At a company's blueberry planting base in Huaining County, East China's Anhui Province, intelligent temperature control, automated irrigation system and real-time soil pH monitoring have replaced conventional cultivation methods.

Blueberries are grown in pots inside smart greenhouses, where technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and big data enable precise and intelligent environmental control.

"One person with a smartphone can now manage blueberry fields of tens of mu (one mu equals 0,07 hectares) in size," said Liu Jinlong, general manager of the company.

Photo: ah.people.cn

Thanks to this technology-driven approach, Liu’s greenhouse blueberries can reach the market in March, two months earlier than those planted outdoors, while achieving a yield twice the amount of blueberries planted outdoors.

Cao Liangyuan, director of Huaining County's blueberry industry development center, said the county is actively testing smart greenhouses for blueberry cultivation through multiple measures, including collaborating with universities and research institutes to obtain premium varieties.

The county’s commitment to innovation extends beyond cultivation and variety breeding. In November 2022, China’s first production line for extracting anthocyanin from blueberries began operating in the county’s blueberry industrial park.

"At full capacity, we can process about 30.000 tons of fresh blueberries a year, generating an output value of 720 million yuan (100,2 million U.S. dollars) and creating jobs for more than 2.000 people," said Xu Jun, general manager of the company that owns the production line.

In the county's blueberry industrial park, 10 blueberry deep processing projects have been launched, with a total investment of 2.060 billion yuan and a blueberry deep processing capacity of 70.000 tons per year. In addition, more than 30 types of blueberry products have been developed.

Huaining's blueberry industry has flourished thanks to this technology-driven approach. The fruit's planting area reached 90.000 mu by 2024, and the comprehensive output value of the blueberry industry is expected to exceed 7.500 billion yuan this year.

"By 2025, we aim to increase the area of ​​blueberry cultivation to more than 100.000 mu and the output value of the blueberry industry to exceed 10.000 billion yuan," Cao said.