The new look of farms from multiple perspectives: intelligence, ecology, experience and transformation

In the wave of modern agricultural development, farms are undergoing all-round changes and innovations, from intelligent upgrades to ecological construction, from agricultural experience expansion to industrial transformation, presenting a rich, diverse and vibrant new scene.
Smart Farm: Technology Empowers the New Future of Agriculture
At Fuxi Farm in Xinlin Village, Fanchang District, Wuhu City, Anhui Province, a high-tech agricultural picture slowly unfolds. Late rice is planted in patches, and agricultural robots shuttle through the fields like tireless workers, carefully inspecting the seedlings. Various sensors are scattered all over the place, like sensitive perception tentacles, detecting key information such as soil moisture, weather, pests and diseases, and transmitting them to the command center at the speed of light in real time. Hou Guangyu, a post-95 farmland manager, can remotely control agricultural robots while sitting in the command center with a tablet computer, easily realizing "people sitting in the house and doing farm work remotely".

As a pilot project of the Chinese Academy of Sciences to develop smart agriculture, Fuxi Farm uses big data to deduce and predict in all aspects of agricultural production, so as to select a better solution. The relevant models and algorithms developed and trained around soil moisture, weather, pests and diseases provide solid support for high-yield and stable production decisions. Today, smart farms have been promoted from the technology and data headquarters of Xiongan New Area in Hebei Province to Inner Mongolia, Chongqing, Anhui, Hubei and other places, and the process of industrialization and marketization is accelerating.

In the smart ranch of Muyuan Food Co., Ltd. in Dahualing Village, Neixiang County, Henan Province, the intelligent inspection robot acts as a special "veterinarian". It integrates a variety of sensors and can accurately identify changes in livestock body temperature through infrared thermal imagers and smart thermometers and issue timely warnings. In the industrial recirculating aquaculture workshop in Sanshandao Street, Laizhou City, Shandong Province, intelligent feeding technology accurately controls the amount of bait according to the scale and habits of fish, and can also build models and algorithms through deep learning.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs actively promotes the development of smart agriculture, establishes a smart agriculture expert advisory committee to strengthen strategic research and overall coordination, and has established 122 industry standards and issued 26 in the construction of the standard system. According to the National Smart Agriculture Action Plan (2024-2028), by the end of 2026, the informatization rate of agricultural production is expected to increase to more than 30%; by the end of 2028, this ratio will reach more than 32%, and the public service capacity of smart agriculture will also be greatly improved.
Ecological farm: Building a blueprint for sustainable development
For a long time, some farms have adhered to the linear thinking of single planting and breeding. This model violates ecological principles and faces huge risks when facing pests and diseases and market price fluctuations. The concept of farm construction from the perspective of ecological diversity came into being, emphasizing the organic circulation of animals, plants, and microorganisms from the perspective of planting, breeding, and microorganisms, so as to stabilize the ecosystem and control business risks.

Creating a farm requires establishing an overall ecological view and landscape concept. The completed farm should have both production functions and rich ecological communities and beautiful ecological landscapes, and the economic benefits of each structural function and the functions and benefits of the ecosystem should be carefully considered and comprehensively planned. For example, aquatic ecology is integrated into mountain ecosystems, aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems are constructed, and mountain spring water is used to raise fish. After the introduction of aquatic ecology, frogs and other organisms naturally appear, which can not only provide circulating fertilizers, but also enrich biological species. The implementation of agroforestry in areas rich in forests and the ecological reconstruction of barren mountains, wastelands, and mining areas all reflect the wisdom of ecological diversity.

Take Yunnan as an example. Its superior climatic conditions provide unique advantages for the development of diversified agriculture. The large temperature difference and suitable winter temperature have made Yunnan shine in the development of the blueberry industry. With the help of winter climate resources, blueberries can be put on the market around the Spring Festival or even earlier. High-quality blueberries are not only popular in China, but also exported to all over the world.

At the farm construction operation level, the use of nutrient solution should be scientific, avoid adding complicated ingredients at will, switch between organic and inorganic liquids, and accurately calculate the impact of added ingredients on nitrogen sources, etc. In the process of ecological construction, it is crucial to integrate planting and breeding with ecological landscape. The problem of mixed use can be solved by reasonably switching the nutrient solution supply method, and the space can be expanded by using vertical agricultural technology to reduce the squeeze of agricultural ecology on natural ecology, so as to achieve scientific symbiosis between the two. When the aquaculture ecosystem is integrated into the whole, the water ecology and terrestrial animal breeding are integrated according to the principle of ecological balance. The mountain terrace strip layout model is used for reference in the planting layout to build agricultural ecological diversity. In addition, the understanding of crop diversity should be broadened, and food crops, medicinal plants, etc. should be included in the scope of ecosystem integration.
Experience farm: creating a new link for urban and rural integration
In the suburbs of Shanghai, some farms have cleverly integrated ecological planting with natural education, moving from agricultural experience to a new urban ecology, creating a rural paradise for urban families to get close to nature and accompany their growth. At the "Yidao" farm in Fangxia Village, Zhaoxiang Town, Qingpu, a "crazy" little farmer's sports meeting was very lively. 15 groups of parent-child families gathered beside the golden rapeseed field, and the cheers, shouts, and laughter intertwined into a moving symphony.

