Abstract: Sugarcane planting was a critical and crucial stage in the sugarcane production process, directly determining whether the crop could germinate successfully and grow healthily.To address the limited applicability and uneven soil coverage of existing soil-covering devices on sugarcane planters in hilly regions, which fail to meet agronomic requirements and reduce sugarcane germination rates, this study designed a soil-covering device capable of contouring to the surface morphology. The device was developed to ensure uniform soil coverage for sugarcane planting in hilly areas. The soil-covering device mainly consisted of soil-covering discs, a pressing wheel, and covering disc hydraulic cylinders. The forces acting on the soil-covering discs were analyzed based on statics and dynamics principles. The primary resistance experienced by the covering discs originated from the soil, with resistance increasing as the penetration depth or covering disc diameter grew. Considering the soil conditions and agronomic requirements in Guangxi, the covering disc diameter and thickness were determined to be 300 mm and 3 mm, respectively. A design for the contour-following system was proposed, and an overall hydraulic system was developed for a double-row sugarcane planter. Key components, such as the hydraulic cylinders for the soil-covering discs, were designed to enable contour-following. The forces acting on the soil-covering discs were analyzed based on the lever principle, and the hydraulic cylinder specifications were determined as 32 mm for the inner diameter and 18 mm for the piston diameter. The correlation between contour-following and soil coverage was analyzed, and it was established that the soil-covering thickness could be adjusted by controlling the penetration depth of the discs through the extension or retraction of the hydraulic cylinders based on slope adjustments. To enhance the response speed and control precision of the contour-following system, a mathematical model for the hydraulic control system was established, and its stability was validated. To reduce synchronization difference between the two hydraulic cylinders, a master-slave synchronization control strategy was adopted to compensate for displacement difference. A PID controller was used to control the primary hydraulic cylinder loop, ensuring a quick response. Simulations performed in AMESim showed that the system reached a steady state within 0.16 seconds, with an overshoot of 7.3%, meeting the design requirements. For the secondary hydraulic cylinder loop to track the primary loop accurately, both PID and adaptive fuzzy PID controllers were employed. Their performance in terms of adjustment capability, response time, and displacement difference between the two cylinders was compared. Simulation results revealed that with the PID controller, the adjustment time was 0.49 s, the overshoot was 12.1%, and the maximum displacement difference between the two cylinders was 4.2 mm. In contrast, with the adaptive fuzzy PID controller, the adjustment time was reduced to 0.21 s, the overshoot was 5.2%, and the maximum displacement difference was 0.42 mm. The adaptive fuzzy PID controller demonstrated superior performance, achieving near-synchronous extension and retraction of the two hydraulic cylinders in compliance with design requirements. Field tests were conducted to validate the system's performance. Results showed that when the soil-covering disc diameter was 300 mm, the thickness was 3 mm, and the disc angle was set to 60°, the soil coverage thickness ranged from 77～83 mm on flat surfaces and from 74～85 mm on sloped surfaces. The coefficients of variation for soil coverage were 1.88% and 3.47%, respectively. The maximum response time of the control system was 0.28 seconds, and the maximum displacement difference between the two hydraulic cylinders was 0.69 mm. Overall, the system met the contour-following requirements. These findings provide valuable insights for improving the soil-covering performance of sugarcane planters and can serve as a reference for future research and development.