Heilongjiang vows to ramp up hi-tech farming

Heilongjiang province, China's largest agricultural producer, will continue leveraging technology to enhance high-quality agricultural development, said provincial deputies to the National People's Congress.

During a group discussion in Beijing on Friday, Heilongjiang Governor Liang Huiling highlighted the province's unique advantages — noting its location in one of the world's three major black soil belts — which makes it a prime area for corn cultivation and livestock farming.

Last year, Heilongjiang's total grain output hit a record 80 billion kilograms, ranking first in China for the 15th consecutive year and accounting for 11.3 percent of the country's total output.

"One out of every nine bowls of rice nationwide comes from Heilongjiang," Liang said.

The province is prioritizing modern agriculture to transform its resource advantages into industrial, economic and developmental benefits, she said.

Technological innovation is central to Heilongjiang's agricultural strategy, Liang said. The province has 78 higher education institutions and 120 independent research institutes, including four national key laboratories focused on agriculture.

"We will tackle core technologies and accelerate the application of research outcomes," she said, adding that agricultural technology contributes 70.8 percent to the province's farming sector.

She also stressed the importance of preserving black soil, calling it the "panda of arable land" due to its high nutrient content. Most of China's black soil is found in the northeast, making the region crucial for national food security.

Last year, Heilongjiang developed 693,333 hectares of high-standard farmland, integrating soil improvement with windbreak forest networks. The province has nearly 1.33 million hectares of such farmland, the most in China. This year, it aims to build nearly 780,000 hectares.

Heilongjiang is home to Beidahuang Group, the world's largest State-owned farm group, known for its extensive arable land, high modernization and strong production capacity.

Yu Jia'ao, Party secretary of Beidahuang's Baoquanling branch, said the group is accelerating informatization, digitalization, intelligence and unmanned farming.

"We have collaborated with the Harbin Institute of Technology and Northeast Agricultural University to establish a national key laboratory for smart agricultural technology and information," she said.

Currently, 40 percent of Beidahuang's agricultural machinery is equipped with automatic driving technology, and more than 90 percent of its farms collect field data through sensors, shifting from weather-dependent farming to data-driven operations.

Yu urged the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs to support soybean research in Heilongjiang, including the construction of a soybean seed base and coordination with the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences to accelerate the development of a soybean research center.

Agriculture Minister Han Jun, who attended the discussion, responded that the ministry had approved the soybean seed base project and was working with relevant departments to commence construction.

He added that a soybean research center in Heihe city had been included in the ministry's project list, with an engineering consulting firm handling preliminary design and budget reviews.