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.

Since the beginning of this year, the Agriculture and Rural Bureau of Xuzhou City has relied on financial support for agricultural projects to guide agricultural business entities to actively purchase agricultural IoT equipment, accelerate the application of intelligent technology, and gradually formed a three-level smart agricultural service platform. Agricultural informatization and intelligent technology application have taken the lead in the province. In the first half of the year, 10332 sets of agricultural machinery were added, including 150 Beidou navigation assisted driving tractors, 312 aviation plant protection drones, and 196 Beidou navigation assisted driving rice transplanters. The structure of agricultural machinery equipment was further optimized. Fengxian County and Jiawang District have entered the third batch of provincial-level demonstration county creation sequence, and the construction of Xuzhou demonstration county has achieved full coverage of agricultural counties and districts.