Zoomlion and Yuan Longping's Dream of China Becoming an Agricultural Power

On January 6, in Changsha, Hunan, the "father of hybrid rice," Yuan Longping, of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and Zoomlion Chairman Zhan Chunxin jointly launched a national demonstration project on agricultural-agronomic integration in super-high-yielding hybrid rice production. This is part of an attempt by Zoomlion and the China National Hybrid Rice Research and Development Center to promote the modernization of China's agriculture and build the country into an agricultural power. It is also an attempt by Zoomlion, which has only recently ventured into the field of agricultural machinery, to assist China's agricultural modernization and a part of its strategic plan to seek rapid development and occupy the high-end, full-range agricultural equipment sector. 

Shared Vision Linking Two Giants

Not long ago, the "father of Chinese hybrid rice," Yuan Longping, announced that China had achieved its fourth-stage research objectives in the production of super-high-yielding hybrid rice by producing "1,000 kilograms per mu (0.0667 hectares) of land." 
Agricultural production is an organic process that includes selection and breeding, planting and harvesting, product processing and other interconnected operations. The research process for high-yield rice is inseparable from the help and support of mechanization. However, there is a lack of effective integration of agricultural machinery and agronomy in the planting, cultivation, harvesting and drying steps of production, and the efficiency of rice varieties is not being maximized. 
As Yuan Longping stated at the launch ceremony, "While grain yield is obviously important, making sure farmers harvest all their grain is just as important." 
Arise at the right moment. Back in 2013, the Zoomlion agricultural equipment R&D team joined forces with a hybrid rice research team led by Yuan Longping to launch China's first National Hybrid Rice Agricultural-Agronomic Integration Project. 
During their cooperation, both sides worked hard to achieve deep integration and development of agricultural machinery and agronomy and obtain initial results in agricultural-agronomic integration and the mechanization of the entire process of rice production. 
"Zoomlion is constantly improving a series of products for the mechanization of the entire process of rice production in order to provide farmers with high-performance, highly efficient, cutting-edge agricultural machinery so that they can enjoy significant improvements in the level and quality of their harvests." 
Yuan Longping also pointed out that promoting agricultural-agronomic integration and producing technology systems adapted to agriculture machinery and agronomy can help farmers continue to achieve high-yield harvests. 
Zoomlion Chairman Zhan Chunxin said that dealing with the food problem is one China‘s most important national strategies, as well as the mission of Zoomlion and other Chinese agricultural machinery enterprises. 

Striving to Advance Market Demand in Cultivation 

Another impetus for Zoomlion's push into in the agricultural machinery sector is the potential demand created by China's agricultural modernization. 
The Central Rural Work Conference held at the end of 2014 revealed that reforms of rural collective property rights, land contract and management rights, and mortgages for rural housing are set to be implemented. This indicates that China's agricultural modernization is about to move into the fast lane. 
Professor Song Jiannong of China Agricultural University states that China's vast geography means climate and economic conditions vary significantly, so determining how to develop agricultural machinery suited to local conditions and that meet the needs of farmers around China will be a major breakthrough in the country's agricultural modernization. 
Taking the mechanization of rice production as an example, Song Jiannong said, "At present, some foreign agricultural brands offer high-quality, highly automated seedling planting equipment, but it is expensive, and these product lines are mainly for planting techniques associated with conventional rice and ordinary hybrid rice seedlings. They do not meet the requirements for mechanization of rice production in China." 
The launch of the national demonstration project on agricultural-agronomic integration in super-high-yielding hybrid rice production has therefore been seen as an important step in the process of Chinese agricultural modernization. 
Hunan Provincial Agricultural Department Director Wang Luofang has stated that agricultural-agronomic integration can provide strong support and a solid guarantee for grain harvests, and the effective combination of both will promote high-yield harvests. The demonstration project on agricultural-agronomic integration in the production of super-high-yielding hybrid rice, which uses the "hundreds, thousands and tens of thousands" project as a carrying platform, promises to provide better solutions and more effective support for the development of agricultural mechanization in Hunan province, which will make due contributions to realizing a new leap forward in the development of China's modern agricultural industry and the development of agricultural mechanization in the province. 

Positive Results Highlight the Value of the Mission

This step being taken by Zoomlion is an important one in the company seizing the high ground in the agricultural machinery market. 
People within the industry generally believe that, as China's agricultural modernization progresses, the total output value of China's agricultural machinery industry will exceed RMB 400 billion in 2015. And Zoomlion, which is at the forefront of agricultural-agronomic integration and development, is set to become one of the main beneficiaries of this. 
In fact, the positive results from their integration and development have already begun to show. 
Zoomlion has already created solutions for the mechanization of the entire production process, from raising seedlings, tilling, planting and field management, to harvesting and post-processing, with particular emphasis given to ensuring tractors, planting machines, harvesters, dryers and other products use advanced technology and are reliable in accordance with the agronomic characteristics of high-yielding rice and fully meet national high-yielding rice cultivation, planting and harvesting requirements. 
Take the Zoomlion SBL-280 rice seedling planter, for example. The device is capable of automatically laying soil, watering, planting, covering with soil and other processes, with a crushing rate of less than 2%. In terms of harvesting machinery, Zoomlion’s new "Gu Wang" PQ45 and PH60 rice harvesters are targeted at southern and northeastern paddy fields respectively, and they are China's first hydrostatic rice harvesters. 
Zoomlion has achieved impressive results in other areas of agriculture production. In 2014, Zoomlion sold more than 10,000 units of its "Gu Wang" TB60 wheat machine, which it has improved with 26 technical upgrades to make it more suited to large and medium-sized farms, agricultural cooperatives, major grain producing farmers and other consumer groups. 
A representative from Zoomlion's agricultural sector said that this integration will serve as a new example of domestic agricultural-agronomic integration and development, and further consolidate Zoomlion's leading position in the agricultural industry. 
"Because of our responsibilities to the country, we must strive forward; because of the potential market, our research must bear fruit,” Zoomlion chairman Zhan Chunxin explained.