Song Dongbai calculates that farmers need 18 to 21 kg of seeds per acre. Each kilogram is 12 yuan, 40 kg of fertilizer is 140 yuan, 50 kg of topdressing is 100 yuan, its 150 yuan for planting, upkeep, and harvesting costs, and 50 yuan in taxes. Excluding labor costs and land leasing fees, each hectare costs the farmer around 7,500 yuan.

"I will be unable to pay back the loans this year. If the bank doesn"t loan money to me next year, I can't afford the seeds. But what can I do except farm crops? I am 57 years old, I can't go out looking for work, no one will hire me," says Yang.

"The reaction by the people has been calm since no one is actually starving. But during Spring Festival... that's the critical time. If people have to send kids to school or someone gets hospitalized, it's over," he adds.

Cao Changqing, department head of the price policy for the National Reform and Development Commission, has said that the last surge in prices rests on the autumn harvest.

On the morning of September 13, vice-director of the Ministry of Agriculture Yin Chengjie said that although the summer output was almost 150 billion kilograms higher than last year, the yearly output still rested on the autumn harvest. "Barring any large-scale natural disasters like an early frost, the outlook for the autumn was good."