At a recent smart agriculture training session in Heilongjiang Province, representatives from Suihua, Daqing, and Heihe cities shared their experiences in building smart farms, pastures, and fisheries. Following the training, reporters conducted in-depth interviews to explore how these regions are excelling in the "smart plus" initiative.
Smart Agriculture
In the fields, rolling waves of rice are visible, but farmers are no longer "working with their backs to the sky and faces to the earth." Drones skim low over the paddies, while sensors transmit real-time soil data. Inside smart greenhouses, intelligent central control systems automatically adjust the shading cloth based on sunlight. In smart pastures, every dairy cow has an "electronic file." A transformation driven by data and intelligence is quietly unfolding on this cold, black soil.
Fields with "Wisdom": Shifting from Experience to Data
During the spring planting season, drone-assisted rice transplanting in Beilin District, Suihua City, left a strong impression on reporters. At the Hejiaxinzi National Rice Demonstration Zone, unmanned rice transplanters operated precisely with the help of Beidou navigation. Agricultural technicians explained that transplanting once relied entirely on manual dexterity, but now machines follow preset paths, controlling plant and row spacing to within centimeters. Rice mechanized transplanting in the district has achieved 100% coverage. Suihua also employs precision irrigation.
Wang Baofeng, Director of the Suihua City Agriculture and Rural Bureau, stated that the city is advancing a "1+2+3+10" smart agriculture comprehensive management system and has built 32 smart farms, pastures, and fisheries. In Beilin District, a national pilot project for "Beidou + Smart Agriculture" to support large-scale corn yield improvement has been implemented. An even more innovative development is the application of AI laser weeding robots. This year, Suihua launched this pilot experiment first in the province, with laser weeding robots replacing traditional manual and chemical weeding across over 6,000 mu of organic fresh corn and organic black beans in six counties. "Weeding used to rely on manual labor, which was inefficient and costly. Now, lasers precisely remove weeds without harming crops or leaving pesticide residues," said Zhang Jun, a farmer from Suihua.
At the Wuliming Farm in Zhaodong City, a dryland smart irrigation base utilizes a no-membrane shallow buried drip irrigation water-fertilizer integration technology. An IoT water-fertilizer machine automatically mixes water and fertilizer based on field moisture levels. The base manager reported savings of 30% in water and 23% in fertilizer, with significant benefits for drought resistance and seedling protection. Suihua is expanding the demonstration area through project subsidies, making this technology a key path for increasing grain yields. Notably, Suihua's "Agricultural Trusteeship Smart Chain Platform" was selected as one of the first 50 typical cases of Digital China construction by the National Data Administration. This cloud-based platform integrates government supervision, trusteeship organization operations, farmer inquiries, and financial institution risk control into a single system. On-site reporters saw that entrusted farmers can check the progress of trusteeship services at any time, and grain-buying companies can also participate in field management. Over 18 million mu of entrusted land is now managed with precision through digital means.
Pastures with "Data": Precisely Tracking a Lifetime
Daqing City is a major livestock hub in Heilongjiang, with animal husbandry accounting for 42.3% of the total output value of agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, and fisheries, the highest in the province. Reporters found that "smart" technology is deeply embedded in the livestock industry chain.
Lindian County has built the province's only county-level dairy cow digital management platform. Seventeen large-scale pastures and 59,000 dairy cows are connected to the "Yimuyun" and Afikim intelligent systems. Each cow wears a smart ear tag that transmits real-time data on estrus, milk production, feed intake, and health. A pasture that previously required three people to manage can now be run by one, reducing labor costs by 30% and increasing annual average milk yield per cow from 8 tons to over 10 tons. What makes Daqing particularly proud is that of the 19 pastures in the province that joined the national Holstein 12-ton high-yield club, Daqing has seven. In Dorbod Mongol Autonomous County, 28,000 high-end Wagyu and improved beef cattle have received "electronic passports." The "S+A" digital management system traces the entire process from breeding and fattening to slaughter. This platform also connects with financial and insurance institutions, using health data to predict disease risks. It has helped farmers recover losses of 1.84 million yuan, and beef cattle transaction premiums have reached 26%. Smart breeding is not just about data collection; it's also about precise execution. In pig farms of leading companies like Gushen Animal Husbandry and Shuangbaotai Animal Husbandry, fully automated cleaning and feeding systems, air filtration smart environmental control equipment, and 64 feed conversion ratio smart measurement stations are fully operational, analyzing feed intake and weight gain data in real time, with AI automatically matching nutritional formulas. The survival rate of piglets at birth has increased by over 5%.
