"There has been plenty of heavy rain this year, but thanks to the new farm machinery, we’ve had enough time to harvest," said Ou Shuqiu, head of a rice growing cooperative located in central China's Hunan province.

(Photo/Xinhua)

China's current comprehensive mechanization rate of crop cultivation and harvest has reached 70 percent, and that of wheat, rice and corn has exceeded 80 percent, which means that mechanization has been basically realized.

Ou Shuqiu pointed out the advantages of mechanization for his cooperative, which has 500 mu (1 mu is 667 square meters) of rice and shrimp fields. Thanks to the farm machinery, the harvest for early season rice is at least seven days faster, and late rice can be planted in advance to avoid meteorological disasters.

Furthermore, "up to 300 to 400 yuan (about $42.8 to 57.1) of costs can be saved per mu of land," said Ou when explaining the economic benefits of mechanization.

The cooperative has not only adopted rice transplanters, but also the Internet of things. "Now we no longer depend on the weather for farming. As the fields have been equipped with 'eyes' and 'ears', we can read the temperature, humidity, water salinity and other data on the monitors,” Ou Shuqiu added.

"Without agricultural mechanization, there will be no agricultural modernization," said Wang Jianyun, deputy director general of the agricultural mechanization management department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.

Wang noted that at present, China's comprehensive mechanization rate for crop cultivation and harvesting has reached 70 percent, and the mechanization rate of wheat, rice and corn has exceeded 80 percent; thus, mechanization has been basically realized.

"The continuous upgrading of new agricultural machinery has greatly reduced the costs of grain production and improved the ability of crops to resist dangers,” according to Kong Xiangzhi, a professor at the School of Agriculture and Rural Development at Renmin University of China.

Kong Xiangzhi pointed out that in the first half of this year, the summer harvest could not have been achieved without the support of basic agricultural equipment due to adverse factors such as poor weather conditions and serious diseases and pests.