Beyond Henan’s Harvest-Ruining Rain: Guanzhong Plain Farmers Also Worry Over Wheat Crops
1. Unseasonal Heavy Rainfall
After two months of growth, the wheat went through heading, flowering and grain filling, eventually producing heavy, plump ears. Although the neighbouring villagers’ crops weren’t quite as tall as those on the farm, they were growing remarkably well.
Late May marks a critical stage for wheat maturation. Under normal circumstances, following the *Mangzhong* (Grain in Ear) solar term, the wheat across the Guanzhong Plain would be gradually harvested by migrant labourers driving combine harvesters and brought into storage. Lüwo Farm had also planned to bring in its crop around 10 June.
What I did not expect was that on 25 May, just as dawn broke, a sharp clap of thunder would split the sky, followed instantly by a torrential downpour. The heavy patter against the roof jolted me from sleep.
I initially assumed it was merely a summer thunderstorm arriving early in May, but little did I know it would signal nearly two weeks of relentless overcast and rain. Having lived in Shaanxi for eight years, I had never witnessed May precipitation lasting so long or falling so heavily. From 25 May through 4 June, apart from two days that briefly cleared, moderate rain fell daily for several hours, or sometimes throughout the entire day.
II. “Lodged wheat is just straw”
The 10 mu of “Abe” wheat only shifted from vibrant green to a yellowish hue right before the rain; the 10 mu of spelt remains vivid green to this day; and prior to the downpour, the heads of the 40 mu of “Wanmai 52” wheat were still predominantly green, pushing their maturation roughly a week later than the surrounding villagers’ crops.
The farm’s wheat is not yet ripe, so there is no immediate concern about harvesters being unable to access the fields. However, the prolonged wet weather has presented a different set of challenges.
Both Abyssinian and spelt wheat are tall varieties. At maturity, the plants reach at least one metre in height, with spelt wheat growing to nearly 1.3 metres. When faced with consecutive days of rain, the most likely issue is lodging.
In recent years, most new wheat varieties have been dwarf strains bred to resist lodging, which is also the preferred choice for most local growers. Luwo Farm, however, specialises in wholemeal biscuits and wheat flour, and prioritises texture and flavour. Consequently, they have opted for older, taller varieties that locals have largely abandoned: Abyssinian wheat, and the ancient grain, spelt.
Growing taller varieties does carry certain risks, but Luwo Farm has spent years improving its soil using Australian Dynamic No-Till methods. As a result, the wheat develops robust root systems and strong stalks, with leaves growing upright, making it far less prone to lodging.
It is said that ahead of the 2017 summer wheat harvest, the Guanzhong region also experienced widespread wheat lodging following days of torrential rain and strong winds. Yet at Lüwo Farm, only crops near the irrigation channels that had been waterlogged for extended periods succumbed to lodging, accounting for just 5 per cent of the total cultivated area.
This year’s prolonged spell of wet weather is clearly well outside the normal range. Since 29 May, lodging has been recurring across the fields. Initially confined to small patches, it spread as one downpour followed another. With more stalks unable to support the weight of grain heads soaked through with water, the affected areas gradually coalesced into large swathes.
Across the farm’s 60 mu of wheat, the Abram variety suffered the most severe lodging, with an estimated three to four mu lying criss-crossed in a tangle. The spelt wheat, still in its growing stage, also went down in several small pockets. Even the shorter-statured Wanmai 52 developed several fairly extensive bare patches.
III. Tackling Wheat Lodging: Immediate Remedial Action
Yet, navigating a wheat field on the verge of harvest at a steady pace while shouldering a heavy water tank and petrol engine, and continuously swinging the spray wand, is no easy feat. I would even call it the most gruelling task I faced during my internship.
Covering more than 400 metres on a single pass across one mu, the young men were utterly drained after just one run. Trudging through the towering spelt wheat, we soon lost our bearings. The fine mist sprayed upwards drifted right back onto our heads, drenching us completely, while clods of earth kept working their way into our shoes. I only gave it one go; I tripped over the field’s weeds several times and ended up wasting half a drum of the mixture by walking too slowly.
IV. Sprouting and mould
Fortunately, naturally grown wheat matures at varying rates. Overripe plants accounted for only a small fraction of the crop, and the sprouting was merely an isolated issue within the Abomai variety. The days that followed the downpour were clear and sunny, bringing the sprouting trend to a halt just in time.
By 9 June, most of the wheat in Xinzhuang Village, home to Lüwo Farm, and the surrounding areas had still not been harvested. From a distance, the fields bathed in sunlight were not a vibrant golden yellow, but a dull or greyish hue, with some patches even turning grey-brown. This indicated that the husks had blackened and the grains inside were likely mouldy.
Even among the few households in the village that had already harvested and dried their crops, parts of the wheat showed signs of infection by red and black moulds. If wheat encounters rain during the heading or flowering stages, it can contract a red mould, commonly known as Fusarium head blight. Infected wheat produces a mycotoxin, and once the infection rate exceeds 4%, it becomes unfit for consumption.
The black mould on the wheat was primarily caused by the recent prolonged rainy spell. If testing reveals excessive levels of either mould, the crop is strictly inedible. Even if it were deemed safe to eat, its appearance and flavour would be significantly diminished, causing considerable complications for downstream processing. The farmers’ predicament is only too easy to imagine.
V. Emergency Harvest and Drying
The 10 mu (approximately 0.67 hectares) of Abowang wheat yielded around five tonnes of grain. Unlike previous years, when the kernels had a uniform hardness and reached a satisfactory moisture level after only a short drying period, this year’s crop exhibited highly uneven maturity due to lodging. Some grains were hard, others soft, and some still green. This means we will need a longer drying period this year; otherwise, the grain risks going mouldy during storage.
Fortunately, the drying ground at Lüwo Farm is well designed: half open-air, half under cover. On sunny days, the wheat is spread on the open side, raked flat, and turned every hour. If rain is expected, the exposed batch is simply moved under the cover, ensuring an efficient drying process without interruption.
VI. The Hardships of Farmers Amidst Extreme Weather
We were told that in the run-up to last year’s harvest, Xiaohei spent several nights sleeping in a van. With the village’s daytime air conditioning draining the local grid and causing voltage drops too low to run the water pumps, he could only turn to night-time sprinkling to cool and rehydrate the wheat baking under the sun. Setting his alarm to wake him every half hour for patrol duties left him with barely any rest.
This year’s deluge of wet harvest rain during wheat maturation was a sight Teacher Dahei had never seen in his nine years working in agriculture. The rain’s toll on the farm extended beyond the wheat. The chamomile, which we had laboured so hard to harvest, went mouldy from the excessive humidity and had to be sent entirely to the compost heap.
One of my primary reasons for joining Foodthink’s Ecological Farming Internship Programme was to “dispel idealised preconceptions about farming”. Over the past two months or so, watching the plants evolve day by day, sensing the shifting energies of the soil, and observing different cultivation methods has shown me just how deeply environmental issues are intertwined with agriculture, and how human health is inextricably linked to our food.
Living through this exceptionally rare stretch of wet harvest weather has given me a true sense of how tough farming life is. While I deeply admire Teacher Dahei’s resilience and calmness, it has only reinforced my conviction that this is precisely why we must pursue ecological farming.
All images in this article are courtesy of Lvwo Farm
Hu Yanrong, Li Deyue and Lu Dashuai also contributed to this article
Edited by Zai En