Smart farming model brings new changes to agricultural development

On the eve of the Mid-Autumn Festival, the agricultural support vehicle of the Baixiang County Smart Farming Vegetable Planting Professional Cooperative drove early to the fields of member land. Unlike usual, the cooperative's technical staff not only brought planting-related technical materials, but also brought holiday gifts to the branch chiefs hired from the villages——mooncakes.

Liang Junli, head of the Zhengyuansi branch who had just received the mooncakes, told reporters that the “smart farming model” promoted by the Smart Farming Cooperative has brought great changes to the local agricultural production methods and planting structure.

So, what changes has the “smart farming model” actually brought?

In the temporary office area of the Smart Farming Vegetable Planting Professional Cooperative, reporters met Wang Zhuozhen, deputy director of the cooperative's business division. She told reporters: “The cooperative has already transferred 7400 mu of land, and the scale of transferred land is determined based on the ‘production items’ required for deep processing.” This answer sounded a bit awkward and hard to understand, and it was only after Wang Zhuozhen explained it in depth that reporters figured it out. It turns out that the investor of the Smart Farming Vegetable Planting Professional Cooperative, Jiudao Group, had already built an agricultural product deep-processing project in Baixiang County last year——Zhihe Technology Co., Ltd., and the Smart Farming Cooperative mainly supplies production raw materials to Zhihe Technology. This is the first change brought by the “smart farming model.”

“The transfer model in which agricultural planting scale is determined by industrial production capacity is what most distinguishes the Smart Farming Cooperative from other agricultural cooperatives.” Wang Zhuozhen told reporters, “Many cooperatives now are just a circulation platform for the agricultural product market, while we are a raw material supplier for processed products. In this way, farmers face less market risk, while the land's added value is higher.” During the interview, reporters learned that on August 22, Zhihe Technology's fruit and vegetable deep-processing production line officially went online. The project has designed and planned a total of 6 production units and 59 production lines, among which the fruit fine-processing, vegetable fine-processing and fruit and vegetable terminal product production units total 22 production lines; the instant beverage preparation production unit has 8 production lines; the Guyuan paste production unit has a total of 8 production lines; the dehydrated dried vegetable production unit has 8 production lines; the spirulina noodle sheets and fruit noodle sheets, 2 production units, have 11 production lines. After all these designed and planned production lines are put into production, the annual output can reach 20,000 tons, requiring a total of 1.24 million mu of fruit and vegetable planting area for supply.

The second change brought by the “smart farming model” is the change in agricultural planting structure. Baixiang County is a major agricultural county. Because the county has flat terrain and fertile soil, it is suitable for growing traditional crops such as wheat, corn, cotton and millet, and therefore has become the long-renowned “Granary of the World” in southern Hebei. However, due to a single planting structure and a short product chain, the county's agricultural products have long remained in the primary stage of raw material sales, with an average income of about 1000 yuan per mu. The Smart Farming Vegetable Planting Professional Cooperative, in accordance with the production needs of Zhihe Technology Co., Ltd., has planted 24 kinds of fruits and vegetables including carrots, spinach, pumpkins and celery. Gao Yue'an, chairman of the cooperative, introduced that according to the plan, the cooperative will establish one branch in each of the county's 121 villages, adding more than 20,000 mu of newly enrolled land. Under the unified management of the cooperative, these lands will produce the ‘production items’ needed for deep-processing projects according to the operating model stipulated by the company, achieving targeted planting. Up to now, the Baixiang County Smart Farming Vegetable Planting Professional Cooperative has established more than 40 cooperative branches throughout the county, transferred 7400 mu of land, and is currently supporting the 20,000-ton green fruit and vegetable food deep-processing project under construction. More than 130 mu of enrolled land has already been fully planted with carrot seeds uniformly distributed by the main cooperative.

The most direct benefit that the change in agricultural planting structure brings to members is increased income. In Zhengyuansi Village, newly enrolled member Feng Shuxing told reporters, “I used to grow corn and wheat, and the annual income per mu was less than 1200 yuan. Now after joining the cooperative, the annual income per mu is 1680 yuan, and I can also earn nearly 2000 yuan a month working at the cooperative. By comparison, after joining I can earn more than 20,000 yuan extra a year.”

The third change brought by the “smart farming model” is the change in agricultural production methods. Baixiang County's agricultural natural conditions are good, but for many years it has continued a household-by-household planting model, with each person planting their own and harvesting their own, which limited the promotion and use of agricultural mechanization and caused high planting costs and great market risk. After the Smart Farming Vegetable Planting Professional Cooperative transferred the land, it not only realized the large-scale use of land, but also allowed various large machines to play their proper role. This year, the cooperative also invested 1.3 million yuan to set up six technical agricultural support vehicles to provide technical support to members at any time and place. At the same time, by training farmers freed up from the land, some farmers became cooperative staff, while others, after mastering various professional skills, moved into employment in fields such as the service industry, mechanical processing, and logistics and transportation, making the social division of labor more refined and scientific.

Liang Junli, who was hired as a branch chief after in-depth training, told reporters that after joining the cooperative he had received training in planting techniques, irrigation techniques and harvesting and storage techniques. “Now it's scientific planting; you really can't do it without learning. For example, after this crop of carrots is harvested at the end of November, the seeds must be buried before the New Year after the land is prepared, otherwise the seedlings next spring will easily bolt and affect the yield. Take irrigation too: before, the whole ditch was flooded, but now drip irrigation is used. When to irrigate and how much to irrigate both have their rules, saving water, time and labor.”

Reporters also learned during the interview that in order to reduce the risks for farmers joining the cooperative, the cooperative will inject 30 million yuan in agricultural risk funds to ensure that farmers' interests are not harmed in the event of major disasters, natural disasters and other force majeure factors. At the same time, 3% of the cooperative's annual income will be used as public welfare funds for rural infrastructure construction. In this way, after a few years, agriculture in Baixiang County will undergo tremendous change.