An overhead view of farmlands in the county of Wanrong, where harvest has been completed recently. [Photo by Li Kerong for China Daily]

Shanxi began to celebrate the sixth Chinese Farmers' Harvest Festival on Sept 22. Since then, more than 1,000 events were held throughout the province, with the participation of more than 1.55 million people.

Farming activities, promotions of agricultural products and farming skills contests, as well as performances and shows, were major parts of the celebrations.

The opening ceremony of the festival was held on Sept 22 in Datong, the main venue. Following the opening ceremony, there was a farm produce fair in the city where 24 companies from across the country signed agreements on the supply and purchase of grains produced in the province.

In Yaodu district of Linfen city, the festival's celebration was marked by mechanized harvest of corn.

Liang Daming, a farmer in the township of Jindian, said he was happy with the yield on his farm.

"The yield on my one-hectare farm is estimated at nearly 9 metric tons," Liang said. He added that what made him happier was the efficiency brought by mechanized farming.

"With the assistance of machines, the farm can be operated by myself," Liang said. "This allows other members of my family to engage themselves in other jobs and get more revenue."

Jindian's farming cooperatives own 44 combine harvesters, 110 tractors and other farming machines. These are leased to local farmers at affordable prices during different seasons.

In addition to mechanization, technological advancements in breeding and seedling cultivation, soil improvement, irrigation and fertilizing optimization contributed greatly to the rise of output and quality in Shanxi's agricultural industry.

Haifeng Farm in the county of Fansi is a mechanized farm for dry-land farming. It is also a research base of Shanxi Agricultural University for millet and sorghum.

"The per-hectare millet output of a part of Haifeng Farm was 7.73 tons," said Yuan Xiangyang, a professor of SAU. "This is a record for mechanized millet farms in Shanxi."

Yuan, chief of the SAU Institute of Crop Sciences, is a leading millet researcher in Shanxi. Haifeng Farm in Fansi is a major research base backed by Yuan's team.

The team's research activities include the breeding of high-yield and high-quality crop varieties, mechanized farming, and intelligent technologies for water-saving irrigation and efficient fertilization.

Statistics show the autumn harvest of crops had been completed on 2.62 million hectares of farmland, or 96.2 percent of the total planted area in Shanxi, by the end of October.

In the provincial capital of Taiyuan, a large-scale agricultural expo was another highlight of the harvest festival.

The eighth Shanxi Agricultural Products Trade Expo, held from Sept 26-29, showcased Shanxi's farm produce, farming technologies, equipment and research achievements across 15 exhibition zones, attracting the participation of about 60,000 suppliers, buyers and visitors.

While on-site transactions reached 319 million yuan ($43.6 million), agreements on 200 cooperative projects were signed during the expo, with a combined value of 25.12 billion yuan.

Wang Xiujuan contributed to this story.