15 PhDs and 36 Masters have emerged from this experimental field!, I graduated from Zhangchi Village with a PhD in rapeseed | Technology | Zhangchi Village

"I graduated with a PhD from Zhangchi Village"

6 years of master's and doctoral studies

He has been planting fields in Zhangchi Village for a total of 2 years

And combine the research results in the fields and fields

Written into the doctoral thesis

May 28th

Soil Science Major of Huazhong Agricultural University

Doctoral student Zhang Shuntao passed the defense of his doctoral thesis

Approaching Postdoctoral Research

He is Zhangchi Village, Zengji Town, Shayang County

Shayang rapeseed technology courtyard

The 15th doctoral student who emerged

51 graduate students from the Science and Technology Academy

The Science and Technology Academy originated from the field trial station of rapeseed soil testing and formula fertilization at Huazhong Agricultural University in 2005, and established the Shayang rapeseed science and technology academy in 2011. Over the past 12 years, the Science and Technology Academy has produced 51 graduate students.

On June 1st, doctoral students Zhang Shuntao and Fang Yating rolled up their pants and planted their last hand of rice seedlings in the experimental field. They spend one-third of their time working as farmers in Zhangchi Village, where the Shayang rapeseed technology academy is located, so they claim to have graduated from Zhangchi Village.

Professor Lu Jianwei, the founder of the Science and Technology Academy and the School of Resources and Environment at Huazhong Agricultural University, introduced that many students in the master's and doctoral stage have accumulated two years of time, which is not only a learning need but also a certain emotional attachment. Everyone is willing to spend more time on farmland.

In July 2017, Zhang Shuntao, a first-year graduate student, came to Zhangchi Village for the first time. He was scared of insects in the field and put on high rain boots. However, his feet were stuck in the mud and he couldn't move. With the joint help of several classmates, he was able to escape.

Zhang Shuntao, who is about to leave Zhangchi Village, takes a photo under the nameplate of the Science and Technology Academy.

Not only Zhang Shuntao, but also 90% of the master's and doctoral students who come to Zhangchi Village have never done agricultural work, and their clumsy actions when they first enter the farmland often make the villagers laugh. But the brief discomfort was quickly easily resolved by the students. Nine different experimental fields are like a technology park, arousing the interest of "agricultural novices". They are waiting for the seeds to sprout every day, including plowing, rotating, zoning, trenching, sowing rapeseed, watering, and waiting for the seeds to change.

Dr. Zhang Shuntao and Fang Yating, who are about to leave the base, take a photo with everyone.

For a whole year in 2018, Zhang Shuntao never left the Science and Technology Academy and independently completed the planting of a season of rapeseed and a season of rice. On November 22nd, in the light snow of the twenty-four solar terms, Zhang Shuntao stood alone in the Science and Technology Academy, circling around rapeseed seedlings during the day and busy in the laboratory until late at night.

Graduate students win two consecutive farming games, and the big farmers are convinced

Fang Yating, 26 years old this year, comes from Bijie, Guizhou. She served as the director of the Science and Technology Academy for 2 years.

"Show the farmers and lead them to work." When she arrived at Zhangchi Village in July 2019, her mentor Professor Lu Jianwei instructed her in person.

Fang Yating is in the experimental field.

At first, several old farmers in the village looked at the clumsy appearance of several graduate students doing agricultural work, and did not trust them. Fang Yating took the initiative to find a farmer in the village, hoping to compare the yield of rapeseed.

Villager Wang Xuemei, who has 20 years of farming experience, took over the competition and planted 40 acres of responsible land. She presented the best plot of land to participate in the competition. In 2020, Wang Xuemei's rapeseed yield per mu was 355 kilograms, while Fang Yating's experimental field produced 530 kilograms of rapeseed per mu; In 2022, Wang Xuemei's rapeseed yield per mu increased to 452 kilograms, and Fang Yating's experimental field's rapeseed yield per mu also increased to 708 kilograms.

Fang Yating won two battles and two victories, which convinced Wang Xuemei to take the initiative to seek advice on increasing production techniques from Fang Yating. "Accurate fertilization and precise water use are the key to my victory."

Wang Fangming, a 60 year old grain grower, also lost to students a few years ago. "If you don't accept it, the yield will be there." This veteran who has been farming for 40 years also began to observe the farming methods of young men and girls, breaking away from the old routine of fertilization and medicine.

The victory of the competition gave the members of the Science and Technology Academy confidence.

"China's oilseed rape looks at Hubei, Hubei's oilseed rape looks at Shayang, and Shayang's oilseed rape looks at Zhangchi." Zhou Honghua, director of the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Bureau of Shayang County, said that Shayang has held three provincial oilseed rape festivals, especially this year's oilseed rape festival, which has received 3 million tourists and achieved tourism revenue of 1.5 billion yuan. The source technology of rapeseed cultivation in Shayang comes from the Science and Technology Academy, and the graduates sent by the Academy to Shayang County have grown into backbone members of the agricultural front.

Find the direction of the paper in the farmland

During his farming period in Zhangchi Village, Zhang Shuntao discovered the reason why continuous cropping of oil and rice in the field was more carbon sequestering, and wrote this achievement into his doctoral thesis. His next stop is to continue his doctoral studies at China Agricultural University and follow Academician Zhang Fushuo to study how to increase agricultural income for the villagers by the Dianchi Lake.

Fang Yating takes "rapeseed cultivation" as her research direction. Local farmers also discovered in the early years that planting a season of rapeseed resulted in higher rice yields, but the question remains unresolved. Fang Yating found in her experiment that the essence of "rapeseed cultivation" is that the roots and stems of rapeseed enter the soil as fertilizer. Planting rapeseed consumes nutrients, but the consumed nutrients are returned in another form. Rapeseed is known as a "friendly plant". She included the discovery of the new factor of "rapeseed cultivation" in her doctoral thesis and received recognition from her supervisor Professor Lu Jianwei, stating that it fully embodies the values and concepts of the Science and Technology Academy.

Professor Lu Jianwei gave on-site classes to graduate students in the experimental field.

Some people find scientific research from farmland, while others find jobs directly from farmland. Liao Shipeng is one of the 35 master's students who graduated from the Science and Technology Academy. Due to his outstanding farming skills, with only a master's degree, Liao Shipeng was hired by Huazhong Agricultural University as a research assistant at the School of Resources and Environment.

"Research institutes have a huge impact on students." Li Xiaokun was the first doctoral student to graduate from the Science and Technology Institute and has now become a doctoral supervisor at Huazhong Agricultural University. In recent years, he has also sent his students to the Science and Technology Institute for training.