The translation given in the title is not how I'd phrase - it's more to help crops grow by tugging at them (the intention is to stretch them and encourage them to grow, but obviously doesn't work). I'd have gone for "to help crops grow by tugging at them".

Isn't the point that the tugging removes the roots from the soil?

Indeed, but I do like the grandparent’s choice of “tugging” better as well.

The original story had the foolish farmer pulling the sprouts upward by an inch and said that he had made them grow taller by that much.

Maybe “tugging up the crops to speed its growth”?

souhds very close to "any function can be fast if it doesn't have to be correct"

(my favourite english-language chengyu is: "Big Hat No Cattle" [which translates to 大帽零牛 ?])

I’m thinking something more along the lines of “expedite business growth by taking VC money”.