Corn modernization takes root, yields high

CHANGCHUN, Nov.16 (Xinhua) -- After a corn combine finished reaping recently, Gu Chunwen, a farmer in northeastern China's Jilin Province, was thrilled with the impact of a choice he had made some months before. While neighbors lost crops to natural disaster, his farm produced 50 percent more than last year.

The decision was made in March when Gu visited a seed shop and asked for advice. A local agricultural technician suggested he use a new variety of seed and join a test program designed for the strain. In following the recommendation, Gu became part of scientific initiatives to increase domestic corn production in China in order to meet growing demand.

The 40-year-old farmer's instinct proved right when pest outbreaks and typhoons battered Jilin, China's corn belt, in summer. "Many fields suffered reduction. But my crops were resistant to the gales and, to my surprise, corn armyworms as well," he says.

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