To fully understand the development of intelligent agriculture in Xishan District, Wuxi City, Jiangsu Province, and explore the application of the Internet of Things (IoT) in agriculture, the "Enabling New Formats with IoT Agriculture, Gazing into the Future with Technological Wheat Waves" summer social practice team from the School of Computer and Information Science (School of Artificial Intelligence) embarked on a research trip to the National Modern Agricultural Industry Park in Xishan District, Wuxi City, Jiangsu Province on July 8th.

In the morning, the team visited the Modern Agricultural Science and Technology Service Center, where they learned about the business formats guided by relevant policies in Xishan. They then engaged in a discussion with Taiwanese youth Li Xuewen. In the afternoon, they conducted an on-site inspection of the crop growth environment and visited the Taihu Rice Base to understand the use of agricultural machinery. After a day of research and learning, they achieved fruitful results.

They are focusing on regional characteristics to create agricultural models. The research team learned that due to the small arable land area, Southern Jiangsu's geographical environment is unsuitable for large-scale farmland construction. Xishan District has turned its attention to brand building, such as "one village, one product", among which local brands such as Xishan rice, Ganlu green fish, and Taihu bamboo are very popular with the public.

They are skillfully using IoT technology to draw a blueprint for unmanned agriculture. DJI drones broadcast iron powder-coated rice seeds live to prevent poultry pecking and seed floating, enhancing lodging resistance and carbon sequestration capabilities, showing their magic; VR observation decks allow real-time viewing of rice field conditions, improving the working environment for supervisory personnel; Wuxi Taihu Rice Garden's information management platform monitors rice field operations in real-time, gradually improving the agricultural work environment with IoT technology.

Upon first encountering the Sky Farm, we marveled at the achievements of Taiwanese youth Li Xuewen. We learned that Li ingeniously utilizes rooftop spaces, transforming urban areas, where land is scarce and expensive, into productive spaces. Li has also integrated labor education, which is currently being vigorously promoted by the country, combining it with school rooftops to provide children with practical labor experience sites. From his many creative ideas, such as the "One-Meter Vegetable Garden" and "Plant Labyrinth," we can glimpse the new generation of farmers' passion for promoting urban agriculture!

The team conducted field inspections of the crop growth environment and delved into the pain points of actual production. The Industrial Park, in collaboration with Zhejiang University, has established a bio-breeding laboratory that greatly facilitates cultivating crops, such as cherry tomatoes. The Ancient Tree Dendrobium officinale Center simulates the wild growth environment of Dendrobium officinale to ensure its robust growth while avoiding issues such as root rot caused by conventional greenhouse cultivation. However, the application of IoT technology currently faces difficulties. The long-term tools and experience of farmers are hard to transform, and the high cost of purchasing unmanned machinery makes it difficult for IoT technology to move from the experimental stage to everyday use by ordinary farmers. The plight of farmers toiling in the fields has not yet been truly alleviated.

After a day of visits and learning, the members understood the advantages of regional brand building and IoT technology applications in Xishan. There is still a long way to integrate go in integrating modern technologies such as IoT with real-life agriculture. Through this research, the members deeply felt that as contemporary youth, they should focus on the demand for modern technology in actual production, strive to learn professional knowledge, truly achieve technological empowerment, and contribute their youthful energy to developing agricultural specialties.