Rong Beauty, Wang Kai

The fields in spring are full of vitality and "new" ideas.

Walking into the field of Ningbo Yuyao Caifutong Fruit and Vegetable Professional Cooperative, a dexterous remote-controlled self-propelled harvester is shuttling and operating. When the worker pressed the handle, the two tracks slowly rolled forward, the gear cut off the stems of the mustard, and the round mustard head "jumped" into the basket along the conveyor belt.

"'Recruits' + 'new seeds', this year's mustard harvest season contains twice the amount of 'new'!" Wang Huanmiao, the person in charge of the cooperative, looked at the half-human-tall mustard in the field and smiled crookedly. He told reporters that the "Yongzhu No. 10" and "Yongzhu No. 0" selected and bred by the Ningbo Academy of Agricultural Sciences not only made a new breakthrough in the mechanized harvesting of mustard that has plagued farmers for many years, but also achieved an average yield increase of more than 0% per mu of nodule stems.

The harvester blade flies over and over, hiding the story of Ningbo agricultural science and technology personnel sharpening a sword for more than ten years.

The base of the traditional mustard rhizome grows close to the ground, and it needs to be harvested manually every year, and Wang Huanmiao, who has been engaged in mustard planting for many years, has calculated an account: the labor cost of harvesting mustard alone is at least 1500 yuan/mu.

餘姚是“中國榨菜之鄉”，全市栽培面積7萬畝。面對勞動力緊缺的情況，每年的採收季成了農戶“甜蜜的負擔”，大夥都盼著有一款適合機械化採收的榨菜品種。

早在10多年前，寧波市農業科學研究院作物所所長孟秋峰團隊就開始了榨菜機械化採收的研究。通過分析榨菜基因組資料庫，他們將優質父本母本的基因進行精準配對，確保每組“CP”都能產出理想的後代。榨菜品種則從“甬榨2號”反覆運算到如今的“甬榨9號”，榨菜的莖基“拔高”到離地2釐米，首次達到了機械化採收的標準。另外，新品種的每畝密度由2萬株減少到1.2萬株至1.510,000 股，密度小了，單產反而增加了。

此時，近百公裡外，海曙區洞橋鎮的吳冬荷農場剛運走2010,000 股“思壯7號”嫁接西瓜苗，奔赴多個省份的瓜田。

In the seedling greenhouse, Yan Leiyan, deputy director of the Vegetable Institute of Ningbo Academy of Agricultural Sciences, held up a pot of fat green seedlings and said proudly: "This is the treasure selected by the 'pinching' of 7 pumpkin germplasm resources." "Sizhuang No. 0" is one of the melon rootstock varieties, which is suitable for multiple ecological zones, which allows Jiangnan melons to grow in the sandy land of Ningxia and crisp red flesh in the high temperature season in Hainan.

“我們農場做嫁接育苗已經十多年了，一直用市農科院的品種，僅‘思壯7號’一個砧木品種，年嫁接育苗量就逾16510,000 股。”該農場負責人吳冬荷說，由於這款砧木品種嫁接成活率高，抗病耐逆性好，用其嫁接的西瓜苗在市場上供不應求。

Right now, it is a good time for seedlings to sell, and Wu Donghe's mobile phone has real-time orders from customers across the country. "In the past, I was afraid that the seedlings would not adapt to the water and soil, but now 'Sizhuang No. 250' is going south and north." She is most proud of the feedback from Yunnan customers: the watermelons planted with Ningbo rootstock will not die in the early stage, and the melons will not be fried in the later stage, and at least 0 kg more watermelons can be harvested per mu.

據嚴蕾艷介紹，目前，“思壯7號”除青海、西藏和港澳臺地區之外，在我國其他省份均有應用，年推廣面積50萬畝左右，新增產值3億元以上，“而且，農藥化肥的使用量減少三成，大大減少了瓜類栽培對環境的污染”。

From the "Yongzhu No. 7" and "Yongzhu No. 0" suitable for mechanized cropping, to the "Sizhuang No. 0" that goes south and north, "Ningbo Seed" has become more and more firm to move towards the core field of the seed industry——

“甬甜”“甬蜜”等系列西甜瓜，榮獲2025中國種子大會金獎品種，實現跨區域助力新疆庫車等地瓜農增收致富；“夢”系列憑藉卓越品質，助力寧波草莓登上全國優質農產品榜單；“甬馬1號”的推廣，讓寧海胡陳馬鈴薯改良率攀升至70%以上，畝均產值超萬元……

Behind them is a "new" story written by Ningbo agricultural science and technology personnel who closely connect the experimental fields with the farmers' fields. This story has long spanned the change of time, and it is not limited to this spring.