Society
Green thumbs up for farmer
By Li Anna (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-03-19 07:56
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Grower creates waves planting innovation
Tongquan, Heilongjiang: Tian Jialin has been growing success from the ground up.
The 40-year-old farmer from Tongquan town in Heilongjiang province has a prowess for the plow, and his cutting edge methods have brought him recognition and respect.
His specially-bred corn has won the first, second and third prizes in a provincial agricultural pageant for four consecutive years.
In fact, his four-wheel tractor, motorcycle and TV set were all awarded to him for his innovations in farming and planting.
"He often stays out in the fields for days on end, eating while taking care of his plants," Tian's wife said.
"He is usually very quiet, but becomes very talkative when he discusses planting," she said.
It is a discussion he has been having since he was a teenager.
"I'm dedicated to the exploration of agricultural technology and will try to realize my dreams," Tian said.
His home houses labeled bottles of more than 30 seed varieties he is testing, alongside rows of certificates recognizing his accomplishments.
"If soybean seedlings reach 1.5 meters high at maturity, each with clusters of five soybean pods, then we are talking significantly higher yields," Tian said of the soybean seedlings he planted with his father more than 20 years ago, which are now just over half a meter high.
Tian's father has heard about the vision many times before.
"He is just daydreaming as usual," dad said.
Yet Tian has been living that agricultural dream for two decades, growing his own crops that range from vegetables to fruit and grain.
He obtained his own fields after getting married and learned from expert growers at the Heilongjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences. He supplemented his learning with a wide array of books and immersed himself in agricultural research, often studying late into the night.
Tian first tested his learning and innovations in his backyard before experimenting with suitable crops on a much larger scale in the fields.
After three years of work, Tian even grew a "watermelon king" in 2003 that weighed nearly 65 kg. The fruit was such a hit that an admirer reportedly drove from Harbin, the provincial capital, to see the attraction.
In 2004, Tian turned his efforts to his childhood dream of growing soybean seedlings with clusters of five pods.
Two years later he managed to nurture seedlings that reached nearly 1.7 meters tall, each with clusters of five pods.
That autumn witnessed the biggest harvest in his soybean fields with more than 400 kg from each 600-square-meter plot, significantly higher than the usual 200-kg yield from a similar-sized plot.
"I was shedding tears of joy after I created that high yield," Tian said.
His neighbors give him the thumbs up every time they see him, and agricultural experts from neighboring Jilin province even made their way to Tongquan to tour Tian's fields, intending to buy his homegrown soybean seeds. He gave them the seeds as gifts without a second thought.
Still, Tian has encountered considerable obstacles in his work.
For one, he cannot plant as many varieties as he wants in just over 1.5 hectares of fields.
"I have been trying to rent as much land as I can, but it's not easy to find the space. I did manage to rent some space from neighborhood counties," Tian said.
To date, Tian has already borrowed more than 200,000 yuan ($29,000) from banks for his work.
"My husband would rather scrimp on meals and clothing to save money for his agricultural research," his wife said.
Tian is now looking at a variety of black beans that is expected to be much larger than common black beans. A hundred seeds of the variety can also yield more than 60 seedlings.
"I'm wholeheartedly dedicated to my agricultural career," he said. "No matter what kind of difficulties I meet, I will persist."
