On the 29th, the autumn harvest was in full swing. In Hailun City, Heilongjiang Province, each ear of fresh corn takes only 3 hours from harvesting and freshness-locking to completed processing... While the fields are being harvested, processed corn from the workshops is already being shipped across the country. The fresh corn autumn harvest scene in Hailun City. Photo courtesy of the Hailun City Agriculture and Rural Affairs Bureau. Relying on its locational advantage along the 47th parallel north—the "world's golden corn belt"—Hailun City has built a competitive and distinctive fresh corn industry cluster, establishing a full industrial chain covering planting, processing, and marketing. Fresh corn has already been sold to Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and other places, with annual sales reaching 1 billion yuan.

At present, Hailun City has established large-scale planting bases. Driven by leading enterprises, it has promoted contiguous planting and centralized management, with fresh corn planting area expanding from 7,000 mu in 2014 to 200,000 mu in 2025. The city has explored and implemented a "six unified, one separate" production model—unified land preparation, unified seed supply, unified sowing, unified fertilization, unified field management, unified harvesting, and separate household sales—and has invested nearly 30 million yuan to introduce internationally advanced precision seeders and corn ear harvesters, achieving full mechanization from planting to harvesting. Fresh corn processing scene. Photo courtesy of the Hailun City Agriculture and Rural Affairs Bureau. Over the past three years, Hailun City has invested a cumulative total of approximately 400 million yuan to support 13 processing enterprises in plant renovation and expansion and production equipment upgrades, with warehouse storage capacity exceeding 300,000 tons.

Currently, the city has built two domestically advanced production lines and has taken the lead in applying fluidized quick-freezing tunnel technology, enabling direct delivery from field harvest to workshop quick-freezing processing. It employs a "3-hour extreme freshness lock" to maximize the retention of corn's fresh and sweet taste. "The corn seeds we have bred are better adapted to local climate conditions. The sugar content of waxy corn can reach 14 degrees, and the sugar content of sweet corn can reach 17 degrees, with excellent taste," said Wang Changjiu, deputy director of the Hailun City Agriculture and Rural Affairs Bureau. At present, Hailun fresh corn has been included in the national list of famous, special, excellent, and new agricultural products; two products have received "Black Soil Premium Products" brand authorization, and it has won multiple honors including the Gold Award at the China International Organic Food Expo.

At the same time, Hailun City is driving capacity leaps through deep processing. The city's 21 processing enterprises have an annual processing capacity of 700 million ears. It has already reached cooperation intentions with leading domestic food enterprises and is planning deep processing projects with a total investment of 470 million yuan for fresh corn juice, corn silk tea, and other products, accelerating the transformation of fresh corn from primary processing to high-value-added products such as beverages and prepared foods.