In July, the scorching heat makes farm work especially arduous. However, with the use of intelligent unmanned agricultural equipment, machines are now seen more often in the fields than people.
At a super farm next to Liantang Ancient Village in Guangzhou's Huangpu District, a vast green expanse can be seen. The rice plants, which recently headed and flowered, are now in the crucial waxing to full ripening stage, requiring careful management. Remote sensing drones paired with Internet of Things (IoT) devices in agriculture, can monitor and control pests and diseases, while also providing real-time information on rice growth, temperature and humidity. Field operations are also handled by unmanned equipment.
"If you can operate a smartphone, you can operate agricultural unmanned equipment," says Ye Yonghui, the super farm's operations manager. Here, he manages approximately 300 acres of farmland by himself.
Far away in Yuli County, Bayingolin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang, a "super cotton field" is also managed by just two people for 3,000 acres of cotton. Currently, the cotton field is in the critical flowering and boll setting stage. Cotton field managers Ai Haipeng and Ling Lei check the cotton growth daily and use intelligent irrigation valves to quench the cotton's thirst and cool it down.
With the help of high-tech tools such as the IoT, robots and artificial intelligence, the "super cotton field" has seen its average yield of seed cotton increase from 254 kg per acre in 2021 to 420.9 kg in 2023.
Currently, Guangzhou-made "farming tools" have been deployed in 65 countries and regions worldwide. As these intelligent products gain popularity, the busy farming seasons in many places are no longer as hectic.
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