At the event site, various projects were wonderful. In the vegetable ring-tossing session, parent-child families used plastic rings to take onions, potatoes and other agricultural products, and scored according to the distance and size of the target objects, which stimulated the children's enthusiasm for teamwork and competitive awareness, and strengthened the parent-child emotional bond. In the sports obstacle race, parents pushed wheelbarrows with their children to the destination to compete in physical fitness; in the shoulder pole transportation session, children transported empty bamboo baskets while parents carried bamboo baskets filled with rice and walked briskly; in the crawling vegetable delivery session, children became logistics team members and crossed obstacles set up by small chairs and plastic tapes.

The children also carried small bamboo baskets to look for wild vegetables, compared the wild vegetable illustrations to experience the gifts of nature between the ridges, fed the freshly picked wild vegetable leaves to small animals, and listened to the farm staff's knowledge of sheep manure as fertilizer. Afterwards, the children made leaf paintings with the collected fallen leaves to give full play to their rich imagination. In addition to these farming experience activities, the farm also has non-powered facilities such as cute pet play areas, swings, and trampolines. When night falls, the bonfire party at the camping site brings everyone together to enjoy a good time.

Chen Liyan, the manager of Yidao Farm, said that the farm is a platform for socializing with nature. In the future, the farm parent-child sports meeting will become a regular activity, and training matches, quarterly matches and year-end finals will be organized to allow more parent-child families to reap the joy of growth and the gifts of nature. In the "15-minute play circle" near it, many farms, bases and agricultural markets are very popular, becoming an important link for urban-rural integration and development.
Transformation farm: exploring new paths for high-quality development
Gansu Agricultural Reclamation Tiaoshan Farm has taken the initiative to make a decision to reduce production on the road to high-quality development. The orchard that used to produce about 8,000 catties per mu has now reduced its output to 7,000 catties. Niu Jijun, secretary of the Party Committee and general manager of the farm, said that this is based on a comprehensive consideration of the development in the direction of water conservation, mechanization and intelligence, and sometimes it is necessary to reduce production to ensure product quality.

Tiaoshan Farm is located in Jingtai County, Baiyin City, Gansu Province, and the forestry and fruit industry is one of the leading industries. In order to cope with the problems of reduced labor and insufficient intelligence in orchard operations, the farm has transformed the old orchard. The spacing between fruit trees is reduced to about 1 meter, and the row spacing is expanded to 4 meters. After the transformation, physical work such as fertilization, irrigation, and weeding in the orchard can be completed mechanized, and even picking can be done with the help of a professional picking platform, saving time and effort. At present, the farm orchard has a high degree of mechanization, automation, and digitization, equipped with lawn mowers, fruit pickers, fertilization and pest control equipment, and automated irrigation systems, which greatly reduce labor intensity and labor and save costs. Potatoes, another leading industry, have also achieved full mechanization from planting to harvesting.

The climate in the area where Tiaoshan Farm is located is arid, and water conservation is crucial. The farm's field crops such as potatoes are fully applied with drip irrigation technology, and some horticultural crops try shallow buried drip irrigation and other technologies, which save 260-300 cubic meters of water per mu per year compared with flood irrigation. The renovated orchard is equipped with drip irrigation facilities, and the sub-membrane drip irrigation technology is used to achieve integrated water and fertilizer precise formula fertilization and irrigation. Compared with traditional flood irrigation, it can save 20% - 30% water and 15% - 30% fertilizer. At the same time, the farm strictly controls the seedlings and soil moisture, and sets the production and combing of fruits early according to the age and growth of the trees. By reducing the number of plants, branches, irrigation, nitrogen fertilizer, and fruit retention, organic fertilizer is applied to postpone the harvest period and improve the quality of fruits. As a national geographical indication protected product, "Tiaoshan Pear" has won various awards many times and has been selected into the "Ganwei" agricultural product enterprise trademark brand list.

In Xinzhai Street, Linqu County, family farms have become a strong engine for rural revitalization. Wanxinyuan Farmhouse Ecological Park takes "green ecological chain + immersive experience" as its core positioning, and builds a rural complex integrating planting and breeding cycles and agricultural tourism integration. Its independently developed "iron pot stew" uses free-range geese killed on the same day, paired with Northeast pickled cabbage and wild mushrooms, and is very popular. The park has built supporting children's play areas and fruit and vegetable picking gardens to form an integrated service system of "eating, drinking, playing, and shopping", which has driven the employment of more than 10 households in the surrounding area. Lancuiyuan Family Farm cooperated with the Shandong Fruit Research Institute to create an "expert workstation + demonstration base" technology system, and the late-ripening peach variety cultivated won the provincial gold award. The farm innovatively launched a "three-priority" assistance mechanism, using unified logo gift box packaging in brand building, participating in specialty agricultural product exhibitions and obtaining "green certification", which increased the added value of peaches by more than 2 times. Relying on the technical support of the Provincial Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lunong Family Farm has expanded the area of grain cultivation and built a modern pancake production line, allowing the provincial intangible cultural heritage project Linqu soft pancakes to achieve large-scale production and pass the ISO9001 quality system certification. The products are exported to the Japanese and Korean markets. Through the "online + offline" dual-wheel drive strategy, the annual sales of the own-brand "Yishan Valley Road" pancakes have exceeded one million yuan. It has also absorbed 50 left-behind women into employment and promoted the development of grain cultivation in the surrounding 8 villages.