On April 30th, “Academicians & Experts into Linzi 2019—the Summit Forum on Agriculture with Modern and Effective Ecological Circulation” was held in Linzi district government. During this forum, Zhang tiezhu, President of the school, and liu enhui, deputy head of Linzi district, jointly signed the “Cooperation Agreement on Co-construction of Ecological Unmanned Farm”, which will further promote the integration of the university and the city, and facilitate the shift in driving forces in Shandong province.

The distinguished attendees included Kuang Tingyun, the academician of Chinese Academy of Science; Zhao Zhendong, the academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering; Lan Yubin, Academician of the European Academy of Sciences, France, special assistant to the President of the school, and dean of School of Agricultural Engineering and Food Sciences; Wei Kunlong, director and party secretary of Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs in Zibo; Song Zhenbo, party secretary of district committee of Linzi; Bai Pinghe, deputy secretary and governor of Linzi District. Besides, more than 40 experts from inside and outside the province, together with head of School Science and Technology Department and part of members in this ecological unmanned farm also took part in the forum.

It is reported that this ecological unmanned farm jointly built by the two sides is the first in China. Such high and new technology as biological prevention and control, green plant protection, UAV, agricultural robot, AI, IoT, big data, cloud computing etc. will be used in this farm.Agricultural information can be acquired through the integration of space, air and ground by relying on a variety of sensor nodes and wireless communication network. The integrated intelligent agricultural robot and agricultural equipment are used for cooperative operation. Thus, the intelligent perception, intelligent analysis, intelligent decision-making, intelligent warning and online guidance of experts in agricultural production environment can be realized. After the completion of the project, the farm can achieve the goals of green ecology, unmanned agricultural production, precise planting, visual management and intelligent control, and a new model of ecological unmanned farm that can be copied and easily promoted can be formed.

The project of ecological unmanned farm is proposed and directed by Prof. Lan Yubin. At present, it has gone through nearly two years of test and argumentation preparation, and a top-level design scheme has been presented. On March 17th, the basic contruction was started by Zibo HeFeng Seed Technology co., ltd. On March 30th, an exhibition and demonstration of ecological unmanned farm technology and equipment was held in Linzi, which drew the nationwide attention.

Prof. Zhang Yanfei, member of the ecological unmanned farm team, delivered a special speech during this forum, interpreting the concept, goal, construction plan, technology and equipment involved in the unmanned farm.

After the forum, Zhang Tiezhu and other experts paid a field visit to the ecological unmanned farm under construction.