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Smart farming tools set to help slash grain losses nationwide
China DailyJuly 29, 2025

China has intensified efforts to build a nationwide food loss reduction system that covers production, storage, distribution and consumption, officials said at a recent conference in Shandong province.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs has rolled out targeted strategies along the agricultural supply chain — from field to table — with a focus on improving farm management, disaster prevention, storage and transportation, Vice-Minister Zhang Zhili said.

In 2024, mechanical harvest loss rates for wheat stood at 0.93 percent, rice at 1.76 percent and corn at 2.06 percent — a drop of 1 to 2 percentage points compared with 2021, Zhang said at the 2025 International Conference on Reducing Food Loss and Waste.

More than 25 billion kilograms of grain loss have been prevented in the past three years. Losses due to pests and diseases were kept below 5 percent, and losses in grain and oil processing were reduced to under 1 percent, Zhang added.

At a forum on mechanized loss reduction, Ma Jianhai, head of an agricultural machinery cooperative in Weifang, Shandong, shared how his team improved yields through better equipment and training.

"By improving the skills of machine operators and optimizing agricultural equipment, the cooperative's wheat yield increased from 6 metric tons per hectare to 9 tons, and its corn yield rose from 7.5 tons to 9.7 tons per hectare since it was founded in 2013," Ma said.

http://www.china.org.cn/2025-07/29/content_118000998.shtml