As a co-founder of Rice Harmony Cooperative, a social enterprise dedicated to promoting rural environmental protection, Chinese Canadian Linda Tan and her team have come to the countryside of Guangzhou, China.
With her tablet computer and data analysis program up and running, she is able to gather and analyze agricultural information more precisely. The data is then shared with local farmers to help them increase crop yield.
Linda Tan and her coworkers drying rice in the sun in the countryside of Qingyuan, Guangzhou, China. /Rice Harmony Cooperative Photo
Tan is one of a number of people bringing fresh approaches and more efficiency to Chinese agriculture, as the government campaigns for reform in the sector.
Another young innovator is Kaz Komoda, the developer of temperature-controlled containers designed for urban agriculture.
He is able to plant anything in the containers, from leafy greens to tomatoes, to flowers.
His projects in the Central Business District of Beijing, as well as in the Middle East, are already setting trends in the field of urban agriculture.
Meanwhile, former NASA scientist Gu Zhu is thinking macroscale. He uses satellite data to monitor farmers' fields in order to improve crop efficiency. The big data approach has won him recognition from the Ministry of Science and Technology.
The three individuals have their own methods of transforming traditional agricultural techniques. With innovative ideas, China is likely to see real productive changes in the near future.
