The Road to Expanding Soybean Production in the Hometown of Soybeans

In late October and autumn, the autumn harvest on the northern land is nearing its end. In Helen City, Heilongjiang Province, the soybean hometown in the extreme north of China, the daytime weather has already approached zero degrees Celsius. The earth is about to freeze after the autumn harvest, accumulating energy for the next year’s sowing.

Heilongjiang is the largest soybean producing area in China, and Helen City is a well-known soybean producing area in Heilongjiang. This year, in response to the national soybean production expansion plan, the soybean planting area in Helen City has also increased significantly compared to previous years.

Li Hailong, a 53 year old planter in Changjian Village, Mayor Fa Town, Helen, has just had his busiest autumn harvest. This year, he planted 120 acres of soybeans on 8 fields, an increase of 40 acres compared to previous years. During the soybean growth period, the climate and rainfall were good, with an average yield of nearly 500 kilograms per mu.

Helen City is located in the central part of Heilongjiang Province, at the northern end of the Songnen Plain and at the western foot of the Xiaoxing’an Mountains. There are many hills, hills, and highland plains within the territory, and this is also the central area of black land. It is a pilot area for the promotion of the integrated system of black land protection and utilization.

Helen is a traditional soybean producer, with large-scale soybean cultivation lasting for over 100 years. According to data, as early as 1914, Helen’s soybean planting area reached 1.5 million acres, with an annual yield of around 400000 stones.

People who grew up in the vast plains and hills of Helen have countless memories of soybeans. Liu Chunsheng, a planter in Dongxing Village, Qianjin Town, Helen City, recalled that when he was a child, almost every family grew soybeans. At that time, there was a lack of machinery and all cultivation relied on manual labor. Compared to corn, which had a higher labor volume, farmers were more willing to choose soybeans when the benefits were comparable.

Helen is a high-quality soybean producing area. It is reported that Helen is located in the “dual core area” of the cold black soil and selenium rich soil zone in the Songnen Plain. The black soil layer has an organic matter content of up to 3% -5% and is rich in various trace elements. Helen soybeans have the “three highs” of high-quality quality, with a protein content of over 44%, a crude fat content of over 22%, and an average selenium rich content of 66 micrograms/kg.

In Helen City, anywhere can be the best area for producing selenium rich agricultural products. And this advantage has already been fully recognized and utilized by local people today, becoming a support and brand for the development of the agricultural industry. A village secretary told reporters that the soil in the village has undergone professional testing, and the average selenium content per kilogram of soil can reach 0.4 milligrams. Moreover, natural selenium rich farmland accounts for 99% of the entire village’s farmland.