As the autumn equinox arrives, the golden rice waves ripple across the fields. On the morning of September 23rd, in Miaoshan Village, Laodong Town, Lezhi County, Ziyang City, drums beat and golden dragons danced through the air. In the agricultural product e-commerce live-streaming display area, three broadcast booths stood in a row, with fill lights glowing and phone mounts trained on crates of Anyue lemons and bags of Shuaifu rice. "Hey family, our Anyue lemons are packed with Vitamin C!" the host's voice barely finished before the comment section flooded the screen. This was the main venue for the 2026 Chinese Farmers' Harvest Festival Sichuan Provincial Celebration, where the theme "New Horizons Through Harvest, Real Progress Through Action" found its most vivid expression within the live streams.
To pack the harvest into a live stream, one first needs substantial yields to back it up. In the first half of this year, Sichuan's agricultural sector delivered a solid performance: the province's primary industry value added grew 3.6% year-on-year, accelerating 0.4 percentage points from the same period last year. Summer grain sowing covered 17.169 million mu, with total output reaching 4.839 million tons, up 1.6%. Vegetable, fruit, and tea production grew 3.4%, 5.4%, and 4.5% respectively, while the planting industry's output value hit 196.92 billion yuan, up 3.6%. Hog and poultry slaughter volumes increased 1.2% and 0.2% year-on-year, and the province's animal husbandry output value reached 121.78 billion yuan, up 1.4%. Forestry and fisheries also trended upward, with output values growing 12.1% and 5.6% respectively.
Across the five major economic zones, the harvest news brought equal encouragement. The Chengdu Plain Economic Zone newly established a batch of "ton-grain field" demonstration areas, with summer grain output up 1.935 million tons at a 1.8% growth rate. The Southern Sichuan Economic Zone promoted 726,000 mu of integrated rice-crayfish ecological farming, producing 47,000 tons of crayfish. The Northeast Sichuan Economic Zone expanded soybean-corn strip intercropping to 1.883 million mu, achieving no loss in corn yields while gaining an extra soybean crop. In the Panxi Economic Zone's Anning River Valley, high-quality rice and early spring vegetables are grown on a large scale, with pomegranates projected to increase by 20,000 tons and mangoes by 30%. The Northwest Sichuan Ecological Demonstration Zone saw another bumper harvest of highland barley and high-altitude rapeseed, and implemented 75 yak industry cluster projects, establishing 8 provincial and prefectural-level yak modern agricultural parks.
More harvest does not automatically mean better income, as good yields still require good market access. To bring "Sichuan-brand" agricultural products from the fields to households across the nation, live-streaming has become the "new farming tool." At the on-site display area, hosts like Guan Zuping, known as "Sichuan Guan Branch Secretary," and Gong Xiangtao, nicknamed "Shu Zhong Tao Zi Jie" or "Peach Sister of Shu," joined forces with China Post Sichuan hosts. They took turns telling rural stories and selling quality local goods. "3, 2, 1, link up!" No sooner had Peach Sister's sales pitch ended than the backend order numbers began climbing steadily. Nearby, the China Post Sichuan stream showcased specialty products from all 21 prefectures and cities, with hosts taking viewers on a "cloud tour" of Tianfu's finest offerings.
In front of the "One Village, Six Roles, One Host" booth, Guan Zuping, Party branch secretary of Maoshi Village in Tongxian Town, Anyue County, told reporters that Maoshi Village was once a "three-nothing village" with no geographic advantage, no distinctive industry, and no cultural attractions. Over recent years, the village turned phones into "new farm tools" and live-streaming into "new farm work." The village has conducted over 300 charity livestreams to date, with online sales surpassing 15 million yuan last year, lifting more than 2,000 households in the village and its surrounding areas. "The strength of one village is ultimately limited," Guan said. They initiated the "Hundred Villages Together: Farmer Assistance Alliance," which now counts 92 villages across Sichuan and Chongqing as members, cumulatively holding over 1,500 livestreams and driving agricultural product sales beyond 100 million yuan.
The provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs expects to organize more than 180 varied harvest celebration events. Sichuan is currently running the "Tianfu Granary" Golden Autumn Consumption Season, showcasing and selling high-quality specialty products from all 21 prefectures and cities. Leveraging the combined effect of the Harvest Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, and National Day holiday, the initiative aims to boost commerce through festivities and drive consumption, sharing the bountiful Tianfu harvest with all. From paddy fields to the cloud, and from abundant production to genuine prosperity, the live-stream rooms hold far more than fruits, vegetables, and grain. They carry the hopes of rising farmer incomes and the enduring confidence of rural revitalization.