In recent years, the consumer internet has continuously extended and expanded to the industrial internet, and the digital, networked, and intelligent transformation of the agricultural industry has accelerated. Smart agriculture has begun to take effect, and the level of intelligence and unmanned technology has gradually improved.China is in the process of advancing towards the second centenary goal, and has placed smart agriculture in the overall planning of building a strong network country, a digital China, and a smart society, promoting the construction of smart agriculture to start well and take good steps during the 14th Five Year Plan period.Smart agriculture is the application of Internet of Things technology to traditional agriculture, using sensors and software to control agricultural production through mobile or computer platforms, providing precise planting, visual management, and intelligent decision-making for agricultural production, making traditional agriculture more intelligent.1. Four highlights of smart agriculture1、 New products and technologies are flourishing.Modern information technology is widely applied in various aspects and fields of agricultural production, with new products, technologies, and models emerging one after another. The digital transformation of agriculture is accelerating, and traditional agriculture is shifting towards intelligence. Intelligent recognition systems for field moisture, crop seedling conditions, disease and pest monitoring, and disaster monitoring are constantly emerging, as well as intelligent robots for cultivation and harvesting.Especially, products such as automated harvesting equipment, agricultural sensors (environmental monitoring, animal and plant sign monitoring), surveillance cameras, disease and pest monitoring and early warning, and integrated water and fertilizer have been widely applied.Significant achievements have been made in crop rotation and fallow supervision, remote diagnosis of animal and plant diseases, precision operation of agricultural machinery, drone defense, precision feeding, and fishing bans in the Yangtze River.2、 Unmanned or few people’s farms have emerged from the ground.With the continuous consolidation of rural network infrastructure, especially the maturity and popularization of big data, 5G, and artificial intelligence technologies, basic conditions have been provided for the development of unmanned or few person farms.In Changsha, Hunan, Wuhu, Anhui, Jiansanjiang, Heilongjiang, Huzhou, Zhejiang, Chongzhou, Sichuan, Foshan, Guangdong and other places, unmanned or few person farms have emerged. Through remote control of facilities, equipment, machinery, etc., full automatic control or robot autonomous control, all farm production operations are completed.Among them, the “Internet plus+agricultural irrigation management system”, which is built by comprehensive use of big data, the Internet of Things, intelligent control software, and irrigation equipment, is not uncommon to achieve “10000 mu farms, one key management”.13.jpg3、 The construction of big data has shown initial results.Data is the foundation of analysis and prediction, and the application of big data in the field of agriculture will further promote the development of smart agriculture.From a national perspective, the sharing of government data resources and the integration of information systems have achieved phased results. The national integrated government service platform has been basically established, and the pattern of co construction and sharing of government data resources has been basically formed;From the perspective of industry departments, agricultural and rural departments at all levels have successively launched pilot projects for the full industry chain big data construction of 15 varieties of 8 major categories, including apples and soybeans. Shaanxi has built a national level apple industry big data center, and Chongqing Rongchang has built a national level pig big data center.From the practice in various regions, Anhui, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Guangxi and other regions are actively promoting the construction of agricultural and rural big data, and have successively built big data platforms. Zhejiang is vigorously promoting the digital reform of agriculture, rural areas, and farmers throughout the province.4、 Market entities become the driving force.The coordinated promotion mechanism of smart agriculture development guided by the government, market entities, and social participation has begun to play a role. A collaborative pattern of active investment from enterprises and extensive participation from farmers and new agricultural management entities is forming, and market entities are becoming an important force in building smart agriculture.Large enterprises are entering the field of smart agriculture one after another, and internet companies such as the three major telecommunications operators are laying out smart agriculture and entering smart farms.2. Top 10 Trends in Smart AgricultureTrend 1: Cost reductionA set of smart agricultural equipment should be at least hundreds of thousands or millions. A farmer’s annual income may only be that small. Therefore, low-cost smart agricultural equipment will become a favorite of more farmers – in other words, low-cost will be one of the trends in smart agriculture.Trend 2: Easy operationFarmers who