More intelligent unmanned equipment and facilities have been put into use in this year's summer field management, making farm work easier and more quality-oriented in China.
Qixing Farm, a state-owned farm that is part of Jiansanjiang Co, a subsidiary of Beidahuang Agricultural Reclamation Group in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, has explored various applications of modern technology in intelligent agriculture.
This year, the farm used the Automated UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) Field Inspection Platform for the first time to monitor field soil fertility and crop growth, and conduct yield assessment in real time.
"For example, the supervision of water layer, pests and diseases in our paddy fields can be achieved through the field inspection drones. In this way we can quickly and directly grasp the situation in the field and carry out timely and scientific prevention and control measures," said Zhou Dehua, a farmer at Qixing Farm.
While the drone is carrying out missions in the field, the platform can monitor the real-time data collected by the drone and send instructions accordingly. In just a few minutes, a set of efficient and accurate agricultural instructions are successfully issued. "Through the drone group, we collect some environmental factors that affect the crop growth in our fields. Based on the data of our perception layer, we adopt the means of space-air-ground, and human-machine integration to form a decision-making instruction for agricultural activities that need to be carried out at that time and season. Through this digital production model, we guide our growers to plant more scientifically and increase our rice yield," said Zhang Yafei, director of the Digital Sanjiang Office of Beidahuang Group.
Meanwhile, Suzhou City, east China's Jiangsu Province, is advancing the green transformation in charging of plant protection drones and the first smart battery replacement station was put into use, which can effectively save the charging time and costs.
"(In the past,) if we used gasoline (to charge), (the cost) would be at least 150 yuan a day. Now with this charging pile, the cost is between 15 and 20 yuan, which saves a lot for us," said Wang Cailong, a grower.
According to the latest monitoring data by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, 96.2 percent of the summer grain has been harvested nationwide, of which 98.3 percent of winter wheat has been harvested.
So far 83.1 percent of the summer grain has been sown nationwide, of which summer corn and summer soybeans have basically been sown, mid-season rice planting is in the final stages, and double-season late rice will be planted in mid-July.
Application of intelligent agriculture empowers summer farming in China
