Jiamusi, China | Nov. 01, 2026, 5:05 a.m. ET | 4 min read

The sun sinks low over China’s northeastern rice fields as combines with spinning metal teeth slice neat rows in the tawny stocks.

It’s harvest time in Heilongjiang province, China’s breadbasket, where large commercial farms showcase modern efficiency. “From sowing and plowing to harvesting – it’s all unmanned,” says Liu Jianguo, a manager at the sprawling farm owned by Beidahuang Group, one of the country’s largest state-owned agribusinesses.

The province’s dark, chunky dirt, rich with organic matter, comprises one of the world’s four major deposits of super-fertile black soil, or chernozem.…