Seed development helps boost food production, academy says By WANG XIAODONG | China Daily | Updated: 2021-01-13 09:09 Share [Photo/VCG]
Improved research and development of seeds has greatly contributed to increased food production and overall food security in China over the past five years, the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences said on Tuesday.
With the development of agricultural science and technology, more domestically developed crop species have been promoted, covering more than 95 percent of the total areas of crops planted in China by the end of last year, said Wan Jianmin, vice-president of the academy.
Of all the major crops, self-reliance on seeds has been achieved for wheat and rice, the two most important grains in China. Overall, promotion of superior species has contributed to more than 45 percent of the total increased grain production over the past five years, Wan said.
People noticed an unusual sight this year: plants bursting into flower during autumn.
By Samantha Harrington | Thursday, December 10, 2020
(Photo credit: PaulaN / Wikimedia)
While visiting his parents’ New Jersey home in late September, Andrew Goldman noticed something strange: Their crab apple tree was blooming. Goldman, who works with edible plants and lives in Rhode Island, said the tree typically blooms in April. In the 20 years his family has lived in the house, he can’t remember its ever having bloomed in the fall before.
(Photo credit: Andrew Goldman / ISeeChange)
Goldman wasn’t alone in observing this phenomenon. In the fall of 2018, others posting at Yale Climate Connections content-sharing partner ISeeChange noted rhododendron, lilac and apples blooming throughout the Northeast. Anna Cash’s crab apple in Milford, Ohio, bloomed during the last week of September 2020, and she spotted strawberries flowering in her community garden in October.