Grain loss reduction contest held in Laoling, E China's Shandong

Harvesters participate in a grain loss reduction competition in a wheat field in Kangjia village, Zhengdian township, Laoling city, east China's Shandong Province, June 10, 2023. (Photo/Jia Peng)

Ten harvesters participated in a grain loss reduction competition in a wheat field in Kangjia village, Zhengdian township, Laoling city, east China's Shandong Province, on June 10.

The competition, which is aimed at saving more food during the summer harvest season, has been held for three consecutive years in Laoling city.

Qu Xuechun, an expert at the agricultural machinery center of Dezhou city said the harvester operators must finishing reaping a designated amount of wheat in a specific area in 8 to 10 minutes at a normal driving speed, and their performance, including trying to leave no grain unharvested and controlling the height of stubble left in the field, was also evaluated during the competition.

The loss rate was calculated by a formula that involved the weight of unharvested wheat and the predicted yield per mu (one mu is about 667 square meters), said Qu.

The 10 operators achieved wheat harvest loss rates of less than 1.1 percent, including one operator who won with a loss rate of 0.72 percent.

Large-scale harvest of wheat planted on 903,600 mu of land in Laoling city will be in full swing, and the mechanization rate is expected to reach 99.7 percent.

The city aims to control the average grain loss rate below 1.5 percent by holding grain loss reduction competitions and other grain loss reduction activities.