"Precision agriculture", what is precision? How will agricultural production be changed?

As early as the 1990s, China started the application research of precision agriculture, but due to the particularity of domestic agriculture and the factors of low agricultural technology, it is difficult to apply it in a large area. Germany put forward the concept of Industry 4.0, and clarified the application of information technology in industry. The modern agricultural form - Agriculture 4.0, which is supported and means by the Internet of Things, big data, mobile Internet, and cloud computing technology, is also proposed. So, what is precision agriculture? What impact will precision agriculture have on agricultural production?

What is Precision Agriculture

Precision agriculture is an agricultural application and practice system, including a virtuous cycle of information collection-information decoding-input optimization-field practice, in which information and data are the core parts of precision agriculture. First, it is necessary to collect crop-related information and the outside world that affects crop growth. Then, through a series of software application technologies, statistical analysis and interpretation of the information is carried out, and the information is presented to agricultural related personnel, including growers or agricultural technical service personnel, in the form of websites or mobile apps, to guide agricultural field practices and achieve accurate Planting, precision irrigation, precision spraying and other purposes, in order to obtain the highest yield and maximum economic benefits.

In layman's terms, the concept of precision agriculture is to give as much as you need, and to give what you need; the specific meaning of precision agriculture is to finely and accurately adjust various agricultural management measures according to the specific conditions of each unit of agricultural operation. A production link maximizes the optimization of various agricultural inputs to obtain maximum economic and environmental benefits.

United States: Advanced Informatization Precision Agriculture

The United States is the first country in the world to propose and practice precision agriculture, and it also represents the most advanced level of development in this field. There are more than 2 million farms in the United States, of which 60%-70% use precision agriculture technology. From the perspective of agriculture itself, precision agriculture is mainly used in soybeans, wheat, corn and some cash crops in the Midwest of the United States.

The core of the American precision agriculture development model is the technical level, which organically combines modern information technology, agricultural technology and engineering technology, reflecting the time and space differences required by precision agriculture. The provided geographic information determines the best production model of crops, and decides to use satellite positioning, intelligent machinery, intelligent fertilization, irrigation, pesticide spraying, etc. to maximize the optimization of various agricultural inputs based on the differences of different crops, while also protecting the agricultural ecology. environment and land resources.

Precision agriculture in the United States does not pursue high yields in the era of intensification, but emphasizes the best ratio of input and output per unit area, and emphasizes benefits. Therefore, it pays more attention to differences in agricultural input, agricultural output, ecological environment, and precision technology. The interaction of elements, the result of interaction determines the benefit. Its benefits are mainly reflected in two aspects, one is to improve the yield and quality of crops by reducing input, and the other is to protect the ecological environment and reduce environmental pollution caused by the abuse of chemical substances in agricultural cultivation. In the past two years, American agricultural enterprises have been aiming at the application of "big data" in agricultural management.

Israel: Advanced Greenhouse Technology and Water-Saving Irrigation

Before the 1970s, Israel still relied heavily on imports of agricultural products. After that, Israel adjusted its crop planting structure according to its natural resource conditions, reduced the cultivation of food crops that require high land resources, actively developed greenhouse technology, improved Planting flowers, vegetables and fruits with high output value has greatly improved its agricultural production. Israel's greenhouse technology has been fully intelligent and automated since the 1970s. A greenhouse is about 4,000 square meters. From sowing to harvesting, the whole process is computer-controlled, basically requiring no manpower. In addition, drip irrigation technology is introduced into the greenhouse system. Further increase the output of crops such as flowers and vegetables.

Most areas of Israel are dry and rainless, and the land is barren. Improving the utilization rate of water resources is the biggest problem for Israel to solve agricultural development. Therefore, the research on water-saving technology has always been the most important topic in Israeli agricultural science. Since the 1950s, the Israeli government has carried out large-scale water conservancy construction, introduced the northern water source into the depths of the desert, connected groundwater extraction into a national network, and actively developed water-saving irrigation technology on this basis. Drip irrigation and sprinkler irrigation are the main forms of water-saving irrigation technology in Israel. Today, it is the seventh generation technology and is widely used in greenhouses, desert areas, green belts and other areas. Water irrigation facilities are relatively easy.

China: On the eve of an explosion of demand space

As early as the 1990s, China started the application research of precision agriculture, and has achieved large-scale application in 13 places including Beijing, Shanghai, Xinjiang, and Heilongjiang.

Taking the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps as an example, from 1999 when it proposed precise irrigation, fertilization, sowing, harvesting and dynamic monitoring of the environment, by 2003, a relatively complete precision agricultural technology system had been basically formed, which has been widely used in cotton production. Great economic, social and ecological benefits: the average yield per unit is 122 kg, an increase of 17%; in cotton fields where semi-precision sowing is implemented, the seeding amount is reduced from 6 kg to 4 kg; the utilization rate of nitrogen fertilizer can be increased by 7% to 8% , The utilization rate of phosphate fertilizer can be increased by 3% to 5%; the area of cotton managed by a single employee is increased from 20 to 25 mu to 100 to 150 mu, and the labor productivity is 5 to 7 times the original.

In recent years, the Ministry of Agriculture of China has also launched 116 agricultural Internet of Things application models, aiming to use the Internet of Things as a fundamental measure to implement the "Internet + Modern Agriculture" action, accelerate its popularization and application, and give full play to its role in saving water and medicine. , fertilizer, labor and other aspects, improve land productivity, resource utilization and labor productivity, and promote the transformation of agricultural production and sales to intelligent, precise, and networked.