Various places apply intelligent equipment in grain harvesting, drying, storage, transportation, processing and other aspects——
Autumn harvest comes with AI assistant (Economic Focus)
September 23 this year is our country’s ninth “Chinese Farmers’ Harvest Festival”. During the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, our country will strengthen agricultural science and technology and equipment support, and increase the comprehensive mechanization rate of crop farming and harvesting to more than 80%.
On the occasion of the autumn harvest, reporters went into fields, warehouses and workshops to see how various places focused on key scenes and relied on smart equipment to improve quality and efficiency, turning the traditional autumn harvest into a smart and bumper harvest.
——Editor
Zaoyang, Hubei——
"Go straight, control the spacing, and control the spacing error at the centimeter level."
During the autumn harvest season, the rice fields are golden. In the morning, as soon as the dew dispersed in the rice fields in Qifang Town, Zaoyang City, Hubei Province, Tian Hui drove the harvester into the fields. "We can harvest an average of 60 acres a day, harvesting cleanly and more accurately," Tian Hui said.
Tian Hui is an agricultural machinery operator at Shunhui Agricultural Machinery Professional Cooperative in Zaoyang City. The secret to his efficient work is hidden in the cab of that harvester.
"This is the Beidou intelligent terminal of the harvester." Tian Hui pointed to a square box installed in front of the operating table. "During operation, inputting data can guide us in real time to walk in straight lines and control spacing. The spacing error is controlled at the centimeter level."
Shunhui Agricultural Machinery Professional Cooperative was established in 2010. "In the early days, we only had three agricultural machines." Shen Hui, the head of the cooperative, recalled that due to the small horsepower, low level of intelligence, and heavy workload, the entire team often worked continuously for more than ten days during the busy farming season.
With the implementation of the national agricultural machinery purchase subsidy policy, Shen Hui took the lead in updating equipment, and members also purchased new agricultural machinery. Now the cooperative has 156 agricultural machinery of various types.
Walking into the dispatch center of the cooperative, the trajectory of agricultural machinery is clearly visible on the large screen covering the entire wall. "All agricultural machinery are equipped with Beidou intelligent terminals and are connected to the intelligent agricultural machinery system management platform." Shen Hui said, "In the past, we only carried out wheat harvesting operations. Now, for rice, rapeseed and other crops, we can provide full-process mechanized services from plowing to planting, from management to harvesting."
By the end of 2025, the total power of agricultural machinery in Zaoyang City has reached 1.9336 million kilowatts, more than 2,300 sets of Beidou agricultural machinery operation monitoring terminals have been installed, and the comprehensive mechanization rate of main crop cultivation and harvesting has reached 92.5%.
Hengyang, Hunan——
"Training exclusive drying curve models for more than 20 rice varieties"
In Hengyang County, Hunan, in front of the Jiaoshan Rice Industry Co., Ltd., trucks loaded with rice line up to enter.
"Here is one of the largest raw grain drying centers in Hunan Province, with a daily processing capacity of 6,000 tons of raw grain." Entering the factory, Qiu Suyun, head of the marketing department of Jiaoshan Rice Industry, introduced that the entire process of testing, drying, and warehousing is connected to the "Horned Frog Smart Grain System."
Liao Libao, a major grain grower from Hengdong Propaganda Cooperative, transported the fresh rice harvested the night before and handed it over to the production line.
The visual recognition system quickly completes the three-dimensional modeling of the on-board grain and then randomly generates sampling points. "Based on appearance alone, the system can intelligently identify more than 20 mainstream rice varieties grown by surrounding farmers." Peng Jiaowen, vice president of Jiaoshan Rice Industry, said that the camera scans the rice 360 degrees with high precision from three angles. Dozens of features that are difficult to distinguish with the naked eye, such as grain shape, husk texture, and peak shape, are the system's rulers.
After the inspection is completed, the wet valley is transported to the unloading area. "From the moment the inspection is completed, the destination of the rice has been determined." Peng Jiaowen said. After the unloading port, 180 wet barns will store the collected rice into warehouses according to varieties, humidity and other indicators. Through pipelines, 92 dryers and 132 dry barns are connected to it.
"If rice with different humidity levels is mixed together and used with the same set of drying temperature curves, it will not only be prone to uneven drying, but also easy loss of weight, freshness and taste." Peng Jiaowen said that the smart grain system has automatic warehouse dispatching functions and "one product, one drying" management. It relies on the workshop's 24,000 sensors and 260 programmable control modules to collect full-link operating data in real time to generate the optimal drying plan.
