Hangzhou, Zhejiang: Electricity Empowers Hickory Harvest, Safeguarding the Bumper Yield and Income of the “Golden Fruits”

“When White Dew arrives, bamboo poles sway; the ground is covered with gold, carried by shoulder poles.” In the early morning of September 3, the “Electricity-Aided Agriculture” team from Longgang Power Supply Station of State Grid Hangzhou Power Supply Company visited Linkeng Village—a major hickory-growing village in the area. They promoted knowledge on electricity safety during the hickory harvest season among villagers, ensuring this “golden fruit” is steadily turned into a “prosperity fruit” in farmers’ hands through “electricity safeguards”.

“Pay attention to waterproofing when connecting wires for the dryer.” “Avoid circuit overload during the hulling process.”Mei Huafeng and his colleagues, focusing on equipment commonly used during the hickory harvest such as hullers and dryers, carefully explained electricity safety precautions to villagers in the local dialect. They guided villagers by hand to check circuit connectors, replace aging sockets, and even demonstrated the testing method for residual current devices on-site. The villagers listened attentively, with the mountains covered in hickory forests heavy with fruits forming a vivid backdrop.

In Lin’an, known as the “Hickory Capital of China”, 570,000 mu (about 38,000 hectares) of hickory forests are about to enter the harvest season. To support this pillar industry with an output value of nearly 5 billion yuan, State Grid Hangzhou Power Supply Company has launched a special campaign titled “Electricity Aids Common Prosperity”. In response to the surge in electricity load during hickory processing, the company implemented a “one village, one policy” power grid upgrading initiative. Based on the planting scale and processing needs of different villages, it developed differentiated power grid upgrading plans. Through measures such as circuit reconstruction and capacity expansion, the power supply reliability in major hickory-producing areas has been comprehensively improved. Local power supply stations have opened a “fast track” for services specifically for the harvest season, simplifying the process of handling electricity-related businesses, and conducting early inspections to identify potential hazards in power supply circuits and equipment. This ensures that electricity services meet farmers’ needs proactively, accelerating the processing of the “golden fruits”.

To extend the service chain, State Grid Hangzhou Power Supply Company has also established “Electricity-Aided Agriculture” service teams. At Longgang Nut Roasting Food City, power account managers conduct regular visits to nut roasting enterprises, providing value-added services such as energy efficiency diagnosis and equipment maintenance. In Bainiu Village of Changhua Town, the local power supply station has carried out in-depth cooperation with the local e-commerce live streaming base. It has conducted comprehensive inspections of the power supply circuits and emergency power sources at the live streaming venues in advance, ensuring uninterrupted electricity supply for live-streaming sales during the hickory harvest season. This helps farmers expand sales channels and increase income through online platforms.

In recent years, State Grid Hangzhou Power Supply Company has always closely integrated electricity services with the development of rural industries and the need to increase farmers’ income, continuously exploring long-term agricultural assistance models: from assigning first secretaries to take root in the “No.1 Hickory Village in China” and deeply participating in industrial planning and rural governance, to developing carbon labels for hickory enterprises to support the green transformation of the industry and enhance product added value. A series of measures not only focus on electricity guarantee during the current harvest season but also look to the long-term development of the hickory industry. With electricity as a link, they continue to inject momentum into rural characteristic industries, helping Lin’an use the “golden fruit” industry as a fulcrum to leverage a new pattern of rural common prosperity. (By Fu Yunxiao/Wu Chen)