IoT applied to agriculture: promotion of aquaculture and planting should be accelerated
The development of the Internet of Things is still in its initial stage. Agricultural IoT is not only constrained by the development of the entire IoT industry, but also faces its own unique difficulties due to the complexity of the agricultural environment.
In recent years, the Internet of Things has swept through all walks of life like a whirlwind. Agriculture is no exception. IoT technology has begun to be promoted and applied in many regions across the country, setting off a new trend of smart breeding and smart farming.
As of now, the China International IoT Conference has been successfully held for the fifth time. However, experts point out that China's IoT industry as a whole is still in its initial stage, demand has only just begun, core industry technologies have not yet been broken through, business models are not clear enough, and various regions have problems of duplicated investment and disorderly development in construction.
Obviously, agricultural IoT is not only constrained by the development of the entire IoT industry, but also faces its own unique difficulties due to the complexity of the agricultural environment.
From concept to promotion and application
In just a few short years, the development momentum of agricultural IoT has been quite striking.
Manager Lu from the marketing department of Zhejiang Top Instrument Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Top Company) told reporters that the company began making agricultural testing instruments in 2004, launched IoT on this basis in 2010, and has now widely applied it in planting, aquaculture, intelligent monitoring, food safety traceability and other aspects.
"IoT is a technology and a method, and it has many specific uses. Top Company has done a lot of work in both greenhouse planting and field planting IoT applications. The greenhouse IoT application exhibited at the opening of the Changchun Agricultural Expo Park in 2014 was handled by Top Company." Manager Lu introduced that vegetables produced in greenhouses are transported to Shanghai Hongqiao, and consumers can learn about the growing conditions on a screen through the IoT platform.
"Our products have been promoted in more than 20 provinces across the country, and more than 300 IoT projects have been put into application." Zhu Xuhua, deputy general manager of Top Company, said that relevant departments of the Ministry of Agriculture also pay great attention to agricultural informatization and grassroots agricultural machinery promotion, and visited Top Company for inspection in July this year.
In fact, in recent years many enterprises like Top Company have been established. According to Zheng Wengang, researcher and director of the Agricultural Automation Department of the National Engineering Research Center for Information Technology in Agriculture, there are at least three to five hundred companies engaged in agricultural IoT nationwide.
"Since the state issued IoT policies in 2009, the momentum of agricultural IoT development has been quite good." Zheng Wengang told a reporter from China Science Daily that at present many provinces across the country are vigorously promoting agricultural IoT technology. In the Beijing area, IoT technology has been successfully applied for many years in facility agriculture in Daxing and Tongzhou, and its application in orchards and green spaces has also become relatively mature.
With the support of national and local finances, agricultural IoT demonstration bases have sprung up across the country.
In 2011, the Ministry of Agriculture issued the "Twelfth Five-Year Plan for the Development of National Agricultural and Rural Informatization," and together with the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Finance organized and implemented three national-level IoT application demonstration projects: Heilongjiang field production, Beijing facility agriculture, and Jiangsu Wuxi aquaculture. In 2013, the Ministry of Agriculture selected Tianjin, Shanghai and Anhui, three provinces and municipalities with a certain work foundation, to take the lead in carrying out pilot trials, and recognized 40 agricultural and rural informatization demonstration bases.
"Northeast Heilongjiang is mainly based on large-scale planting, Beijing is mainly based on facility vegetables and flowers, Tianjin is mainly based on aquaculture, Shanghai is mainly based on logistics, and Anhui is mainly based on field production." Li Daoliang, a professor at the College of Information and Electrical Engineering of China Agricultural University, told a reporter from China Science Daily, "These pilot projects have carried out a great deal of experimentation. IoT technology is not about hyping concepts. The root of success and failure lies in whether it can solve the practical problems of ordinary people and whether cost and output are commensurate."
Zheng Wengang also pointed out that the cost issue is the main difficulty faced in the promotion of agricultural IoT. "The added value of agricultural products is low, and ordinary people also need a process of understanding IoT."
"The past two years were about improving overall understanding of the concept. In the past two years, the concept of agricultural IoT has become understood. Because the one-time investment is relatively large, agricultural IoT is more suitable for large-scale farms. Farmers are still not quite used to it, but this is also a stage." Manager Lu said.
Clear advantages in aquaculture and planting
Whether agricultural IoT can smoothly enter "farm households" depends on whether it can bring convenience and real benefits to ordinary people. In 2010, China Agricultural University cooperated with the agriculture and forestry department of Yixing City, Jiangsu Province, to establish Jiangsu Province's first IoT aquaculture base, which has now achieved remarkable results.
