Operation and demonstration of precision planting in Luancheng County

The Piedmont Plain of Mount Taihang is a typical high-yield agro-region in the North China Plain (NCP) with a relatively strong intensive agricultural activity. It is therefore one of the most important grain-production bases in China. With rapid agricultural and socio-economic development, severe water shortages due to groundwater over-exploitation and increasing agricultural non-point source pollution due to intensive application agro-chemicals/fertilizers gravely threaten sustainable agricultural development in the region. Precision agriculture is therefore an inevitable choice of direction for future agricultural development in the region. The agricultural production in China is characterized as peasant household unit production, so, it is critical to experiment and explore precise planting at county level. Luancheng County, Hebei Province was chosen as a demonstration area, where precision agriculture technology demonstration and operational implementation were designed. The observation network in the county established by GPS precise positioning had a spatial resolution of 1 km × 1 km with an effective sample area containing 288 points. The resolution of sample points in the core demonstration area was further reduced to 20 m × 20 m. At the county and demonstration area scales, agricultural research and basic data analysis that sufficiently reflected spatial variability were conducted. Optimized management network and consulting platform assembly were used to enhance fertilization at county level and to establish regional characteristics of water-saving cropping patterns in the region. Two demonstration modes (i.e., field and greenhouse semi-intelligent control and variable water-saving irrigation systems) provided sufficient economic and environmental benefits of crop cultivation in the region. These modes were recommended for the promotion of accurate wheat cultivation intelligent systems as part of the broader development of regional precision agriculture demonstration models. Hence precision agriculture technology research and demonstration in Luancheng County had provided a technological demonstration model, which was a useful practice for the full implementation future precision agriculture models in the region.