Northeast China's Siping city is in the central area of the Songliao Plain, where fertile land is the foundation of prosperous agricultural development, and is hailed as "the hometown of black soil".

With a focus on "building the city through agriculture", Siping has heightened its efforts in the protection of black soil and has been exploring innovative ways to achieve the target. Through these efforts, the city has developed the nationally-leading working plan, the "Lishu Model", an environmentally-friendly planting model, which will retain soil moisture, prevent soil drifting, increase soil fertility, reduce soil cultivation and save costs.

Corn dominates the local crop of Siping, with corn planting bases covering a large land area. As a result, Siping enjoys a widespread reputation of being the "Corn City".

Agricultural machines spray pesticides in the corn fields. [Photo/jl.gov.cn]

Siping city boosts the development of its agricultural machinery industry, providing technical support for black soil protection. [Photo/jl.gov.cn]

A standardized corn production base under the "Lishu Model" in Siping [Photo/jl.gov.cn]