It's a bumper harvest in northeast China's Heilongjiang province, and a busy season for farmers in Tailai county.

For farmers like Yang Shilai, there's nothing more satisfying than watching the crops grow strong and tall, from seedlings to a bumper harvest. A man of a few words Yang might be, when he talks about the crops, you can feel his passion.

"I'm very proud," Yang grinned. "Farmers grow crops. The better they grow, the happier we are." 

Yang has farmed in Tailai county since the 1990s. When he first started farming, it was a barren land.

"There was nothing in the ground but weeds in the 1990s. You could hardly grow anything," Yang recalled.

After years of reclamation, Yang turned the barren land into fertile soil, and his hard work paid off. Now his son Yang Minglei is carrying on the work. The young man quit his job in the city three years ago, and came back to the farm he calls home.

"I found that the level of mechanization was very high when I came back. It covers the whole process from transplanting to harvesting. Even pesticides are sprayed by drones," said the young farmer.

Machines may help ease the chores, but growing healthy and robust crops takes more than that. Minglei's first year in the fields was more like a fireman, trying to resolve all sorts of troubles. Nevertheless, it's worth it when October – a season of harvest in northeast China – comes.

"All the effort and pain felt like nothing compared to the joy when I finally reap the crops. I wish the harvest could last as long as possible," the young farmer chuckled.

Heilongjiang has long been a bedrock for the nation's food security. In 2021, the province produced over 78 million tonnes of grain – more than 10 percent of China's annual yields. The province has been the national leader in crop yields for 11 years in a row. One in nine bowls of rice in the country comes from the province.  

"In the past decade, we have filled China's 'rice bowls' with more and better grain through scientific and technological innovation and the development of smart agriculture," said Yin Long, general manager of Tailai Farm. "We will continue to serve as the bedrock of China's food security."

Ensuring that 1.4 billion people have food on their table remains a priority for China. The country has managed to feed one fifth of the world's population with less than nine percent of the world's arable land. Researchers at the farm are helping boost rice yields by improving varieties.

"The new varieties can guarantee high yields, stable production and grain quality. While ensuring China's food security, we can also put better rice on the table," said Zhao Zhongchen, senior agronomist of the farm.

From the great wilderness to China's grain barn, it's farms like those in Tailai that have maintained China's food security over the years. The agricultural bases in northeast China are set to grow bigger and better. China's quest to sustain its rice bowls will also continue.