Golden September brings the fragrance of ripening rice paddies. On September 22, the "Jiangnan Style of Shanghai, Rice Wave Music Fair" rural wellness season and the Fengxian sub-venue event of the Chinese Farmers' Harvest Festival kicked off at the Zhuangxing Comprehensive Experiment Station of the Shanghai Academy of Agricultural Sciences. Jin Junfeng, Party Group Member of the Municipal Agriculture and Rural Affairs Commission and Party Secretary of the Academy, Li Erli, Party Group Member and Deputy Director of the Commission and First-Level Inspector, and Li Jianing, Deputy District Head of Fengxian District, attended the event and delivered speeches.

This year's harvest festival sub-venue event in Fengxian skillfully merges the celebration of the harvest with a strong emphasis on technological advancement, showcasing the academy's most impressive scientific achievements. The event highlights the remarkable progress in Fengxian's agricultural and rural development while elevating public awareness and appreciation of agricultural technology's social impact.

Strolling through the market and sampling new products, visitors experienced a harvest festival brimming with technological flair. During the event, the academy unveiled its major agricultural technology transfer results for 2026, covering categories such as conventional japonica rice, super rice, water-saving and drought-resistant rice, as well as cauliflower, lettuce, corn, and edible fungi. This year, numerous technological achievements have been successfully implemented. Five rice varieties, including "Huayou 14" and "Shenyou 28," were selected for the city's recommended rice variety catalog, while 11 vegetable varieties, such as "Haiqing 3" bok choy and "Haonong 1" lettuce, made it into the city's leading and potential vegetable variety lists. Each achievement embodies the wisdom and dedication of agricultural researchers, along with the hard work and hopes of farmers, laying a solid technological foundation for safeguarding citizens' rice bowls and vegetable baskets.

The "Shanghai Agricultural Science Market" and the "Harvest Market" ran concurrently. The Jiangnan Style of Shanghai booth displayed Zhuangxing homespun cloth, peach crisps, Dingfeng soy sauce, and Pandian Jianghai specialty products. The agricultural science market featured fresh fruits and vegetables, mushrooms, premium rice, and healthy foods. The autumn harvest booth presented a dazzling array of specialty agricultural products from various Fengxian towns and streets, processed gift items, kiln-baked bread, and agricultural cultural creations. In the tasting area, newly harvested rice melted softly in the mouth, while edible fungi, fruits and vegetables, and functional grains and oils attracted crowds of citizens and tourists eager to sample the offerings.

Four autumn harvest-themed travel routes in Fengxian were simultaneously unveiled. These routes connect pastoral sightseeing, agricultural science experiences, and agricultural product consumption, with online QR code stamp collecting and short-video check-ins channeling the festival's popularity into the district's autumn cultural tourism. The Shanghai Academy of Agricultural Sciences, the Shanghai Urban Planning and Design Research Institute, CBN, Beijing Jingwa Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Center, and Aladdin Holdings Group completed strategic cooperation agreements, further expanding the collaborative network among institutions, local governments, media, enterprises, and industry-academia-research partnerships.

Following this, the Fengxian Harvest Festival Rural Photography Competition awards ceremony took place, with images of rice waves, homespun cloth, honey pears, summer sheep, and farm machinery operators composing a contemporary portrait of Fengxian's rural landscape. The keynote presentation segment was equally compelling. "From Slash-and-Burn to Smart Agriculture: The 10,000-Year Journey of Rice" reviewed the evolution of farming civilization and agricultural technology. The "Jiangnan Style of Shanghai Tour" IP promotion delved into the interpretation of "Rivers and Streams" - the Padian unit, one of the twelve iconic images of Jiangnan-style Shanghai. Another presentation, "When Hiking Becomes Healing: What Kind of Country Trails Do Urbanites Need?", articulated the unique value of Jiangnan-style Shanghai as an urban healing space. Sessions also explored soundscape design practices in sound therapy and discussed the mining and application of medicinal and edible specialty vegetable germplasm resources.

From the laboratory to the dining table, the coordinated efforts between the institute and local districts are writing a new chapter in rural revitalization. This event goes beyond celebrating a single season's harvest; it serves as a platform for connecting new agricultural achievements and products with market demand. Through a sales model emphasizing "perceivable, tastable, and bookable" experiences, the event drives the efficient transition of premium local agricultural products from the fields to the table, allowing citizens to taste, businesses to order, and farmers to profit, thereby effectively boosting farmer incomes, enterprise efficiency, and industrial upgrading. At the same time, it polishes the "Jiangnan Style of Shanghai" cultural IP, inviting city dwellers to come in and encouraging young people to stay, helping them understand the unique charm of Shanghai's countryside through immersive experiences.

The academy will focus on enhancing the overall efficiency of the agricultural science and technology innovation system, deepening reforms, and proactively driving change. It will further optimize its scientific research layout, transform research organization models, stimulate innovation vitality, and significantly improve the efficiency of agricultural technology transfer, better serving as a leader and pioneer in supporting Shanghai's science and technology innovation center development and rural revitalization in a mega-city context.

As the main battlefield for rural revitalization in this mega-city, Fengxian District's decision to host the harvest festival sub-venue at the academy's Zhuangxing Experiment Station sends a clear signal: the harvest is not just about drying grain and displaying local products, but also about delivering new varieties, new technologies, and new mechanisms from the laboratory directly to the fields and to citizens' dining tables. Fengxian will continue to prioritize agricultural and rural development, safeguard food security, adhere to the principles of revitalizing agriculture through science and technology and strengthening agriculture through branding, explore the diverse values of rural areas, advance the construction of livable, workable, and beautiful villages, and chart a path for rural revitalization tailored to the unique characteristics of a mega-city.

Text: Chen Qi | Editor: Wei Jing