Where to commence

The Corn Breeding Special Project, part of the 2026 Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Science and Technology Major Project, led by the Tongliao City Academy of Agricultural and Animal Husbandry Sciences, has been officially approved. This initiative secures 15 million yuan in special regional funding, marking a significant advancement in Tongliao's ability to achieve independent control over corn biological breeding core technologies and seed sources.

Why focus on the 'Seed Core' initiative?

The Autonomous Region's 'Seed Core' Project is a landmark major scientific and technological initiative aimed at revitalizing the seed industry and strengthening the bottom line of food security. It concentrates on the protection and utilization of superior crop and livestock germplasm resources, the discovery of elite genes, and the development of modern breeding technologies. The goal is to systematically solve "bottleneck" technical problems in the seed sector and cultivate independently controllable, superior new varieties.

Understanding Tongliao's strategic advantage

Located in the world's golden corn belt, Tongliao City leads prefecture-level cities nationwide in corn planting scale, technology, yield, and quality. In recent years, the Tongliao City Science and Technology Bureau has closely aligned with the city's dominant corn industry development plan. It has continuously focused on seed industry source innovation, normalizing the stockpiling of key projects, integrating industry-university-research resources, and carrying out targeted breakthroughs in key technologies to drive seed industry technology self-reliance. This persistent effort laid a solid foundation for the successful approval of this major project.

Details of the approved project

The newly approved project, titled "Corn Germplasm Resource Evaluation, Elite Gene Discovery, and Integrated Innovation and Application of Biological Breeding Technologies," efficiently integrates top national scientific and technological resources. It establishes a high-level, cross-regional innovation consortium, uniting nine institutions from inside and outside the region, including the Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, China Agricultural University, the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences' Sanya Nanfan Research Institute, Inner Mongolia Minzu University, and Inner Mongolia Menglong Seed Industry. This collaborative effort will systematically tackle key technologies for breeding new corn varieties with high yield, excellent quality, stress resistance, and suitability for mechanical harvesting. The goal is to build an intelligent, precise, and highly efficient modern corn biological breeding technology system, effectively filling gaps in seed industry innovation, enriching independent germplasm resources, and enhancing the capacity to create superior seed varieties.

Going forward, the Tongliao City Science and Technology Bureau will continue to leverage its functional strengths. It will strictly implement a full-cycle closed-loop management system for major science and technology projects, closely monitoring project R&D progress, the standardized use of funds, and the transformation of results. The aim is to continuously strengthen the corn seed industry's science and technology innovation chain, fully utilizing the "science and technology core" of the seed industry to solidify the foundation of food security.