"Did you know that tomatoes can talk?" At the planting base in Miyun, Beijing, the first thing Xu Dan, head of Polar Star Agriculture, walked into the office every day was to turn on the greenhouse climate computer and check the greenhouse temperature and equipment operation of the night before the Yunnan competition base.
He then spends most of his day with tomatoes. This process is called "crop reading." "It will tell me what it needs? I'll find a way to satisfy it. If I do it well, it will do everything it can to express its happiness, for example, the leaves are big and bright, and the fruit is rich and sweet. ”
Mainland China is one of the countries with the largest tomato production in the world, but domestic tomato production is still facing bottlenecks such as extensive environmental regulation technology, low mechanization and automation.
In October last year, the "Tomato Fast Growing" team led by Xu Dan broke into the final of the second "Duoduo Agricultural Research And Technology Competition". The energetic young people grow tomatoes in a highland greenhouse at the Kunming Competition Base in Yunnan Province, through remote planting, competing for yield, quality, environmental sustainability and commercial viability.
Xu Dan, the captain of the champion team "Tomato Fast Growth"
This is another attempt by Pinduoduo to promote the accelerated application of precision planting technology in agriculture after "science and technology strawberries". At the final online summit of the second "Duoduo Agricultural Research And Technology Competition" held on April 25, the "Tomato Fast Growth" team won the championship.
Xu Dan said that through competitions such as the "Duoduo Agricultural Research And Technology Competition", he hopes that more people can see the scientific and technological agriculture that belongs to this era.
Unlike the traditional planting competition, the "Duoduo Agricultural Research Technology Competition" is carried out remotely. The four finalists remotely control the greenhouse via software. What affects the outcome of the game is the planting strategy adopted by the teams, which is the result of joint decision-making between humans and algorithms.
For example, during the competition, Xu Dan could not often "read the crop" himself, and the sensors installed in the greenhouse would tell him whether the tomato was comfortable to grow in. More direct feedback comes from a set of "human-machine fusion intelligence" algorithms designed by the "Tomato Fast Growth" team, which will make decisions about "how to make the tomatoes happier" based on the "reading" of the sensor. In this regard, Xu Dan can agree or refuse. But as long as he makes decisions, the tomato will grow as much as possible according to his vision.
Focusing on the key aspects of water and fertilizer regulation, light replenishment strategy, disease control and other key aspects that affect the healthy growth of tomatoes, each team will develop different algorithms based on previous planting experience and practice their own strategies. Tomatoes, on the other hand, will make different "statements".
Xu Dan's first visit to the base of the competition was in November last year, and the crop was about to enter winter. He resolutely adjusted the strategy of thinning flowers and fruits, allowing on-site workers to reduce fruit retention and let the plants "save physical strength" as much as possible.
Every week, the organizing committee of the event will complete the plant height measurement, flower and fruit quantity statistics according to the requirements of each team, and form a "physical examination report".
Through these reports, Xu Dan found that tomatoes grown in Yunnan have smaller leaves. Compared with the 40 cm long leaves of the Miyun base in Beijing, the average length of the leaves of the plants at the Kunming Competition Base is only 30 cm. In this regard, the algorithm suggests that more blades should be appropriately left. Therefore, in the agricultural operation, the "tomato fast growth" team adjusted the number of leaves retained by each tomato from the past 11-12 to 16-17.
"Tomatoes don't lie. If it's comfortable, it must be delicious. Xu Dan said.
As a young professional grower, this year marks Xu Dan's ninth year of growing tomatoes in a greenhouse. At 7:40 a.m. every morning, he set off on time from his home in downtown Beijing and drove more than 100 kilometers to a 30,000-square-meter planting base on the outskirts of the city.
"We are pleased to see that these young people can choose agriculture as their career, and the unremitting efforts made by the 'Duoduo Agricultural Research and Technology Competition' to help young scientists explore the way forward for China's smart agriculture." Zhao Chunjiang, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said.
The vast countryside has a lot to offer, but at the moment, the new technology professional growers are still a bit lonely. "I hope that by participating in the 'Duoduo Agricultural Research And Technology Competition', more young people can change their cognition and join us." One generation has a generation's 'Long March', and the cause pioneered by the older generation of farmers will continue by us. Xu Dan said.