Golden rice waves ripple, soybeans rustle in the wind, apples weigh down branches, and sugarcane fields spread their fragrance. As the opening year of the 15th Five-Year Plan unfolds, we welcome the ninth China Farmers' Harvest Festival, with a colorful tapestry of autumn harvests stretching across the country. This bounty is both nature's reward for hard work and a vivid testament to the overarching national priority of food security.

Grain stability underpins social order, and agricultural strength sustains the nation. To grasp the significance of "the nation's paramount concern" during the Harvest Festival, one must understand the source of this confidence in stable production and supply, and where it is headed.

Food security, as a national priority, begins with ensuring quantity. Currently, China's per capita grain possession exceeds 500 kilograms, above the internationally recognized safety threshold of 400 kilograms. This means the Chinese people's rice bowl is not only held firmly but also held steadily. Look at Yingshang County in Fuyang, Anhui Province, where 700,000 mu of rice is about to be harvested; cooperative director Cai Junjun holds up a rice spike, full of plump grains, with an expected yield of over 700 kilograms per mu. Look at Nenjiang City in Heihe, Heilongjiang Province, where soybean planting area exceeds 7 million mu, with production expected to surpass 1.7 billion jin, and the province's soybean output accounting for over 40% of the national total. From the Jianghuai granary to the black soil region, from rice to soybeans, major production areas shoulder their responsibilities, and farmers work with full vigor, jointly building a solid foundation for food security.

As long as the bottom line of quantity security is held, the confidence in food security remains strong. Food security requires not only ensuring quantity but also ensuring quality. Today's good harvest is not just about producing more grain, but about producing better grain. The total number of green, organic, famous-specialty-new, and geographical indication agricultural products nationwide exceeds 88,000, with noticeably accelerated steps toward quality-oriented and green agriculture. In Yingshang, cooperatives have adopted fully biodegradable mulch film technology for all their rice, which conserves water, suppresses weeds, and increases temperature, reducing herbicide use, improving the paddy field ecology, and enhancing rice quality. In Nangou Village, Yan'an, mountain apple orchards have introduced new varieties and promoted new technologies, with red "Qincui" apples weighing down the branches. From "pursuing yield" to "stabilizing yield while ensuring quality," and from "eating enough" to "eating well and eating healthily," the supply-side structural reform of agriculture is taking root and bearing fruit across the fields.

The stronger the quality security, the higher the value of the harvest. Food security is not an isolated concept of "grain" alone, but encompasses the diverse supply of meat, eggs, milk, fruits, vegetables, fish, mushrooms, and bamboo shoots. By establishing and practicing a broad view of food, we can better meet the public's diverse food consumption needs. Currently, China's sugar self-sufficiency rate exceeds 70%, oilseed self-sufficiency continues to improve, and the supply of "vegetable baskets" and "fruit plates" remains stable and diverse. In Fusui County, Chongzuo, Guangxi, sugarcane cultivation has boosted farmers' incomes, generating 570 million yuan in additional revenue for sugarcane farmers in the 2025/2026 crushing season, with sugar cane planting area ranking first nationally for 35 consecutive crushing seasons. In Nenjiang, large-scale farmer Shang Jiying has shifted from planting only corn to a 50-50 split of corn and soybeans, balancing grain and oilseed production and making the "oil bottle" more secure. Currently, Chinese residents' food consumption is transitioning from a staple-food-oriented model to a diversified pattern of "grain, meat, vegetables, fruits, and fish."

Ensuring quantity must also involve ensuring quality and diversity—across the bountiful land, this confidence in stable production and supply is propping up the daily lives of countless households. Observing the harvest during the Harvest Festival means recognizing not just full granaries and orchards, but also the confidence and responsibility behind the nation's paramount concern. This confidence stems from a solid bottom line of quantity security, a green pursuit of quality security, diversified support for structural security, and the hard work of countless laborers. Keeping the rice bowl firmly in our own hands is the most solid support for Chinese-style modernization. Across the abundant land, this confidence in stable production and supply is upholding the daily lives of households and the bright future of comprehensive rural revitalization.