On the afternoon of April 1st, an exhibition of agricultural machinery staged its opening ceremony in the Yinzhou District of Ningbo City. The theme of the exhibition was ;Spring Plowing. One of the exhibitors was Zhang Fangming, a teacher at NITs School of Mechanical and Energy Engineering, who showed his newest invention – an automatic transplanter. A transplanter is an agricultural machine used for transplanting seedlings to the field (Wikipedia).

Zhangs invention attracted quite a lot of attention from exhibition attendees. In a demonstration, the transplanter functioned successfully on a small-scale test field about 30 meters by 70 meters in size, automatically turning corners when it reached the end of a row. It required only one operator to monitor the device and add additional seedlings as necessary. Li Qiang, Chief of the Ningbo Agricultural Machinery Bureau, was highly impressed by Mr. Zhangs invention and commented, “It is a real innovation in the field of agricultural machinery.”

According to Zhang, the automatic transplanter can accelerate the farming process, and can even be operated at night. The transplanter uses satellite navigation and positioning technology to achieve up to 5cm precision in its placement of seedlings. It can be also installed on a harvester, tractor, or pesticide sprayer. Given his success at the Yinzhou exhibition, Zhang is optimistic that his invention will become a popular tool in Chinas large agricultural industry.

According to Zhang, the automatic transplanter can accelerate the farming process, and can even be operated at night . The transplanter uses satellite navigation and positioning technology to achieve up to 5cm precision in its placement of seedlings. It can be also installed on a harvester, tractor, or pesticide sprayer. Given his success at the Yinzhou exhibition, Zhang is optimistic that his invention will become a popular tool in Chinas large agricultural industry.