The security of food is the foundation of all matters. With frequent droughts in nine out of ten years and mountains and hills covering more than 80% of the land, how has Shanxi's agriculture, under less-than-ideal soil and water conditions, answered the national call of "having grain in hand, so the heart is at ease" by continuously raising both grain output and quality, painting a monumental picture of farming across thousands of miles? Co-produced by Shanxi Radio and Television Station and the Shanxi Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the nine-episode documentary Grains of Weight: Food Security in Shanxi vividly presents Shanxi's modern grain farming practices and carves out a portrait of the hard work behind ensuring food security in the province. Starting September 14, it airs prominently on Shanxi Satellite TV at 21:30, with the station's new media platforms pushing it simultaneously. Stay tuned for more! Take a look at some brilliant previews below!

Episode 8: A Bumper Year Beyond the Great Wall. The weathered beacon towers of the outer Great Wall stand timeworn against the sky, having watched over this land for at least 500 years. This is the northernmost tip of Shanxi, once a place described as "beyond Yanmen Pass lies wilderness, where no silkworms are raised, no hemp is grown." Today, it has been awakened by the wisdom of agricultural technology, transformed into a field brimming with hope. In Yanggao County, new agricultural techniques like under-film drip irrigation and Beidou satellite navigation have long been put into use. A simple tap on a mobile phone can remotely turn well pumps on and off, while farm machinery relies on Beidou navigation for automated operations. A thousand acres of fertile farmland can now be easily managed by just five or six people. Thanks to this smart agriculture system, the land can "speak" through data, providing feedback on water and soil needs. This smart farmland has attracted observers from across the country, and even foreign visitors eager to see the marvel and efficiency of high-tech farming. These former farming novices now proudly say with confidence: "A soldier who doesn't aspire to be a general is not a good one. Everyone is pushing hard toward a better harvest." Behind their bright smiles, it hasn't all been smooth sailing. Yanggao County has 5.4 times the per-capita farmland of the national average and is a major agricultural county that has achieved twelve consecutive years of grain supply. This "first-class farming team" from Yanggao was, only a decade ago, a young group just starting out in agriculture. At the time, they didn't realize that natural resource endowments do not automatically translate into high yields. As newcomers to farming, they didn't understand timely sowing or scientific fertilization, and they couldn't even distinguish wild sorghum from corn seedlings. Compounding the problem, irrigation infrastructure had long been poor, relying on wasteful flood irrigation over uneven land—low-lying areas suffered from waterlogging, while higher ground faced drought, with water evaporating quickly and resources being squandered. After two consecutive years of losses, this young farming team finally came to understand: they had once thought farming was simple, but truly engaging in large-scale cultivation revealed just how complex the craft really is. In 2016, smart agriculture was officially written into the Central Document No. 1, and the bond between large-scale farmland and technology grew tighter year after year. After two consecutive lean winters, this team that didn't know how to farm caught the spring of smart agriculture. In 2017, Shanxi pioneered the introduction of integrated under-film drip irrigation technology in Datong. The former farming novices shed their arrogance toward the land. The drip irrigation pipeline network, buried subtly in the shallow soil, wove a lifeline across the cornfields and opened the door to a new world of tech-driven farming for this team. On the road to harvest, advanced agricultural technology became their best partner in leveling up. In 2024, the integrated film-side sowing technique and machinery technology, independently developed by Shanxi Province, was promoted for the first time as a key technology by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs. This method saves a large amount of labor costs, allows for soil-moisture planting, extends the grain-filling period, and helps boost yields. Unlike traditional film-punching sowing, film-side sowing places seeds on either side of the mulch rather than beneath it. Would it work? The successful adoption of new technology depends on deep coordination between machinery and farming practices. They started with small-scale trials, combined with IoT monitoring systems—soil temperature readings were collected every ten minutes, and field operation data was displayed on large screens in real time. The data acted like a teacher, providing precise guidance for cultivation. As tender sprouts broke through the soil and grew into strong, uniform seedlings, the farmers were delighted. This technique, combined with supporting measures like deep subsoiling and water-fertilizer integration, pushed local corn yields to a peak of 2,608 jin per mu. After the success of the trials, they gained confidence and are ready to expand its large-scale application, charging ahead toward their goal of becoming Yanggao County's "first-class corn planting team." The golden corn makes the autumn harvest season especially dazzling. The vast lands north of the Great Wall now hold endless possibilities because of smart agriculture. Soil can nurture everything, and the cornfields now hold the dreams of these young people who have chosen to root themselves in farming. With grain in hand, the heart rests easy.