In the current rural areas of China, people may have noticed a significant change:
The wheat harvest season is no longer the bustling and busy period it used to be.
Nowadays, if there are no harvesters available, people are more inclined to let the wheat wither in the fields rather than manually harvesting it.
Even if the wheat is overripe or even scorched, people simply wait for the arrival of harvesters. If harvesters are unavailable, nobody will willingly engage in manual wheat cutting.
Even the impending heavy rain does not cause panic among farmers. They are not worried about the wheat molding in the fields.
This is completely different from the situation before the 1980s and 1990s.
During that time, the wheat harvest season was known as the "busy three summers." People were racing against time to harvest and plant, fearing that the wheat might rot in the fields.
As soon as the wheat began to turn yellow, farmers would start preparing various tools for harvesting, such as sickles, wooden forks, wooden shovels, bamboo brooms, and straw hats. If they didn't have them, they would rush to buy them at the market.
Then, they would tidy up the wheat fields. They would first use stone rollers to flatten the ground, then sprinkle water to moisten it, and finally use stone rollers and wooden harrows to harden the soil.
Once the wheat fields were prepared, they would start manual wheat cutting.
Usually, one section of the wheat field would be cut as soon as it ripened, and then the wheat would be bundled.
Manual wheat cutting required attention to ensure that the wheat was not too ripe or scorched, as this could cause the wheat to shed grains and explode during binding and hauling.
Therefore, the best time for cutting wheat was when the wheat turned yellow but the stems were still somewhat moist.
In the past, farmers would usually wake up around five in the morning to start cutting wheat in the fields. They would work until ten-thirty or eleven o'clock, then return home for lunch.
At noon, they would spread the harvested wheat in the fields to dry. They would leave it until around four in the afternoon, then start hauling it. They would only start threshing the wheat after dinner.
Sometimes, wheat cutting would continue into the afternoon or evening, and some people would even cut wheat at night when it was cooler.
However, wheat cut in the afternoon or evening would become damp due to dew the next morning and would need to dry until the afternoon before hauling.
At that time, everyone, young and old, would participate in harvesting. Even children would help cut wheat in the fields. Teenagers aged fourteen or fifteen would start hauling wheat. The elderly would usually stay at home to watch the wheat fields and dry the wheat.
Unlike today's children who prefer to stay indoors, children in the past were eager to work in the fields because there was nothing fun to do at home.
In the 1980s and 1990s, rural students enjoyed a "wheat vacation," which was a half-month holiday when students and teachers would return home to harvest wheat.
Even in county towns, government offices and factories would shut down during the wheat harvest season, and migrant workers would return home to help with the harvest.
Back then, many workers were migrants, with men working in cities while their wives and children tended to the fields at home.
Ten years ago, there was a slogan on the internet: "Children, the wheat at home is ripe, come back quickly to help harvest!" This slogan called on children working away from home to return and help with the wheat harvest.
During the wheat harvest season, all industries would shut down, and migrant workers would return home to help with the harvest.
The most worrying thing during the wheat harvest season was heavy rain. A single rainstorm could cause the wheat to mold. Fully ripe wheat would turn black after a downpour, and wheat that had been cut would sprout if left in the rain.
Therefore, there was a saying: "It's hard to buy a dry May; rain in June fills the rice barn." This means it's best not to rain in May, so the wheat can be harvested before the rain comes.
The wheat harvest season was also the time for "double grabs." Farmers not only had to harvest wheat but also had to plant corn because corn has a short growth cycle, and the difference of a few days in planting time could lead to significant differences in yield.
Therefore, after harvesting one section of wheat, they would immediately plant corn. Even in dry weather, they would have to water the newly planted corn.
Otherwise, they would miss the farming season.
In some places, corn would even be planted before all the wheat was harvested.
This means that corn would be planted when the wheat began to turn yellow. Seven days later, when the corn sprouted, it would be time to harvest the wheat.
When planting corn, farmers would use a triangular support to separate the wheat and then plant the corn.
This method was suitable for regions with low temperatures and late wheat harvesting.
After the corn sprouted, it was essential to quickly weed the wheat stubble to prevent it from competing with the corn for nutrients. Additionally, weeds would quickly grow in the fields after wheat cutting, so timely weeding was necessary to prevent them from affecting crop growth.
Nowadays, herbicides are generally used, and manual weeding is rarely done.
For the staff of the power supply department, ensuring electricity supply is crucial during the wheat harvest season.
There cannot be any power outages in rural areas during this time. Therefore, electricians would be busy ensuring electricity supply for farmers.
In some places, farmers would directly connect to power lines and pay electricity bills based on their usage after the wheat was harvested.
However, these scenes no longer exist today. Farmers no longer manually harvest wheat and rely entirely on harvesters.
If harvesters are not available, they would rather let the wheat rot in the fields than manually harvest it.
Farmers no longer prepare wheat fields or install threshers.
Young people who work away from home no longer return to help with the harvest. Instead, their parents complete this work.
Therefore, the wheat harvest season no longer has the roar of threshers, and there are fewer teams hauling wheat. There are also fewer people in the fields.
Although agricultural mechanization has brought convenience, what if harvesters were to stop working one day?
Just like in North Korea in the 1990s, after the collapse of the Soviet Union led to a loss of oil supply, agricultural machinery in North Korea became paralyzed, leading to a significant decrease in grain production and the beginning of famine.
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