The use of rice transplanters in Bieqiao Town, Liyang City on the morning of October 30 can give a glimpse of what one can expect of the “unmanned farm” initiative in Jiangsu Province.

The unmanned rice transplanter showed a better performance than human workers in terms of speed and quality. The farm of 300 mu (20 hectares) requires no people to toil in the old fashion as machines like self-driving tractors and harvesters are also put into use.

The farm is a joint venture between the Nanjing Research Institute for Agricultural Mechanization and other research institutes to address the shortage of labors in the countryside.

Under the remote control, machines used in the farm, such as tractors, harvesters and rice transplanters, can achieve automatic path planning and operation, with all kinds of data uploaded to a cloud platform.

According to the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Jiangsu aims to build at least 400 “unmanned farms” during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025).

Contact us at english@jschina.com.cn