The world's leading farm machinery fair, Agritechnica, opened in Germany's Hanover on Sunday, launching a week-long exhibition dedicated to innovation, efficiency, and sustainability in modern farming.
Held under the theme "Touch Smart Efficiency," this year's event has attracted around 2,800 exhibitors from 52 countries and regions and is focusing on innovations in agricultural machinery, digital technologies, and connected farming systems.
A newly launched digital farm center -- the first of its kind at the exhibition -- has become a major highlight, presenting how digitalization, automation and artificial intelligence are transforming agricultural production worldwide.
From navigation software and sensors to robotics and drones, the exhibits are demonstrating how technologies are making modern farm machinery increasingly smart.
The rise of intelligent agricultural equipment is steering traditional farming away from dependence on experience and natural conditions, and toward a new stage marked by efficiency, sustainability and precision.
China has a strong presence at the event with over 250 Chinese exhibitors on site, ranking behind only Germany and Italy in terms of the number of participants.
Industry insiders noted that China's steady advancement in agricultural modernization has created vast opportunities for the development and application of smart-farming technologies.
"The level of technological sophistication here is very high, especially in the digital farm center. Many Chinese manufacturers are active in areas such as autonomous driving and drone technologies -- exactly the fields that will shape the future of agriculture. China is playing a strong and visible role in driving these developments," said Florian Schiller, a project manager for the German Agricultural Society (DLG)'s digital agriculture department.
Smart farming takes center stage at leading agritech fair in Hanover
China's achievements and cooperation initiatives in the technology and innovation sector have been highlighted at the ongoing Zhongguancun Forum (ZGC Forum) in Beijing.
The five-day forum opened on Wednesday and has attracted over 1,000 guests from more than 100 countries and regions to exchange views under the theme of "Full Integration Between Technological and Industrial Innovation".
This year's event showcased over 500 cutting-edge achievements across fields such as embodied intelligence, smart manufacturing and biomedicine, fully demonstrating China's latest scientific and technological advancements and innovations.
"[I'm] really impressed about the level of modernization and dynamism of the technology industry and AI here in China. We need support, commitment and leadership. China is providing all of them and in particular in the emerging technologies, including AI," said Sergio Mujica, secretary-general of the International Organization for Standardization.
At the forum's annual meeting, 60 parallel sessions are scheduled -- 21 of them debuting this year -- furthering global technology exchange.
"China is opening its full technical infrastructure to the world, and I think specifically for the Global South. This acts as a major advancement and it shows the level of responsibility and openness that China is showing towards the advancement of science and the collaboration," said Said Taha, a consultant for the Egyptian Ministry of Education.
At the 2026 Zhongguancun International Technology Trade Fair, part of the ZGC Forum, over 500 high-quality projects and scientific and technological achievements were on display, establishing a multi-level, wide-ranging platform for technology transaction and cooperation.
The attendees hailed the fair for bringing together global companies and facilitating exchanges.
"The innovation here in China is so attractive that a lot of global companies are coming to China in order to do the business deals in order to bring the products to the global markets," said Joseph Scheeren, member of the French National Academy of Pharmacy.
"The ZGC Forum provides an open platform for dialogue, and we hope to participate in more international cooperation in the future to promote Chinese technology and products to the world," said Yang Zhilin, CEO of Moonshot AI, a Chinese tech company.
China's technological contributions highlighted at Zhongguancun Forum
