Inserting the wings of technology into agricultural modernization

Entering Yangling, Shaanxi, a technological wind blows from the fields.

The story of innovation is constantly unfolding as one steps on the loess and walks through Yangling.

For 18 years, this is the only national level agricultural high-tech industry demonstration zone in China – the State Council approved the establishment of Yangling Agricultural High tech Industry Demonstration Zone in 1997, and other agricultural high tech demonstration zones were successively approved after 2015.

Yangling used to be a small town with only 4 square kilometers. It is now a small town with a total area of 135 square kilometers and a population of over 250000, including over 80000 farmers and over 60000 students. Northwest A&F University and Yangling Vocational and Technical College are located here.

From plant factories to “southern fruit and northern planting”, and then to smart agriculture, these modern agricultural technologies with a strong sense of technology stem from overcoming difficulties such as drought, water scarcity, and poor land, which once severely restricted agricultural production in the arid and semi-arid regions of the northwest. How to cultivate land to save water the most? How to use water more efficiently? One of the answers given by Yang Ling is to develop facility agriculture and promote technologies such as soilless cultivation and integrated water and fertilizer.

Backed by the northwest and facing the Yellow River, Huaihe River, and the sea, the country has established a demonstration zone in Yangling, which has obvious geographical advantages and abundant agricultural science and education resources. The aim is to deepen the reform of the science and education system, explore the development of modern agriculture in arid and semi-arid areas of China, and promote agricultural modernization through agricultural science and technology modernization, “said Huang Siguang, Secretary of the Party Working Committee of the Yangling Agricultural High tech Industry Demonstration Zone.

Entering the Yangling Smart Agriculture Demonstration Park, more than 10 types of greenhouses are visible, with different heights, materials, and uses. Similarly, these greenhouses are all water-saving, with rainwater collection pits outside. After being collected and filtered, rainwater can be used for crop irrigation.

Over the years, Song Xieliang established the Agricultural Internet of Things in his experimental field, equipped with water-saving irrigation facilities, and selected over 30 crop varieties here. Seed storage and processing workshops were also established. He said, “To build an agricultural power, it is necessary to have strong supply guarantee, strong scientific and technological equipment, strong management system, strong industrial resilience, and strong competitiveness. In the future, we will see these aspects in our experimental fields and in the Yangling Demonstration Zone