China's summer grain output reached 150.7 billion kilograms this year, up 0.7 percent and above 150 billion kg for the first time, despite typhoons, flooding and drought in major farming provinces, and the autumn harvest, which provides most of the year's output, is under way in Hubei, Henan, Heilongjiang and elsewhere.

Farmers improvised: an Anhui rice co-operative used ten irrigation machines to flood fields before a typhoon to reduce wind damage. Shandong faced both excess rain and frost; local agriculture departments deployed grain-drying towers that cut moisture within twelve hours, and satellite and drone surveys to assess damage.

Heilongjiang, the largest grain province, reports more than 25,000 precision seeders, 33,000 crop-protection drones and BeiDou satellite-guided autonomous tractors, and Henan reports mechanisation of about 90 percent. With world fertiliser prices up about 31 percent this year amid Strait of Hormuz disruption, Beijing released more than 10 million tonnes of state fertiliser reserves during spring planting.

Photo: Vmenkov / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Source: Global Agriculture