In the golden September of autumn, the skies over Guyang County in Baotou are vast and clear. In the astragalus fields of Dayigong Village in Huaishuo Town, a faint herbal aroma drifts across the farmland. On the ridge, 58-year-old Shang Jun uses a shovel to lift an astragalus plant from the soil; after shaking off the dirt from the roots, the brown main root is revealed. "In less than a month, my astragalus will be ready for concentrated harvesting," Shang Jun says, brushing the soil from his hands, his face beaming with anticipation for the harvest. Shang Jun is the chairman of the Guyang County Mengqi Wang Farmers' Professional Cooperative, and having started growing astragalus with his parents at the age of 18, he has shared a 40-year bond with this "earth nugget" plant.
The First Leap: Technology-Driven Cultivation
In Shang Jun's memory, early astragalus farming relied entirely on manual labor. "Once the seeds were sown, we had to wait three years for the harvest. During the harvest, we had to dig down about a meter of soil, shovelful by shovelful, and by the end of the day, I couldn't straighten my back." In 2011, Shang Jun was among the first to try using a tractor-drawn plow to assist with harvesting. Although it still required manual cooperation, the work efficiency was greatly improved. However, the real technological shift came in 2019 when Guyang County vigorously promoted high-ridge planting technology, integrating ridging, mulching, and sowing in one operation, which pushed both the yield and quality of astragalus to a new level. "With the new harvesting machine, we've reduced labor costs per mu and significantly cut down on crop loss," Shang Jun notes. By 2026, Guyang County's astragalus planting area is expected to stabilize at 100,000 mu, with 20,000 mu of standardized planting production bases and radiation-driven standardized planting covering over 80,000 mu. Guyang's astragalus cultivation has moved from relying on experience to embracing scientific farming, from manual labor to full mechanization, completing a profound transformation.
The Second Leap: Value Creation Along the Chain
If improving the planting end was just the starting point, then the extension of the industrial chain has solidified the confidence behind Guyang's astragalus industry. "In the past, harvested dried astragalus was only sold as raw materials everywhere, and ordinary-looking herbs couldn't fetch good prices," Shang Jun says. Now, leveraging its authentic medicinal herb resources, Guyang County is fully building a complete astragalus industry chain. In the smart workshop of Junkang Qiye (Guyang) Technology Co., Ltd., the astragalus undergoes processes such as soaking, steaming, purification, and bottling to be transformed into amber-colored botanical essence drinks. With a fully automated intelligent extraction production line, the extraction efficiency of astragalus active ingredients has increased by 40%, and a series of products have been developed, including astragalus original drinks, solid beverages, pressed candy, and traditional Chinese medicine decoction pieces. Meanwhile, innovative astragalus products from Guyang continue to emerge: Inner Mongolia Green Bohui has launched astragalus cookies, perfectly blending the aroma of wheat and herbs; Longju Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Technology has merged prairie milk wine with astragalus extract to create the nation's first astragalus milk wine, with an annual output value exceeding 30 million yuan; Inner Mongolia Zhengbeiqi Food Co., Ltd. focuses on high-end medicinal and edible products, with its "Zhengbei Fu" series selected as a "national guest gift" in Kyrgyzstan, bringing Guyang astragalus to the international stage. Guyang astragalus has now developed 266 products across 7 major series, including pharmaceuticals, food, health supplements, cosmetics, and beverages, covering three major tracks: health and edible products, daily chemical and skincare items, and cultural and creative gifts. This achieves comprehensive utilization of the entire plant, with the total output value of the complete industry chain surpassing 1.5 billion yuan. From selling raw materials to selling finished products, from wholesale by the ton to retail by the gram, a single astragalus root has seen its value multiply. To smooth the final mile of industrial circulation, Guyang County is planning the construction of an astragalus warehousing, logistics, and trading center. This facility integrates warehousing, primary processing, cold-chain logistics, and spot trading, capable of meeting 100,000 tons of static storage demand and creating a regional medicinal herb distribution and trading platform. "With a unified warehousing and trading platform, our local high-quality astragalus will be able to fetch better prices," Shang Jun says with anticipation. To date, Guyang astragalus holds the "dual certification" of an agricultural product geographical indication and a geographical indication certification trademark, and has been included in the national "Famous, Special, Superior, and New" agricultural product list. In 2026, the "Guyang Astragalus National Geographical Indication Protection Demonstration Zone" was selected among 20 candidates for national creation. Testing shows that the astragaloside IV content reaches 0.194%, double the pharmacopoeia standard, and the calycosin-7-glucoside content is 0.086%, placing its core indicators among the top for cultivated astragalus nationwide. With its characteristics of deep color, sweet taste, dense texture, and high powder content, Guyang astragalus has become the designated raw material for well-known pharmaceutical companies such as Yangtze River Pharmaceutical Group and Sichuan Guokang Pharmaceutical. Shang Jun's cooperative has jointly built an organic astragalus planting base with Yangtze River Pharmaceutical Group, where the company purchases at above-market prices, ensuring direct supply from the source and eliminating intermediaries. "Whatever standards the pharmaceutical factory sets, we grow to those standards. We have now passed the Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) certification from the Agricultural Product Quality and Safety Center of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, obtained the GAP certificate for astragalus products, and improved the product traceability system, so every batch of herbs can be traced back to the specific planting plot and harvest time," Shang Jun says.
The Third Leap: Brand Recognition and Market Expansion
In recent years, with the rise of the "41° Guyang Xian" regional public brand, brand empowerment has collectively boosted Guyang's specialty agricultural products, led by astragalus. Recently, the North Latitude "41° Guyang Xian" Guyang Good Products Selection Center officially began operations in Qingshan District, Baotou. The venue displays various products of "Guyang's Eight Treasures," including grains, astragalus health foods, milk wine, and skincare and cultural items, complete with live-streaming rooms and business negotiation areas, integrating exhibition and sales, live-stream e-commerce, and product selection matching. As of now, "41° Guyang Xian" has authorized 78 companies to use the brand, covering 355 products, and has built a complete product matrix from primary agricultural products to high-value-added consumer goods. From the single breakthrough of astragalus to the flourishing of "Guyang's Eight Treasures," Guyang's specialty agricultural products are advancing to the national stage as a cluster. With the harvest day drawing closer, this astragalus root, deeply embedded in the Yinshan land, continues to write a new chapter in the high-quality development of rural industries.
Comments