engage in traditional agriculture feel dizzy when they hear about the internet and computers, and even think to themselves: I haven’t graduated from junior high school yet, so let me operate computers. Aren’t you just causing trouble?The fundamental purpose of smart agriculture is to serve agriculture and farmers, rather than making them feel like they are causing trouble. Therefore, intelligent devices that are easy to operate and learn will become popular in rural areas – this is an inevitable trend in the development of smart agriculture.14.jpgTrend Three: Expert Participation in ProductionExperts will participate in production, which is a major change brought by smart agriculture to traditional agriculture.Farmers can send their questions and difficulties encountered during the planting and breeding process to experts online for analysis. But the outcome still depends on oneself and cannot rely solely on experts.Trend 4: Strengthening CollaborationSmart agriculture will make division of labor more clear. Farmers do their own things well and entrust other tasks to professionals – of course, collaboration and feedback here will be more frequent.Trend 5: Visualization dominatesNowadays, consumers want to buy reliable agricultural products, which includes understanding when these vegetables are sown, harvested, which pesticides are used, and even understanding the growth process of these agricultural products through video. So, in the future, agriculture or smart agriculture will inevitably have the trend of visualization.Trend 6: Vertical smart agriculture becomes the development directionEverything emphasizes segmentation, and smart agriculture is no exception. With development, more vertical sub sectors of smart agriculture will emerge in the future. Smart agriculture will serve agriculture, rural areas, and farmers more accurately.Trend 7: Integrated Smart AgricultureIn this era, integration and cross-border are all emphasized. It seems that without integration, one cannot survive – this may sound like “nonsense,” but in fact, there is a truth to it.It is undeniable that the depth and width of smart agriculture will have the shadow of other industries, such as the Internet, cloud computing, urban agriculture, and the integration of agriculture and tourism. Therefore, the development of smart agriculture cannot be separated from the word “integration”.15. jpgTrend 8: Smart Agriculture in MarketingThe sales of agricultural products have always been a major constraint on agricultural development, and all means to help sell products are welcomed by farmers. Smart agriculture aims to liberate productivity, improve efficiency, sell products faster, and enable farmers to become wealthy faster. This is also one of the important development paths for smart agriculture.Trend 9: More and more “laymen” are emergingSmart agriculture is already a high-tech, high-precision and cutting-edge industry. Without a certain knowledge reserve, it is difficult to efficiently do a good job in smart agriculture.At present, technology companies and IT elites are all engaged in smart agriculture in China. These “elite new farmers” are often close to technology, but too far from agriculture. To design intelligent devices that meet the needs of farmers, it is necessary to have a broad and in-depth understanding of agricultural needs and study agriculture seriously.Trend 10: Smart agriculture will eventually be surpassedTranscendence is the future of smart agriculture.What will be the next agriculture for traditional agriculture, mechanized agriculture, and smart agriculture? As land resources and other resources become increasingly scarce, planting and breeding are no longer just limited to Earth. People are constantly turning their attention to space and dreaming of agricultural production on other planets.Science and technology have been constantly developing and advancing, and assumptions that we cannot imagine now may become commonplace in the near future.From traditional to modern, agriculture will gradually develop into a smart agriculture stage that utilizes the Internet of Things, cloud computing, and precision technology, achieving optimal resource utilization and minimal cost investment, and achieving intelligent management levels in crop production, transportation, and sales – which will take a long time.At present, what we need to do is to fully promote and utilize smart agriculture to do our current tasks well, protect the environment, reduce pollution, liberate labor force, let smart agriculture light up cities and life, let our descendants thrive on this beautiful planet, and work together to create a better home.16.jpgIn the past two years, new technologies such as 5G, artificial intelligence (AI) and edge computing have gradually popularized and are affecting a traditional industry – agriculture that has lasted for thousands of years. Alibaba Dharma Institute has released the “Top 10 Technology Trends for 2021”, one of which is that agriculture is entering the era of data intelligence.New technologies have made agricultural crop monitoring, precision breeding, and on-demand allocation of environmental resources a reality. Agriculture is no longer reliant on the heavens. China’s agriculture is undergoing digital and intelligent transformation, and is about to enter the era of smart agriculture.From precision agriculture to smart agriculturePrecision