Shandong, an agricultural powerhouse and major producer of grain in China, has recently been promoting the production of high quality grain.

According to the Ministry of Finance and National Food and the Strategic Reserves Administration, the high-quality grain project is part of the rural rejuvenation and national food security strategies and is meant to strengthen agricultural supply side structural reforms.

Tractors are used to harvest wheat in Linyi, Shandong province. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

There is about 4,000,000 hectares of wheat crops in Shandong, which includes crops of high-quality strong-gluten wheat. An increasing number of farmers in the province are planting high-quality varieties that are popular with customers.

Fu Yanqin, a manager at Shandong Lihua Flour Company, said that the company used to purchase whatever farmers planted, but now they produce what consumers want, which in turn determines what farmers grow.

"Bread flour, dumpling flour, pastry flour all require the use of a special type of wheat," said Shen Yunfeng, a manager at the company.

The supply of ecofriendly high-quality grain has increased with market demand, which has raised farmers' incomes, increased the efficiency of enterprises, and benefited consumers, said a local official.

In order to expand the planting area for high-quality wheat, Shandong has established demonstration production areas, demonstration enterprises, and rural cooperatives.