Ensuring China's food supply remains firmly in its own hands is the shared pursuit of Huang Lili and Kang Zhensheng, a pair of scholars with Northwest A&F University (NWAFU), in Northwest China's Shaanxi Province.
Huang and Kang have been devoted to agricultural research for four decades. Huang specializes in tackling fruit-tree diseases, while Kang, an academician with Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE), focuses on wheat stripe rust. Kang's research has benefited numerous countries and regions along the Belt and Road.
From laboratories to fields, and from domestic research to the promotion of international technology, the couple has made great contributions to safeguarding China's food security.
Ensuring Fruit Safety
Huang, a professor and doctoral supervisor with NWAFU, has spent the past 40 years studying the causes of apple tree diseases and kiwifruit canker, and especially how to prevent and control those diseases.
Huang proposed the new strategy of "preventing diseases before onset." She developed two innovative prevention-and-control technologies; to address apple tree Valsa canker, she suggested treating the tree branch barks with fungicides in summer to prevent new necrotic lesions from emerging in the following spring, for the best effect, and, to address kiwifruit bacterial canker, she proposed "Spray bactericides throughout the garden before and after blooming, and spray bactericides on the main trunks after fruit picking until defoliation."
These strategies are now being used in 70 percent of China's fruit-growing regions, with a combined more than 85 percent average control effect. Huang's research has led the way in preventing fruit-tree diseases.
In recent years, Huang has provided fruit-tree-disease-prevention training to more than three million people. She has shared her knowledge through classes, on-site instruction and livestreaming; in fact, she has had more than 200,000 online viewers, combined, during her livestreaming events.
In addition to her research, Huang has been devoted to cultivating her students, and especially to fostering their commitment to agriculture. Huang joined NWAFU in 2000. Since then, she has undertaken many teaching assignments involving major courses, including agricultural phytopathology.
Huang treats her students as if they are her own children. She taps into their potential, and she provides them with platforms, resources and opportunities to support their growth.
Despite her extensive teaching experience, Huang still prepares each class earnestly, and she integrates her teaching goals with her students' interests. She also uses multimedia, specimens and field demonstrations to make her lectures more engaging.
Treating 'Wheat Cancer'
Kang is a CAE academician, doctoral supervisor and a leading figure in China's phytopathology community. Currently, he is a professor with the College of Plant Protection, at NWAFU, and chief scientist with the State Key Laboratory for Crop Stress Resistance and High-Efficiency Production, also with the university.
Kang has long been focused on preventing major wheat diseases in an eco-friendly and sustainable way. He has made outstanding contributions in studying the occurrence, pathogenic mechanisms and technologies used to control both wheat stripe rust and Fusarium head blight. Kang was elected an academician of CAE in 2017.
"Being elected an academician is an honor and, more importantly, a responsibility and recognition of my study and my team's work," Kang says.
Kang spends at least half of each year conducting field research in remote mountainous areas. While conducting research on wheat stripe rust, he always takes the lead, and he never complains about the hardships he encounters. "He gets energized whenever he hears of wheat stripe rust," Huang says.
Wheat stripe rust, a low-temperature fungal disease spread by high-altitude airflow, has long been a major biological threat to global food security. To solve this threat, Kang has led his team to many regions in China where the pathogen has been known to survive.
Kang's team completed the whole-genome sequencing and assembly of wheat stripe rust fungus; in so doing, the team identified the key genes that regulate the fungus's growth, development and pathogenicity. As such, the team has laid the theoretical foundation for effective control.
Thanks to the team's efforts, the occurrence area of wheat stripe rust in China has been reduced by 50 percent, which has resulted in Chinese farmers recovering more than two billion kilograms of wheat annually, which, in turn, has resulted in annual income increases and cost savings totaling nearly four billion yuan (US $563 million).
Despite his heavy research workload, Kang never neglects guiding his graduate students. He meets with them regularly to review their progress, share his latest research developments and provide timely advice.
"The new era has provided us with such a good platform to realize our potential. In the future, while conducting scientific research, I will help cultivate young talents, and I will help develop China's agricultural science and technology," Kang says.
Hand in Hand
When Kang was young, he studied in Canada and Germany. As a Chinese scientist, he believed studying abroad would expose him to advanced technologies that would help him solve problems within China's agriculture sector. In 2000, Kang, Huang and their son returned to China from Germany.
"As researchers, we must regard helping our country achieve prosperity and strength as our ideal, and we must take promoting national rejuvenation as the foundation of realizing personal happiness. We must ensure China's food supply remains firmly in its own hands," Kang stresses.
Huang and Kang are both dedicated "doctors for plants," but they manage to achieve work-life balance, and they take care of each other. For example, when Kang travels for his fieldwork, Huang helps him by preparing his clothes and packing his suitcase. In return, Kang helps Huang with the cooking and housework. When at work, they both approach each task with great responsibility and enthusiasm.
They support and encourage each other when they encounter difficulties, and they both work hard at improving their teaching techniques, and especially at making scientific innovations to better serve the country.
Kang believes continuous learning and improvement is needed in both career and family life. "My mentor, Li Zhenqi (1922-2007, also a CAE academician), often taught me, 'Do research with feet in wheat waves and hearts for the people.' He was firm in the belief of realizing his personal dreams by making contributions to the country's development. Having followed him for many years, I have brought this belief into my career and family," Kang says.
When he was elected an academician, in 2017, he invited his wife to the ceremony. "This honor belongs to her as much as to me," he says.
In their house, there is a photo of Huang and Kang conducting research in a wheat field. The photo was taken on Huang's birthday years ago. "Although there were no flowers or cake, the golden wheat waves were the best gift. Only when the country prospers can our small family live a better life," says Huang.
Photos from Interviewees
(Women of China English Monthly October 2025)
Editor: Wang Shasha
