Working the land becomes less arduous as automation rate rises
Lyu Zhenbo was once famous in his village as the farmer with the straightest rows of crops. Now, though, he cannot compete with the guidance systems fitted on modern agricultural machinery.
“I used to farm with cattle,” said the 57-year-old from the eastern province of Shandong. “The days of toiling on the land have gone. Handling a combine is just like driving a car. Farming has become much easier with the help of machines.”
For Lyu, farming is now less arduous and more enjoyable than he ever expected when he bought his first walking tractor 40 years ago.
“With a walking tractor, plowing and sowing seemed less tiring,” he said, adding that he is surprised at how agricultural machines have changed his life.
The production levels and living standards of China’s farmers have undergone huge changes, especially in the past 40 years.
The hardships they faced have largely been eased, and outdated agricultural tools such as plows and sickles have become memories.
At the Agricultural Memory Museum in Caoxian county, Shandong, more than 100 traditional agricultural tools are displayed, including a wooden plow dating back to the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).
“It is a typical Chinese agricultural tool, invented during the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220) and used for irrigation,” said Pan Lujian, curator of the museum, as he introduced a water wheel to visitors.
In the 1980s, agricultural mechanization gained momentum in China, and farming became more productive than ever before thanks to machines that plowed the ground, started to planted seeds and performed other tasks. They quickly became everyday tools for many farmers.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, China was home to more than 2,500 agricultural machinery businesses last year, and the national mechanization rate for crop cultivation and harvesting topped 67 percent. The country’s agricultural production is now mainly done by machines, which have replaced manual labor.
An Uber-like mobile app developed by Lovol Heavy Industry Co, a major Chinese agricultural machinery business, enables farmers to rent equipment.
“It’s like hailing a taxi. My boy taught me how to use new farming technologies like this,” said Lyu, whose son has returned from a large city to help on the family farm.
Lyu said a growing number of young people are returning to the countryside to help their families. They are enthusiastic and knowledgeable, and the development of agricultural machinery means farming is no longer backbreaking work.
According to Liang Qirong, Party chief of Lovol Heavy Industry, China’s agricultural machinery sector is “big, but not strong”, and it is moving toward high-quality development to improve competitiveness in the whole industrial chain.
Zhang Qingjin, director of the Institute of Agricultural Development at the Shandong Academy of Social Sciences, said the country’s agricultural machinery industry is evolving quickly, exemplifying the development of agriculture, rural areas and farmers’ livelihoods.
Lyu said farming has become easier as the agricultural mechanization rate has risen. Now, he hopes his son will eventually take over the farm and enjoy the lifestyle.