An unmanned machine harvests grain. [Photo/WeChat account: rudongfb]

In recent years, Rudong county in Nantong city, Jiangsu province, has embraced modern technologies to add new momentum to agricultural development.

At the county's national rural industry integration development demonstration park, the unmanned farm operated by Hongteng farmer professional cooperative has become a provincial-level model.

Since 2022, the farm has invested 3 million yuan ($420,513) in building a 13.33-hectare core experimental area, integrating cutting-edge technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), big data, and artificial intelligence, which can achieve unmanned cultivation, management, and harvesting.

The experimental field in the core area is equipped with various intelligent monitoring devices, which can perform automatic drainage and irrigation and collect real-time meteorological and soil data.

Rudong is currently home to 31 unmanned farms, 2,624 sets of intelligent monitoring devices, 1,391 sets of assisted driving systems, 942 agricultural drones, and 42 unmanned driving systems.

In addition, the intelligent seedling center in Caobu town has solved the problem of high-quality cultivation through IoT technology.

All operations can be adjusted automatically on the mobile phone app, including temperature, humidity, light, water, fertilizer, and gas.

The center has also collaborated with a doctoral team from the University of Hong Kong to introduce IoT diagnostic technology, which enables real-time mobile monitoring of seedling growth through imaging, scanning, and other methods.