At a digital aquaponics factory that combines fish farming and vegetable growing in Liangping district, southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, there's no one to be seen.
An automated feeding system precisely feeds the perches, while Li Mai remotely monitors and controls the system from an office in downtown Chongqing, with production data automatically transmitted to his computer. "I'm an engineer and a new type of fisherman," said Li, an agricultural digital technician at the Chongqing Academy of Agricultural Sciences.
Unlike traditional feeding methods based on experience with fish, the system enables AI-driven intelligent feeding. Li's role now focuses on "feeding" data to the AI farming system to make it smarter and more experienced.
The factory has an aquaponics system where fish are raised downstairs and vegetables are grown upstairs, with pipes connecting the two floors. The fish pools use smart algorithms to control feeders based on the fish's needs, while sensors automatically monitor water conditions, including temperature and dissolved oxygen levels. In the vegetable greenhouses, wastewater from fish farming is turned into liquid fertilizer for vegetables after treatment.
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