Greenhouse Brings "Smell of summer" in the cold winter

During the Spring Festival holiday, many people are still busy in working, like the seedling farmers in Dongtai City, Jiangsu Province, the "Town of Watermelons". With the help of modern agricultural technology, even in the cold winter, the watermelon seedlings here are raised. And this has brought them good economic benefits.

Although it is a cold day, the smart greenhouse in the seedling base in Dongtai City, Jiangsu Province is warm and green. Watermelon farmers are skillfully grafting watermelon seedlings.

Liu Guorong, head of a seedling base in Dongtai City, Jiangsu Province: In the past, the culture of watermelon seedlings could not be guaranteed due to the impact of cooling and cold waves. After electrified intelligent constant temperature cultivation, precise control of temperature, humidity, environment, etc. has been achieved. Now it is possible to to cultivate year-round.

This special insulation resistance wire is laid in the soil, which can convert electrical energy into heat energy. Like the floor heating installed at home, the temperature rises steadily and the temperature is uniform. It is very beneficial to the growth and development of watermelon seedlings, and the emergence rate can reach 95% in winter.

Zhou Aifeng, an agricultural technician from a nursery base in Dongtai City, Jiangsu Province: The temperature in the shed can be maintained at around 20°C even at night. The traditional heating method has poor constant temperature effect and heavy air pollution, and the survival rate of melon seedlings is only about 70%.

The extension of the production cycle and the increase in the emergence rate have doubled the number of seedlings emerging in these greenhouses compared with last year, at the current price of USD 0.2 per plant. Only one greenhouse can bring nearly one million yuan of output value. And this production model is also adopted by more and more growers.

The improvement of the quality of seedlings has also directly driven the local watermelon planting. At present, the watermelon planting area in Dongtai has expanded to 4,500,000 hectares, with an annual output of one million tons of watermelons, with a total output value of over USD 0.5 billion, and an average income of over US dollars $24,000 per hectare.