When the 13th Changchun International Agricultural Food Exposition and Fair ended on Aug 24, it exceeded all expectations, attracting more than 1.8 million people and seen 12.5 billion yuan worth of contracts, for a record high.

The exhibition saw a boom, with sales, trade and negotiations all showing fruitful results. The fair had at least 2,000 exhibitors from all over and several hundred enterprises, commercial organizations, and small agricultural businesses with thousands of products.

The concluding press conference had leaders from Jilin province and the city of Changchun taking part. When the results were announced, there were as many as 1.25 billion yuan worth of on-the-spot transactions, and agreements on several dozen agricultural projects in distribution areas along the Yangtze River and Pearl River deltas and in Taiwan. There were also 28 contracts worth up to 12.5 billion yuan, with 17 of them worth 100 million yuan each and the highest above 3-billion yuan.

This year's fair had science playing a greater role, with around 3,700 new Chinese and foreign plants, hundreds of different types of facilities, technology, and machinery. There were also hundreds of agricultural machinery manufacturers and livestock and poultry enterprises taking part, from Jilin and other provinces and overseas, attracting a record number of farmers who came to look and shop.

The organizers handed out 100,000 pieces of scientific agriculture literature for free and held several lectures and two contests on scientific agriculture. There were cultural activities and forums as well to improve the content and the level of this year’s fair.

The city of Changchun is already planning future expositions and exhibition tourism projects and is considering holding agricultural expositions throughout the year. In addition, it will gradually open more to the outside world, develop a related AAAAA tourist spot, and tourist products and exhibitions based on Jilin farming and folk culture, fisheries, flower gardens, fruit and rural living to create an agricultural ecology tourism resort.

The 14th Changchun Agricultural Fair is expected to be held next August.

Edited by Zhou Yuanyuan and Roger Bradshaw