Lu sowing seeds of a career to be proud of

Zhang Jian and Tom Qian

FAMILY farmer Lu Yunting in Shuangtang Village of Huating Town in Jiading District had a bumper autumn harvest of rice on his 360-mu (24 hectares) land.

Lu, once a research and development employee with a high-tech company, rented 100 mu of land in 2013 to plant rice after the policy had encouraged people to become family farmers earlier that year.

At first, Lu contracted 100 mu of rice field, but the yield was extremely low due to his lack of experience.

He honed his skills by learning from older farmers and technicians, and gradually improved efficiency greatly.

“In 2016, the yield per mu already reached around 550 kilograms, so I contracted more land and the total area reached 360 mu,” Lu said.

Lu had been working in the high-tech company for five years after graduating from college. His mother, Chen Maofang, started to grow grain and rice in 1984 after the country promoted the household contract responsibility system.The family benefited greatly from the reform.

“At that time, I contracted 6 or 7 mu of rice, and we were especially hardworking, so the yield per mu was improved. Not only did we have enough food, but also I sold extra food to subsidize our living costs,” Chen recalled.

Lu’s grandmother, Pan Shouzhen, was also a farmer, and she often told stories of laboring in field.

“At that time we did all the labor by hand without machines, and the food we harvested was not enough for our families,” Pan said.

Lu even has his own “Jiyaofu” brand of rice as he wanted a more profitable business. At the same time, new technologies were being adopted in Jiading, including fully mechanized planting and drone spraying.

Lu has begun to plant grapes and yellow peaches. He said agriculture is a promising industry and farmer is a profession to be proud of.