BEIJING: China’s summer wheat harvest is accelerating across major grain-producing regions as farmers race to bring in crops before a new round of rainfall arrives this week.
Meanwhile, authorities have mobilized machinery, technical support and emergency services to safeguard grain production.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, farmers had harvested 6.35 million hectares of winter wheat by Monday evening — about 28 percent of the country’s summer grain crop.
On Monday alone, 1.27 million hectares were harvested, more than four times the area collected on the same day last year. Nearly 229,400 combine harvesters were operating nationwide, compared with about 78,300 a year earlier.
China planted about 22.6 million hectares of winter wheat for the 2025-26 growing season. The summer grain harvest, dominated by winter wheat, is a critical component of the country’s annual grain production.
Among major producing regions, wheat harvesting in Anhui province has passed the halfway mark, while neighboring Henan province, China’s largest wheat-producing region, has completed more than 35 percent of its harvest.
Harvesting has surpassed 10 percent in Jiangsu and Shaanxi provinces, while operations have begun on a limited scale in the provinces of Shandong and Shanxi. The harvest in southwestern China has been completed, the ministry said. In Zhoukou’s Shenqiu county, Henan province, 68,000 hectares of wheat are entering the peak harvest period.
At a 133-hectare wheat production base in Lizhai village, rows of combine harvesters are operating, threshing and returning straw to the fields, allowing farmers to maximize efficiency during the narrow harvest window.
“Taking advantage of the current stretch of sunny weather, we have deployed more than 10 combine harvesters and are conducting round-the-clock harvesting operations to complete harvesting, drying and storage as quickly as possible and minimize losses,” said Liu Dongfang, deputy general manager of Lizhai Agricultural Development, which operates the farmland. –The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item
