now, Henan is in the midst of a large-scale autumn grain harvest. Reporters recently learned through interviews in multiple locations across Henan that in many areas, agricultural machinery and electric power departments have actively coordinated efforts in machinery scheduling, emergency drying, and other tasks, taking multiple measures to open up the "last mile" of the harvest and effectively protect farmers' hard-earned results.
According to the Henan Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, during this year's "Three Autumns" period, Henan plans to deploy over 4 million units (sets) of various types of agricultural machinery, including 214,000 harvesting machines. According to statistics, as of October 1, Henan Province had harvested 48.95 million mu of grain crops, with a daily harvest progress of 1.87 million mu.
In Baiwangpo Village, Baidakou Town, Hua County, Anyang, Henan, reporters observed large corn combine harvesters shuttling back and forth, completing tasks such as ear picking and straw returning in one pass. Village Party Secretary Xu Xianwei introduced that the village's corn planting area exceeds 9,200 mu, and the harvest is currently nearing completion. "The weather this year has been good, with corn yields per mu generally exceeding 1,500 jin, and some of the best plots reaching 1,700 jin. All public spaces in the village have been opened up for drying grain, and wheat can be sown around October 8," Xu Xianwei said.
Liu Mengke, director of the Hua County Agricultural Machinery Technology Center, told reporters that recently the entire county has deployed 1,978 corn harvesters and 41 dryers with a daily drying capacity of 6,480 tons. "Hua County can harvest about 200,000 mu of corn per day. Through multiple smart agriculture platforms such as the Henan Agricultural Machinery Cloud Platform mobile app, machine operators can view equipment distribution and post demand information. Hua County has also partnered with gas stations to open green channels, allowing agricultural machinery to enjoy discounted refueling. It is expected that the county's autumn grain harvest will be basically completed during the National Day holiday," Liu Mengke said.
This year, Puyang City in Henan has an autumn grain planting area of 3.38 million mu. The local area entered its concentrated harvest period after September 20, and it is expected to basically finish by October 5. Dong Junjie, deputy director of the Puyang City Agricultural Machinery Development Center, told reporters that this year Puyang City conducted training on driving operations, loss reduction techniques, and safety production, training over 8,000 agricultural machinery operators in total. In addition, the local area established 19 emergency agricultural machinery operation service teams, set up 35 regional agricultural machinery service centers, and prepared 271 grain drying units with a daily drying capacity exceeding 12,000 tons, creating a closed-loop chain of "harvesting, drying, transporting, and storing" and enhancing the ability to respond to extreme weather.
"This year, Qingfeng County has about 700 corn harvesters in stock. Qingfeng County has released information about gas station locations and fuel prices to harvester operators, guiding them to refuel nearby to reduce empty-running costs. Each township in Qingfeng County has an emergency contact person. When a field needs harvesting, the information is sent to a WeChat group, and machinery is dispatched to gather nearby, so that operators don't have to 'make wasted trips,'" said Li Peiyin, deputy director of the Qingfeng County Agricultural Machinery Development Center.
In Zhangzhuangli Village, Gucheng Town, Qingfeng County, corn has entered a large-scale harvest period. Golden corn kernels are continuously unloaded from harvesters into grain transport vehicles, creating a busy scene. Large-scale grain farmer Zhou Jianshi told reporters that this year he has transferred over 3,000 mu of land for corn planting, and expects to complete the harvest around October 6. "This year, the corn I planted adopted direct grain harvesting technology, which extended the grain filling time, increased yields, and also reduced the mechanical harvest loss rate. As a large-scale grain farmer, by seeking yield through technology and efficiency through management, this year's corn planting income is on par with last year," Zhou Jianshi said.
At a drying site in Weihui City, Xinxiang, drying towers are roaring. Chen Yugang, head of the Weihui City Nongfeng Planting Professional Cooperative, told reporters at the site that his drying tower has been running continuously from mid-September to the end of October, drying about 120 tons of autumn grain per day on average. "Because of the good weather earlier, this year's corn is of good quality and high yield, with yields per mu between 1,200 and 1,500 jin," Chen Yugang said with a smile.
"Recently, drying towers in grassroots townships of Dengzhou City, Nanyang, have been running around the clock. The full-load operation of equipment cannot be separated from stable and reliable power support. We have implemented grid-based zone duty, handling power faults at any time, striving to safeguard the stability of agricultural electricity use," said Kou Peng, director of the Wenqu Center Power Supply Station of State Grid Dengzhou City Electric Power Company.
According to reports, recently State Grid Dengzhou City Electric Power Company has extended its services to drying workshops. Staff members have visited production workshops to inspect the operation of drying equipment, understand the pace of enterprise production, changes in electricity load, and electricity demand for capacity expansion and technological upgrades. They have also opened green service channels and, relying on online platforms, enabled drying enterprises and farmers to handle repairs, payments, and other matters online, eliminating the need to travel back and forth and making things more convenient.
"We focus on investigating high-frequency hazards such as equipment overheating, loose wiring connections, and overloaded circuits, ensuring electricity demand during key stages of the autumn harvest," Kou Peng stated. Recently harvested corn and other autumn grains have been quickly dried, effectively avoiding mildew losses caused by rainy weather. Next, they will continue to closely monitor key nodes of autumn harvest power supply, increase the frequency of field power grid inspections, refine power supply service measures, and build a solid safety barrier for autumn harvest electricity use through refined operation and maintenance and normalized prevention and control.