Only two people can manage 3,000 acres of high-standard cotton fields from sowing, fertilizing to picking? What seems impossible has become a reality in Yuli County. Recently, the “Super Cotton Field”, an unmanned cotton farm experimental project launched by Jifei Agricultural Aviation Technology Co., Ltd. in Bayingolin Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture in Yuli County, completed picking, with an average yield of 254 kilograms per mu. With the help of high-tech means such as robots and artificial intelligence, only two people completed the management tasks of these 3,000 acres of high-standard cotton fields.
As of last year, Xinjiang’s cotton planting area, yield, total output, commodity volume, and transfer volume have ranked first in the country for 27 consecutive years. This year, cotton production in our district has increased steadily, with output expected to increase by 3.1%. Cotton color grade, fiber length, breaking ratio strength and other quality indicators have also achieved significant improvements year-on-year. Cotton quality is significantly better than the previous year. Facts have proved that the hard power of Xinjiang cotton comes not only from the natural gift of good weather, but also from the support of agricultural science and technology.
With the continuous advancement of agricultural modernization in our region, in recent years, digital and intelligent technologies represented by unmanned operations have moved from laboratories to Fields, taking root in the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains, not only help improve the quality and efficiency of cotton and embark on the path of high-quality development, but also liberate the labor force, allowing farmers to continuously improve the efficiency of cotton planting. In the past, cotton was mainly picked manually, which was inefficient and had a long picking cycle, which was also a huge expense for cotton farmers. Nowadays, with the steady improvement of the scale, intensification and mechanization level of cotton production in our region, Beidou navigation seeding, cotton pickers, drones, etc. are becoming increasingly popular. Cotton farmers can conduct real-time monitoring and precise operations of cotton fields through their mobile phones. The quality is also constantly improving, and smart agriculture is becoming a new label for the cotton industry in our region. Today, cotton production in Xinjiang has basically been mechanized. In northern Xinjiang, the mechanical picking rate of cotton exceeds 90%. The high-end cotton picking machines used in some places can pick 5 acres of cotton in 10 minutes. Modern technology has made the days when cotton farmers were “steamy in the summer and rustic, with their backs burning in the scorching sun” gone forever. Cotton farmers liberated from the cotton fields developed a garden economy, went to work in factories, and created a richer and better life with their hands.
Two people manage 3,000 acres of high-standard cotton fields, which is just a microcosm of the agricultural modernization process in our district. From “hui” farming to “wisdom” farming, agricultural production in our district has become better, greener and better, and is on the road to high-quality development. The fundamental solution for agriculture lies in modernization. The 2021 autonomous region government work report proposes to strive to stabilize cotton production capacity at around 5 million tons by the end of the “14th Five-Year Plan”. Science and technology are the wings of the development of agricultural modernization. To bring cotton yield and quality to a higher level, we need to work harder on agricultural science and technology innovation. We must strengthen the in-depth integration of agriculture and science and technology, continuously enhance the support of science and technology, and use the most “hard-core” technology to build the strength of Xinjiang cotton, so that farmers in Xinjiang can use the best technology to grow the best cotton, so that more farmers can share it. Technological development dividends.
</p
