Harvesting the future

To date, the garden has hired more than 30 local farmers.

"Most of them have their rights of the land transferred and get rental income," Ma says.

As for future development, more agriculture-related experience-based projects, including traditional culture and tourism experiences, will be developed, according to him.

About a 30-minute drive from the ecological garden, plant care robots and unmanned vehicles for vegetable transportation are running in good order at a fruit and vegetable plantation in the Pinghu agriculture economic development zone.

The site features a variety of new planting methods, including sand, water and aerosol culture. It covers an area of 120 mu and produces 500 tons of fruits and vegetables a year, with an annual output of 6 million yuan.

Supported by the Beidou navigation satellite system, a high-precision map of the farmland was derived, which paved the way for optimizing equipment and personnel management and standardizing unmanned farming operations, says Lin Baixiang, a technical worker at the facility.