Li Denghai: The Journey from Junior High School Graduate to Expert in Corn Breeding

Li Denghai, a farmer who only graduated from junior high school, continues to toil in the cornfields at over 70 years old. The corn seeds he cultivated have been promoted for a cumulative total of 1 billion mu (about 165 million hectares), increasing the number of people supported per mu from 1 to 4.5, earning him the title of "Father of China's Compact Hybrid Corn."

In 1972, at the age of 23, Li Denghai set his sights on challenging the cultivation of a new corn variety with a yield of 1,500 jin (about 750 kg) per mu. He self-taught theoretical knowledge, studied late into the night, and narrowly avoided a fire. In 1974, he entered Laiyang Agricultural School for further studies, completing a four-year curriculum in just one year.

In 1978, Li Denghai went to Hainan, living in thatched huts, eating dried radish, and sleeping only three to four hours a day. After numerous failures, in 1979, he finally cultivated the "Yedan No. 2" with a yield of 776.9 kg per mu, fulfilling his goal set seven years earlier.

In 1984, Li Denghai resigned from his position as the deputy director of the county science committee to focus on corn breeding. In 1985, he raised funds to establish the Hou Deng Experimental Station, which later developed into Denghai Seeds. Through demonstration fields and mergers and acquisitions, he expanded Denghai Seeds across the country.

In 2005, Li Denghai's "Denghai Super Test No. 1" achieved a yield of 1,402.86 kg per mu, once again breaking the world record. That same year, Denghai Seeds went public, becoming the third stock in the Shenzhen and Shanghai stock markets named after an individual.

Li Denghai's story is a microcosm of several generations of Chinese agricultural scientists. They have written extraordinary lives on the land with their sweat and wisdom.