Unmanned driving into rice paddies, “smart technology” helps with food security

Recently, the first unmanned harvester in Xuzhou City, Jiangsu Province began harvesting rice at Liangfan Farm in Zhuzhai Town, Peixian County. This is the first appearance of the unmanned rice harvester, giving Harvest a full sense of technology.

In the high standard farmland of Liangfan Smart Farm in Zhuzhai Town, Peixian County, Xuzhou, there are waves of rice like a sea. A red and white harvester motor roared, harvesting rice “only hearing the sound of machinery, not the farmers”. The “controller” remotely harvests rice at an intelligent CNC center 1 kilometer away, and the unmanned machine is ready to depart, taking the rice into its bag along the planned path in the rice field. After the warehouse was full, the unmanned harvester automatically drove towards the grain unloading machine, only to see the rice gushing out, and soon the unloading was completed.

The harvesting speed and rotational speed of the unmanned harvester are very stable, and it can harvest 24 hours without interruption. The operator can use their phone while drinking coffee, and the loss reduction rate of the unmanned harvester will not exceed 1%, “said He Li, the person in charge of Liangfan Smart Farm in Zhuzhai Town, Peixian County.

It is understood that Liangfan Smart Farm in Zhuzhai Town, Peixian County has transferred over 5200 acres of land, which used to take at least 20 days to harvest. Nowadays, all rice and wheat rotation operations are mechanized. This year, Heli purchased unmanned tractors, harvesters, and rice transplanters, and upgraded manual operations to unmanned mechanization, increasing efficiency by 30%.

Hou Zhao’an, Director of the Municipal Agricultural Machinery Department, introduced that unmanned smart farms have achieved unmanned rice planting, cultivation, and management. With the support of technologies such as the Internet of Things and Beidou, unmanned smart agricultural machinery can not only achieve unmanned grain production, but also help upgrade smart agriculture and reduce production costs. Most importantly, the promotion of unmanned intelligent agricultural machinery has promoted standardized planting, improved food quality, enhanced enterprise efficiency, and provided effective guarantees for consolidating food security.

At present, there are over 20000 family farms included in the management list in Xuzhou, and nearly 3000 demonstration family farms at all levels have been cultivated. The operating land area exceeds 2.6 million acres. Developing smart agriculture in this environment can further enhance the comprehensive management level of fields, enhance the ability of scientific farming, and promote the reduction of agricultural labor intensity and liberation of productivity for large farmers, family farms, and agricultural cooperatives.

Next, Xuzhou will focus on ensuring the mechanization of grain production, promoting comprehensive mechanization of agricultural production throughout the entire process, integrating agricultural machinery and agronomy, mechanization and informatization, and building a new type of socialized service system for agricultural machinery. This will create a new situation for agricultural mechanization work, demonstrate new achievements for the construction of a strong agricultural machinery city, and promote the creation of a demonstration county for comprehensive mechanization of agricultural production throughout the entire process.