Central China farmer invents tree-planting machine

Ahead of possible threat to job losses due to automation, a 56-year-old farmer in Central China’s Henan province has invented a machine that could not only replace his job, but possibly the jobs of a lot of his peers, too.

Liu Xueyou said his invention, constructed from a four-wheel tractor, is capable of planting 6,000 trees in a day, equal to the work of 100 veteran farmers.

The native of Xixian county was inspired to create his invention after subletting 6,000 square meters (400 hectares) of land from other farmers.

He decided to plant trees all over the land, in response to local government’s call to create a green township and protect the environment.

He expected that with the help of the machine, which requires two people to operate, his land could be filled with sycamore, willow, and fruit trees within a month – also hoping the trees could become a source of income.

Liu borrowed the idea from a widely used wheat-planting technique, and developed the tree-planting machine with his son.

He’s currently using their third iteration of the machine.

As the demographic of farmers in Liu’s hometown is aging, some reaching their seventies, he said that the invention is more about improving the efficiency of agricultural work rather than taking people’s jobs.