Black soil stretches wide and the fertile fields surge forward. Closely following the regional party committee's "1571" work deployment and shouldering the era's mission of building a nationally important agricultural and livestock product production base, the reform of Xing'an Farmland Reclamation continues to advance in depth. As the boundaries of government and enterprise rights and responsibilities are continuously clarified, the long-standing historical burden of running social functions is gradually eased, the land benefit distribution pattern is rationalized, and farmland reclamation development sheds its heavy institutional shackles.
After breaking through reform barriers, the development test lies ahead. With 1.23 million mu of contiguous arable land and uniquely favorable cold-region black soil resources, the state-owned farmland reclamation system can no longer cling to the traditional path of "growing grain and selling raw grain." Where should the institutional dividends released by reform and the development energy freed up be concentrated, and how should they be transformed into tangible industrial efficiency? "Farmland reclamation reform is absolutely not just about shedding historical burdens; the core is to loosen constraints and empower industrial development," said Bai Yang, Party Secretary and Chairman of Xing'an Farmland Reclamation Group. He noted that in the past, a large amount of administrative and social affairs consumed the enterprise's main energy, but now that rights and responsibilities have returned to their proper places, the enterprise can concentrate resources on project construction and forging a complete industrial chain, truly taking on the responsibility of being the main force of state-owned enterprises in modern agriculture.
Reducing burdens is "subtraction," while strengthening industry is "addition." From institutional and mechanism restructuring to multiple breakthroughs in base consolidation, collaborative enterprise operation, and brand market expansion, Xing'an Farmland Reclamation is leaping beyond the traditional model of relying on land contracting income and striding toward a new modern agricultural track of large-scale intensive management, chain-based processing value-added, and integrated coordinated development.
A Single Soybean: From Raw Grain Export to Local Transformation
Autumn wind sweeps across the Suolun River valley as combine harvesters shuttle back and forth through soybean fields. As a core soybean production area of Xing'an Farmland Reclamation, the large-scale management zone of Suolun Pasture is filled with plump pods and a scene of abundant harvest. Not long ago, most of the high-quality soybeans produced here were sold externally as raw grain. Despite possessing the excellent endowment of cold-region black soil, the area was trapped in the dilemma of "good grain hard to sell at a good price." How to extract the maximum value from a single soybean became a real question facing the pasture.
Suolun Pasture's breakthrough approach is to coordinate all stages of planting, processing, and sales, promote the transformation of soybeans into high-value-added soybean products, and take the reclamation area's soybeans beyond Xing'an League to the national market. Large-scale planting consolidates the raw material foundation. The pasture advances intensive management of arable land, relies on high-standard farmland to implement standardized soybean cultivation, and applies unified superior seeds and unified management to control raw material quality from the source. Harvested soybeans are no longer directly shipped out but are sent nearby to local soybean product processing plants, where they undergo multiple processes including cleaning, soaking, grinding, skin lifting, and drying to be processed into products such as dried tofu sticks and fresh tofu skin. No additives are used throughout production, preserving the natural soybean flavor to the greatest extent and precisely meeting current consumer demand for healthy foods.
Entering the processing workshop, a rich soybean aroma rushes toward the face, and golden, translucent dried tofu sticks are neatly placed on drying racks. Part of the "Dou Shang Suolun" series products are supplied to supermarkets within the league, and part are sold to external markets such as Changchun, Shenyang, and Beijing, and have appeared multiple times at national green food expos. "In the past, we simply sold raw grain, the industrial chain was short, product value-added was limited, and land output efficiency could not be fully released," said Gao Yongzhi, Party Secretary and Chairman of Suolun Pasture. He said that relying on the vitality released by farmland reclamation reform, the pasture has opened up a complete chain of large-scale planting, deep processing, and brand marketing, achieving local processing and local value-added of agricultural products and activating the two core resources of land and agricultural products.
A single processing workshop has reshaped the pasture's income growth logic, realizing the transformation from "selling beans" to "selling food." Superior seed breeding lays the foundation, large-scale planting consolidates the base, deep processing adds value, and brand marketing expands the market. A single soybean has completed the transformation from field output to workshop processing, from low-end raw grain export to branded operation.
A Single Ear of Corn: A Small Cob Spurs a Big Industry
Located in the golden corn belt at 46 degrees north latitude, the fresh corn base of Gongzhuling Pasture stretches endlessly, and this is also the core raw material production area for the "Yu Mi Gongzhu" brand. Before reform, most of the pasture's corn was sold as raw grain, the industrial chain was short, and the potential of land resources was not fully released. Fresh corn has extremely high timeliness requirements, and harvesting and freshness-locking processing require sustained capital investment. After reform rationalized the land management mechanism, the enterprise's financial pressure was eased, giving it the ability to upgrade the processing workshop and open up the entire process of seed selection, planting, rapid harvesting, freshness-locking processing, and market sales.
