Machines work on a field of a farm company affiliated to Beidahuang Group's Baoquanling branch in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province. (Photo/Li Xuebin)

It's spring plowing season in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, and agricultural machines are widely used to facilitate farming activities.

Farmers have been busy sowing corn seeds on 1.55 million mu (1,033 square kilometers) of farmland in Beilin district, Suihua city. In a corn field in Dongfu village of Beilin district, two seeders powered by the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System were sowing corn seeds. The corn seed planting season in Beilin is expected to run until early May.

At a seed breeding research and development (R&D) base located in a modern agricultural industrial park in Wudalianchi city, agricultural mechanics were driving three machines to apply fertilizers in a field.

There are three experimental fields at the base and they span over 1,600 mu. The fields are able to provide seed breeding services for 11 seed companies, and select 120 varieties of high-oil and high-yield soybeans that can be planted in Heilongjiang.

At a smart seedling breeding base in a modern agriculture demonstration area of a farm company affiliated to Beidahuang Group's Baoquanling branch, agricultural technicians used a device to analyze the growth of seedlings. This device, together with a smart farmland management and control system, can monitor temperatures and humidity inside greenhouses, and automatically apply fertilizers and spray pesticides.

"In the past, we relied on prior experience to manage the seedlings. But we now use big data. Through smart terminals, we can achieve automated operations and create a good growing environment," said Chu Changming, head of the technology promotion center of the farm company.