CHONGQING (CQNEWS) -- When the granary is well stocked, the world is safe. It is a hard time for grain depots in Chongqing, as the rare floods have just passed through and the rainy weather and pest breeding season are still at their peaks. How to ensure food security for the public? A few days ago, the reporter visited one of the first batch of Chongqing intelligent information automated grain depots - Chongqing Hechuan District Reserve.

Hechuan District has a modern grain depot covering an area of 193mu with a total construction area of 40,199 square meters, as well as five grain storage places. The grain depot is lined with silos which are about 10 meters high and in full condition and store 117,000 tons of grain.

Before the grain is put into storage, the grain needs to be removed impurities and put into storage by the fully automated equipment of the intelligent in-and-out depot system for registration, quality inspection of samplings, measurement and weighing as well as intelligent collection and preservation of key data.

After the Grain Keeper opened the door, the reporter put on a mask and shoe covers and passed through the insect net to enter the depot. The sentence “keep our mission firmly in mind and reserve grain for the country” on the wall was particularly eye-catching, and the golden and neat grain emitted a burst of fragrance. The grain pile in the depot is about 6 meters high without a single pillar inside. The depot is ventilated, insulated, and airtight.

Along with the aroma of rice, there is also coolness -- it turns out that the grain also needs air conditioning. The storage depot is equipped with special temperature-controlled air conditioning and other insulation facilities. The temperature of the grain depot is controlled below 25℃ through air-conditioning refrigeration cycle, which ensures the grain to pass the summer smoothly, effectively prevents the breeding of vermin and delays the deterioration of grain quality.

On the outside walls, the depot is also equipped with automatic door and window and ventilation devices which can run automatically according to system instructions. Despite the intelligent equipment, the Grain Keeper still can’t take it lightly and need to keep an eye on his mobile phone to monitor the system data. If the temperature and humidity of the grain are too high, or the gas concentration in the depot does not reach a safe range, the Grain Keeper needs to make adjustments in order to ensure the safety of the grain.

In addition to controlling temperature and moisture, controlling pests and diseases can be a difficult task. After the grain is put into storage, a thorough pest control is required to prevent infection by field pests and microorganisms. After that, the temperature of the grain pile is controlled by technological means, including grain cooling and air conditioning, at a low or quasi-low level until the grain is rotated out of storage, thus maintaining the freshness of the grain.

What measures should be taken to control the pests and mould in the grain depot without chemicals? The depot adopts the most advanced “nitrogen controlled atmosphere” technology in China, which separates the nitrogen in the air and inputs it into the grain piles and makes nitrogen airbags with film to seal the grain, so as to keep the grain in anaerobic state and let the pests and microorganisms die of lack of oxygen. This avoids contamination and harm to the grain and enables green food storage.

All the data and real-time status of the grain in the depot can be supervised on computers and mobile phones and observed on an intelligent integrated control platform for grain storage. The Grain Keeper can analyze grain trends through big data and view intelligent forecasts and early warnings. Nowadays, with the application of high technology, it has achieved “Scientific Grain Storage and Green Grain Storage”.

In order to ensure the quality of the grain, corn, rice, and wheat all have different storage cycles and are measured annually for quality. According to the requirements, corn is rotated for 2 years, rice for 3 years and wheat for 5 years respectively. Through this kind of year-round purchase and sale rotation, it is ensured that the reserves of grain and oil are always new and of good quality.

Food reserves are of great significance to national security. China successfully responded to the global food crisis in 2008 after enduring the severe tests of Wenchuan Earthquake, the snow and ice disasters and other recurring natural disasters. During COVID-19, Chongqing also ensured that “food reserves are the best guarantee” -- all kinds of grain depots are sufficient. (Translated by Wang Huixin, Fathom Language Limited)