Snake gourd planted with hybridization technology on dispay at the fair (photo by Zhu Zheng from Xinhua News Agency)

More than 6,000 participants from over 20 countries and regions, including South Korea, France and India, displayed the latest agricultural achievements at an international vegetable science and tech fair in Shouguang, Shandong province.

Themed around “green agriculture, science and future”, the fair began last Wednesday and will continue through May 20. The fair is designed to display advanced agricultural technologies and vegetable culture development.

The fair features an exhibition area of 350,000 square meters, which is home to 14 exhibition halls, four vegetable greenhouses, a vegetable and fruit picking garden and outdoor booths to display farming equipment and machinery.

Various vegetables and fruits planted with advanced technology techniques become eye-catchers at the fair including super-big tomatoes, sweet potatoes growing in the air, a new species of melon, towel gourd and chili.

A total of 50 kinds of cultural and business activities will also be held during the fair, including a farming cultural festival, an international gardening forum, a national agricultural television forum and a trade fair.

The fair has been held annually since 2000 and is the only special meeting in the vegetable industry in China approved by the Ministry of Commerce. Last year it attracted a total of 1.86 million visitors and achieved a trade turnover of 16 million yuan.

By Wang Qian (China Daily Shandong Bureau)

Editor: Li Jing and Clark Cahill