China's Shandong uses smart tech to secure wheat harvest

Agricultural technicians in east China's Shandong Province started employing small equipment such as drones and unmanned vehicles to grow their fields in the current key stage for wheat growing.

Zhang Tong, a large-scale grain producer in Shandong's Jinan, uses a drone equipped with a multispectral image sensor for real-time data collection of winter wheat growth conditions. This cutting-edge method facilitates extensive field inspection, achieving a daily coverage of over 5,000 mu (about 333 hectares) of fields.

Meanwhile, technicians remotely control an unmanned vehicle equipped with a multispectral camera for high-precision monitoring in fields with weaker seedling conditions.

These large-scale grain producers expect to use these intelligent agricultural technologies to improve field inspection efficiency and secure a strong harvest.

"Previously, manually inspecting wheat fields could cover only 500 to 600 mu in a day, demonstrating low efficiency and an inability to detect problems promptly. A multispectral drone can survey about 1,500 mu of land in one hour through the integrated air-ground approach. This is supported by precise feedback and analysis from an unmanned field monitoring vehicle. With this system, areas with problems can be promptly identified, enabling precise management to prevent crop yield reduction due to delayed interventions," Zhang said.

"Large-scale grain growers first employ a multispectral drone for extensive field inspection, marking key areas and identifying problems. Subsequently, a multispectral unmanned vehicle is dispatched from the base to the site with problems, equipped with a multispectral camera to gather information and images. These images are then transmitted back to our backend system for intelligent analysis and assessment, culminating in a tailored solution that is relayed to the large-scale grain growers. Based on this feedback, the growers carry out targeted actions such as fertilization, pesticide application, and irrigation," said Zheng Jie, an agricultural technician.

Since the jointing-booting stage is critical for yield formation and field management in the current spring wheat growing period, local agricultural technicians are conducting on-site technical guidance for farmers to lay the foundation for summer grain harvests.

China's Shandong uses smart tech to secure wheat harvest

A consumption promotion campaign launched by the China Media Group (CMG) in Shanghai on Friday, the ninth China Brand Day, provided a platform for participants to explore emerging consumption trends and new drivers of economic growth.

The event brought together leading companies from sectors such as food, beverages, and automobiles.

The event featured keynote speeches, round-table dialogues, and interactive exchanges.

"Let us continue to work closely together to enhance the global prestige and reputation of Chinese brands, enrich their cultural connotation and unique identity, and unleash their vitality and creativity in the new era, so as to contribute more to China's high-quality economic growth," said Peng Jianming, a member of CMG's editorial board and the general manager of its general manager office.

Discussions also focused on how national-level platforms can empower brand innovation and lead consumption upgrades.

Every year, the CMG hosts a series of events on the China Brand Day.

In addition to consumption promotion campaign, this year's agenda also included a symposium on brand power, a special edition of television program on the China Brand Day, and a series of livestreams via the China Central Television (CCTV) news app, showcasing how Chinese brands are driving consumer enthusiasm and taking the lead in revitalizing domestic demand.

CMG promotion event provides platform to explore consumption trends, economic growth drivers