This year, the No. 1 Central Document clearly states that the main direction of promoting the structural reform of the agricultural supply side is to improve the quality of agricultural supply. In the vegetable planting process that is related to the safety of vegetable baskets, how to use existing resources to not only produce a bumper harvest, but also meet consumers' demand for the quality of agricultural products?

Shouguang City, Shandong Province, known as the "hometown of vegetables", has adapted to local conditions, started innovation from the production link, and promoted reform. By improving the agricultural production mode of facilities, it has explored a soilless cultivation mode of "sand culture", which not only saves costs and increases efficiency, but also greatly improves the quality of agricultural supply.

Fewer diseases and high yields, high-quality vegetables are produced in sandy land

The earth rejuvenates, and all things recover. In the vegetable greenhouse of Shandong Tiancufang Agricultural Development Co., Ltd., Sanyuanzhu Village, Sunjiaji Street, Shouguang City, the green bitter gourd branches are thick and strong, and the thick green leaves are hidden with the pleasing growth of bitter gourd. Careful observation, with the general greenhouse cultivation method is somewhat different, the bitter gourd here grows in the sand.

"In the sand, this bitter gourd grows well and basically has no disease. In fact, my shed is a bitter gourd with cucumber interplanting. Cucumber was listed years ago, and bitter gourd has only been listed in the past few days." Wang Qingchun, the head of the company, told reporters that he has expanded the scale this year, and now there are five greenhouses all using this sand cultivation mode. "After early trials and good management, cucumbers grown in sand culture are listed 2 to 3 days earlier than in the soil culture model. The yield per mu is increased by more than 10%, and the selling price is also high. A catty of cucumbers is 50 cents more expensive than those on the market, which is in short supply. Now there are many people picking in the garden. I sold this more expensive, 8 yuan per catty."

Why are cucumbers so popular here? "The cucumbers grown in the sand have firm flesh, crisp taste, weak astringency, and most importantly, no pollution." Wang Qingchun said that in the past 30 years of the development of Shouguang facility vegetables, the soil's fertility consumption is too large, and a large amount of base fertilizer is required to reorganize the land every year. The irrigation mode of flood irrigation with large water will increase the humidity in the shed and increase the incidence of diseases and pests. The sand culture mode completely solves this problem. The sand culture mode reduces the air humidity, inhibits the occurrence of diseases to a large extent, and reduces the amount of pesticides per mu by more than 60%. The whole cultivation technology adopts a closed circulation system, which is isolated from the soil, and the water and fertilizer are recycled to achieve zero emissions and no pollution, so the quality of vegetables has been greatly improved. "Last year, we sent the first batch of cucumber pre-market samples to Shouguang City Inspection and Testing Center. The testing center issued a test report, showing that all the samples passed the inspection. Among them, more than 60 common pesticide residue indicators such as rapid phosphorus and chlorothalonil showed'not detected ', meeting the requirements of double A-level green vegetables. "Wang Qingchun said.

Low cost and easy operation, sand culture mode can be promoted

So, what kind of soilless cultivation mode is this?

Wang Qingchun introduced to reporters that this is a new precision cultivation planting mode. Under 20 cm of river sand, the sand layer and soil are separated by a film, and air-permeable pipes and non-woven fabrics are laid under the sand layer. Each row of crops is equipped with water and fertilizer integrated equipment and sensors, and finally all pipes are connected to the water and fertilizer recovery tank, which can be sterilized and filtered before reuse. Sensors monitor temperature and humidity in real time, intelligently control the application time of water and fertilizer, and automatically recycle water and fertilizer, eliminating soil-borne diseases. "In fact, this belongs to a soilless cultivation model. Strictly speaking, this technology should be called water-air circulation sand cultivation. It uses a closed circulation system, water and fertilizer recovery, and can ensure the breathability of vegetable roots. It is a new planting model with high efficiency and environmental protection." Wang Qingchun said that this set of Facility Management is also very convenient, allowing growers to save at least 60% of labor.

Will the investment be very high? "Compared with soil cultivation and the current popular soilless cultivation model of coconut bran, sand cultivation has greater cost advantages." Wang Qingchun gave reporters a sum of money, taking vegetable beds as an example, the cost of soil cultivation of one mu of land is relatively fixed every year, about 15,000 yuan; the first year of coconut bran cultivation requires more than 30,000 yuan, and the substrate needs to be replaced every 3 years. Most of the coconut bran substrates currently need to be imported. The trenches for sand cultivation are composed of films, non-woven fabrics, red bricks, river sand, etc., which can be obtained locally, and the cost is very low. Including fertilizers and other equipment, the first year The investment cost is about 22,000 yuan. In 5 years or even 10 years, only river sand needs to be replenished. In the later stage, except for water, fertilizer and seedlings, there is basically no investment. On average, the cost of the ten-year cycle is only 2,000 yuan per year. It can be said that river sand is the most economical and effective high-quality substrate for soilless cultivation at present, and whether it is saline-alkali land, beach land or abandoned wasteland, sand culture mode can be used completely.

"Growing vegetables does not engage in flower shelves, on the one hand, the quality of vegetables should be improved, and on the other hand, the planting cost should be reduced. Many nearby growers have started to try to change the planting method after seeing real benefits." Wang Qingchun said, "Sand culture vegetables are not only suitable for cucumbers. After the equipment is set up, it can be applied to the vast majority of vegetable crops. We want to turn sand culture soilless planting technology into a practical technology for the transformation and upgrading of the vegetable industry and suitable for ordinary people to grow.