In the food processing park, production lines run at high speed, with automatic peeling, sorting, cleaning and cooking, sterilization, and vacuum packaging proceeding in orderly sequence. During the processing season, two shifts operate 24 hours a day, with daily fresh corn processing reaching 80,000 to 100,000 ears. Industrial development also drives local residents to work nearby. "I can work here for about half a month each year, increasing my annual income by around 2,500 yuan, which is a very practical supplement to household expenses," said Zhang Yuzhi, an employee of Gongzhuling Pasture.
Lin Lizhi, a management specialist at Gongzhuling Pasture, introduced that iterative upgrading of processing equipment has driven nearly 100 local laborers to find employment locally. Within 3 hours after harvest, corn can be processed and packaged, and the products enter supermarkets across the country, selling as far as Beijing, Hangzhou, and the Hong Kong and Macao markets. The small corn cob has grown into a characteristic pillar industry of the reclamation area.
A Single Grain of Wheat: Cross-Provincial Collaboration Tempering Quality
Wheat is a major grain crop of Xing'an Farmland Reclamation. Before reform, wheat in the reclamation area was mainly sold externally as raw grain, the processing chain was short, product categories were limited, and the value of high-quality wheat was difficult to realize. The original flour mill also continued to face operating pressure. Seeking cooperation externally became the key to breaking the deadlock. In December 2024, the former Xing'an League Farmland Reclamation Grain and Oil Co., Ltd. integrated resources with Shandong Heze Huarui Flour Industry to establish Inner Mongolia Huaken Grain and Oil Co., Ltd., becoming an important vehicle for farmland reclamation to implement the principle of "grain at the head, food at the tail; agriculture at the head, industry at the tail."
The enterprise built a special flour production line with a daily wheat processing capacity of 500 tons, introduced internationally advanced equipment and milling technology, and achieved digital control across the entire production process. Equipment upgrading is superficial; the deeper transformation lies in the reshaping of institutional mechanisms and development concepts. "Reform is not just hardware renewal; it is the iteration of management thinking," said Wang Hua, General Manager of Huaken Grain and Oil Company. He said that before restructuring, constrained by the old system, enterprise rules were rigid, the "big pot" problem was prominent, and market response lagged. After completing reorganization, the enterprise fully introduced a market-oriented operating system, restructured production, finance, and human resources management systems, and established an assessment and incentive system in which personnel can move up or down and pay is linked to work contribution.
Once the mechanism changed, motivation multiplied. "In the past, pay levels were not high and work enthusiasm was limited. The new company pays according to work, income has increased somewhat, and the drive to pursue the market is stronger," said Wang Liang, an employee in the marketing department, who personally felt the changes in the enterprise. The enterprise simultaneously strengthened its talent team, carried out specialized training for production, quality control, and finance positions, implemented a "master-apprentice" model in the workshop, and sent business backbone staff to Shandong for on-the-job training, continuously forging a local professional team.
To tap potential for cost reduction and efficiency improvement internally, technological transformation is an important lever. "Before the technical transformation, the production line's flour extraction rate was relatively low, the proportion of secondary flour was high, and raw material waste was fairly serious," introduced Hou Yanzhen, manager of the company's production department. After the transformation was completed, the flour extraction rate increased by 1 to 2 percentage points, and raw material utilization efficiency improved significantly. Relying on joint research and development, the enterprise finalized four major categories, 18 series, and more than 30 flour products, solving the problems of single product variety and unstable quality and adapting to multiple scenarios such as food processing enterprises and household consumption.
In expanding external markets, the enterprise continues to accelerate. As of now, the enterprise's sales volume has increased by 16,621 tons year-on-year, with more than 110 new flour customers and 53 food factories, covering 233 terminal stores in Xing'an League. Its market radiates across Inner Mongolia and the three northeastern provinces, with products sold to Shandong, Zhejiang, Hebei, and many other places, bringing the reclamation area's high-quality flour to dining tables across the country.
Industrial Momentum: Coordinated Planting, Breeding, and Processing Activates Development Momentum
As institutional barriers are continuously dismantled, a number of major industrial projects have landed and taken effect, and multiple business forms such as planting, breeding, and processing are developing in coordination, accelerating the formation of a modern agricultural and livestock development pattern in the reclamation area. The modern cattle industry park of Xing'an Farmland Reclamation Huhe Chele Agriculture and Livestock Development Co., Ltd. is steadily advancing, promoting the transformation from traditional free-range models to intelligent housed breeding. Relying on the reclamation area's ample land, forage, and straw resources, it focuses on laying out an integrated Angus beef cattle breeding and fattening project, builds standardized pens and feed processing support facilities, implements superior seed breeding and standardized fattening, establishes a full-chain traceability system, optimizes the structure of livestock breeds, and leads the reclamation area's animal husbandry toward large-scale, standardized, and green transformation. At present, the park has nearly 5,000 beef cattle on hand, including 2,100 high-quality breeding cows, and has completed 7,000 tons of silage procurement.
