Gone are the days when farming relied purely on experience and the whims of weather. For farmer Li from Weishan Farm in Heilongjiang, digital agriculture has transformed daily operations. "Now I can check soil moisture, dispatch machinery, handle paperwork, and even sell grain directly from my phone," he says, showcasing the real-time soybean growth data on the "Beidahuang Agricultural Service" app.

This scenario reflects the experience of over 4,000 farming households at Heilongjiang Agriculture Company Limited (SHA: 600598)'s Weishan operation. The farm's 210,600 mu of large-scale farmland now operates under complete digital management, with every stage from land preparation and sowing to field management, harvesting, storage, and sales equipped with a "digital brain."

Previously, farmers relied on traditional methods, leading to chaotic machinery allocation, inefficient operations, and inconvenient administrative processes. The farm struggled with unified land management, resource waste, and poor coordination between grain production and sales.

Setting the Digital Foundation for Comprehensive Field Monitoring

Since 2022, Weishan Farm has leveraged the mature "Beian Model" to build its smart agriculture system. After three years of upgrades, the farm's total grain output hit record highs for two consecutive years by 2025, with average soybean yields ranking first in the Beidahuang Group's Beian branch.

The farm deployed meteorological stations, soil moisture sensors, and field surveillance equipment operating 24/7 to collect data including temperature, humidity, and soil fertility. Simultaneously, deep tillage, seeding, spraying, and harvesting machinery were fitted with monitoring terminals that upload real-time operational data and trajectories, ensuring transparent and precise operations.

Through ground equipment, drones, and satellite remote sensing, the farm established an integrated "sky-ground-person" monitoring system. All data is aggregated and uploaded to a smart platform, achieving 90% accuracy in crop growth analysis. Many growers credited the platform's early drought warnings during the 2024 soybean flowering period for saving their harvests through timely irrigation.

The farm implements an end-to-end data closed-loop management model covering planting planning, field operations, data feedback, and optimization adjustments, forming a complete "plan-execute-feedback-optimize" cycle. About 90% of manual statistics and management tasks have been replaced with real-time, accurate data, providing a solid foundation for precise farming and scientific land management.

Smart Agricultural Equipment Boosts Efficiency and Profitability

To enhance precision, the farm introduced DJI Dock 3 and Matrice 4TD intelligent drones. Combined with satellite and drone field patrol data, these tools track crop development stages and customize fertilization plans based on field conditions. Advanced variable-frequency pulse sprayers maintain normal operations even in 3-4 level winds.

Using exclusive "field prescription maps" for precise pesticide application, chemical usage has been cut by 30% to 70%, significantly reducing costs. All 96 main agricultural machines now feature Beidou navigation for centimeter-level precision in land preparation, ridging, seeding, and spraying. Row spacing and depth accuracy have improved seedling uniformity and land utilization.

Farm managers can remotely dispatch all machinery from their offices, increasing operational efficiency by 40%. Tasks that once required half a day for manual patrol of 200 mu can now be completed by drone in just 30 minutes, saving both time and labor.

The innovative "one machine, multiple functions" drone model enables a single device to handle field patrols, disaster warnings, and ecological inspections, eliminating duplicate equipment purchases and maximizing asset utilization while ensuring comprehensive production safety.

Smartphones have become the new essential farm tool. The "Beidahuang Agricultural Service" app has fully digitized administrative procedures, achieving 100% online processing for land contracts, agricultural loans, grain sales, and contract signing. One grower calculated the benefits: online loan processing saved 4,200 yuan in interest, and selling soybeans online earned an extra 0.02 yuan per jin, adding over 4,000 yuan in additional income for 200 mu of soybeans.

Digital Management Systems Standardize Farming Operations

Weishan Farm has created comprehensive digital archives with detailed profiles for all 335 plots. The integrated management system precisely matches plots, machinery, and planting tasks, enabling intelligent dispatching and precise operations. Machinery dispatching, job acceptance, review, and settlement are fully digitized with traceable operational tracks.

The settlement cycle has been shortened from 15 days to real-time payment, activating idle machinery resources and accelerating grower returns. The planting management system integrates 12 functions including farming records and disaster statistics, allowing farmers to monitor crop growth, estimate yields, and document farming activities anytime.

The marketing management system connects warehousing, logistics, and sales channels, resolving previous disconnects between production and sales, enabling faster grain sales at better prices.

Investment Returns: Cost Savings and Multi-Stakeholder Benefits

Over three years, Weishan Farm invested over 3 million yuan primarily in information equipment, IoT facilities, machinery smart retrofits, and system development. These investments have yielded substantial economic, social, and ecological returns.

Economically, the smart spraying system reduced overall pesticide use by 20%, saving 600,000 yuan annually in pesticide costs. The intelligent online dispatching model increased machinery operation efficiency by over 40%, significantly shortening land contract fee collection cycles. In 2024, online loans saved farmers 420,000 yuan in interest. The farm achieved a total grain output of 172 million jin, with corn yields reaching 1,823 jin per mu and soybeans hitting 569 jin per mu—a 12% year-over-year increase, exceeding Heilongjiang provincial averages by over 30% and achieving per-mu income growth exceeding 200 yuan.

At approximately 466 jin per mu, the farm's soybean yield in 2024 significantly outpaced the provincial average of about 258 jin per mu. The farm organized 31 large-scale family farms covering 5,000 to 15,000 mu each, serving over 5,000 farming households with 100% full-process trusteeship of scale farmland. Just 18 staff across 5 management zones oversee 210,600 mu of dryland farming. This management efficiency approaches American large-farm standards, where comparable operations typically require about 168 workers (56 full-time and 112 seasonal).

Socially, the "farm from your fingertips, handle business online" model covers all 4,864 farming households, with complete online processing for agricultural matters. The farm has trained 200 new-generation professional farmers skilled in smart agriculture techniques. The efficient digital farming model is attracting young people back to agriculture, injecting fresh talent into the farm's modernization efforts.

Ecologically, precision fertilization, scientific pesticide application, and irrigation-on-demand reduce agricultural input waste and pollution, protecting black soil fertility. Routine drone patrols promptly identify and address crop residue burning, reducing air pollution. The initiative achieves a win-win outcome: black soil conservation, ecological improvement, and increased agricultural yields and income.