On August 20th, farmer Luo Rongfu was drying freshly harvested rice in the sun at the Maling Town threshing ground in Xuyong County, Luzhou City. This year's autumn harvest brought a significant change for his family, as his son Luo Run returned to the village with a team of drone pilots, using unmanned aerial vehicles to airlift bags of rice directly from the paddy fields to their home.

This was the first time Luo Rongfu had witnessed his son operating a drone. Standing on the ridge, he watched the buzzing "iron dragonfly" in the sky with amazement. Just minutes earlier, the aircraft had effortlessly lifted a bag of rice weighing over one hundred jin, completing in five or six minutes a task that used to take the father and son more than half an hour of strenuous carrying on their shoulders.

"In the past, we would be in the fields at dawn, soaked in mud, and by noon we were so exhausted we could fall asleep sitting on a stool," recalled Luo Run, a member of the post-2000 generation, remembering his childhood during the harvest season. After graduating from high school, he dove headfirst into the drone industry in his hometown and is now a seasoned pilot. "I believe in doing meaningful things with my life and striving bravely while I'm young," he said. Now, with new technology, he is liberating his parents' generation from the grueling burden of manual labor.

Xuyong County is situated on the transitional zone between the southern edge of the Sichuan Basin and the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau. Its terrain is fragmented and its farmland scattered, making mechanized farming difficult and leaving much agricultural work dependent on manual labor. This challenge is compounded by the outflow of young workers and high transportation costs, which have long hindered local agricultural development.

"Our area has a lot of bamboo and is a major bamboo-producing county. But in the past, bamboo in the deep mountains couldn't be transported out and would simply rot in the forest," Luo Run explained. The advent of drone lifting has completely changed this situation. The turning point can be traced to the market insight of a local young entrepreneur, Shen Lian. "I also grew up among the bamboo forests, and I know how difficult it was to get bamboo down the mountain," Shen said. In early 2024, while scrolling through short videos, she discovered that drones originally used for crop spraying and seeding could be adapted to transport timber and bamboo. "At that time, there was almost no large-scale drone lifting application in the Sichuan-Chongqing region." Seeing the opportunity, Shen Lian worked persistently to secure the regional agency qualification for DJI drones.

The market demand has far exceeded expectations. "When we first got the agency rights, the brand set an annual sales target of 50 units, which we completed in less than two months," Shen Lian stated. Since the training courses began in January 2025, they have run continuously, certifying over 1,000 pilots. To alleviate customer concerns about after-sales service, she overcame numerous hurdles to establish a local maintenance station. "After the project launched, the county gave us strong support, and many young people have chosen to stay," she added with gratitude.

"A lifting drone costs between 40,000 and 50,000 yuan. If you operate it yourself, you can net around 300,000 yuan per year after expenses," Shen Lian calculated. "Even if you hire pilots to run it, you can recoup your investment within a year and still make a profit of over 100,000 yuan." For farmers, the benefits are even more direct. A task that previously required ten workers over three days, costing six to seven thousand yuan, can now be completed by a drone in half a day for a cost of just over 1,000 yuan. "The key is that drone lifting can move bamboo that was previously impossible to transport down the mountain, allowing farmers to sell more when prices are at their peak, which significantly boosts their income," Shen Lian noted.

Drones are not only transforming production methods but also reshaping the vocational landscape in rural areas. "When I first started learning, it was for lifting bamboo and spraying pesticides," said Luo Run. After getting his license, he worked for others for over half a year to save enough money before buying his own drone with friends. "I used to earn two to three thousand yuan a month; now I can earn that in a single day." With the drone as a foundation, young people are finding a balance between their roots and their livelihoods. In Xuyong, more and more young people like Luo Run are becoming drone pilots. "Some people think drones look high-tech and difficult, but if you don't try, how can you know?" Luo Run said, noting that friends his age have already been able to buy cars and houses because of this profession. "Drones have truly changed many people's destinies."

Zhou Yuanchao, Deputy Director of the Xuyong County Agriculture and Rural Bureau, stated that agricultural drones, as a core tool of modern agricultural technology, play a crucial role in precision agriculture, smart farming, and rural revitalization. The county is actively exploring innovative models for drone applications in agriculture. "Next, we will continue to explore areas such as plant protection, livestock management, farmland protection, disaster response, and the low-altitude economy," Zhou said.

Xuyong's exploration is benefiting from the development of Luzhou City's low-altitude economy. In 2025, Luzhou was selected as one of the province's second batch of pilot zones for low-altitude operation management reform, obtaining approval for 1,202 square kilometers of low-altitude airspace below 300 meters, the third-largest area in the province. "In recent years, drones have been increasingly used in Luzhou for public services such as urban patrol, forest fire prevention, power line inspection, and agricultural and forestry plant protection," introduced Chen Xintao, Deputy Director of the Luzhou Civil Aviation Development Service Center. To date, the city's low-altitude drones have safely flown for approximately 2,500 hours across 15,000 sorties, completed over 2,000 government flight missions, and collected more than 10,000 inspection images.

For Xuyong County, the current focus of the low-altitude economy is on practical applications. Ye Dingxin, Deputy Director of the Xuyong County Development and Reform Bureau, explained that the plan is to first continue developing the bamboo and timber transport scenario by improving supporting infrastructure like charging stations and takeoff/landing sites in forest areas. Secondly, along the towns on the main banks of the Chishui River, they will actively explore integrated applications of the "low-altitude economy with agriculture, tourism, and industry." Additionally, focusing on key wellness tourism towns, they plan to develop "low-altitude economy plus wellness tourism" scenarios.

Luo Run, who has stayed in his hometown, also has plans for the future. He has already obtained several drone operation and instructor certificates and aims to next get a license for vertical take-off and landing fixed-wing aircraft to try operating more logistics businesses. "Looking further ahead, I want to organize returning young entrepreneurs from the surrounding area to build an industry for our village and help drive the development of the low-altitude economy together," Luo Run said, expressing his belief that drones can support the growth of his hometown's industries.