"Next, we will explore and promote a semi-housed, semi-grazing ecological breeding model, balancing grazing quality improvement and housed breeding efficiency while reducing production costs. At the same time, we will increase digital empowerment to build a smart ecological ranch," said Xu Shuai, head of the company. ·Xing'an Farmland Reclamation Modern Facility Agriculture Industrial Park. With the livestock industry consolidating its foundation, facility agriculture opens a new track for characteristic planting. Shandong Shouguang · Xing'an Farmland Reclamation Modern Facility Agriculture Industrial Park is Inner Mongolia's first standardized facility agriculture project under the "Shouguang model" led by the Shouguang Municipal Government. The project has a total investment of about 1 billion yuan and a planned area of 3,000 mu. The first phase invests 360 million yuan, covers 1,165 mu, and builds a complete industrial chain of vegetable seedling cultivation, standardized planting, sorting and packaging, and cold-chain distribution, absorbing local employment and filling the reclamation area's shortage in high-end facility agriculture.
"The park fully introduces the 'Shouguang standard' for varieties and technologies, and the quality of fruits and vegetables benchmarks Shouguang's local level," introduced Hu Jianhua, project manager of the park. Breeding and planting are making efforts in both directions, pushing the reclamation area's industry from a single production model toward diversified coordination and injecting project momentum into the upgrading of the entire industrial chain. Shandong Shouguang · Xing'an Farmland Reclamation Modern Facility Agriculture Industrial Park standardized greenhouses. From open fields to workshops, from single planting and breeding to a closed loop of storage-processing-sales, Xing'an Farmland Reclamation is gradually breaking away from a development path that relies solely on land contracting.
"The leading industries of soybeans, fresh corn, wheat, and beef cattle are not simply about expanding capacity or adding processing. Rather, with superior seeds as the foundation and a firm commitment to green development, they build a complete closed loop of 'planting, management, processing, and sales,' transforming resource advantages into market competitive advantages," said Feng Jianzhong, Deputy Party Secretary and General Manager of Xing'an Farmland Reclamation Group. He said that farmland reclamation protects the bottom line of food security with one hand while extending the full industrial chain of agricultural and livestock products with the other, enriching product supply and broadening income growth channels.
What reform breaks is not only the institutional barrier of blurred government-enterprise separation, but also long-solidified development thinking. State-owned land is no longer merely an asset for contracting and rent collection, but a core production factor for industrial development; farmland reclamation enterprises have moved beyond the single role of agricultural producer and transformed into modern agricultural market entities integrating superior seed breeding, planting and breeding, processing, and brand marketing. A soybean, an ear of corn, a grain of wheat, and a head of beef cattle string together a complete chain of superior seed cultivation, base planting and breeding, deep processing, and market expansion, and also connect the livelihood and well-being of thousands of households in the reclamation area.
It must also be noted that the current industrial chain construction in the reclamation area still has shortcomings, and some projects are still in the cultivation and climbing stage. But the institutional shackles have been broken, and the synergy for entrepreneurship has been gathered. Reform has no end, and industrial upgrading has no finish line. Based on the vast black soil, Xing'an Farmland Reclamation continues to transform resource endowments into competitive advantages, moving forward steadily on the road of building a strong food security barrier and exploring the modernization and transformation of state-owned farmland reclamation.
[Reporter's Commentary] Reform breaks the deadlock by breaking institutional fences, but what must be established is the foundation of the real economy and industry. From relying on black soil to enjoy "land dividends" to activating the entire industrial chain to create "industrial dividends," the practice of Xing'an Farmland Reclamation is not simply launching new projects and spreading resources thin, but a deep transformation in which production relations adapt to productive forces. Large bases consolidate the foundation, large projects fill shortcomings, and large brands broaden sales channels, accelerating the formation of a pattern of scale, intensification, and industrialization. The 1.23 million mu of arable land is both resource confidence and a responsibility of the times. To implement the regional "1571" work deployment and serve the construction of a nationally important agricultural and livestock product production base, it is necessary to firmly grasp the extension, supplementation, and strengthening of the industrial chain. Safeguarding the bottom line of food security and deeply tapping the industrial value of agricultural and livestock products is precisely a vivid practice in planning development during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period. Institutional dividends empower industry, and industrial benefits feed back into people's livelihoods. If industry prospers, the reclamation area prospers. This fertile land cultivated by generations is now sailing forward amid the tide of reform, writing a new answer sheet for modern agricultural development.