5G and AI bring smarter, greener vegetable farming to Linyi

At a greenhouse of Huaxinyuan Family Farm in Xinji town, Yinan county, Linyi in East China's Shandong province, a grower taps a smartphone screen, and the roller blinds above rise slowly as drip irrigation releases a precisely mixed flow of water and fertilizer.

Yinan is the country's largest production base for quality cucumbers, with 130,000 mu (about 8,670 hectares) under cultivation supporting a specialty industry worth more than 10 billion yuan ($1.4 billion) and benefiting nearly 10,000 grower households.

China Mobile's Linyi branch and the county's agriculture and rural affairs bureau have deployed an integrated smart greenhouse platform in the town's cucumber demonstration zone. Sensors on the roof, soil-moisture monitors underground and pest-monitoring lamps in the fields work around the clock, feeding data on air temperature and humidity, soil pH levels and pest indices to the platform's main screen in real time.

"These are agricultural monitoring devices. We have installed several sets in the greenhouse. AI models automatically generate irrigation and fertilization plans based on the cucumber growth cycle," said Liu Xinqing, head of the farm. "We used to grow vegetables by experience; now we grow them by data."

Water-fertilizer machines automatically mix nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium solutions that travel through drip lines to cucumber roots, while pest-monitoring lamps automatically trap insects, identify them with AI and send alerts to growers' phones when thresholds are exceeded. Wang Pengyu, a staff member with China Mobile's Linyi branch, said the technologies have raised water and fertilizer use efficiency in greenhouses by more than 30 percent.

Digital management has also brought a green transition. "We used to estimate when watering and fertilizing — water flooded the field and fertilizer piled up, and much was wasted. Now machines deliver precisely, saving both water and fertilizer, and the cucumbers meet green, pollution-free standards. We earn more," Liu said.

Editor：韩蒙蒙