In pics: China marks ninth Chinese Farmers' Harvest Festival, with smart agriculture taking root

China is celebrating its ninth Chinese Farmers' Harvest Festival, which falls on Sept. 23 this year. Across the country, farmers are embracing new technologies as smart agriculture becomes increasingly common in the fields.

Hydroponically grown Phedimus aizoon, an edible plant, thrives at a base run by the Jingmeng planting professional cooperative in Mengjin district, Luoyang city, central China's Henan Province, Sept. 22, 2026. (People's Daily Online/Wang Yuxing)

A livestreamer promotes rice during an online rice harvest event in Jiutai district, Changchun city, northeast China's Jilin Province, Sept. 20, 2026. (People's Daily Online/Wang Haiyue)

A staff member explains the terminal systems of unmanned farm machinery at the 2026 Heilongjiang International Agricultural Machinery Exhibition, Sept. 19, 2026. (People's Daily Online/Zhang Zhexin)

Workers harvest mature lettuce in a plant factory at the Ba'nan smart planting demonstration base in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, Sept. 4, 2026. (vip.people.com.cn/Li Pan)

An employee checks on the growth of a rabbit in a barn at the Xinfa Modern Agriculture Industrial Park in Chiping district, Liaocheng city, east China's Shandong Province, Aug. 26, 2026. (vip.people.com.cn/Ma Hongkun)

An integrated soil-moisture and water-level monitoring device supports precision irrigation on high-standard farmland in Shengzhou city, east China's Zhejiang Province, Aug. 20, 2026. (People's Daily Online/Zhang Yongtao)

Farmer Liang Yingguang prepares a plant-protection drone for spraying at a grain industry demonstration base in Longjiang village, Liyong town, Yufeng district, Liuzhou city, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, July 23, 2026. (vip.people.com.cn/Li Hanchi)

An employee operates a plant-protection drone to spray foliar fertilizer on pepper plants in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, May 19, 2026. (vip.people.com.cn/Xie Jianglin)

A technician uses a field-patrol robot dog to scan crop growth and collect data in real time in a wheat field in Gangji town, Changfeng county, Hefei city, east China's Anhui Province, April 24, 2026. The robot supports digital, smart farmland management. (vip.people.com.cn/He Yu)

An AI agricultural inspection robot patrols a smart agriculture application base run by the School of Information Engineering at Jinhua University of Vocational Technology in east China's Zhejiang Province, April 20, 2026. The robot was jointly developed by the university and industry partners. (vip.people.com.cn/Hu Xiaofei)

A worker uses a smart environmental monitoring system to track temperature, humidity and other data in real time inside a greenhouse at a smart agriculture base in Shizong town, Tongzhou district, Nantong city, east China's Jiangsu Province, March 11, 2026. (vip.people.com.cn/Zhai Huiyong)