Digging, sorting, and transporting, smooth and plump potatoes roll out and slide into woven bags along the tracks of agricultural machinery. Oh! The average yield per mu is 5812.51 kilograms! Recently, in Liangzhou District, Wuwei City, Gansu Province, a research team from Gansu Agricultural University conducted actual measurements and harvesting of 1860 acres of "Gannong Potato No. 7" in Xiashazi Village. Not only is the output high, but the quality is also good. "This variety has excellent resistance to low temperature saccharification and storage. The reducing sugar content is less than 0.20% after 6 months of low temperature storage. It is not easy to browning, and is very suitable for processing fried chips and strips." Zhang Feng, professor of the State Key Laboratory of Crop Science in Arid Habitat jointly built by Gansu Agricultural University, said excitedly on the spot that this variety can break the situation of domestic processing potatoes relying on foreign varieties for a long time, which is of great significance for Gansu potato industry to extend, supplement and strengthen the chain. Gansu is an important potato production area in China, with a total potato output of over 15 million tons last year, ranking second in the country. However, the proportion of high-quality processed potatoes is relatively low, and one bottleneck problem it faces is seed sources. Since 2010, Zhang Feng has led the potato research team at Gansu Agricultural University to embark on a long career in potato breeding. Different from staple crops such as corn and rice, which generally have two sets of genomes, potato cultivars have four sets of genomes. The genetic background is complex, and it is difficult to select hybrid offspring with low stability. Therefore, it is difficult to cultivate breakthrough new species, and the breeding cycle is often based on ten years. Start again if you fail, and get up again if you fall. The team has successively bred a series of new potato varieties, including "Gannongshu 6, 7, 8, and 9", among which "Gannongshu 7" has performed outstandingly. As of October this year, Gannong Potato No. 7 has been promoted in 12 major potato production areas across the country, with a cumulative planting area of over 430000 acres. The number of authorized potato production enterprises has increased to 9, and the cumulative authorization fee has exceeded 3 million yuan. We look forward to it becoming a mainstream processing variety in our country. "Zhang Feng is full of confidence. In recent years, based on the natural resource foundation of drought, water shortage, and low annual average temperature in the northwest region, Gansu Agricultural University has actively responded to the needs of regional food security, quality agriculture, and ecological security, focusing on the main grain and oil crops, Chinese herbal medicines, vegetables, and forage crops in arid habitats, and providing technological support for the development of modern cold and drought characteristic agriculture in Gansu. Professor Sun Wancang from Gansu Agricultural University led a team to carry out a 40 year scientific research project aimed at addressing the key technical bottlenecks and cold resistance mechanisms of winter rapeseed overwintering. The team traveled over 20000 kilometers annually and brought back tens of thousands of rapeseed germplasm resources to the laboratory. Through repeated experiments, they achieved breakthrough progress at the world's advanced level. They have successively cultivated 18 winter rapeseed varieties that can withstand extreme low temperatures, pushing the planting area of winter rapeseed from 35 degrees north latitude to 48 degrees north latitude, ending the history of winter rapeseed being unable to be planted in the arid and cold regions of the north. Professor Peng Yunling from Gansu Agricultural University has been engaged in genetic breeding research of maize for a long time. She led a team to develop 9 drought resistant, density tolerant, and machine harvested maize varieties. Among them, "Gannong 588" has become one of the main cultivated varieties in dryland agricultural areas of Gansu, Shaanxi, Ningxia, and Inner Mongolia due to its high yield and wide adaptability, driving the upgrading of maize varieties. At present, a research team from Gansu Agricultural University is closely monitoring the six characteristic agricultural industries of "cattle, sheep, vegetables, fruits, potatoes, and medicines" in Gansu. They are pouring their wisdom and sweat into the fields, injecting the "light of technology" into the development of cold and dry characteristic agriculture. (New Society)