A demonstration area for modern ecological agriculture, located in Dinghai district, Zhoushan, East China's Zhejiang province, recently passed inspection. This is the first demonstration area of its kind in the city.

The Dinghai Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Affairs has been working on the construction of the area since the beginning of the year.

To date, over 200 million yuan ($28.4 million) has been invested into building modern intelligent agricultural facilities in the area, focusing on farm irrigation, environmental monitoring, agricultural waste recycling and overall aesthetics, among other things.

"Thanks to the modern facilities in the demonstration area, I can control the spray irrigation system remotely through a mobile app," said Guan Xin, a high-ranking employee of Longyin Agriculture Cooperative.

Xiao Wenbo, a local official in charge of the area, said that the area has already built monitoring systems powered by Internet of Things technologies in eight cooperatives.

The demonstration area now has five air monitors, five soil monitors and three water quality monitoring stations.

According to Xiao, the area has also been focusing on limiting the use of chemicals, reducing chemical residue on agricultural products and recycling agricultural waste.

About 80 percent of animal waste in the area can be used to produce organic manure, thanks to the waste recycling facilities, added Xiao.