"Since the gradual application of smart grain systems in 2023, the system has been iterated every year, and now it has entered version 3.0." Peng Jiaowen said, "Based on training exclusive drying curve models for more than 20 rice varieties, the system intelligently adjusts parameters to achieve variable temperature drying. Compared with the previous generation system last year, the rice yield rate increased by 1%, and the polished rice rate increased by more than 3%."
Xiaoshan, Zhejiang——
“AI is used in everything from transportation to storage”
Xu Jianxiang, a major grain grower who lives in Yinong Town, Xiaoshan District, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, has planted 340 acres of late rice. In previous years, he was busy during the grain harvest season, but this year he is much more relaxed.
"AI (artificial intelligence) is used in everything from transportation to storage, which is very convenient." Xu Jianxiang took out his mobile phone and opened the "Xiao Liang Buying and Selling" public account. After making an appointment, he only needs to send the wet grain to the drying service point, and there is no need to worry about the subsequent process.
"In the past, after the grain was dried at the service station, it had to be sent to the grain depot to queue up for purchase." Zhao Binjie, deputy general manager of Xiaoshan Grain Purchasing and Marketing Company, said that the "Xiao Grain All-In-One" AI system can plan the best positions for farmers online based on real-time data. Each grain depot can also rely on algorithms to automatically complete vehicle diversion, berth pre-allocation, and equipment off-peak scheduling. The average transportation efficiency of each grain depot in Xiaoshan District has increased by 30%.
In the Sunshine Quality Inspection Room, the dried rice samples have their own "ID cards". After the inspectors read the information with a code scanning gun, they immediately generate exclusive files in the Sunshine Quality Inspection Information System of the "Zhejiang Granary" grain safety digital collaborative application platform.
The tall bungalow grain warehouse can hold 6,925 tons of rice and is equipped with AI technology inside. Through technical means such as image recognition and Internet of Things direct grain temperature procurement, key values such as humidity, temperature, and nitrogen content in the grain depot can be uploaded to the cloud in real time.
During the critical period of collection and storage, drones equipped with various sensors undertake multiple tasks such as inspection of the warehouse area, inspection of warehouse floors, and auxiliary detection of gas concentrations in the warehouse. The data is transmitted back to the "Zhejiang Granary" platform. Through AI analysis, staff can immediately locate suspicious points in the screen and then rush to the site for review and disposal. This forms a three-dimensional inspection model that complements humans and machines, and enables 24-hour real-time monitoring of dynamic changes in grain and warehouses.
At present, the "Zhejiang Granary" platform business has covered 232 collection and storage enterprises in the province, with more than 590 storage points and 6,750 warehouses connected to the Internet, opening up data links for grain collection, storage, transportation and management.
Jilin Hunchun——
“Having a ‘fierce eye’ to judge quality”
Along the Tumen River, waves of golden rice roll. Cui Yuanhao has been busy these days, inspecting fields and factories, doing enough homework to welcome the rice harvest.
"We look forward to a bumper yield, and even more to an increase in income." As the person in charge of Jilin Hunchun Forest Mountain Agriculture Co., Ltd., Cui Yuanhao is very confident in the factory's automated processing lines. "Rice shelling, paddy separation, color sorting, polishing and vacuum packaging are all completed by mechanical automation, and it is now moving towards intelligence."
I walked to a medium-sized machine and stopped. The roaring sound of the machine was accompanied by gusts of wind. The rice with the hull removed rolled down from the top of the machine. The rice with normal color entered the next process, and a few that were darker or darker were screened and blown out by the machine. "This is an intelligent color sorter. The photoelectric equipment can accurately identify the color of rice, and it has a 'fierce eye' to judge the quality." Cui Yuanhao introduced.
The processing plant with a scale of nearly 10,000 square meters has a daily processing capacity of 150 tons, which is five times that before the transformation and upgrade. Generally, only three people are needed during processing, one person looks at the raw materials, one person manages the machine, and one person keeps an eye on the finished product. The modified production line can not only produce traditional rice, but also produce germ rice, brown rice and other products.
Jilin Province has continued to promote smart agriculture in recent years. With the support of policies, Cui Yuanhao's company will undergo a comprehensive upgrade in 2023, incorporating automation and intelligent design, which will lead to simultaneous improvements in efficiency. In 2025, the company's revenue will increase by 20% year-on-year.
Reporters of this newspaper: Wu Jun, Shen Zhilin, Dou Hanyang, Zheng Zhiwen
