In 2024, China introduced drones as a cornerstone of its low-altitude economy, significantly transforming agricultural practices, especially in citrus farming. These drones have dramatically improved efficiency, cutting costs and labor times while handling multiple tasks like seeding, fertilizing, and transporting. Now, in 2025, ongoing innovations promise even greater advancements, marking just the beginning of farming’s airborne revolution.
BRICS Bridge – In 2024, China formally declared its “low-altitude economy” to the world, positioning drones as a key driver in this rapidly expanding industry. This is nowhere more apparent than in Zigui County of Hubei Province, where agricultural drones have become helpful assistants to local farmers. These machines are revolutionizing citrus farming, doing the combined tasks of fruit transport and pesticide spraying at an incredible speed. For instance, a DJI T100 drone can transfer 85 kilograms of citrus to a spot 300 meters away in less than 50 seconds—a trek that previously took 40 minutes on foot. The numbers add up: 30% of Zigui’s 400K acres are serviced by drones, enabling the county to save about 30M yuan/year in transport costs.
This airborne change isn’t just about pace. Agricultural drones have graduated from single-use pest controllers to multitasking wonders—seeding, fertilizing, delivering, and more. What makes them so attractive is their versatility, their relatively low cost, and accessibility compared with traditional aircraft, which were expensive, big, and reliant on teams. Drones totaled 4.12M flight hours and approximately 3B data entries in 2024, more than double that of the prior year. Multi-rotor drones accounted for 99.7% of all operations, and 98.27% were agricultural units. Clearly, the farms of China have gone digital—and airborne.
It’s being backed by a strong push from policymakers. In 2023, China introduced national regulations that simplified the entire lifecycle of drones—from design to operation—removing red tape for agricultural users. Standards for production, sales, and operation followed from ministries and aviation authorities. Add to that increasing performance targets and hefty subsidies (over 35K drones in 2023), and it’s clear the state is serious about it. Future UAVs are expected to be smarter, more cost-efficient, and to include features such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), LiDAR technology, and Augmented Reality (AR) capabilities. In response, China is ramping up pilot training and enlisting universities to cultivate a high-skill talent pool. Now, in 2025, even more innovative advancements are unfolding, signaling that farming’s airborne revolution is only just beginning.
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