Is the technological content comparable to nuclear power and aerospace?, The oldest industry is a "comeback" industry | agriculture | nuclear power

How high can the technological content of agriculture, the oldest industry, be?

"It is the third interdisciplinary integration outside of nuclear power and aerospace," Li Li, the Minister of Industrial Development of Shanghai Agricultural Investment Group, responded with a quote from a Tsinghua professor as the scene press conference for the Shanghai Modern Agriculture Industrial Park was nearing its conclusion yesterday. The Hengsha Xinzhou scene press conference held at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference is also an excellent response to this statement.

Agriculture, which has lasted for thousands of years, is accelerating its collision with cutting-edge technologies. From a drop of water to a factory, the AI agricultural technology exhibited at this conference runs through every aspect of production, promoting the industry's "comeback" from tradition to modernization.

Technology giants enter the agricultural field in various ways

What does the ancient industry rely on for a comeback? Israel has given the answer through decades of practice. Since the 1960s, Israel has successfully created agricultural miracles on the Gobi Desert, becoming the "European fruit basket" and "European vegetable basket" without relying on human tactics, relying on the magic of technology.

"Israel's agricultural workforce accounts for only 5%, and what has brought about revolutionary changes in agriculture is drip irrigation technology," said Wang Yu, Director of Netflim Greenhouse, the world's largest irrigation greenhouse company.

In contemporary times, every stroke of agriculture contains high-tech power. The recipe, taste, and yield of plants are all linked to technology, which has also given rise to numerous agricultural technology giants in various sub fields. The abundance and ingenuity of technology are astonishing.

The Netflim greenhouse is particularly typical. With the popularization of large-scale homework, new demands and challenges emerge one after another. On vast and boundless land, the closest and farthest drip heads to the water pump must have exactly the same water output to ensure a balance between yield and quality. This challenge has been overcome by researchers at Netflim Greenhouse. By relying on intelligent technology, water and fertilizer can actively "find" crop roots and achieve precise irrigation.

Jiawo Food, backed by its parent company Lenovo Holdings, is deeply engaged in digital agricultural solutions. CEO Tang Yin said that in terms of planting, Jiawo adopts digital solutions from new variety research and development, seedling breeding, storage and processing, and omnichannel distribution.

What's even more unexpected is that this ancient industry is attracting more and more tech giants and unicorns to cross the board, allowing AI to continuously sink into the fields.

Shangtang Technology, the largest artificial intelligence software company in Asia, is trying to create smart agriculture. "The universal crop model can ensure the cultivation of high-quality products in the scientific life cycle, accurately detect crop production abnormalities, and even predict and prevent meteorological disasters and pests." The person in charge of Shangtang Technology introduced that the company's developed crop monitoring model can complete crop identification in a district or county in just 5 hours, with a work efficiency five times that of manual operation, and the larger the range, the more accurate it is. In addition, the intelligent agriculture AI platform can also analyze the ecological environment of crops such as soil, climate, and insect infestation, providing support for planting planning.

How can intelligent voice technology help rural revitalization? IFlytek has provided the answer. In the AI+breeding scenario, R&D personnel can monitor the stress calls of pigs such as coughing and fighting in real time, rely on video analysis of the behavior of sick and weak pigs, use thermal imaging equipment to detect pigs with abnormal body temperature, and through the fusion judgment of artificial intelligence platforms, achieve early diagnosis of pig diseases.

Make input-output ratio more reasonable

For urban agriculture in Shanghai, building a technological highland is an unquestionable choice. This not only means improving one's own technological level, but also needs to play a demonstrative role in leading the high-quality development of agricultural technology throughout the country.

The key is the implementation path. "Whether it's the Internet of Things, cloud computing, or artificial intelligence and other new technologies, we need to think about what is needed from the perspective of the industry itself." Guo Zhibing, Chairman and General Manager of Shanghai Guoxingnong Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd., proposed three questions about the soul of agriculture: who will plant it? How to plant it? Who will take care of it?

Digitization is the affirmative answer. Guoxingnong Intelligent Technology, as a supplier of integrated solutions focusing on agricultural facilities, equipment, intelligence, and digitization, has achieved 95% localization and 80% independent intellectual property rights in the agricultural production demonstration base built in Yaolu Village, Pudong.

Guo Zhibing pointed out that the development of facility agriculture must consider local applicability. "For example, in the globally leading greenhouse country of the Netherlands, production space needs to be heated up in the local climate environment. Unlike Shanghai, what needs to be considered is ventilation and cooling, opening more skylights to make the small environment more dynamic. Alternatively, new materials and technologies can be chosen to replace energy consumption."

At the same time, he reminded facilities and equipment not to blindly pursue high-end, but to be suitable for the needs of production and operation entities. "Moving from tradition to modernization is an iterative process, and professional farmers and technicians are still being cultivated. If we start with the highest end and best equipment, we cannot immediately digest it."

Due to the high investment, long cycle, and high risk characteristics of agriculture itself, production entities often hesitate when facing high investment digital transformation. "Investing less and reaping more is the effective smart agriculture, and feasible industrialization paths need to be explored." This is the consensus of enterprises at this conference.

Xinnuofei, a global leader in the field of lighting, is at the forefront of research in plant factories. The team is researching to improve the efficiency of water and fertilizer use, which greatly saves water compared to general production models. Moreover, LED lighting significantly improves energy efficiency compared to traditional lighting, with an 80% increase in lighting efficiency and a 50% reduction in energy consumption.

"Not only does it reduce equipment costs and increase efficiency, but it can also enhance the market popularity of new production models through the optimization of overall crop performance." Zhu Fenglei, Sales Director of Agricultural Lighting Business in Xinnuofei China, introduced that through the unique supplementary lighting formula of LED, the growth quality and uniformity of crops can be improved, which is reflected in promoting rooting, enhancing the color of leaves, and increasing taste.