SunSirs: China's Corn Production Hits New Highs with Strong Growth

According to CCTV News, China's total grain output this year has been announced at 142.98 billion jin, achieving robust growth and setting a new record. Corn production played a pivotal role in this expansion, with planting area increasing by 0.5% year-on-year and yield rising by 1.6%. Total corn output reached 602.47 billion jin, marking an increase of 12.64 billion jin compared to last year. Facing yet another consecutive year of bumper harvests, some may wonder: If we have abundant harvests year after year, why do we still invest so much effort in pursuing increased production? And why has corn become so popular?

In reality, corn's status as this year's top performer in production growth isn't due to a sudden surge in corn consumption. Rather, it stems from rising living standards and dietary upgrades among residents, which have increased demand for meat, eggs, and dairy products. Consequently, demand for corn—the primary feed source for pigs and poultry—has also surged significantly. Producing these high-nutritional-value animal products consumes vast quantities of feed grain, driving continuous growth in society's overall grain demand. Without increased grain production, supply would fall short. This explains why China remains in a state of “tight balance” between grain supply and demand despite consecutive bumper harvests.

As the foundation of the nation, China has never relaxed its vigilance in ensuring stable and secure grain supply. Historically, each milestone of 100 billion jin in grain production has been hard-won. It took two years to leap from the initial 1.1 trillion jin in 2010 to 1.2 trillion jin, three years to reach 1.3 trillion jin, and a full nine years to surpass 1.4 trillion jin by 2024. Given China's fundamental national conditions of a large population, limited arable land, and water scarcity, expanding cultivated areas to boost output offers limited potential. Consequently, “increasing yield per mu” has become the inevitable choice.

Technological breakthroughs unlock yield potential. Taking corn as an example, Zhang Hongyu, President of the China Agricultural Risk Management Association, explained to Hot Commentary that while the average corn yield per mu in the United States exceeds 700 kilograms, China's corn yield is around 400 kilograms per mu, indicating significant potential for yield improvement. The key breakthrough lies in “optimal plant density.” Xinjiang's Ili Prefecture successfully applied the “Precision Control Technology for High-Yield Corn Densely Planted” developed by the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. This technology increased planting density from under 5,000 plants per mu to 7,000-8,000 plants per mu. By improving field ventilation and light penetration while fully utilizing the region's abundant solar and thermal resources, the prefecture achieved an average corn yield exceeding 1,200 kilograms per mu across over 2 million mu of corn fields this year. This large-scale planting has reached globally leading yield levels. As a core component of the national corn yield enhancement initiative, this technology has been widely adopted across major production regions including Northwest, Northeast, Huanghuaihai, and Southwest China. By 2025, its nationwide application will cover nearly 100 million mu, with cumulative adoption reaching 150 million mu over the past three years. This year's corn yield increase represents a significant step toward reducing import dependency.

Policy safeguards build a support system. Guided by the Implementation Plan for Large-Scale Yield Enhancement of Major Crops Including Grain and Oilseeds (2023–2030) and the 2025 annual plan, local governments strictly implemented shared responsibility for food security between Party committees and governments. Continuous efforts to integrate high-quality farmland, seeds, machinery, and farming methods significantly improved the adoption rate of key technologies and the matching of agricultural machinery. The number of counties advancing the initiative as a whole has increased to 702.

Concurrently, the state announced minimum purchase prices for rice and wheat ahead of schedule and continued implementing agricultural support policies such as subsidies for corn and soybean producers. These measures effectively stabilized farmers' income expectations and boosted their enthusiasm. Chairman Zhang Hongyu pointed out that this year, the state has further expanded the coverage of full-cost insurance and crop income insurance for major grain varieties. It has also launched a provincial-level cross-regional interest compensation mechanism for grain production and consumption areas under central coordination, increasing support for major grain-producing counties. These measures reflect the state's commitment to improving the policy support system for grain production. In response to localized disasters, the central government promptly allocated funds to support disaster mitigation measures such as drought and flood prevention, emergency harvesting and drying, and pest control. These efforts effectively reduced losses, ensured a bountiful harvest, and enhanced the resilience of China's grain production.

Each year's and each season's harvest is no small feat. Behind every bountiful yield lies not only strategic planning and policy support at the national level but also the technological wisdom and hard work poured into the fields. To answer the question posed at the beginning of this article: Because a bountiful harvest must not only satisfy the present need to “eat enough,” but also support the future goal of “eating well,” while leaving room for unforeseen risks. A consistently abundant harvest year after year is the most stable foundation for national development and the truest sense of security that comes from holding our rice bowls firmly in our own hands.

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