By the end of August, single-crop rice in the northeast is mainly in the heading and milky stage, spring corn is in the silking and milky stage, and soybeans are in the pod-filling stage. In northern China, soybeans are mainly in the pod setting stage, while late double-crop rice in southern China is concentrated in the tillering and jointing stages.

Agricultural meteorological indicators show that temperatures are close to or slightly above average by 1-6°C in most of the country. Precipitation is above average in Inner Mongolia, Northeast China, North China, the Huanghuai region, Jianghuai and Jiangnan, while other agricultural areas have experienced lower precipitation. Some areas in Northwest China, North China, Jianghan and Southwest China had more sunshine, while Inner Mongolia, Northeast China and South China had insufficient photosynthetically active radiation. Northeast China experienced heavy rainfall, which exacerbated waterlogging in farmland in western Jilin, eastern Inner Mongolia, northeastern Heilongjiang and Liaoning, affecting maize grain filling and rice heading and flowering. In the Northwest, North China and Huanghuai regions, alternating sunny and rainy weather has resulted in adequate soil moisture, which is beneficial to corn silking and grain filling, and soybean pod setting and filling, largely mitigating the effects of drought during the autumn planting season. Agro-meteorological conditions in Shanxi and northern Shaanxi have returned to normal, helping these areas to recover from the earlier drought conditions, with crop growth gradually improving. High temperatures prevailed in most of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, adversely affecting rice panicle initiation and heading, as well as maize tasseling and silking, although the overall impact was limited. Hot and dry weather in the Sichuan Basin is conducive to the milky stage of single-crop rice and spring corn.

Overall, crop growth is generally favourable across the country.

Fig.1 National vegetation index distance plot for cropland areas in mid-August 2024