Plant protection drones continue to develop into intelligent services

[ China Agricultural Machinery Industry News ] In June last year, the land centralized operation of Shuanggou Town, Suining County, Xuzhou City, Jiangsu Province, achieved breakthroughs. 30,000 mu of 70,000 mu of cultivated land was operated by 25 village-level cooperatives. The newly established Suining Qiu Ge Agricultural Development Company realized mechanization planting and harvesting of crops, but the blind spot of plant protection mechanization also appeared. Du Kunpeng, deputy secretary of the Party Committee of Shuanggou Town, believes that tens of thousands of mu of arable land wants to be planted in one or two weeks, and only drones can be competent. But if the drone wants to fly steady, there is still a lot of work to be done.

Plant protection drones continue to develop into intelligent services

Spray 3 acres of land in two minutes

On the afternoon of March 26, professional flying hand Wang Xuechen came to Liuyuan Village, Shuanggou Town for wheat flight defense operations. After infusing 10 kilograms of syrup, the plant protection drone received the command of the joystick. The eight carbon fiber propellers were rotated at the same time, and jumped to two meters to hover. The four nozzles were opened and the misty spray was sprayed in an umbrella. Wang Xuechen gently pushes the handle, and the drone adjusts the direction and flies to the wheat field. Just as it was about to disappear into the field of vision, it adjusted its direction and returned to Wang Xuechen.

"This round trip, it flies against 3 acres of wheat fields, only 2 minutes." Wang Xuechen said that drones can fly a shift for 15 to 20 minutes, spraying area of ​​15 acres to 20 acres, operating efficiency is 25 to 30 times artificial The daily operation can reach more than 400 acres.

The villager Dong Wenxiang calculated an account, and the drone sprayed a pesticide charge of 4.5 yuan. According to the crop “three sprays”, only 15 yuan per mu was needed. Sun Zhiqiang, a large rice planter, said that 10 mu of rice operation test area, 10 kg of syrup, and drones completed spraying in 6 minutes, can save half of the pesticide use and save 90% of water consumption. After using the drone, Qiu Ge Company reduced the plant protection cost by 150,000 yuan last summer. "The drone is the current effective plant protection method." Du Kunpeng said.

Policy gap to be filled

At the beginning of the establishment of Qiu Ge Company, Du Kunpeng led the mechanized plant protection plan for 30,000 mu of cultivated land. After comparing the large self-propelled plant protection machinery and plant protection drones, he chose the latter. Qiu Ge Company purchased 10 drones at one time and established the first professional drone plant protection team in northern Jiangsu. In the past year of operation, this professional "flying hand team" has encountered many difficulties.

Before the purchase of the drone, Shuanggou Town Guangfa noticed to find a suitable farmer. After training by the manufacturer, the company was certified to work as a dry hand. Among the 40 young farmers selected in the town, 20 people got the “plant protection drone operation permit” and became a full-time operator. Du Kunpeng said that the cost of cultivating a flying hand is 6,000 yuan. If there is no free training for centralized procurement, this will be a big expense.

After meeting the needs of the cooperative's flight defense, the "flying hand team" went to the field to provide services. "With the purpose of capital preservation, the company and the villagers can settle at 4.5 yuan per mu. We go to Suqian, Zhangzhou, Xinghua and other places to operate, and the cost of medicines per mu is 20 yuan, and the cost of medicines is 8 yuan to 10 yuan per mu. Each drone can plant 500 acres of crops a day," said Zhu Ye, the captain of the Flying Hand. But they soon encountered difficulties.

Sun Zhiqiang’s contracted land is irregular, and 100 mu of paddy fields are divided into 3 blocks, which are far away. The drone landed, stored, reassembled, and filled with medicine, and the transition time exceeded 30 minutes. “The operation time of a hundred acres of rice paddy is no more than half an hour. For new technology, time can't wait!” Zhu Ye said.

Nowadays, before going out, Qiu Ge Company arranges special personnel to inspect the land in advance, and provides priority for large-scale enterprises ranging from 300 mu to 500 mu. For farms under 200 acres, Qiu Ge Company generally does not accept orders. Last year, they created a record of 7 days of plant protection for 17,000 acres. Scale will only have economies of scale, and technological advantages urgently need to promote land transfer.

At present, plant protection drones are still not included in the list of agricultural machinery purchase subsidies. Due to the lack of regulations, the plant protection drone market is more chaotic and the quality is uneven. Du Kunpeng hopes that the state can subsidize the service. No matter what kind of drone, as long as it can plant the crops, it will give certain subsidies to encourage large grain growers to choose plant protection drones.

Zhang Yehai, deputy director of the Science and Technology Department of Xuzhou Agricultural Machinery Bureau, said that the Ministry of Agriculture has piloted agricultural machinery subsidies for the purchase of plant protection drones in Zhejiang and Henan provinces. However, due to its lack of safety, stability and operability, Implement promotion.

Drones deepen "intelligent"

At present, there are many “flying hand teams” active in the rural areas of northern Jiangsu. The quality of flying hands and the quality of their services are uneven, and they are rushing to seize the market. Only 10 people of Qiu Ge's "flying hand team" can work stably, and the talents who will use and understand maintenance are even more scarce. Not long ago, Zhu Ye made a special trip to Shenzhen to obtain the certificate of post-sales service for plant protection drones, and became the only farmer in Suining who can repair drones.

Looking at the “big cake” in the plant protection market in northern Jiangsu, a world-renowned drone company is planning to set up a “flying defense training center” in the Airport Industrial Park of Suining County. It plans to train 500 rural drone plant protection personnel every year.

Du Kunpeng introduced that the new plant protection drone has begun to take shape of artificial intelligence, and the next step will be to develop intelligent services. Before the plant protection drone works, it will fly a circle and automatically collect data and plan the line to realize automatic flight, automatic avoidance and intelligent spraying. In the future, plant protection drones can achieve automatic data matching, control pesticide residues according to crop growth, and “order-based” automatic flight defense. "At that time, the drone can be regarded as a real 'no one'." Du Kunpeng said.