Pinduoduo was granted a patent by the China National Intellectual Property Administration for a smart greenhouse management and control system that promoted and raised output and productivity.
The patent award was announced on Dec. 24, 2021 and one of several agricultural technology-related patent applications submitted by Pinduoduo. The patented system acts as the “brain” of the smart greenhouse, integrating and regulating the hardware and software to create an optimal growth environment for the crops.
Areas covered by the patent include the management and integration of sensor modules for measuring climate conditions, control of ventilation and circulation, and automation of spraying, blind control and lighting.
As China’s biggest agriculture platform, Pinduoduo has actively supported the development and adoption of agricultural technology to boost productivity and strengthen food security. The company organizes an annual Smart Agriculture Competition that challenges participants to come up with algorithmic models to boost greenhouse production in an environmentally sustainable and economically feasible way.
China has been promoting the construction of smart greenhouses as a way to produce more food and reduce a reliance on manual labor as the traditional agricultural workforce ages. The area devoted to glass greenhouses in China grew 28% in 2020, according to Richland Sources, a consulting firm. These high-tech facilities can increasingly be found near many of the country’s biggest cities, moving vegetable and fruit production nearer to millions of consumers.
Smart greenhouses marry the advantages of controlled environment agriculture (e.g. higher efficiencies in water and nutrient usage, year-round production) and the precision of sensor technology and automation. A smart greenhouse’s use of sensors and automation to control irrigation, ventilation, humidity and lighting reduces the need for intensive manual labor.
