Thanks to the help of drones spraying pesticides, otherwise the harvest loss this season would be significant. “Wei Haitao, a farmer in Xiaozhuang Village, Gaocheng Town, Yixing City, Wuxi, Jiangsu, was stranded in his hometown of Chaohu, Anhui in late February due to the impact of the epidemic. Upon learning that weeds were rampant in the contracted 200 acre wheat field, he quickly called Wuxi Tianxin Agricultural Means Co., Ltd. for help, and the company sent a drone to help spray pesticides. It took only a day to complete the task.
Spring plowing and preparation for cultivation have encountered the epidemic, and foreign farmers cannot come and agricultural products cannot be sold. Traditional agriculture has a significant impact. As the largest agricultural sector in Wuxi, Yixing, represented by smart agriculture, contract agriculture, and other modern agricultural new models and formats, has gained more practical opportunities in this epidemic, demonstrating a stronger ability to turn crisis into opportunity and resist risks, and injecting new momentum into modern agricultural production.
In rural areas, cooperatives and agricultural companies that assist farmers in providing one-stop socialized services such as farming, planting, management, and harvesting are known as “field nannies”. Tianxin Agricultural Materials is the largest “field nanny” in Wuxi, currently serving a total of 100000 acres of farmland through “full trust” and “half trust” services. Similar trusteeship services were put to great use during the COVID-19, which solved the problem of farmers’ spring plowing and preparation without management.
Most of the large farmers in Yixing come from other places, especially in Anhui where there are many people living. Agriculture has strong seasonality, and there should be no delay in what to do when. “said Zong Shunming, Chairman of Tianxin Agricultural Materials, due to the warm winter, the preparation work for spring plowing in 2020 was advanced. However, due to epidemic prevention and control, farmers were unable to return for a while, and if weeding and fertilization were not done in a timely manner, the harvest would definitely be affected.
Affected by the epidemic, farmers have become more accepting of modern agricultural machinery. In 2019, Tianxin Agricultural Means of Production utilized 10 plant protection drones to control diseases, pests, and weeds, reaching over 50000 mu per occurrence. Zong Shunming believes that the impact of the epidemic is an opportunity to promote modern agricultural mechanization such as plant protection drones. In the long run, rural farming is now dominated by elderly people, and many young people are unwilling to farm. In the future, agricultural labor will become fewer and fewer, and the promotion of smart agriculture can make farming easier.
Under the epidemic, Jia Jingchao, the person in charge of Yangxian Gong Tea House, is more urgent about this transformation idea, which is to increase the added value of products and extend the industrial chain. The integrated development of tea tourism will be a major way for the tea industry to break away from traditional marketing models. At present, it is the tea picking season. With the disappearance of the epidemic, he will focus on the interaction between tea production and tourists to create a tea culture journey that people can participate in and experience personally.
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