Linyi city farmers jump on smart agriculture bandwagon

Instead of working on the land and tilling the fields in the conventional way, new-era farmers in Lanling county – located in Linyi city in East China's Shandong province – are harnessing technology and working smarter.

With the help of digital technology, the vegetables in their greenhouses can be taken great care of by using intelligent devices, which regulate water sprays, as well as monitor the temperature and sunshine.

All this can be achieved on a phone with a few clicks, according to Song Tongtong, an employee at a local smart agriculture business.

The company's greenhouses are installed with intelligent sensors and monitoring systems to collect real-time data on soil moisture, climate and nutrients.

The information is then analyzed through cloud platforms, to provide the best growth environment for crops.

The precise management not only saves water resources and fertilizers, but also significantly improves crop yields and the quality of produce. It's created excitement among local farmers and more and more of them are jumping at the chance to piggyback the smart agriculture.

The local government is also encouraging and supporting agricultural firms and cooperatives to adopt modern information technologies – such as the internet of things and big data – hoping to achieve precise management and intelligent means for decision-making in production.

Xu Zhendong, Party chief of Xuhuanglu village, said the digital greenhouses not only increased the earnings of farmers but also galvanized overall rural vitalization.

Local mushroom planting cooperative manager Li Huiguang is also positive – pointing out that the water sprinklers sponsored by the government had reduced water consumption by an estimated 30 percent. (Edited by Chen Chuxuan)