Rice ears thrive in the fields at Ma'erqiao Family Farm in Hai'an, Nantong. [Photo/WeChat account: hafbwx]‌ 

The Ma'erqiao Family Farm in Hai'an recently celebrated the harvest of over 800 mu (53.33 hectares) of rice fields, with four harvesters busily working back and forth. 

The cutting heads of the machines sliced through the rice stalks, drawing the full rice ears into the machine bodies. After threshing, the golden grains flowed into the machine's storage bin, while the crushed straw was evenly spread back into the fields as natural organic fertilizer, achieving an integrated process of harvesting, threshing, and straw returning in one go. 

The farm's manager, Jia Tonggen, said, "Each harvester can cover 30 mu per day. We've harvested 190 mu since Sept 27, and we expect to finish by Oct 16. This year's yield is 550 kilograms per mu, an increase of 50 kilogram compared to last year." 

The harvested rice is directly transported by three trucks to drying rooms, where it undergoes 36 hours of low-temperature drying before being sold to markets in Jiangnan (referring to the southern regions of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River) and northern Jiangsu province. 

This year, Hai'an began harvesting its 560,000 mu of rice at the end of September. So far, 600 to 700 mu have been harvested. Large-scale harvesting is expected to start around Oct 20 and be completed in about 20 days.