Plant protection drones have become standard equipment for modern agricultural production

In the golden autumn season, the vast black land is filled with waves of rice and golden corn, and crop field management is nearing its end. On the morning of the 15th, in the agricultural machinery warehouse of Zhongyi Agricultural Machinery Professional Cooperative located in Chenjiadian Village, Helong Town, Nong’an County, Lin Dong, a plant protection drone operator, carefully checked the model parameters. “This drone has been in use for a few years, and it’s time to improve the efficiency of field plant protection to ensure the best time for crops to use drugs!” At present, the cooperative is preparing to update and upgrade the plant protection drone, continuously reducing the dosage of medicine.

This year, the drone plant protection operation area of Zhongyi Cooperative exceeded 400 hectares. Since the first single rotation plant protection drone was purchased seven or eight years ago, the cooperative has started promoting drone plant protection throughout the village. Lin Dong said, “In the past, providing plant protection for crops was the most headache, with high labor costs and uneven application of medication. When drones were flying at a constant speed in the air, they could accurately spray the work site in a fog like manner through the Internet of Things and GPS positioning system.” During this field management period, the cooperative completed crop plant protection in just over ten days, timely and effectively preventing the occurrence and spread of diseases and pests.

“Accelerate the application of big data in agriculture and rural areas, and promote the development of smart agriculture.” This year’s No. 1 central document not only guided the Zhongyi Cooperative, but also most new agricultural operators, pest control social service organizations, and large grain growers in our city have clearly defined the direction of green and efficient management: digital plant protection and intelligent operations are conducive to the sustainable use of agricultural resources and ecosystems, and ensure the safety of food production. Compared with traditional plant protection methods, drone plant protection operations not only reduce labor costs, but also improve the accuracy and timeliness of agricultural production.

With the development of digital agriculture technology, the advantages of plant protection drones, such as high operational efficiency, good prevention and control effects, strong safety, water conservation, medicine conservation, and environmental protection, have become more prominent, from installing spray pumps and self-made spray tanks on tractors to self-propelled elevated plant protection machinery, to today’s plant protection drones. According to incomplete statistics, there are currently over 500 unmanned aerial vehicles used for agricultural production in the city, and plant protection drones have become the standard equipment for modern agricultural production in our city.

If you want to do good work, you must first sharpen your tools. Promoting digital and efficient plant protection machinery is an important part of the negative growth in pesticide use. A few days ago, over Sandao Village in Shanghewan Town, Jiutai District, a plant protection drone loaded with “nutrition” circled back and forth, evenly spraying a mist of medicine, and the farmland exuded a thick “technological atmosphere”. The real-time display of flight speed, flight altitude, loading weight, and operating area on the mobile phone is the flight defense data of the plant protection drone. “Zhao Shijun, the head of the Shijun Family Farm, said that the three drones on the farm operate simultaneously and can complete hundreds of hectares of flight defense operations every day.

The 200 hectares of farmland under large-scale operation on the farm have all achieved drone plant protection. After several years of exploration and experimentation, the Shijun Family Farm has completed the iterative upgrade of plant protection drones. Zhao Shijun said, “Our latest introduced plant protection drone can carry more than 70 kilograms of medicine at once, and the nozzle below can work simultaneously. It can work on 1 hectare in a few minutes, saving about 30% of the medicine.

With the help of drone plant protection technology, the Shijun Family Farm also established a “green resume” for agricultural products based on crop soil conditions, farmland data, and changes in the ecological environment, generating a food safety traceability system to ensure food quality. Our rice can obtain green certification, and drone plant protection has played an important role. “Zhao Shijun said, improving the application ability of digital agriculture, the farm’s farmland management has shifted from” spraying pesticides and diseases “to” preventing and controlling pests and diseases “, ensuring timely and efficient use of pesticides.

Develop green ecological agriculture, accelerate the full mechanization of agricultural production and the transformation and upgrading of agricultural machinery and equipment. In recent years, our city has continuously strengthened the promotion of green prevention and control technologies, established a resource saving and environmentally friendly sustainable pest and disease management system, and achieved pesticide reduction and control. The airflow generated by the drone propeller tilts the crop stems at a 70 degree angle, and the medicinal liquid can enter different parts of the crop with the airflow, enhancing the effectiveness of agricultural disease and pest control. The relevant person in charge of the Municipal Plant Protection and Quarantine Station stated that drone plant protection needs to develop towards intelligent services, achieve automatic data matching, automatically avoid obstacles, and control pesticide residues based on crop growth, truly achieving “unmanned” plant protection.