"Why is Yixing's IoT aquaculture done so well? Because it is convenient." Li Daoliang summarized several points: first, it solved the problem of labor intensity. Crabs cannot move when molting, and if there is a lack of oxygen they will undoubtedly die. In summer, the time of greatest oxygen deficiency is from two to five in the morning. With IoT, you can know the condition of the pond in real time on your mobile phone, and there is no need to get up to patrol the pond.
Second, it is relatively convenient. After discovering oxygen deficiency, you can turn on the oxygen pump by pressing a key on your mobile phone. "IoT provides a means. In the past people relied on experience, and only experienced farmers could raise crabs well. Now people rely on data. As long as you have a mobile phone in hand, the IoT information is all on it."
In addition, the breeding density can be appropriately increased. The previous method of increasing oxygen was to add it only when oxygen was lacking, which in fact had already caused harm to the crabs. Now the oxygen-increasing model has changed, and protective measures are taken in advance. The solubility of oxygen reaches its highest at two or three in the afternoon. When solubility is at its best, circulating the water allows dissolved oxygen in the middle and lower layers to reach saturation, which is equivalent to storing a large amount of oxygen during the day, so that at night when oxygen solubility is lowest it will not become too low.
Li Daoliang added that after oxygen is increased, toxic substances in the water will also decompose, the crabs will not become diseased, and their appetite will increase. After using IoT technology, it was clearly found that the amount of feed used by crab farmers increased, and the size of the crabs also increased.
"The transformation of the breeding model and the increase in benefits have indeed brought real benefits to ordinary people." Li Daoliang said, "If ordinary people were now asked to go back to four years ago, they would not be able to go back. Even if they had to spend money, they would be willing to install it."
Although the application of IoT in planting is not as good as in breeding, there is no lack of good examples. Zheng Wengang introduced that, for example, the IoT demonstration base in Caiyu Town, Daxing District, Beijing, has several hundred mu of land and mainly grows fresh cut flowers for export to Japan. Greenhouses have relatively strict temperature requirements. In the office, IoT monitoring can be used to check whether the temperature meets standards, and at the same time Japanese buyers can learn online through the IoT platform whether the entire process violates regulations.
Sensing technology and agricultural decision models need strengthening
From all aspects, the domestic agricultural IoT industry is still in its infancy. Although experts from enterprises and research institutes agree on this point, their emphases differ.
The marketing manager of Top Company said that the hardware is already very complete at present, and the company's research and development focuses mainly on software.
Li Daoliang believes that the accumulation of domestic agricultural models is insufficient, and domestic agricultural production cannot achieve complete control. Although the gap between China and foreign countries in software technology is not large, in the application of software systems, as with hardware, there is still a relatively large gap with foreign countries. "Our concepts are not worse than those abroad, but our industrial manufacturing is relatively weak overall in materials, processes, manufacturing and other aspects. We cooperate with Fujian Shangrun Precision Instrument Co., Ltd. because they can manufacture precise agricultural sensors."
Previously, underwater sensors were mostly used in the environmental protection industry and rarely used in the breeding industry. Li Daoliang pointed out that environmental protection can be high-cost, but agriculture cannot be high-cost. "Improving performance and reducing costs, this is the goal we pursue forever."
"There is a relatively large gap between China and foreign countries in both the research on sensing technology and manufacturing processes. The agricultural environment is relatively harsh, with high temperature and high humidity. In the field there are also lightning strikes and rainfall, which place relatively strict requirements on sensors. Therefore, sensors that were previously very mature in industrial use cannot be directly applied in agriculture." Zheng Wengang said that related research needs to be strengthened, such as research on lightning resistance, high-temperature and high-humidity resistance, and stability.
"The gap between China and foreign countries in decision models is even greater. For example, greenhouse production management in the Netherlands is fully automated and requires no manual intervention at all, while domestically this cannot yet be achieved." Zheng Wengang analyzed that compared with planting, breeding has higher returns, greater investment, and a relatively higher degree of automation.
Zheng Wengang believes that agricultural decision models are the key point. "Because the earlier foundation is relatively weak, current research focuses mainly on sensor sensing technology, and the aspect of agricultural decision models is not yet mature. Right now we have only acquired the data, but how to analyze and apply it next still requires further research. For example, pest and disease prediction models, integrated water and fertilizer implementation models, and irrigation water-saving models. Decision model technology must be further improved. Only in this way can it truly bring real benefits to ordinary people."