As of June this year, more than 500,000 agricultural drones have been deployed worldwide, saving an estimated 330 million metric tons of water and reducing carbon emissions by 42.58 million tons, according to a recent industry white paper.

The White Paper on the Agricultural Drone Industry (2024/2025), jointly issued by Farmers' Daily and DJI Agriculture, provides an overview of development trends, technological innovations and applications. It highlights how drones are reshaping agriculture and promoting a green transition.

Ning Qiwen, publisher of Farmers' Daily, said the white paper serves as a valuable guide for government agencies, research institutions and farmers.

"Agricultural drones are changing traditional production models with technology and becoming a new engine for ensuring food security," Ning said.

In 2024, Chinese agricultural drones completed work that covered more than 173 million hectares, generating a market worth about 13 billion yuan ($1.8 billion) and employing nearly 500,000 people, the white paper said.

More than 12,000 female operators have taken part in plant protection, while an increasing number of young people have returned to rural areas to start businesses in the industry.

The use of drones has expanded beyond traditional crop spraying to include tasks such as transportation, sowing, fertilization and crop monitoring, it said.

Technological breakthroughs in 2024 have also shown drones' value beyond crop spraying. In Zigui county, Hubei province, a DJI T100 drone transported 85 kilograms of oranges in two minutes, a task that would take an average person dozens longer to complete.

In banana-growing areas in Yunnan province, a drone-based dispatch system cuts transportation losses from 30 percent to less than 5 percent. In Sichuan province, drones are being used to transport bamboo, reducing the need for strenuous manual labor in mountainous areas.

Drones are also being deployed during the entire growing season. In cornfields in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, they are now used for everything from weeding to crop management, leading to a yield increase of more than 10 percent, according to the report.

Meanwhile, drone-related policies have become more widespread and open. In China, new regulations have established a framework for drone operations.

National support for the low-altitude economy has given the industry another boost. In 2025, China's No 1 Central Document — a policy paper released at the beginning of each year outlining key priorities — for the first time included low-altitude technology alongside artificial intelligence and big data, positioning agricultural drones as a strategic farming tool.

Globally, other countries have also streamlined regulations, the white paper said. Brazil's civil aviation authority has simplified registration, while the European Union has adopted international standards for spraying systems. The United States' Federal Aviation Administration has included some DJI agricultural models on its exemption list, and Australia has issued guidelines for more relaxed drone use on private land.

Li Weiguo, president of the China Agricultural Mechanization Association, stressed the importance of refining regulations to support broader drone use. Existing rules, such as the maximum flight altitude of 30 meters, could be made more flexible to better accommodate the scale and variety of agricultural drone applications, he said.