China’s financial centre and a key manufacturing hub, city is also well on the way to meeting automated farming goals
Seven years ago, He Yangyang left his university job in downtown Shanghai to return to his Songjiang district hometown – on the outskirts of the city – and begin exploring how digital technology could transform farming.
Today, his Tushibao Agricultural Cooperative farm has made the hi-tech vision of agriculture a reality, using a central control system to manage fully autonomous field operations – ploughing, planting, managing and harvesting – that are overseen by just a few staff members.
Songjiang, a major grain-producing area for Shanghai, is helping the city meet its goal of building 6,666 hectares (16,473 acres) of automated farms by the end of this year. He’s team has already exceeded expectations, developing nearly 133 hectares of automated farmland – mainly used to grow rice – ahead of schedule.
“Young people today are better educated and enjoy a higher standard of living – they don’t want to farm like their parents or grandparents, with their faces in the dirt and backs under the sun,” said He, now in his early 30s. “So how do we get them into farming? Automated digital agriculture answers both who will farm the land and how.”
