Recently, persistent rainy weather has significantly impacted the autumn harvest. Relevant departments in Jincheng City, including agriculture and finance, have proactively taken precise measures to launch a comprehensive campaign for emergency grain harvesting and drying to ensure a bountiful harvest, guaranteeing every grain of autumn crops is brought in.
At the drying facility of Yunxia Agricultural Development Co., Ltd. in Hexi Village, Hexi Town, Gaoping City, reporters observed the roaring machinery operating at full capacity. Freshly harvested wet corn cobs were unloaded from trucks, conveyed via belts into threshing machines, and then transported by elevators into large-scale drying equipment. As high-temperature hot air circulated through the system, moisture rapidly evaporated from the corn. After undergoing multi-layer screening, dust removal, and impurity elimination, plump, golden, dry, and translucent corn kernels poured out of the discharge chute, quickly piling up into a “small mountain.”
“Recently, many farmers have been bringing their grain for drying. The drying equipment operates 24 hours a day without interruption, capable of drying over 150 tons of grain daily,” said Yuan Guosheng, head of Yunxia Agricultural Development Co., Ltd. So far, the equipment has been running at full capacity for five consecutive days, drying over 800 tons of autumn grain,“ said Yuan Guosheng, head of Yunxia Agricultural Development Co., Ltd. ”Beyond meeting farmers' drying needs, we offer a ‘drying plus purchasing’ one-stop service, helping farmers secure sales while delivering their grain for drying—truly hassle-free and efficient."
To assist farmers with autumn grain harvesting and storage, Gaoping's agricultural authorities promptly released lists of emergency harvesting teams, tracked corn harvesters, and grain dryer locations, facilitating access for those in need. Currently, the city has established five technical guidance service teams, coordinated 10 grain drying sites, and equipped four emergency harvesting teams with tracked harvesters to fully advance autumn harvesting and drying operations, ensuring all autumn crops are harvested.
At Jinshuoyuan Agricultural Machinery and Agriculture Cooperative in Jinzhuang Village, Bagong Town, Zezhou County, reporters observed two combine harvesters navigating muddy fields in light rain, racing against time to harvest corn. The harvested corn kernels were immediately transported to drying stations after loading. “We planted 7,500 mu of corn this year. Due to the wet conditions, we used tracked harvesters exclusively during the rush harvest. Now we're seizing every sunny and rainy day to complete the harvest as soon as possible,” explained Zhang Linli, the cooperative's manager.
The agricultural department of Zezhou County organized specialists to conduct a comprehensive survey of all grain drying towers within its jurisdiction, ensuring every available drying facility is fully operational to facilitate nearby, orderly drying for farmers. Currently, all 13 grain drying machines in the county are in use, capable of drying approximately 2,000 tons of grain daily.
“We are maximizing the role of agricultural machinery as the main force in the autumn grain harvest. We proactively surveyed and scientifically deployed all 110 tracked combine harvesters in the county for emergency harvesting operations. We also actively publicized the distribution of drying equipment to maximize the utilization efficiency of drying towers, avoiding situations where machines wait for grain or grain waits for machines,” The ‘people rest, machines don't’ model ensures this year's autumn grain collection and storage is completed smoothly," stated Feng Jiangtao, Deputy Director of the Agricultural Machinery Development Center in Zezhou County.
Additionally, Yangcheng Rural Commercial Bank is supporting farmers in their battle to secure every grain of autumn harvest through precise and efficient financial services, injecting financial momentum into the effort to bring in the autumn harvest. To understand farmers' needs, the bank immediately activated its emergency response mechanism. It convened a joint conference titled “Party Building Collaboration · Financial Inclusion · Supporting Rural Revitalization” with townships and established 15 financial assistance teams to visit villages across the county. These teams covered 780 ordinary farming households, 120 large-scale grain producers, and 40 agribusiness micro-enterprises. After comprehensively assessing funding requirements, the bank allocated 180 million yuan in credit funds, prioritizing critical areas such as agricultural machinery for emergency harvesting and drying of moisture-laden grain to provide financial support for the autumn harvest. (Cui Zhenhai)