China's tech-empowered grain farming bolsters food security

HARBIN -- As China marked World Food Day on Thursday, fleets of crawler harvesters cut through fields in the country's major grain-producing areas, racing to gather a bountiful harvest as growers battled weather challenges that threatened to spoil crops.

In East China's Shandong province, farmers have deployed a variety of measures to secure the autumn harvest, tackling challenges brought about by persistent rainfall.

In Wenshang, a major agricultural county in Shandong, 65 professional mechanical drying facilities are operating at full throttle to dry harvested corn and reduce grain losses from mold.

As of October, 38 grain drying centers have been set up in the county, with a daily drying capacity of 9,500 tonnes, increased nearly fivefold compared with that of 2020, ensuring a bountiful autumn harvest.

In China, scientific field management and modern agricultural infrastructure have helped to inject new vitality into farming and soil protection. Technology has helped growers overcome various challenges throughout the entire farming process.

On a plot of a cooperative farm in Boli county, Qitaihe city, in Northeast China's Heilongjiang province, large harvesters move back and forth along rows of plump soybean plants.

"The cooperative has deployed over 70 large harvesters to speed up the harvesting work, with the goal of completing it this week," said Shan Qingdong, director of the cooperative.

This year, the cooperative planted more than 4,666.7 hectares of corn and soybeans. Shan added that higher-than-usual temperatures helped the crops mature earlier than in previous years and contributed to overall stronger growth.

The cooperative introduced modern plant protection methods this year, including drone aerial spraying and dense planting techniques, which are expected to significantly boost soybean production, according to Shan.

The planting techniques he referred to, along with integrated water and fertilizer irrigation technology, are scientific farming methods promoted by the Heilongjiang provincial government, with the respective techniques already covering roughly 4.5 million hectares and 267,000 hectares of grain fields in the province.

Nationwide, there are more than 66.7 million hectares of high-standard farmland, where the fertility of the soil has been well preserved with technological advancement and scientific farm management.

Nowadays, Chinese grain growers are increasingly adopting new high-yield varieties. In a 34.2-hectare experimental field operated by Shenyang Agricultural University in Northeast China's Liaoning province, six high-yield super rice varieties are being cultivated as demonstrations for farmers to evaluate and select.

"I often visit the experimental field to learn about the crops and see which variety is best to choose," said Zhu Shiyong, a veteran rice farmer who runs the Shenyang Nonghe Family Farm. Last year, his field achieved a per-hectare rice yield of 11,250 kg.

During the grain harvesting season, Shenyang, capital of Liaoning, hosted the annual "seed selection contest," where 54 new rice varieties developed by agricultural research institutions such as Liaoning Academy of Agricultural Sciences were cultivated in a demonstration field. Farmers can compare them in terms of yield, quality and rice tasting.

The country's self-reliance in food supply for its 1.4 billion people serves as its commitment to stabilizing global food markets, echoing the World Food Day initiative promoted by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), which aims at improving the security and sustainability of global food systems.

The 2025 theme, "Hand in Hand for Better Foods and a Better Future," is calling for global collaboration in creating a peaceful, sustainable, prosperous and food-secure future, according to the FAO.

In 2024, China's grain output exceeded 700 million tonnes for the first time. Science is playing an increasingly pivotal role in this remarkable stability, with agricultural technology now contributing more than 63 percent.

While ensuring its own food security, China has shared its agricultural development experience with the world.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, China has established 24 agricultural technology demonstration centers in Africa, boosting crop yields in those areas by an average of 30 to 60 percent and contributing Chinese wisdom to global agricultural modernization.