On November 1st, in Duhu Town, Taishan City, Jiangmen, contiguous waves of ripening rice rolled across "Guangdong's No.1 Rice Field." Along the field ridges, fleets of unmanned agricultural machinery roared in formation while plant protection drones took to the skies for field patrols. On a smart dashboard, real-time data updated the status of paddy crop growth, soil moisture, and pest activity. This modern grain-farming landscape at the Guangdong Co-op Tianhe Taishan Smart Farm ("Tianhe Taishan Smart Farm") has equipped the "rice bowl" of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area with a "smart core" powered by cutting-edge technologies.

Inside the intelligent rice seedling factory at Tianhe Taishan Smart Farm, a set of metrics clearly illustrates just how powerful this industrial "manufacturing" of seedlings truly is: compared with conventional seedling-raising methods, the facility reduces land occupation by 80%, shortens the seedling-raising cycle by five days, conserves over 60% of water, cuts pesticide usage by 70%, and lowers labor costs by 60%. Automated seeding reaches an efficiency of 1,200 trays per hour—more than ten times that of manual labor—producing sturdier seedlings with a survival rate exceeding 95% and a uniformity rate of over 90%.

"The intelligent seedling factory can stably produce 200,000 trays of high-quality seedlings annually, supplying enough in a single batch per season for 500 mu (approx. 33.3 hectares) of open fields and meeting the annual transplanting demand for 10,000 mu (approx. 666.7 hectares) of paddy fields," said Zhong Zhinan, head of Tianhe Taishan Smart Farm, noting that standardized, uniform seedlings have paved the way for fully mechanized transplanting.

As the seedlings move from the factory to the fields, fleets of unmanned agricultural machinery "take the stage." Guided by the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS), unmanned paddy harrows, rice transplanters, plant protection machines, and combine harvesters operate collaboratively along preset routes, executing autonomous fleet operations across the entire cycle from land preparation and transplanting to crop protection and harvesting. Field tests confirm that the smart farm management system increases machinery utilization by over 30% and reduces overall farming operational costs by 20%.

In-field technology extends well beyond farm machinery. Intelligent monitoring and forecasting stations, water-level and water-quality sensors, and smart water-control valves weave a dense sensing network that, combined with drone aerial surveys and AI recognition, provides dynamic monitoring across 120,000 mu (8,000 hectares) of paddy fields. The "Four Conditions"—crop growth, soil moisture, pest status, and disaster risks—are monitored and addressed in real time. An intelligent pest early-warning system predicts outbreaks in advance to guide precise, eco-friendly pesticide application. Meanwhile, the coordinated operation of AI scouting drones and plant protection drone swarms reduces pesticide consumption by 850 grams per mu and pesticide packaging waste by 185 grams per mu, boosting operational efficiency by 270% and substantially mitigating agricultural non-point source pollution.

This "digital brain" has helped the farm yield heavy ears of rice: this year's early-season rice achieved a dry grain yield of 428 kilograms per mu, outperforming surrounding farms by 46 kilograms per mu. Cost savings and revenue gains totaled 175 yuan per mu in a single season, lifting average net income per mu by over 15% and increasing overall crop yield by 2% to 3%.

“广东第一田”有了“最强大脑”

11月1日，江门台山市都斛镇，“广东第一田”连片稻浪翻滚。田埂上，无人农机列阵轰鸣，植保无人机腾空巡田。智慧大屏上，水田苗情、墒情、虫情等以数据形式实时更新。广东供销天禾台山智慧农场（以下简称“天禾台山智慧农场”）的这幅种粮新场景，用一项项科技为粤港澳大湾区的“米袋子”装上了“智慧芯”。

走进天禾台山智慧农场的智能育秧工厂，一组数据清晰看出工厂“造”秧苗到底强在哪：相较传统育秧，占地缩减80%，育秧周期缩短5天，节水超60%，农药减量70%，人工成本降低60%；自动化播种效率达每小时1200盘，是人工的10倍以上；秧苗更健壮，成活率超95%，整齐度超90%。

“智能育秧工厂每年可稳定生产20万盘高品质秧苗，单季单批就能供应500亩大田用秧，全年满足1万亩稻田插秧需求。”天禾台山智慧农场负责人钟智楠表示，秧苗标准化、一致化，为全程机械化插秧铺平了路。

秧苗落地，无人农机编队随即“上场”。北斗导航指引下，无人耙田机、插秧机、植保机、收割机按预设路径协同作业，从耕整地到插秧、植保、收割，全程“机群自跑”。经田间实测，智慧农场管理系统可提升农机利用率30%以上，综合种植作业成本降低20%。

田间的科技，远不止农机。智能测报站点、水位水质传感器、智能控水阀织密感知网，结合无人机航测与AI识别，覆盖12万亩水田动态监测。苗情、墒情、虫情、灾情“四情”实时监控、实时处理。智能虫情预警系统提前预判病虫害，指导精准绿色施药。AI巡田无人机与植保无人机集群协同，每亩减少农药使用850克、农药包装废弃物185克，作业效率提升270%，大幅减轻面源污染。

“数字大脑”助力农场种出沉甸甸的稻穗：今年早造干谷亩产428公斤，较周边高出46公斤；单季每亩节本增收175元，亩均纯收入提升15%以上，作物整体增产2%至3%。

文丨记者 陈卓栋
翻译丨陈冠臻
审校丨曾敏