On February 3, the State Council of the CPC Central Committee issued the Opinions on Anchoring the Modernization of Agriculture and Rural Areas to Promote the Comprehensive Revitalization of Rural Areas (referred to as the "No. 1 central document" for short), which clearly pointed out that we should develop new agricultural productivity according to local conditions, promote the combination of artificial intelligence and agricultural development, expand the application scenarios of UAVs, the Internet of Things, robots, and accelerate the innovation of key technologies in agricultural biotechnology. This is the first time that the "UAV" has been written into the "No. 1 central document" in a specific form, marking that the integration of low altitude economy and agriculture has entered a new stage of visualization and scenario.
The "No. 1 central document" clearly juxtaposes UAVs, robots and the Internet of Things for the first time, proposes to expand their agricultural application scenarios, and accelerate the innovation of key technologies in agricultural bio manufacturing. This breakthrough statement is not only a recognition of the achievements in agricultural technology development, but also a strategic deployment based on the goal of modernizing agriculture and rural areas, cultivating new quality productivity in agriculture, and breaking through bottlenecks in agricultural development, injecting strong technological momentum into the comprehensive revitalization of rural areas.
Compared with indirect expressions such as "intelligent agricultural machinery" in previous policy documents, this direct naming not only broadens the coverage of intelligent equipment, but also marks a shift in policy focus from "technological breakthroughs" to "scenario implementation", promoting agricultural scientific and technological achievements from laboratories to fields, and truly transforming them into agricultural productivity.
At present, China's agriculture is in a critical stage of transformation towards modernization, and problems such as "difficult and expensive labor" are restricting the high-quality development of agriculture. Traditional crop protection operations have low efficiency and serious pesticide waste, and these practical difficulties urgently need technological solutions. This "No. 1 central document" was written directly into UAVs and robots for the first time, which is an important measure to accurately meet the needs of agricultural production and promote the deep integration of science and technology and agriculture.
As typical representatives of intelligent agricultural equipment, drones and robots have emerged in the fields and become the "new farming tools" that farmers can easily handle. Zhang Xingwang, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, introduced at the press conference of the State Council Information Office that the application scenarios of smart agriculture in China have been fully expanded, with a total of over 300000 agricultural drones and an annual operating area exceeding 460 million acres. The low altitude economy has performed well in the agricultural field and is showing a good trend.
From south to north, the application of unmanned aerial vehicles in agriculture has formed a large-scale scene in various regions: Linshu, Shandong has built a multi scenario application platform for unmanned aerial vehicles, integrated resources to carry out cross provincial unified defense and governance, participated in operations in Shandong, Jiangsu, Anhui and other places with an area of more than 1 million acres, and also formulated local aviation defense standards and standardized operating procedures; Guangdong Huiyang widely uses drones in litchi planting. Two sets of equipment can complete the disinfection and sterilization of 130 mu litchi forest in the morning. In the picking season, they also try to use drones to transport fruits, solving the problem of human transportation in mountain planting; Hubei Province has included crop protection drones in agricultural machinery purchase subsidies. In wheat spring management, the daily operating volume of a single drone reaches 500 acres, which is more than 10 times the efficiency of manual spraying and has become the main force of spring plowing.
The deployment of Document No. 1 has pointed out the direction for the development of agricultural intelligent equipment. On the one hand, we will promote the expansion and application of unmanned aerial vehicles, robots and other equipment in the entire industry chain of breeding, production, harvesting, sorting, etc., and combine IoT technology to build a smart agriculture system; On the other hand, we will accelerate the innovation of relevant key technologies, reduce research and development and promotion costs, promote the construction of standardized orchards, and clear obstacles for the popularization of intelligent equipment. With the continuous release of policy dividends, more intelligent equipment suitable for hilly and mountainous areas and characteristic crops will emerge, allowing technology to benefit more farmers.
2026 is the first year of the "Tenth Five Year Plan". Unmanned aerial vehicles and robots are written in the "No. 1 central document" for the first time. It is not only a milestone in the development of agricultural science and technology, but also a new starting point for the overall revitalization of rural areas. I believe that under the guidance of policies and the promotion of technological innovation, these "intelligent new agricultural tools" will unleash greater potential in the vast fields and promote new steps towards modernization of agriculture in China.
