Young people come to the paddy field! The "post-90s" lead cooperatives, and the "post-80s" agricultural machinery operators

Spring ploughing is coming to an end, and the green sense spreads to fertile fields. In the Lifeng Agricultural Professional Cooperative in Jiangtian Town, Changle District, the reporter found an interesting phenomenon - different from previous years, many young people came to the rice fields this year. Approaching them, the reporter heard that they were talking about Beidou positioning, Internet of Things, weather collectors and other high-tech. Why did they choose to stay in the countryside? Can they change the countryside? What do young people think of rural revitalization? The reporter approached them to find the answer.

Zheng Yong sits in the cab. Photographed by Jiang Yachen

The "post-90s" leading cooperative

Li Feng Agricultural Professional Cooperative has more than 100 members. Chen Ying, the youngest born in 1990, is the chairman. The vast majority of cooperatives are "old hands" who have planted fields all their lives. How can he convince everyone when he is young? The answer is simple - technology.

In 2014, Chen Ying returned to Jiangtian and took over the cooperative founded by her father. At that time, he was still a student of physical education teacher training, and he knew almost nothing about agriculture. "It's OK. Don't know how to learn!" Chen Ying is full of energy. First she studied gardening technology in Fujian Agricultural Vocational and Technical College, then she studied agronomy in Sichuan Agricultural University. At the same time, she also learned from experts from the Provincial Academy of Agricultural Sciences and agricultural technicians from the District Agricultural and Rural Bureau, and gradually explored the path and accumulated experience. Now the original hairhead boy has become a "native scholar".

Said to be a "native scholar", in fact, it is very foreign! Driven by Chen Ying, the cooperative has built a large agricultural machinery warehouse, Internet of Things cold storage, and a rice greenhouse seedling center. The cultivation, planting, prevention and harvest of rice have all been mechanized, with an output of about 1300 jin per mu. The planting of potatoes has also achieved semi mechanization. Thanks to the continuous updating of varieties, the yield has also increased year by year. This year, the yield per mu has reached 8000 jin.

Through paddy and dry rotation, the cooperative has realized "five crops in two years" of single cropping rice, double cropping rice, ratooning rice and potato on 2300 mu of land. "Potatoes are planted in winter and harvested in spring. During this period of time, workers went to the field to collect potatoes at 6:00 a.m., and then threshed the fields to make them soft. After leveling, they began to release water and transplant seedlings. Within a few days, a dry field where potatoes were originally planted can become a paddy field for rice cultivation." Chen Ying said.

The "post-80s" agricultural machinery operators

Chen Ying told reporters that in addition to him, there were seven or eight young people in the cooperative, all of whom were agricultural machinery operators. On the day of the interview, because it rained the day before yesterday, it was not suitable for farming, so this group of young people rarely got together to chat leisurely. Among them, except Chen Zhiyao and Chen Ying, Zheng Yong, Zhang Kun and Lin Kui are all "post-80s".

"Recently, he has to work in the fields for more than ten hours a day. His longest record is staying in the fields for seven days and seven nights." Lin Kui pointed to Zheng Yong beside him. He told reporters that in special periods such as busy farming and typhoons, we should rush to harvest and not leave.

Can young people stay in the fields? "Our agricultural machinery is very powerful! There are air conditioners and DJs, so staying inside is not boring at all." Zheng Yong showed the farmer's machine that the cooperative just bought a month ago. According to him, this is the first equipment of this model in Fujian, and his words are full of pride. Open the door of the cab, and Zheng Yong jumps up and turns on the stereo. In an instant, the dynamic music seemed to break away from the small speaker and "rush" out of the cab, echoing in the open countryside.

"Farming is totally different now than before." Zhang Kun, born in 1982, experienced plowing with cattle when he was a child. Over the years, he has witnessed the renewal of agricultural machinery. The reporter learned that the cooperative has purchased more than 30 sets of agricultural machinery such as large and medium-sized tractors and rice transplanters, and two more sets have been added this year. Because of the high quality and efficiency of agricultural machinery, they also provide socialized services for the surrounding farmers, and even make business in Guangdong. "We released information through platforms like Tiao Yin, and some friends introduced that when the cooperative was finished, we would go to other places to help others farm and plant rice seedlings."

Two generations stick to the countryside

During the interview, the reporter found that whether Chen Ying or other young people stayed in the countryside to engage in agriculture, they basically inherited their father's work.

As time goes by, the farming methods of the father and son are quite different, but they work in harmony with each other. "Technically, it must be our best, but when it comes to field management, the older generation is still skilled and experienced in how to drain and draw water." Zheng Yong said with a smile that he is an agricultural machinery operator in the production line, and his father is more like sitting in the backstage command center of the town. As the "leader" of the cooperative, Chen Ying often gives advice to the older generation of farmers. "For example, when buying fertilizer, they can only remember the trade name. When they can't buy fertilizer, they will ask me. I judge it by its composition and give them advice."

From the words of these young people, it is not difficult for journalists to read their confidence in their own strength, but they can also feel their inner worship of their parents. "They could get up more than 3 o'clock in the morning, go for a walk in the field, go out to have breakfast and then come back to work. We couldn't, we were still sleeping in bed at that time!" They all admitted that the older generation had a stronger sense of responsibility and was more hard-working.

People engaged in agricultural production have more or less special feelings for land. Seeing that other farmers used too much fertilizer, which led to the decline of land fertility, Chen Ying led the cooperative to use organic fertilizer from 2016 to increase the content of soil organic matter and make the land more fertile. "We need to preserve the land." Fertilization, prevention and technology upgrading... Chen Ying and these young people change agriculture little by little, and they also hope that more changes can be made in the countryside to attract young people back to the village. "Education and medical care need to be improved, which is our most concern, so that more people will be willing to take their children back to the countryside, hoping that the countryside will become more popular and more dynamic in the future!" Chen Ying said. (Reporter Jiang Yachen)