With the summer harvest at a critical stage, five combine harvesters were operating at full capacity across vast stretches of golden wheat fields swaying in the breeze on the morning of June 12 at the municipal-level Green Grain Yield Demonstration Zone in Dachang Town, Qingdao West Coast New Area. Plump, full wheat ears were fed into the machines. They underwent harvesting, threshing, straw mulching, and loss-reduction in one smooth, continuous sequence, as the city's summer wheat harvest got fully underway.

At a citywide "Three-Summer" wheat harvesting season production meeting held onsite, it was reported that this year's strong harvest outlook is the result of favorable policies, supportive weather, and dedicated efforts from farmers. Contributing factors include the effective rollout of high-yield and high-efficiency farming techniques, widespread adoption of smart agricultural machinery, and timely, eco-friendly pest and disease control. Approximately 920,000 mu of wheat—over 20% of the total planting area—had already been harvested as of 5:00 p.m. on June 12, with the entire city's wheat harvest expected to be completed around June 22.

Qingdao has deployed 180,000 units of agricultural machinery to support seasonal operations, including more than 6,500 wheat combine harvesters and over 10,000 corn planters for this year's "Three Summers" season. The city administration has also established 54 standing emergency farm machinery service teams comprising over 1,200 members, with dedicated personnel on 24-hour standby to carry out urgent harvesting tasks and respond swiftly to unexpected weather conditions—ensuring no grain is left behind. In anticipation of post-harvest handling needs, the city has proactively prepared for emergency grain drying with a total of 95 grain drying centers equipped with 211 drying machines set up—a scale expected to be adequate to meet the drying demands of the city's locally harvested grain.

The summer harvest is followed closely by summer planting. While working to ensure a high yield from the wheat harvest, Qingdao's agricultural authorities have also made early preparations for the next phase—securing ample reserves of seeds, pesticides, and fertilizers to support summer sowing and field management. Reports indicate that the city has stockpiled over 80,000 tonnes of fertilizer and more than 15,000 tonnes of pesticides, along with 6,400 tonnes of corn and soybean seeds. These supplies are sufficient to meet the needs of the city's summer planting season. The intended area for summer sowing exceeds 3.8 million mu, and as of now, 125,000 mu have already been planted as the summer planting and crop management processes progress in an orderly manner.