Heilongjiang advancing tech-driven agriculture underpinned by innovation

The province has 108 million mu (7.2 million hectares) of land dedicated to green and organic food production, making it China's largest eco-friendly granary and kitchen, Zhu said.

The province has also vigorously implemented an initiative to revitalize the seed industry, establishing four national crop germplasm resource banks and 22 expert breeding demonstration bases. Its overall agricultural mechanization rate has reached 99.34 percent, the highest in China, he said.

Liu Wei, deputy director of the Heilongjiang Development and Reform Commission, said the province is developing technology-driven agriculture with the support of technological innovation.

Construction has begun on a national pilot base for artificial intelligence applications in crop cultivation, backed by 82 million yuan ($12.2 million) in funding from ultra-long special government bonds. The base will develop replicable and scalable model applications to support the development of new quality productive forces in agriculture, Liu said.

He emphasized that Heilongjiang is committed to advancing high-standard farmland development, and has implemented projects to protect black soil and build such farmland. By the end of 2025, the province had developed a total of 125 million mu (8.33 million hectares) of high-standard farmland, steadily improving the overall productivity of its black soil.

Jiang Qinghai, deputy Party secretary of Beidahuang Group, a national commercial grain production and agricultural product base, said the group has leveraged innovation to boost agricultural output and efficiency, continuously strengthening agricultural technology research and the commercialization of its achievements.

The contribution of scientific and technological progress to the group's development has reached 77.61 percent, 13.61 percentage points above the national average, Jiang said.

Beidahuang Group has established digital records for more than 48.74 million mu (3.25 million hectares) of farmland, 600,000 farming households and 573,800 units of agricultural machinery. Since 2025, it has implemented 30 smart-agriculture demonstration projects across 21 farms, successfully developing a replicable and scalable Beidahuang future farm technology model, Jiang said.

With a focus on agricultural modernization through science and technology, the group is advancing the development of biological breeding platforms and concentrating efforts to overcome bottlenecks in seed sources and smart agriculture. In partnership with agricultural machinery manufacturers and research institutions, it has achieved breakthroughs in 10 key technologies across four categories, including high-horsepower intelligent tractors, he said.