5G, Beidou Navigation Satellite System help NE China harvest

(ECNS) -- Self-driving swathers backed up by 5G and the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System helped harvest rice on the Honghe Farm, a subsidiary of Beidahuang Group in northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province.

According to Zhao Huayu, a technician of the Honghe Farm, relying on 5G and BeiDou, a self-driving swather can follow routes designed by the intelligent terminal, finishing a series of operations like going straight, turning, stepping into the ridges, lifting and lowering the cutting machines.

“My phone is my new-type ‘agricultural tool’,” said Young farmer Zhang Liangbao, who skillfully used his mobile phone to control the swather.

The intelligent swather has engaged in a wide range of operations from rice transplanting to harvesting, said Zhang.

The Beidahuang group has sowed nearly 46 million mu (about 3.07 million hectares) of farmland. “Beidahuang is boosting the integration of internet technologies and modern agriculture,” said Tang Hao, vice general manager of the group.

The group has set up 20 digital farms to date, Tang added.