Combine harvesters scoop up corn in a field. [Photo/WeChat account of Baotou Daily]

Farmhands bag potatoes and load them onto trucks. [Photo/WeChat account of Baotou Daily]

A mature soybean dangles, ready for harvest, in a Baotou field. [Photo/WeChat account of Baotou Daily]

A field in Baotou city – one of many in North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region – was recently the scene of frenetic activity, as farmhands got cracking and combine harvesters scoured the land, to bring in the crops.

This year, Baotou planted 3.33 million mu (222,000 hectares) of grain, an increase of 200,000 mu over last year. Among them, the belt-type compound planting of corn and soybean was expanded to 370,000 mu in five banners, counties and districts, ranking Baotou first among prefecture level cities in China.

As of Oct 12, Baotou had harvested 3.01 million mu of autumn grain – including 2.13 million mu of corn, 1,000 mu of rice, 220,300 mu of soybean, 106,600 mu of potato, 99,900 mu of rape, and 448,200 mu of other crops – a year-on-year increase of 25.33 percent.