Across Shandong province, the critical summer harvest period is now in full swing. From field harvesting to grain drying, a wide array of agricultural machinery is taking center stage, serving as the main force in this season's production efforts.
In a wheat field in Rongcheng City's Hushan Town, combine harvesters weave through the crops, creating a bustling scene of urgent and efficient harvesting. In response to the concentrated harvest window and unpredictable weather patterns, local authorities have made advanced arrangements for agricultural machinery support to ensure a seamless progression of the wheat harvest.
Shenzhen Agricultural Power Group Co.,Ltd. (Shenzhen Agricultural Power) official Xu Junfa explained that preparations began a full month in advance. This involved a comprehensive inspection of all machinery across the city and the effective implementation of equipment purchase and application subsidy policies to encourage farmers and operators to upgrade their harvesters and drying facilities.
During the harvest, all personnel are deployed to assigned areas to provide continuous technical guidance and safety oversight, ensuring the wheat harvesting operation runs efficiently and smoothly. Once the wheat leaves the field, drying becomes the crucial step to preserve the harvest and maintain quality.
Addressing the challenges of summer weather and limited farmer drying space, Rongcheng City is actively strengthening mechanized grain drying capabilities. Drying facilities are operating at full capacity with 24-hour shifts. Freshly harvested, damp wheat is fed directly into drying towers, reaching storage standards within hours.
The smooth progress of the harvest also relies on robust front-end machinery supply and after-sales service. Dealers in Rongcheng have stocked up on various vulnerable spare parts and stationed professional repair teams on-site, working with agricultural departments to ensure equipment supply and emergency repairs.
Statistics show that over 30,000 pieces of agricultural machinery are planned for deployment in Rongcheng during this season, building a solid foundation for stable and abundant grain production. Currently, the local wheat harvest is nearing completion.
Pursuing Dual Yields from Single Plots
In recent years, Feiyun Town in Jingchuan County, Gansu Province, has actively explored a development model centered on fruit cultivation with intercropping. It guides orchardists to reasonably intercrop crops like soybeans and seed gourds within newly established dwarf, high-density orchards, achieving "dual harvests from one plot" and a "win-win for grain and fruit."
In these orchards, fruit trees flourish while the intercropped soybeans and gourds thrive beneath them, with farmers busy pruning branches and weeding. To solve the problem of no income in the initial years of new orchards, Feiyun Town promotes mulching for moisture retention and intercropping models, centrally procuring supplies and seeds, and guiding farmers to intercrop suitable short-stalk crops. This approach supports the orchard in its early stages through "short-term crops sustaining long-term growth" and "cultivation promoting management."
This year, Feiyun Town established over 900 acres of new dwarf, high-density apple orchards, with a seedling survival rate exceeding 98%. The current intercropping area across the town is approximately 7,000 acres.
Mechanical "New-Age Farmers" Aid Peach Harvest
Jiangsu's Xinyi is currently experiencing its peach harvest season. This year, a group of special "new-age farmers" has joined the orchards: intelligent picking robots, AI sorting systems, and field transport trains are all being deployed to enhance work efficiency.
At a honey peach plantation in Gaoliu Town, two nimble robots navigate between peach trees. Using high-definition cameras to identify fruit ripeness, they operate with coordinated bionic grippers and robotic arms. While picking efficiency rises, the transport phase has also been mechanized.
A small rail train, fully loaded with fresh peaches, moves slowly along field tracks toward the sorting center. Inside the AI-powered sorting facility, an automated conveyor line operates at high speed. Each peach passes through a sugar content detector and a 360-degree visual recognition system, undergoing checks for over 20 indicators including size, sweetness, and flaws in milliseconds.
Currently, Xinyi's honey peach cultivation area has reached 72,000 acres, with over 20 premium varieties developed and a rate of improved varieties covering 90%. After picking, the peaches enter cold storage at 1 to 5 degrees Celsius for "dormancy," and with controlled atmosphere preservation technology, their shelf life is extended to over 30 days. Now, through staggered sales periods, the supply window has been lengthened from 3 months to 7 or 8 months.
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