New technologies boost farming efficiency

By Tan Maolin.

A wave of advanced agricultural technologies is transforming farming practices in Yichang’s Dangyang.

Dangyang Zhujiahu Grain Professional Cooperative has installed an intelligent farming technology platform based on China’s Beidou satellite navigation system. On March 4, Xing Hansheng, the Chairman of the cooperative and Party Secretary of Chuhu Village, introduced the platform to the media.

"This is the first intelligent platform built by a village-level cooperative in Dangyang. It was put into operation last May and has been of great help to us!" Xing said.

The platform provides real-time data on weather, soil moisture, pest hazards and machine operations, significantly improving farm management efficiency. With just a click, farmers can monitor the growth and health of crops across 23,432 mu (1,562 hectares).

The cooperative has now equipped more than 20 farming devices with Beidou signal receiver terminals. Drones connected to the system can remotely monitor the growth condition of wheat fields and transmit data back to the platform. Additionally, automated solar-powered sensors in the fields can continuously monitor crop conditions, helping farmers to take action.

The cooperative plans to expand the platform's capabilities and integrate more unmanned technologies, aiming to develop a fully automated command center. Last year, the cooperative achieved an output value of 150 million yuan.

In another part of Dangyang, an intelligent vegetable seedling factory in Qunyi Village is revolutionizing farming with automated seeding machines and smart IoT systems.

Du Xingguo, Party Secretary of Qunyi Village and Chairman of the Qunyi Vegetable Professional Cooperative said: "This magical tool can sow 600,000 vegetable seedlings every day." In the past, it took over 10 people a full day to plant seedlings for 1 mu. Now, one person can do the job in a day.

This facility, which cost 2.5 million yuan, can precisely control the seedlings’ growth through dozens of built-in sensors. With the push of a button, the machine operates like a printer, accurately planting the seeds into grids of 105 soil seedling trays, with each seed at exactly the same depth.

"Through intelligent temperature control, we can ensure uninterrupted seedling growth. The survival rate can be as high as 99 percent, significantly higher than conventional methods,” he said.

The cooperative now grows more than 333 hectares of vegetables, with lettuce sold in major cities like Harbin, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and even Hong Kong.

Beyond meeting local demand, the renowned seedling factory has also received orders from outside of Dangyang.

"These 200,000 chili seedlings are being cultivated for Changyang Huoshaoping Township," Du said, pointing to a batch of young seedlings. The order will be completed in three phases, with the first batch ready in 10 days.

Hubei Daily’s Li Renxi contributed to this story.