Technologies Boost Agricultural Production in Western China

With spring farming activities in full swing, the soillessly cultured tomatoes in an industrial base of smart agriculture in Fuping County, Shaanxi Province are luxuriantly growing in trough planters that are orderly placed in a smart greenhouse.

Manager Zhang Xulong attributed their realization of soilless and stereo cultivation of tomato to the black technologies of the greenhouse: the rainwater collection and fertigation systems ensure automatic and precise irrigation, while the smart control system collects various environmental parameters in real-time, providing an ideal environment for the growth of greenhouse crops.

Zhang said the greenhouse, equipped with the best automatic control system, is able to monitor real-time data such as temperature, humidity and illumination. When the temperature falls, it will calculate and activate the heating system to raise the temperature.

Fuping is a major agricultural county. The new industrial base of smart agriculture covers an area of over 66,700 square meters, most of which are occupied by the greenhouse. The facility has significantly increased the yield per unit area, producing up to 60 kilograms of tomatoes per square meter. The annual output value of the base is expected to exceed 30 million yuan.

Smart farming technologies, such as digital control and automatic operation, have given a strong boost to the high-quality development of modern agriculture, improving both quality and efficiency.

Director Zhao Junyao of Fuping's modern agricultural park project office said advanced farming technologies have efficiently improved the agricultural productivity and the quality of farm produce, playing pioneering, demonstrative and promotional roles in the development of local modern agriculture.