Autumn harvest begins in Heilongjiang

Rice farmers affiliated with Jiangchuan — a State-owned farming company that's part of Beidahuang Agricultural Reclamation Group in Heilongjiang province — were thrilled when nine harvesting machines started working their paddies on Sunday morning.

The day marked the beginning of the autumn harvest.

"We planted an early-maturing variety of rice on 6 hectares, which ripened earlier than usual," said Wu Yugang, vice-general manager of Jiangchuan. "We expect to see a yield of around 8,500 kilograms per hectare."

Jiangchuan has 19,800 hectares of arable land planted with rice this year.

At the launching ceremony, the farm prepared various foods made of local rice, attracting many residents and tourists.