agriculture is a modern agricultural production system that originated in the United States in the 1990s. With the help of intelligent agricultural machinery and equipment, it automatically sows, sprays, fertilizes, and harvests, with work efficiency far exceeding that of traditional farmers, and can further reduce costs.But for areas that are not suitable for mechanized scale planting, as well as some high value-added fruits and vegetables, a more detailed approach is needed. With the cross field application of new technologies such as artificial intelligence and edge computing, the types of precision agriculture are gradually enriched and move towards smart agriculture.17.jpg5G+AI+edge computing Helps Smart AgricultureIn 2019, China officially entered the 5G era. 5G technology will first directly promote the technological upgrading of agricultural sensor connection types and data, and IoT devices in fields such as agriculture, animal husbandry, fruit and vegetable industry, and aquaculture will be maturely applied.Network connection enables precise control and real-time data transmission of agricultural machinery. At the same time, as a supplement to cloud computing, edge computing, together with artificial intelligence (AI), provides real-time and efficient local decision-making on the edge of the network and the device side closer to the data source.For example, in the edge AI computer in a greenhouse, it is not necessary for the cloud to decide when and how much water to water. The edge AI computer can independently determine and execute related tasks, and synchronize with the cloud platform if necessary.18. jpgCompared with cloud computing, edge computing is closer to users and more efficient in data processing and analysis at edge nodes. Due to the distribution of data at the edges, the network can receive more effective protection and the security of data can be strengthened.In addition, using edge computing to complete partial data processing can shorten the response time of commands, reduce the data flow from devices to the cloud, and form collaborative services with cloud computing.Edge AI technology is used for the growth process of crops, which can achieve real-time monitoring and early warning, integrated automatic irrigation of water and fertilizer, pest control and disaster assessment, and improve agricultural productivity.So far, 5G ensures the real-time and efficient transmission of agricultural big data, edge computing provides computing power for data analysis and processing, and artificial intelligence provides intelligent analysis, management and decision-making of data models, which together constitute the technical foundation of smart agriculture and provide technical support for the development of efficient smart agriculture.Application of Smart Agriculture ScenariosIntroduce two representative agricultural scenarios: greenhouse and live pig farmingIt is important to accurately control and manage the growth environment and stages of plants in greenhouse scenes. This is reflected in the use of technologies such as data collection, water and fertilizer control, intelligent management, and digital farm platforms to manage planting processes such as seedling cultivation, planting, growth management, harvesting, and fallow.19. jpgDeploy edge AI computers inside the greenhouse, obtain key indicator data through sensing and collection devices, intelligently judge and control the water and fertilizer system for irrigation and fertilization, control lighting through the canopy system, and visually monitor the growth status of crops. And regularly synchronize relevant data to the cloud based agricultural management system to provide a basis for scientific decision-making.Another field, intelligent animal husbandry, is most commonly used in dairy farms, pig farms, and chicken farms. The precision feeding system of a pig farm needs to achieve functions such as pig quantity statistics, weight estimation, motion trajectory tracking, slaughter monitoring, and abnormal situation warning.With the help of edge computer application monitoring technology, including intelligent recognition, each pig’s identity, movement track, oestrus and health status are monitored, and the squeezed piglets are intelligently detected, so as to effectively improve the survival rate and slaughter rate of live pigs. Edge AI realizes the humanization of the entire pig farming process and the intelligent and scientific management of the operation process.Based on machine vision analysis technology, managers can always grasp the situation of each region and analyze historical records to make more suitable and comprehensive decisions.20. pngNowadays, traditional agricultural production scenarios are developing towards intensification and intelligence. Intensification will greatly reduce production costs and increase production revenue; Intelligence will promote data perception, intelligent management, and intelligent decision-making throughout the entire production process, achieving interconnectivity in agricultural scenarios.At the same time, through new technological means, the production and circulation of meat and vegetables can be traced from the source, from the fields to the dining table, ensuring the quality and safety of the “vegetable basket” and helping to modernize and upgrade China’s agriculture.
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