The white goose industry in Zhaoyuan County has also taken flight with digital wings. A three-tiered smart breeding system for grandparent, parent, and commercial geese forms a complete breeding system for the local breed, with an annual hatching capacity of 7.1 million chicks. "Zhaoyuan White Goose" has received national geographical indication certification, and the "Exiangjiu" brand is among the authorized products of "Heitu Youpin." Reporters learned that this year, Jiangsu Yike Group, a leading domestic poultry company, has signed an agreement with Zhaoyuan. The white goose industry chain will extend from farming to slaughtering, cooked food processing, and down manufacturing, with full-chain digital control accelerating its implementation.
Bases Get "Chips": Breaking Through the Cold Region Ceiling
At the Wusu Modern Agriculture Industrial Park in Fuyuan City, Jiamusi, stepping into the 80,000-square-meter smart greenhouse feels like entering a different world compared to the northeastern wilderness outside. An imported Hoogendoorn intelligent central control system from the Netherlands monitors dozens of data points, including temperature, humidity, light, and carbon dioxide concentration, automatically adjusting skylights, shading cloths, and irrigation. A vertical rack soilless cultivation system maximizes space usage, and a water-fertilizer integrated circulation system achieves a 95% water savings rate.
The park manager told reporters that every tomato produced here guarantees zero pesticide residues, zero hormones, and zero genetically modified organisms. A dual physical and biological green prevention and control system replaces chemical pesticides. "We don't rely on the weather to farm; we farm with data." On the automated sorting and packaging line, reporters saw that apart from manual picking, sorting, quality inspection, weighing, labeling, and palletizing are all done by machines. The daily packaging capacity is 10 tons, and all products meet Global G.A.P. standards. This project, with a total investment of 353 million yuan, aims to set a benchmark for smart, digital, intensive, and green facility agriculture.
At the Panchanggou cold-water crayfish breeding base in Xigangzi Town, Aihui District, Heihe City, IoT smart control is equally impressive. All 21 ponds are equipped with water quality sensors, automatic aeration devices, and remote feeding terminals. When the dissolved oxygen level in the water drops below 5 mg/L, aeration automatically turns on; when it rises above 7 mg/L, it turns off. Reporters learned that this system reduces feed loss by 30%, saves over 30% on electricity, and increases the growth rate of crayfish by 5% to 10%. The 100-mu water surface saves over 40,000 yuan in production costs annually.
A representative from the Heihe City Agriculture and Rural Bureau explained that the base has overcome the wintering challenge for cold-region crayfish larvae through symbiotic algae-bacteria ecological breeding and intelligent seedling development. This year, the city's crayfish farming area has expanded to 1,091 mu, with 10 million larvae released. The Panchanggou base produces 20 tons of commercial crayfish annually, with 10 tons ordered for high-end markets in Beijing and other southern cities, generating sales revenue of over 1.3 million yuan. In Heihe, cold-water fish deep processing has also achieved a breakthrough. The 100-million-yuan Xunranran cold-water fish processing plant is under construction at the Aihui border trade processing base. Once operational, it will process 2,000 tons of cold-water fish annually, with an output value reaching 200 million yuan.
Reporter's Note
Heilongjiang's exploration of smart agriculture is transitioning from a "showpiece" to a widespread reality. Throughout the interviews, reporters felt that digital technology is no longer just a concept on a display board but is truly embedded in the fields, barns, and greenhouses, reducing costs, increasing yields, and boosting efficiency. Of course, challenges remain. Shortages of grassroots technical personnel, high maintenance costs for some smart equipment, and limited adoption by small-scale farmers are still bottlenecks hindering the widespread adoption of smart agriculture. However, as one grassroots agricultural official said, "Smart agriculture is not an option; it's a must." Against the backdrop of ensuring national food security and promoting agricultural modernization, the "smart revolution" on Heilongjiang's black soil has only just begun.
Comments