China’s Summer Grain Harvest Surpasses 85% Completion

China’s summer wheat harvest has reached 85% completion nationwide, with 288 million mu (19.2 million hectares) of grain brought in as of June 13, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs. The milestone, reported by Xinhua News Agency, marks a rapid acceleration in harvest progress that has seen completion rates jump more than 50 percentage points in just 11 days.

Rapid Progress Across Growing Regions

The harvest has advanced swiftly from 35.09% on June 2 to 85% by June 13, driven by favorable weather windows and the large-scale deployment of agricultural machinery. Provincial data shows significant variation in progress: Anhui and Henan provinces have already completed their harvests, while Jiangsu is essentially finished. Shandong has passed 80% completion, Hebei is approaching 70%, Shaanxi has surpassed 65%, and Shanxi has exceeded 50%. Sporadic harvesting continues in Xinjiang and Gansu.

According to Guangming Daily, as of June 12 the harvest stood at 278 million mu (82.01% completion), with 17.08 million combine harvesters deployed and 14.51 million mu harvested that single day. The pace accelerated sharply from 61.82% on June 7 to 73.06% on June 10, representing a gain of over 20 percentage points in one week.

Mechanization Driving Efficiency

China deployed more than 17 million agricultural machines nationwide for the annual “Three Summer” (三夏) campaign, including over 650,000 combine harvesters. The wheat mechanized harvesting rate remains stable at over 97%, according to the Ministry of Agriculture. Authorities are also promoting machine-harvest loss reduction techniques, aiming to keep mechanical harvesting loss rates below 2%, as reported by Xiangxian.org.cn.

Weather Challenges and Race Against Rain

The rapid harvest pace reflects an urgent race against weather. Meteorological departments forecast scattered showers for Hebei and Shandong on June 13, with rainfall moving east and north on June 14 before conditions improve. The Ministry of Agriculture’s Agricultural Mechanization Department has been guiding harvest areas to seize pre-rain windows and rain breaks to advance mechanized operations.

This year’s summer harvest has faced significant weather-related challenges. Widespread heavy rainfall in May affected dozens of provinces during critical crop growth and harvesting periods. According to CGTN, since China entered its flood season on April 1, 146 rivers in 18 provincial-level regions have exceeded flood warning thresholds — roughly 50% higher than the five-year average. National average precipitation has reached 170 millimeters, about 5% above the historical average.

Policy Support and Price Guarantees

Ten government departments jointly announced that the 2026 minimum wheat purchase price is set at 1.19 yuan per jin (approximately $0.165/lb), designed to protect farmers’ incomes and incentivize continued grain production. The policy provides a crucial price floor as the harvest season transitions into summer planting.

The State Council’s recently issued “15th Five-Year Plan for Accelerating Agricultural and Rural Modernization (2026-2030)” sets binding targets including increasing comprehensive grain production capacity to approximately 725 million tonnes by 2030, as reported by the State Council Information Office. The plan also aims to raise the contribution rate of sci-tech progress in agriculture to 67% by 2030, up from 64% in 2025.

Outlook and Forward Look

With the summer harvest entering its final phase, attention is shifting to the “Three Summer” campaign’s next stages: summer planting of autumn crops such as corn and soybeans, and summer field management. The remaining 15% of harvest主要集中在 northern provinces including Hebei, Shanxi, and Shaanxi, where weather conditions will determine the final pace.

Experts have highlighted growing climate-related risks to Chinese agriculture. Mu Yueying, a professor at China Agricultural University, told CGTN that extreme weather represents “a systemic risk affecting farmland, crops, agricultural machinery, storage facilities, logistics networks, markets and farmers’ incomes.” The combination of strong mechanization, policy support, and expanding agricultural insurance — with payouts reaching approximately 2.9 billion yuan this year — provides a resilience framework as China navigates an increasingly volatile climate landscape.

The successful completion of the summer harvest will lay the groundwork for China’s broader grain production goals, with the country targeting its third consecutive year above 700 million tonnes of total grain output.