Autumn harvest on the banks of the Yangtze River: How many "black technologies" are hidden in the rice fields

In autumn and October, the rice fields are golden, and Wuhu City, Anhui Province, located in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, ushered in the autumn harvest
.
Recently, this reporter visited many places in Wuhu City and saw that the fields showed busy scenes
of harvesting rice and transporting grain.
Unlike previous years, this year there are more grain growers here who are engaged in smart agriculture practices
.

When this reporter came to Eqiao Town, Sanshan Economic Development Zone, Wuhu, a major grain grower, a sign reading "Smart 'Wuhu Rice' Digital Hardware Equipment Field Monitoring Point" was erected on the side of the rice field, and not far away, some agricultural data transceivers were working in the rice field
.
The data monitored by these devices can be transmitted to the background
in real time.

"We have harvested more than 500 acres of rice, and some fields can yield up to 1,300 jin per acre, and smart agriculture can make a great contribution
.
" Gui Wanfa clicked on the smart agriculture application software on his mobile phone, and the information such as soil fertility, irrigation demand, and ripening status was clear
at a glance.

Guo Shuangshuang, project leader of smart agriculture application software, said after logging into the platform that up to now, the platform has covered 308 business entities from all over the country, with a planting area of more than 210,000 mu
.

"Using satellites, drones and equipment scattered throughout the field, our system analyzes 13 stages of rice growth and 49 key decision-making links, providing users with visual data and various planting recommendations
.
" Guo Shuangshuang told reporters that users can carry out precise fertilization, weeding, and pest prevention and disease treatment for different plots, no longer just "relying on experience" and "relying on feeling"
.
Guo Shuangshuang said that the yield of digitally managed rice fields can be increased by about 10%, and the average cost per mu can be saved by more than 100 yuan
.

Looking at the golden rice fields, Gui Wanfa was full of emotion
.
"In the past, when planting rice, fertilization and medicine had to be seen with the naked eye and judged by experience, either too much or too late, which may have an impact
on the yield.
Now open the phone, the platform can prompt how to fertilize
.
He said that through precise fertilization and top dressing, each mu of land can save about
50 pounds of fertilizer than the original.

According to Ma Bin, executive deputy director of the Rural Development Bureau of Wuhu Sanshan Economic Development Zone, the smart agriculture cloud platform remotely observes and records the growth status of crops and "guides" field management, which is favored
by many grain growers.
The next step of the district will be to expand the coverage of smart agriculture demonstration bases, so that the latest scientific and technological achievements can take root and blossom
.

In recent years, Wuhu has strengthened scientific and technological support, accelerated the promotion and application of advanced agricultural technology, and up to now, more than 100 agricultural technologies such as rice and wheat unmanned farms and smart rice digital planting have been selected and released
.

In Fanchang District, Wuhu City, reporters saw from time to time that harvesters were busy in the rice fields, grain drying centers and rice processing factories were constantly running
.
With the promotion and application of digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and big data in the agricultural field, grain growers have begun to enjoy the dividends brought by the development of smart agriculture, and are experiencing a transformation
from knowing how to farm to "wise" farming.

44-year-old Cao Jingjing is an innovative practitioner of
mechanized and intelligent unmanned farms.
He is a big grain grower in Pingpu Town, Fanchang District, Wuhu City, who has planted more than 1,200 mu of rice, and has tried a lot of "new farming"
this year.

"Through the construction of high-standard farmland, this farmland has basically realized the whole process of mechanization, not only the efficiency of grain cultivation has been improved, but even the pests and weeds have been reduced a lot
.
" Cao Jingjing pointed to a rice field and said that he began to cooperate with scientific research institutes last year to use 500 acres of land as a "test field" to explore the construction of unmanned farms
by collecting and analyzing agricultural big data.
"This year I purchased 8 unmanned rice transplanters, which not only saved manpower after use, but also had good
results.
"

In order to plant the "test field", Cao Jingjing also purchased 4 drones for fertilization
.
He said that three rice varieties have been planted this year, and some varieties have now been harvested in small areas, and the mu yield is expected to reach 1,100 jin, the same
as last year.
Some varieties are harvested in early November
.
"I'm contacting the unmanned harvester and hope to try
it out in the 'test field' as well.
I am still very confident in the development prospects of
smart agriculture.
Cao Jingjing said
.
(Editor Li Chuang)