Technology empowers farmers to raise their incomes

The greenhouses in the plant nurseries in the Dingtao district of Heze city – in East China's Shandong province – have recently been running at full capacity, in order to cultivate high-quality seedlings and get them ready for planting during the upcoming autumn.

A concept called an "order-based nursery" is driving the development of modern agriculture in the district, empowering rural vitalization with technology. It's creating a model for digital agriculture and helping farmers increase their production, efficiency and incomes.

Two people check seedlings in a greenhouse in Dingtao district. [Photo by Ma Jin for chinadaily.com.cn]

Wang Gaowei, the general manager of the Hexin agriculture cooperative in the district, said that the cooperative can produce around 500,000 seedlings per day, most of which are distributed to customers.

Wang's cooperative has 25 nurseries equipped with automated sprinkler systems, automatic temperature control devices, negative pressure fans and cooling water curtains.

Currently, the cooperative nurtures over 20 varieties of seedlings, which are sold to over 40 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions.

The annual production of over 50 million seedlings generates revenue of about 25 million yuan ($3.5 million), benefiting over 5,000 farmers.

In recent years, Dingtao district has focused on the deep integration of new-generation information technologies – the internet of things, artificial intelligence, blockchain and others – with agricultural production, operations and management services.

What's more, it has cultivated eight digital agriculture production bases, explored an "internet + high-standard farmland" model and established 1,000 mu (67 hectares) of smart high-standard farmland. (Edited by Jin Yongxue)