Chapter 194 - 188 Frustration of Smart Farm Machinery_1

In the last two days before launch, astronauts were given time to reunite with family and friends, because humans are too fragile for space, and the risks should never be underestimated.

Li Wei naturally spent the time with his wife and son, as Hu Dong had already married and had an eight-year-old child.

Lin Ju had no relatives, and he hadn’t been in touch with old friends for a long time; he could only aimlessly wander around his base.

He didn’t think anything was amiss, honestly speaking, the engineers at the base were probably more reliable than family and friends.

In the morning, as usual, Lin Ju would first head to the hangar, pick one of the just-serviced Flying Dragon trainer aircraft, and fly it a few laps around the base.

However, today he decided to turn back after reaching the hangar because this too had risks.

Although the Flying Dragon trainer aircraft were equipped with Russia’s latest ejection seats, one emergency ejection could lead to fractures, which would put an end to any hopes of going to space. There would be plenty of time to fly later.

[Qingyang Intelligent Agriculture Demonstration Base]

"Welcome, Factory Manager Lin!"

The person in charge of the base warmly welcomed Lin Ju, who was only curiously observing the neat fields behind.

While developing the XW151 intelligent driving system, the engineers had stated that this system, when applied to planting operations, would yield excellent results. Therefore, Lin Ju specially approved a team to work on intelligent farming machinery.

Thus, New Yuan Aeronautics, the aerospace enterprise, incredibly signed an agreement with the local town government, leasing hundreds of acres of land to undertake comprehensive intelligent agricultural construction.

The yield here may not be particularly high, but the goal was to reduce labor and time costs to the lowest, so as to later use it as a model to market to the outside world.

The person in charge, Luo Han, had just walked into the base with Lin Ju when the buzzing of a dark shape swept over their heads.

"Ah, it’s a hawk-style drone."

Lin Ju looked up to see an eight-propeller drone, with a large plastic barrel hanging beneath it.

Luo Han said, "Every day, based on the weather conditions and air humidity, we plan the timing and quantity of pesticide spraying, which is entirely done automatically by computers. The workers only need to follow the instructions to dilute and fill the pesticide in the barrel, and the drone will execute the spraying plan accordingly."

Lin Ju asked, "Why not achieve full automation?"

Luo Han replied, "It’s too expensive, and it’s actually quite easy with just one person spending a little time to handle it."

While walking, Luo Han continued, "We’ve installed 120 precision positioning points within these 1,000 acres, and by using ground stations, satellites, and automatic recognition software, we can accurately divide the work areas and plan the work routes accordingly. Human intervention is only needed when the machines cannot identify something on their own.

Qingyang Base now has only four people, including myself. But in fact, as long as the machines don’t malfunction, we only need to stay in the air-conditioned room and monitor the situation, which allows us to complete all the planting procedures. For example, look over there."

Following Luo Han’s direction, Lin Ju looked past the cornfield and saw a large expanse of golden crops.

It was early rice, with full and dense ears resting at the tips of the stalks, signaling a bountiful harvest.

"How many acres of rice did you plant? How much can you produce?"

Lin Ju ran his hands over the rice grains, feeling the joy of the crops.

Luo Han said, "Based on the infrared remote sensing data from satellites, this year’s pest damage and the effects of rainy weather have been well controlled by various means. With the precise use of fertilizers, considering the rice variety we use, we can achieve a yield of 1,600 pounds per acre, that is 800 kilograms.

The total planting area is 300 acres, which is 20 hectares. Boss, guess how long it takes us to harvest these 20 hectares with just one rice harvester."

Lin Ju: "Only one machine? That’s about 5 or 6 acres per hour, around 50 hours right?"

Luo Han: "Yes, we have only one rice harvester, but it’s completely sufficient. Automation allows it to harvest 24 hours a day, day and night make no difference under the infrared cameras, It only needs 48 hours to finish the harvest;

The truck that follows the harvester is also fully automatic; it returns to the factory on schedule to dump the crop onto the production line for threshing. The chaff is turned into feed, and the rice, after machine sorting, is bagged and ready for wholesale. However, we won’t sell any of these crops."

Lin Ju thought for a moment and suddenly understood the meaning of those words.

"That’s really too bad."

Luo Han heard a mutter but didn’t react, and Lin Ju did not explain.

If only he could arrive a little later, he might have been able to eat the grain grown by his own company.

"Honk!"

A loud horn startled both of them, only to realize that behind them, a strangely shaped pickup truck had stopped at some unknown point, its front and back equipped with various devices, and a rotating laser radar atop its roof.

In its bed lay an extra-long mechanical part, seemingly made for farm machinery.

Lin Ju looked towards the cab... it was empty.

Luo Han first stepped back with Lin Ju to clear a path for the pickup; it flashed its high beams and silently drove past them.

"Uh... sorry boss, the corn harvester’s cutter head needs changing. This truck is something we modified in our spare time, using only spare parts from our inventory. It’s normally just used for running around the base. Today... well, it usually takes the back roads where few people drive, and there’s seldom any outside traffic on the roads around the base."

Lin Ju roughly understood; it must be the base’s intelligent driving system for farm machinery that had retrofitted a pickup capable of autonomous driving. And it appeared this truck was modified from some sort of sedan, even the drive system had been converted to electric.

And judging by Luo Han’s attitude, it was clear this wasn’t their first time doing this.

Forget it... it’s a small matter. It only speaks to the strong innovative capacity of the engineers.

Luo Han, relieved that the boss wasn’t pursuing the matter, continued to speak about the base’s achievements:

"Currently, we have a total of 8 types of machinery, which is the minimal requirement for managing these 1,000 acres and 6 types of crops. We’ve managed to universalize most of them and can guarantee that all the crops are harvested within the optimal harvesting time.

In fact, the larger the farm, the fewer the machines required per acre, but even now, we’ve even started using airplanes, and the costs have already dropped below those of farms using traditional mechanized planting and harvesting methods, and the efficiency is particularly high."

"Have you tried expanding to the north?"

Upon hearing Lin Ju’s question, the previously excited Luo Han paused and sighed.

This smart farming system was designed for large-scale plain cultivation, naturally targeting the north as its market. The hilly and paddy regions of the south were not conducive to mechanized farming; at most, they use mini tillers, and it did not pay to employ large automated machinery.

Only the heart of Sichuan had a bit of plain land that was suitable, allowing them to allocate some areas for experiments.

"Not really, the north... the region is indeed suitable, but they aren’t willing to purchase the system. You know, boss, many large farms there are state-owned."

Lin Ju understood; the greatest advantage of smart farming machinery was reducing personnel, which would surely please private farm owners, but state-owned farms would be a different story.

"But it’s okay, there are quite a few private farms now, and the market is still big. If we could export, actually, the prospects would be the best."

Export?

The most suitable places are either America or big and small Russia, but thinking about installing a bunch of machinery that connects to foreign satellites and is controlled over the network on one’s own land, the difficulty would likely be high.