Dezhou Lingcheng vegetable production achieves palm-top traceability

[Lead-in·China Vegetable Network]On January 12, at the Wuli vegetable planting base in Lingcheng Town, Lingcheng District, staff from the Key Laboratory of Smart Agriculture of Shandong Agricultural University were upgrading the vegetable planting traceability information system, converting the originally abstract text information into vivid video images, so that consumers can view the growth, transportation and sales process of vegetables through a mobile phone app.

On January 12, at the Wuli vegetable planting base in Lingcheng Town, Lingcheng District, staff from the Key Laboratory of Smart Agriculture of Shandong Agricultural University were upgrading the vegetable planting traceability information system, converting the originally abstract text information into vivid video images, so that consumers can view the growth, transportation and sales process of vegetables through a mobile phone app. “By cooperating with Shandong Agricultural University, we use the Internet to achieve ‘palm-top traceability’ of organic vegetables, and make every effort to build a ‘reassuring farm’ for Beijing and Tianjin.” said the person in charge of the Wuli vegetable planting base in the district.

The Wuli vegetable planting base is the largest greenhouse vegetable industrial park in Lingcheng District. In recent years, in addition to continuously expanding the scale of vegetable planting at the base and intensifying scientific planting efforts, Lingcheng District has also carried out cooperation in many aspects with Shandong University and Shandong Agricultural University, continuously introducing the latest scientific research technologies into the greenhouses, and is committed to building a reassuring and safe vegetable supply base. At present, the vegetable information traceability system development project carried out by the district together with Shandong Agricultural University has made effective progress. Consumers can scan the QR code on vegetable packaging to easily learn about the planting and growth, farming operations, processing time, processing location, testing information, logistics information and so on of vegetables, and purchase vegetables from the planting base with greater confidence.

Relying on the advantages of local vegetable brands, Lingcheng District has defined its positioning clearly, seized development opportunities, actively introduced advanced technologies and management models, made every effort to improve vegetable quality, expanded the scale of organic vegetable and pollution-free vegetable planting, strived to raise the grade of vegetable products, and expanded its share of the Beijing and Tianjin markets. Through cooperation with scientific research institutions and universities, the district has innovatively explored new technologies such as integrated water and fertilizer substrate cultivation of summer squash and ozone generators for pest and disease control, which not only greatly reduced the amount of pesticides and fertilizers and effectively overcame continuous cropping obstacles, but also increased vegetable output by more than 20% and raised benefits by 30%. The district has successively won titles such as “National Ten-Thousand-Mu Solar Greenhouse Pollution-Free Vegetable Production Base,” “National Green Vegetable Production Base” and “National Standardized Production Base for Green Food Raw Materials.” “To do a good job in connecting with Beijing and Tianjin, our district is accelerating the introduction of new vegetable planting technologies such as integrated water and fertilizer and new varieties, further improving vegetable quality, and at the same time promoting the vegetable planting traceability information system, doing a good job in liaising with the vegetable markets of Beijing and Tianjin, and truly turning Lingcheng District into a high-quality vegetable base for Beijing and Tianjin, so that consumers can eat reassuring vegetables.” said Ma Feng, deputy director of the district's Vegetable Bureau.

In the greenhouse of Li Guiye, a grower in Wuli Community, the tomatoes are growing well, and some have already ripened. “The tomatoes in my greenhouse are grown entirely according to green food standards. Their taste and quality are especially good, and they are all sold to the Beijing and Tianjin markets.” Li Guiye said. Since last year, with the help of the cooperative, Li Guiye has successfully introduced advanced management and production technologies such as integrated water and fertilizer substrate cultivation, yin-yang greenhouses and the Internet of Things. In accordance with the production requirements for green food vegetables, vegetable standards were strictly controlled in 14 aspects including seedling raising, transplanting, cultivation and management, and a set of five-unified operating procedures was formulated, forming a mature set of pollution-free vegetable production standards.

The openness of vegetable information has improved vegetable quality and consumer trust. In 2015, the district's vegetable planting area reached 295,000 mu, an increase of 20,000 mu, including 41,000 mu of solar greenhouses, 40,000 mu of large arch sheds and 47,000 mu of small arch sheds, achieving a total output of 1.291 million tons and total revenue of 1.95 billion yuan.