Smart Agriculture: Science And Technology Determine Power Digital Intelligence Increases Production Efficiency

Science and technology are the fundamental decisive force in agricultural modernization. The whole process transformation of agricultural production with digital and intelligent technology will help to change the extensive business model and improve production efficiency.

For a long time, the Digital Cotton Regional Science and Technology Service Group of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps has always been committed to enabling the whole process of cotton production with digital technology to help the high-quality development of the cotton industry of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps. A few days ago, the reporter interviewed Zhang Ruoyu, a professor of the School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering of Shihezi University, a master's supervisor and a doctoral supervisor, and the head of the Digital Cotton Regional Science and Technology Service Corps of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, "Creating China through Science and Technology", to unveil the mystery of "digitalization of cotton industry".

To understand the digitalization of the cotton industry, the first thing to know is the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps Digital Cotton Regional Science and Technology Service Corps (hereinafter referred to as the "Service Corps"). As the head of the service group, Zhang Ruoyu proudly told reporters that the service group is the first "science and technology innovation China" science and technology service group of the Corps, and Chen Xuegeng, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, is the chief expert. The service group was established in conjunction with a number of cotton industry research institutions and enterprises, focusing on improving the quality and efficiency of the whole cotton industry chain and healthy and sustainable development. Supported by research achievements in technology and equipment such as cotton field information perception, cotton harvesting information monitoring, cotton quality rapid detection, cotton quality traceability, and cotton digital processing, it provides technical advice Technology transfer and transformation, technology promotion and application, industry university research docking, policy publicity, talent training and other services.

Zhang Ruoyu said, "In recent years, the comprehensive cost of cotton production has continued to increase, and the decision-making power of planting is in the hands of experienced talents. Through the digitalization of cotton production, we can use scientific and technological means to transform the cotton planting process from experience to wisdom, forming a replicable and promotable wisdom model, so that more farmers can benefit from it."

In order to further promote the digitalization of the cotton industry of the Corps, the Service Corps, together with nine advantageous scientific research institutes and enterprises, successfully applied for and was approved the national key research and development program "Creation and application of key technical equipment for cotton production smart farms" in 2022. The project focuses on breaking through and creating key technologies and intelligent equipment such as smart cotton seed management, efficient collection, efficient waste recycling, intelligent and efficient processing, establishing an integrated demonstration smart farm for cotton production and processing, and building a standardized model for cotton smart production, which can effectively improve the scientific and intelligent management level of cotton production and processing, and achieve cost saving and consumption reduction in cotton production Improving quality and efficiency and ecological sustainable development.

"Before cotton sowing, the smart farm will efficiently recover the residual film from the cotton field, and calculate the recovery cost and the quality of cotton operations in the later stage by monitoring the residual film and pollution degree of the land. When the cotton sowing time comes, the smart farm can improve the accuracy and efficiency of sowing through automated navigation and real-time monitoring." Zhang Ruoyu described in detail to reporters The life of "Digital Cotton" in the smart farm.

During the growing period of cotton, the smart farm will carry out scientific and reasonable water and fertilizer regulation according to the change of soil moisture, accurately identify cotton diseases and pests, and spray pesticides on them, saving costs while improving cotton quality and efficiency.

When it comes to harvesting, the smart farm quickly monitors the quality of raw materials through digital means, and then stacks them according to the quality of cotton, so as to reduce some losses in the cotton harvesting process.

In the later production process, the smart farm can scientifically regulate the corresponding parameters required in production according to the monitoring data. In order to further improve the quality of cotton, the smart farm also has digital equipment for the reduction and system separation of heterosexual fibers. In this way, the cotton that has spent its life in the smart farm will be of higher quality than ordinary cotton, and the final product will also have better economic benefits.

At present, the service group focuses on the rapid detection and quality traceability of cotton quality to carry out scientific and technological innovation, so as to promote the comprehensive digital system construction of cotton industry from the planting end, processing end to the product end.

Zhang Ruoyu introduced that the service group has made a number of research achievements in technology and equipment such as cotton field information perception, cotton harvesting information monitoring, cotton quality rapid detection, cotton quality traceability and cotton digital processing, and has established a collaborative working mechanism with several scientific research institutes and enterprises to carry out joint research and scientific popularization, and promote the transfer and transformation of scientific research achievements. As of November 15, 2022, the technical achievements of cotton quality traceability of the service group have been applied in 407 pilot enterprises in Xinjiang, with a total of 1.1066 million tons of seed cotton being traced, benefiting more than 17000 cotton farmers, providing technical support for the smooth implementation of the cotton quality differentiation subsidy policy.

"Now, the service group has initially formed a set of digital cotton technology service model that can be learned, used, copied and promoted. I believe that this will inject continuous power into the high-quality development of the cotton industry of the Corps," said Zhang Ruoyu.