In the early summer in the Wuling Mountains, the morning mist has not yet dissipated. On the slopes at the junction of Fengjie, Chongqing, and Enshi, Hubei, rows of Youyoucao (a local term for medicinal and edible plants such as houttuynia and gynostemma) are thriving. Unlike previous years, the base now features several white meteorological monitoring stations, and drones are circling at low altitude, transmitting multispectral imagery to the command center in real time. This is the Youyoucao Hubei-Chongqing Joint Planting Base—a traditional Chinese herbal medicine production area being thoroughly transformed by big data.
"In the past, we relied on the weather to grow Youyoucao; now we rely on the 'cloud,'" said Lao Zhou, the base manager, standing on the ridge of a field and pointing to the data dashboard on his phone. On the screen, dozens of parameters—soil moisture, light intensity, pest warnings, growth indices—scroll and refresh continuously, with each plot having its own independent "digital file." This "Hubei-Chongqing Chinese Herbal Medicine Industry Big Data Platform," jointly developed by a local agricultural technology company and a university, has been in full operation since this year's spring plowing, covering 12,000 mu of planting areas across the base and surrounding cooperatives.
The changes brought by big data are tangible. In the seedling greenhouse on the Enshi side, technician Xiao Tan is adjusting the water-fertilizer ratio based on the fertilization recommendations pushed by the system. "Previously, we used empirical formulas; now the system combines three years of soil sampling data with this year's climate forecasts, keeping the error within 5%," said Xiao Tan. More critical is disease warning—this May, the platform predicted a high risk of powdery mildew a week in advance by analyzing humidity curves after consecutive rainy days. The base organized drone-based unified prevention and control, keeping the incidence rate below 2%, while nearby farmers not connected to the platform saw rates exceeding 15%.
This "precision agriculture" model is reshaping the industry chain. At the initial processing plant in Fengjie County, a new intelligent sorting line uses image recognition technology to automatically grade Youyoucao by active ingredient content, replacing manual visual inspection. The sorting data is uploaded to the platform in real time, forming a full-chain quality traceability system from field to workshop. Buyers can scan a QR code to view the origin environment, farming records, and inspection reports of each batch. "Data is credit," said Mr. Chen, a buyer from the Bozhou herbal medicine market. He has already locked in 300 tons of orders through the platform this year, with a premium rate 8% higher than traditional procurement.
Collaboration between Hubei and Chongqing has also deepened through data. Previously, farmers in the two regions worked independently, with mixed varieties and inconsistent standards. Now, the platform unifies seedling traceability and harvesting standards, and cross-provincial inspection and quarantine data are exchanged in real time. Experts from the Chongqing Academy of Chinese Medicine remotely access the platform, regularly publish planting guidance, and use AI models to optimize Youyoucao rotation schemes. According to estimates, by the end of 2025, the average benefit per mu is expected to increase by 25%, driving income growth for more than 2,000 surrounding farming households.
However, the implementation of big data has not been smooth sailing. Lao Zhou admitted that initially, many farmers were skeptical of "digital farming," worried about data leakage or complex operations. To address this, the base organized more than thirty "field-side training" sessions, teaching farmers hands-on how to use the mini-program to report farming activities. Meanwhile, the platform adopts a "government supervision + enterprise operation + farmer sharing" mechanism, clearly stipulating that data ownership belongs to the growers, and enterprises only receive anonymized analytical rights. This transparent rule gradually dispelled concerns.
In the evening, the drone completes its final field inspection and automatically returns. On the big screen in the command center, the 200,000 data points collected today are being cleaned and stored. Lao Zhou plans to open the platform to more smallholder farmers next year and integrate real-time sales data from e-commerce livestreaming to bring production closer to consumption. "Youyoucao is a treasure left by our ancestors, and big data is the key to giving it new life," he said. On this land at the junction of Hubei and Chongqing, an experiment blending tradition and digitalization is bearing tangible fruit.